La Mansión de Cervántes - Library
"Good morning. Anything interesting on the news?"

Moira turned lazily towards Xan, stretching her arms up into the air as her partner gave her his own greeting. "Mornin'. This ain't news love, it's history," she complained, now clutching at her painful head. Of course, she wasn't helping Syed at all. Screw that. He liked researching and studying and being fustrated and shit anyway, may as well leave him to it. "Don't bother lookin' for any interestin' stuff, there ain't any," she warned the metallurgist. "It's all stuffy old books."

Almost as if on cue, Marcus arrived. Syed accepted his offer for help quite gladly, and soon the two were flicking carefully through the pages as to not risk a tear. The room descended once more into silence. To be honest, Moira was quite thankful. She had a banging headache of her own. For once, she wasn't going to resist a trip to some nice quiet library all that much... even if it was boring as hell. She soon found herself jealously eyeing up Marcus' coffee though. Shit! She knew she forgot something on the way up!

Syed simply cocked his head towards Moira in response to Marcus' question as he continued to peruse the articles. Well, he certainly hadn't, but.... "I dunno, might have," she shrugged. She now pressed her palms onto her face, pushing into her eye sockets a little. "There's been talk at the Guild for a long time of some really flashy showy thief nobody could catch, but nobody knew fuck all about the guy. Some people didn't even really believe it." She sunk further into her chair, her voice lowering as she lost all motivation to really continue explaining. "Could be him I guess."

“He was quite the… individual, wasn’t he?" Marcus stroked his chin. "I wonder what it is he intends to steal…?”

"That's what I was hoping to get some clues on," Syed finally spoke, closing his paper and neatly folding it back away. "I figured if we could find some record of anything he might have stolen in the past, we might be able to find a pattern." He sighed, running his hand through his now semi-damp hair. It stood up on end like a cockatoo. "But there's nothing here at all. You'd think a guy like this would be reported on, you know? Front page kind of news kind of deal."

He rested his angular jaw against his palm, frowning a little as he picked up yet another paper. "Yet it all seemed so professional. It's like you said Xan, like a piece of cake." he looked up to Xan, his expression pleading for whatever insight she might have in the matter. "I'm pretty lost, to be honest. It's like Fenaru all over again."

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Kitchen

What was that you were supposed to feed people suffering from a hangover?

“Ah,” Lute snapped his fingers and returned to the inner kitchen, sidestepping past the busy chef and then nabbing a cluster of bananas from the glass fruit bowl. He returned to the dining table and broke off a couple, then placed the remainder of the fruit in front of Dylan and Aria. “Here. I read that eating bananas combats hangovers,” The virtuoso lowered his voice before smiling at the two pained Guilders. Later he’d brew ginger tea as a follow-up since he heard that was effective too.

He headed over to the living room and gave the rest of the bananas to Amy and Lucien, repeated the same spiel, then returned to the kitchen where he watched Aria and Dylan’s motionless forms stir every once in a while. Lute didn’t like drinking alcohol and their anguish- ‘Overly dramatic phrasing there, my dear’- was making him doubt whether he should do so in the future. Oh well. Someone has to stay here and watch in case either of the two puked.

“So, uh… If any of you feel weird or anything, just tell me okay?” Lute hesitantly called out to the two. They didn’t respond much, so he just sat down beside Dylan and ate his own breakfast too. He wondered where the others were. From the looks of last night, Moira was pretty drunk too so she’d be in need of food. Maybe he should go around later to find the lady…

Xan chuckled at Moira's comment. "You'll never know, there might be something you like hidden behind all these older books." She made her way down the aisle of books only for her to hear a familiar voice. Her eyes flitted towards the wind mage as he made his way towards the table.

"Any of you heard about “The Masked Phantom” before last night?”

The girl shook her head, "no, I haven't heard of him before." Fair enough, considering she had only been a guilder for a little more than a year. "He's definitely an interesting individual." Her eyebrows creased in irritation as she remembered his little speech. She focused her eyes on the papers, "he said he was going to steal the most valuable piece of art, but the question is, which piece does he mean? Everything at the Academy looked...pricey."

Syed mentioned finding a pattern. It was a great idea, but unfortunately he couldn't find anything.

"Mhm, you're right. It's definitely strange, especially if he's been robbing the more affluent people in Artar. News like this tends to spread pretty quickly." Perhaps the Masked Phantom was a newer villain? However, judging by his confidence last night, it seemed as if he had been doing this for his entire life. "Is it possible that he's a much newer villain? After what we saw last night, it doesn't seem likely, but it could be why there isn't anything on the papers. Or perhaps, after a few heists in the past he began laying low. Moira mentioned a showy thief, it could be them. Maybe, this is like a big come back?" She shook her head, not exactly sure if anything she was saying made much sense.

