Shaw slowed as we approached, giving me the time to properly look over each of them.
Of course, all of them were also doing the same to me as I grew closer.
The first thing I noticed was that none of them seemed even remotely wary of me.
The man at the front of the group was white haired and bearded man, the oldest of the bunch, who merely looked at me with slight interest.
The second was a man standing slightly apart from the rest of the group. He had slicked-back hair and was dressed impeccably. He stood with a wide smile, which frankly made me a little uncomfortable.
The third stood rigidly, a bearing similar to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents I met in New York. Clearly, he had a military background. The most notable thing was his hand, being a metal prosthetic.
He was the only one I fully recognised. He was Donald Pierce, and he looked at me with slight hostility.
The fourth and final member of the group was immediately different from the others thanks to the fact that she was a young woman, probably even younger than me.
Unlike the others, she seemed to have zero interest in me, or the entire event, for that matter. She hadn't even bothered with formal wear, instead being dressed casually in a black crop top with black shorts over leggings.
She was out of place, to say the least.
Shaw followed my gaze as I analysed who I presumed to be four members of the inner circle.
"Magik, a representative of Selene's."
She glanced at us upon hearing her name, but quickly looked away again.
After hearing that name, I immediately recognised her properly; Magik, the Darkchylde, more concerningly, someone who used, as her name suggested, magic.
Right now, she was considerably more interesting than anyone else in the room.
Shaw began introducing me, first gesturing toward the older, white-haired man at the front.
"Harry Leland, Black Bishop, and one of the club's longest serving members."
Leland extended a hand with a nod before speaking.
"Black Knight, Shaw spoke highly of you."
It was a simple sentence, but I could guess that it held weight; Shaw didn't seem to be the type of man to hype people up in his spare time.
The next man introduced himself to me instead of allowing Shaw to do the task.
"Jason Wyngarde, White Bishop. I have to say, I'm quite interested in you."
I shook his hand and said nothing. His way of speaking was honestly a little creepy.
My reaction seemed to disrupt whatever he had planned for the interaction, though his smile didn't falter.
Next, Shaw turned to Pierce, someone I did properly recognise.
"Donald Pierce, White Rook."
Pierce, even whilst being directly introduced by Shaw, continued to stare at me with slight hostility. He shook my hand with an extremely firm grip using his cyborg hand, something that probably would've crushed my hand without my recent improvements.
'What's this asshole's problem?'
He didn't seem surprised in the slightest by my resistance to his handshake.
"Good to meet you." He spoke flatly as he released his hand.
I didn't bother replying, considering that he had literally just tried to crush my hand.
I turned my head to Magik, but Shaw failed to formally introduce her, and clearly the woman herself had no interest in doing so.
'Well, he did introduce her as representative of Selene.'
I guessed that she probably wasn't a member of the inner circle.
Instead, Shaw turned to the right. I followed his gaze and saw Emma approaching us with an absolute dignity.
"Of course, you already have some familiarity with our White Queen."
She looked at me with a composed expression, something I found to be unbelievably shameless considering she had just tried to read my mind mere minutes ago.
"Black Knight." She said coolly.
"White Queen." I returned her greeting in the same tone.
The corner of her mouth twitched ever so slightly.
The inner circle members glanced between us, each of them holding their own thoughts and suspicions.
Shaw, on the other hand, simply seemed satisfied, probably thinking to himself that he was doing a good job handling the situation.
From what I knew, none of them had noticed what had passed between Emma and me a few minutes ago.
[+400 FP]
As another window appeared, I looked around the room. Even though we were standing in the corner, many eyes quietly gazed upon us as people tried to take note of what the Inner Circle might be discussing.
I doubted that they were actually experiencing proper fear; it was likely to just be unease and tension regarding the appearance of the new Black Knight.
After introductions were complete, half of the group quickly dispersed, with the members drifting off to their own groups of speciality.
What remained was myself, Shaw, Emma, and Magik, though I could hardly say Magik counted as part of the group. I could literally see her playing Flappy Bird from the corner of my eye.
Shaw placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Settle in," he said simply, before moving off to do whatever a Black King was supposed to do.
Magik also moved away whilst focusing on her smartphone, an act which left only me and Emma.
"Did you forget what happened last time?" Since we were alone, I immediately asked the obvious.
"I don't know what you're referring to."
It seemed that she was going to act oblivious.
How tiresome.