Today was just another day for Bushy, wake up, go to work on Cha's Good Eating as a waitress, and go back to sleep. It was supposed to be just that, but break time happened.
As always, Bushy went to the bathroom to alleviate her bladder but when she came out of the stall the mirror reflected herself. Long ears, golden hair, and light beige skin, wearing a red dress that went all the way down to her knees and a black barista apron with a green t-shirt, her eyes were full of dark circles with her blue irises seemed to be fading, her chest seemed bigger too. She didn't recognize herself.
It seemed like it was yesterday Bushy took the rite of passage, to explore the world and grow as a fully adult elf. Being kidnapped and nearly sold to Hirtai people as a slave tore her body in more ways than she could've imagined, her magic which she studied for eighty years was redundant at that point, and her previous combat training was nothing for she was a green leaf. Frozen at the first sight of steel and blood.
Blood and guts were torn apart by a team of adventurers who were on a 'cleaning' mission, they rescued Bushy and eventually, she came to Oddtown. The singing birds and talking trees that are signs of wonder became dull, grey, she was dull. Grey. Rotting. Her reflection was the direct image of a withering forest.
That won't do. Not any longer.
Bushy had a dream, a dream to study the arcane. And she was in Oddtown, the place with the most amount of magicks in the world but not only that, Oddtown had one of the top schools for mages, the Magical Magicks School for Magical Wizards.
Bushy will refine her body again, she will regain that magical spark, and for that, she needed to beat her fears to a bloody pump. Bushy decided then, at the fleeting despair of her heart yelling at her that she turned into a failure. Bushy would turn the tables. To become an adventurer. Without further ado, she rushed out of the bathroom and ran to the door of the restaurant, remembered she had to warn her co-workers about her early leave, did so, and then ran through the streets. The sun was slowly falling behind a mountain, the wind gently brushed through her hair as she ran to her apartment, one run-down place run by an equally run-down human, Jon Volares, a bald grumpy old man whose beard would make even dwarves advert their sights, it ran from his chin all the way to his knees.
"A bit early tiffling. Forgot something?" Jon's voice was rough and uncaring, but Bushy didn't bother and just ran up the stairs at the side of Jon's stand, each plank of wood creaked under her feet, the second floor had multiple holes and spiderwebs at the corners, her room being the first she quickly reached down at her apron's pocket and pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and slammed her body against the door falling to the dusty floor head first.
Freezing pain came from her nose, but Bushy wouldn't stop, not now. She got up and wiped clean the blood while staring at an old friend next to the cabinet. A wooden staff almost as tall as herself with a ruby on top, her staff. The rack had fallen on top of her messy bed tangling her enchanted white robe with blankets. The elf paused to calm down her burning lungs before she took off her skirt and apron, put on the robe, looked under her bed for her green shorts, and quickly put on as well.
Bushy fell over the bed and stretched her hand to open the cabinet, after a bit of messing around inside she pulled out a transparent crystal. Without thinking she pushed her mana inside making the crystal glow until it couldn't be seen through the crystal, "Above average." Bushy said, waiting a little longer the crystal dimmed with the number 'IX' "Nine. I lost four grades." Bushy threw the crystal aside and crawled through her bed to grab her staff, the ruby reflected a tired face. Bushy once more wiped her nose and leaped out of the bed, opened the door, and didn't bother to lock it this time.
Her stomach growled demanding for all the energy consumed by her mad dash to be replenished, Bushy had no other choice other than to oblige and walk downstairs, her kneecaps still roaring from pain but it was manageable. The grumpy grumble old grumble behind the counter didn't attempt to stop the nasty smirk forming on his face, Bushy flipped him off and walked out, at her first step the nearby tree whistled at her and when Bushy turned her head she could swear it turned its branches away.
This determined elf could see that everybody in the streets was avoiding her, however, she didn't have much time to ponder on the whys and just kept walking to the commercial district, there she went to the first stall she could see. A Mehet-Weret or cowkin for the uncultured was holding a bat and staring at a bunch of apples being held on a fish net strappled to the ceiling. "Hey."
"'ey- by the divines, your nose is a mess!" The bull said reaching down for something under the counter, "Here." It was a roll of toilet paper. Bushy gladly took and wiped her nose once again, crimson stained the paper.
"O-oh. Thanks. Could I get, um, an apple?" Bushy asked, keeping the paper near her nose. The bull immediately nodded and reached for one then tossed it for the elf, "How much?"
"You can have it, you don't seem to be having a good day." The bull replied leaving the elf feeling awkward, nevertheless, she said her thanks and moved on to the adventurer guild while munching on her dinner, the sheer number of adventurers leaving made her feel her chest caving in.
A bit faster, Bushy dodged the ongoing stream of adventurers and entered the guild, pushing her legs to their limits again she reached the mission board where an incomplete party seemed about to leave, "Waaaaaaaaaaait!" Bushy shouted, drawing their attention, "I want to apply tooooo!"
Lulu looked at her then at the red paper on her nose and her ears flattened, "Sure thing," Dwelm said taking back his seat.
Panting, Bushy pulled a chair and her sight briefly turned back as her body wanted to shut down. "Your mana capacity, magical affinity, flow type, and specialization please." Tenpao said.
"Above Average nine but I was born with grade eight, my affinity is energy, flow type isn't inverted, and I specialize in Long and medium distance." Bushy said and huffed before taking a huge amount of air, "I have two spells and no experience." She knew of this, it was a standard question.
Tenpao seemed to almost deny her but Lulu spoke first, "Pampkin smells potential in this one!" A smile came to her face and her paw finally left her snout to point at her, "She is good! What'cha name?"
"I'm Hieha Dohvra Koohma Ziha or just Bushy." The elf said, finally recovering her breath and a glint of hope shining in her eyes, "So am I in?"
"I don't think so-" Tenpao said.
"Please! Pampkin knows this one is good!" Lulu quickly replied.
Dwelm looked at each of them then nodded, "C'mon, give her a chance. Different from that dragon this elf seems a bit older."
"I'm a hundred and five years old." Bushy said, Tenpao looked at her and then at his companions as an uncomfortable feeling rose from his chest.
Lulu and Dwelm both put their hands/paws on their leader's shoulders, which seemed to be the tiebreaker. "Okay. I will submit this and we can get a quest right away to know each other." Tenpao said.
"Really?!" both Lulu and Bushy said but one more excited than the other.
"Bahaha! This will be great." Dwelm said while Tenpao walked to the receptionist's gnoll.