Xan stared at the papers. "Did you deal with something similar in Fenaru?"

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Livingroom

Amy groaned as she rolled over in her couch. Light from the windows poured into the room and warmed her up instantly. She flopped over again, burying her face into the cushioned arm-rest. She hadn't even noticed someone had dropped a blanket on her overnight, as she had totally passed out the second she hit the couches; still, that didn't stop her unconscious from wrapping herself up with it like a burrito.

Oh would she love a hot, hot shower right about now.

But something else had awoken her now. The sound of shuffling footsteps - much louder than they would usually be. And then a voice from a seat opposite her, followed by munching. She opened one eye in a squint to see Lucien happily chewing away at his food, and giving her a thumbs up. Amy said nothing back to the man as he told her about the food in the kitchen. Instead she just stared at him with her one opened eye.

Then he told a joke. Amy exhaled deeply through her nose before burying her face back into the arm rest. It was much too early in the morning to think coherently - and of course she couldn't show herself slightly grinning from it either. "Dumbass," she muttered instead, though it sounded more tired than it did venomous.

"Um, on second thought. I can go get you some food? It would be my pleasure."

"Please," she said bluntly, her face still buried. "Extra bacon."



Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Back Porch

Splish splosh. "Ahhh. <3"

Outside, Trixie sat before a warmed pool. Her legs were dipped in, slightly bouncing inside the water as she happily munched on her cheesy toast, with its plate and extras on her lap.

As someone who never slept in much, she woke up the second she smelled something sizzling from the kitchen. She had greeted Dylan when he oozed his way to the table not too long after, though he gurgled his response, so Trixie wasn't even sure if he heard her to begin with.

The second some cheesy toast was ready, she nabbed everything on a single plate (much to the chef's surprise) and dashed back to the table. But when she caught sight of the double sliding doors nearby, and a pool just a walk away, she couldn't help but plop down there instead. Dalia and Aria had come around only after the prankster had ditched Dylan, and Estelle had made her way to the showers opposite to where Trixie relaxed.

The breeze, the warm summer sun, a heated pool and singing birds and succulent aroma of melted muenster... and a really big, really rich house. Plus it was really... quiet. Yeah they had a mission coming up that night, but it had been so long since any of them got to enjoy some real peace like this. Even Trixie knew she needed it. She even took off her socks to enjoy the moment!

Splish splosh splish splosh

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes

Aria gave a thankful groan as the scent of coffee reached her nose, sitting up slightly so she could grip the warm cup of heaven in her hands. A banana was placed onto the table in her line of sight and she managed to look up at Lute through the scarf to give a smile. He really was a darling.

She sat up slightly, grasping for the cream and sugar jars on the table. After dumping an impressive amount of each into her cup, she gave it a stir and managed to take a sip without getting any feathers in her mouth. A cup of coffee and one banana later, Aria was indeed feeling much better. She lay there for a while more, feeling her headache gradually subside, though it still pounded when she tried to move to get up.

The scent of food made her look up, eyes honing in onto Lulu’s plate and the pile of crispy bacon on it. Maybe she should go get some too… But she didn’t want to move. Instead her hand crept forward as she faked a yawn, inwardly grinning as she managed to create a tiny illusion to suit her purposes.

It only lasted five minutes, but that was all it needed for Lute to look down from his toast to see the pile of bacon fade away, and Aria’s hand creeping back slowly as she blinked back innocently, catching Dylan’s eye and winking as a grin spread on her face.

"May I have some more coffee?" She politely mumbled, before catching Lute's disgruntled expression and burying her head back into the nest of black feathers, trying to stop the pounding in her head that came with suppressed giggles.

La Mansión de Cervántes - Library

“A newer villain? With that much confidence? Hmm, it’s possible,” Marcus mused, tilting his head back and stroking his chin. “You tend to find new criminals have an air of cocky arrogance with them, but that man was… slightly different. He looked experienced, didn’t he? So strange.”

Marcus lifted up his cup again, and took a sip as his eyes travelled between his friends, each of them pondering this strange masked thief and asking themselves what information they had about him, or what they could learn. There was disappointingly little.

"Did you deal with something similar in Fenaru?" Xandra asked, lifting Marcus’ eyes away from the papers and back to the young woman with a smile. He leaned back, remembering the misadventure.

“Yes, we did. It was our second adventure together, wasn’t it?” Marcus smiled towards Syed and Moira. “We had a problem with a kidnapping spree occurring throughout the town. A couple of thieves were… stealing cats.”

Xandra’s brow perked up as she heard Marcus speak. She, alike Moira and Syed and a lot of other Guilders had plenty of experience with missions where they had to rescue lost cats, but stolen ones was something a bit different. Why on Ddaear would anyone steal cats?

