"Marjory's her own person. If anyone knows that..."

"I... see. Very rational. So this bone that needs picking..."

"Did my invite to Dragon's Watch get lost in the mail?" she asks, putting both hands on her hips.

This... is not how she was expecting this to go. Her pride is bizarrely bruised, actually. Really. This is over a guild invitation, and not her? By all rights she should absolutely be an intimidating enough unknown to warrant—

...

Oh. Oh, Kasmeer's good. Yes, that's precisely the sort of thing that would absolutely catch an unknown off guard and see what she's really like, isn't it. And all while being perfectly friendly and charming and quite funny. Well played, and also nicely done. She likes this woman already.

Vetareh huffs a barely concealed laugh into her hand.

"James," she says, amused, "did you just so happen to invite Marjory to your new guild, and then not also Kasmeer?"

Well that's taken a turn for the unexpected. "I, uh..." he starts. "You know, there was the matter with the Bloodstone exploding, and Lazarus, and then Aurene hatched... And I invited Jory when I ran into her, uh..."

"Flimsy excuses." But she smiles, anyway. "But... I'm in. If you'll have me."

He breathes a sigh of relief. "Absolutely."

Vetareh beams, then her smile turns playful.

"Are you just going to leave it at that?" She raises her eyebrows. "You know, I might be just a little out of touch with modern courtesy, but I am definitely under the impression that you're supposed to, oh... apologize... maybe buy her a tasteful present, send a nice card..."

Kas turns a grin in Vetareh's direction. "You know what?" Turns back to the Commander. "She's right."

"...uh."

And back to Vetareh. "Why don't you come with me to the Trader's Forum in Lion's Arch? We can pick something up for the Commander to get me as an appropriate apology gift. Oh, and gossip, it's a time-honoured bonding activity."

"I'd be delighted. Bye, James, we're going shopping!" She leans up and presses a kiss to his cheek, then flounces off to join Kasmeer.

what

Kasmeer has a waypoint stone of her own so they can just go directly to the Forum.

"You know, I didn't expect it to happen, but if anyone had told me it had, 'running into some famous and narratively interesting person during an adventure' would be, like, one of my top three guesses of how the Commander would find a girlfriend. What I wouldn't have expected is for her to actually have any sense of fashion, that outfit's gorgeous."

"Thank you, though one of the first things I did upon arrival was get something else to wear. I've been in this for, ah, quite a while. Her majesty summoned me with all of my Orrian titles, it seemed appropriate that I look the part."

"Orrian style, hmm? Maybe we can look for something that matches it but isn't exactly the same outfit, so you can look pretty without having all the bad associations."

"I'd like that! Though I'm not in a hurry, I like the other set of clothes well enough, just... sometimes I might like to look aggressively Orrian, you know?"

Kas gives her a once-over and raises both eyebrows with a mischievous smile. "For no reason other than missing home, I'm sure."

Vetareh grins and looks terribly innocent. "What other reason do I need than love of my country?"

"None at all!" she says brightly. "Alright, here we are. Now, what apology gift would best say 'I'm so so sorry for being a terrible person and completely neglecting to invite my amazing, brilliant, gorgeous mesmer friend to my newly founded dragon killing guild'?"

"Hmm... Something specific to you that shows that he cares about you as more than just," she waves her hand, "a member of his newly founded dragon killing guild. Practical, but pretty? Maybe not something for use daily, but something that could be."

"Well, I'm not sure pretty things are quite the way to go—I'm actually quite skilled at illusions, I can keep them up even while I'm asleep, so whatever pretty thing I see I can just have." She gestures in the direction of her ears and gets a new set of pretty earrings matching her outfit. "All of my clothes are illusions," she adds, almost as an afterthought.

...

Wait, Kas is basically naked right now??

Actually, no, how is that safe, tangible illusions are all well and good but even decorative clothes are protective, even if they look anything but.

"How does that work," she says, sounding somewhere between 'put out' and 'delighted,' "do you have a set of really nice protective jewelry or something to manage the enchantments, or are your illusions so good you can, can copy protections in clothing themselves??"