“So you had cat thieves… stealing cats.” Xandra said, blinking.

“They were also cats,” Said Moira.

“Huh?”

“The thieves.”

“Wait, the thieves were cats?”

“It was an unusual incident,” Marcus chuckled. “It was a pair of nekomimis stealing the cats, believing they were freeing their brethren from the shackles of human oppression. It’s sad, but… a lot of the nekomimi race has been incredibly and unfairly persecuted. You don’t meet too many of them anymore for that reason. The odd one here or there, like Nikki, but most prefer to stay away from us. It’s understandable.”

Xandra, like anybody else, knew about the nekomimi race, and their penchant for transforming between human forms and felines. She tried to picture the absurdity of cat cat thieves thieving cats… and was left chuckling.

“Unfortunately they managed to get away…” Marcus said with a weary frown. “But the Masked Phantom? Him, we’ll catch.”

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Back Porch

“Enjoying the pool, Trixie?” A soft voice emerged to the side of the young prankster, sparking up her attention to look to the side. Trixie’s eyes widened in admiration and awe at the young woman stepping towards her, her head nodding up and down in appreciation of the hot mama inbound.

Garbed in a fetching and revealing black and white polkadot swimsuit, Rose walked towards Trixie with a towel draped over one shoulder and a drink held in her other hand, casually sipping from the straw every so often. She looked down at her new friend and smiled, carefully laying her belongings down and joining Trixie in dipping her feet into the soothing heated pool.

“Nice day, isn’t it?” Rose smiled. “I like to start every morning with a swim in the pool.” She grinned. “There’s nothing better. Then some fencing practice, and horse riding on Sebastian and floral training… all before school. It helps do wonders to relax me.” She smiled, lifting her head up to looking at the gorgeous sun above. “Would you like to go for a swim, and do some horse riding, Trixie? We’ll still have to head to the Academy soon, just to see what’s happening… but there’s still some time before then, and… ?!?”

In the midst of Rose’s tranquil reverie in staring up at the sky, her eyes widened in alarming disbelief as a giant shadow grew out from the centre of the sun, bigger and bigger and bigger… and then blurring past, smashing into the pool and causing a giant wave to crest over the pool’s edge, soaking her and Trixie entirely. Sputtering a cough, Rose shot her eyes towards the pool, and the ripples that stretched out from the water’s point of impact… and the red haired head that poked out with a laughing grin.

“Hehehe… gotcha.” Estelle grinned mischievously. Despite just having a shower and getting redressed, as soon as Estelle saw Trixie lounging besides the pool, she just had to dive out from the second floor and cannonball her. She just had to.

La Mansión de Cervántes - Library
Syed continued to read as Marcus explained Fenaru, intent on finishing what he had started. He was nearly there now! Still, he couldn't help but smile a little at the memories. Even if Moira nearly got her Guilder's license revoked, even if they ended up chasing the wrong suspect. Even if the wrong suspect turned out to be one of Moira's brothers, which resulted in Moira cutting contact with him entirely.

In fact, Moira's body language said it all. She was trying her hardest to hide it, and to be fair she was particularly skilled at that. But as much as her expression remained neutral, her fists clenched tightly before her. The relationships which break into the most pieces are often the ones which were closest before.

"You know what we're all like by now, Xan," he grinned. They did always seem to find themselves in bizarre situations after all. "But yeah, it is understandable. It really is." His smile faded for a moment. No, he had never experianced anything even close to the level of discrimination the nekkomimis faced on a daily basis. But he could relate all the same.

“Unfortunately they managed to get away…” Marcus continued. “But the Masked Phantom? Him, we’ll catch.”

"...Hopefully," Syed sounded less than optimistic, which was a suprise to absolutely nobody. "Well, I'm guessing everyone and their dog will be there. Guilders, soldiers, the lot. Why would he want so many people there? There's arrogance, and then there's... that. There's got to be more to it, surely? Like..." He folded another paper up and rested his chin on his hand again, looking blankly into the middle distance in thought. "It's like hiding in a crowd, I guess. The more people who are there, the easier it is to hide. Maybe? Urgh!" He clenched his fingers in his hair, letting his head drop to the table in his fustration.

"Blaaaaaargh... course we'll catch the git," Moira finally mumbled. Over the course of the last couple of minutes she had rested her head against the surface of the table, feeling relieved at how cool it was against her skin. "Fuck this... is there any staff about? I need coffee. Or juice. Or both. Not together." There was a pause. "...Actually, I'd have them together thinkin' about it."

Lute strolled into the living room with a bunch of bananas and before the summoner knew it, he was cradling a couple of them in his arms. "Hey, hey, thanks roomie." He turned to the groggy looking cleric then held out a few. "Here, and order noted, I'll be back in a flash." Lucien grinned and the remaining bananas ended up on the table.

The summoner made his way towards the kitchen strolling past the hungover Dylan and Aria.

They looked a lot better than they did when he first saw them. "You two feeling any better?" He gave them a sympathetic smile as memories of the night out with Syed and the boss came back to haunt him. Lucien grabbed a plate, piling it high with bacon and cheese omelettes. Lucien grabbed a second plate, he had pretty much finished his first one in record time. With a plate in each hand, he made his way back the living room and placed his own plate on the coffee table, then made his way towards Amy.

"Just like the lady ordered," with a bow for added dramatic flair, he handed her the plate then plopped down on his seat.

He was feeling rather excited for their mission later on, it would definitely be interesting, what with all the masks and fancy tricks. "So that masked phantom, whaddya think of him? I'll give him points for the fancy mask and speech, he seemed like a jolly guy."

---

“But the Masked Phantom? Him, we’ll catch.”

Marcus sounded so sure, it was reassuring. Xan gave the wind mage a nod, "definitely, we can't have them pulling more crimes like these. That thief picked the wrong night to announce his plans." Her eyes flitted to Moira and the girl couldn't help but grin. She recalled the time the woman had flung a table across the casino. Moira wasn't someone people would want to mess with.

Syed mentioned the crowd, it was another valid point. Why announce it to everyone instead of going undercover? Why alert authorities?

She let out a sigh, whatever the thief's plans were, they were definitely confusing. "Maybe he's planning to go undercover? Like you said Syed, hiding in the crowd? It's a possibility." Moira yelled about catching the thief and Xan nodded. "We'll knock those cocky smiles right off their faces," she slammed a hand into her open fist then gave Moira a smile. "Well, judging by the size of your sword," she attempted to joke a little, diffuse the tension. "You can literally wipe the smiles off their faces."

The woman began talking about juice and coffee, and Xan pointed to her untouched glass of hot chocolate. "If you like, you can have it. I haven't touched it yet, and it'll save you a trip downstairs." Moira was one of the people who drank a lot during the previous night, she needed it much more than Xan did, so the girl offered her the cup with a smile.

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Livingroom

He handed Amy a banana. A banana! She muttered what sounded like a thank you before Lucien took off. She's learned her experience that those things work wonders for hangovers. Only she was too tired to figure out how to properly hold the fruit, and thus couldn't even peel it open correctly. So she just dropped it to the ground and buried her face back into the arm rest. If Amy had noticed Lute was nearby, she would have made a conscious effort to chuck the fruit at him so he could open it for her, but she could barely keep her eyes open.

The approaching scent of bacon reawakened her senses again, causing her to pick her face back off the arm rest again, eyes still barely slit open. Her vision was soon clouded with yellow, as a plate of omelet was presented to her. She leaned on her side to eat, though that wasn't helping her headache in the least bit, and eventually she sat up. Still her eyes looked as if they were closed from how much she was squinting.

"So that masked phantom, whaddya think of him? I'll give him points for the fancy mask and speech, he seemed like a jolly guy."

"I think he's a bitch." Amy casually cut a piece and chewed on it slowly. At least she waited to swallow it all before speaking again. "Fuckin hate showoffs... he'll get what he's asking for." She leaned her head back as she swallowed her second bite. So damn good. "Hey - can someone get me some coffee?"

---

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Back Porch

"Wait, wait, floral training? What do you mean, trai--uwaaa!" A wave of water summoned from out of nowhere and drenched both of the girls. Trixie stared at Estelle in shock from how sudden that was, and with her mouth still gaping open she looked down to her cheesy toast. They were all wet and soon to be soggy now too, thanks to the one and only supersis. Buuut Trixie didn't care and continued to munch on her food happily, her grin even wider now that Estelle had joined their conversation. As payback, when Estelle drew closer to the prankster, she kicked her feet rapidly to send splashes flying in Estelle's direction.

Once the splash fights came to an end, Trixie looked back to Rose. Hot mama indeed. "Umm. I can't swim, and the last time I tried to ride a horsey, he tried to fling me off... man," she scratched the back of her head as her eyes trailed off back to the water, "I'm really not good at rich people stuff. Oh! But what did you mean by 'floral training'? Like training for flowery stuff...?" Her smile widened for a moment, before returning to a frown. "Lissa was really good with flowery stuff..."

---

Not long after Lute departed from the kitchen into the living room, Angel came strolling out from the hallway opposite the guest rooms, shirtless and with a towel hung around his neck and shoulders. He smiled upon seeing Dylan there (despite his agony), and smiled even more upon seeing Aria across from him. Damn, these guilders were something else. It was tiring to see the same haughty chicks on campus day in and day out. These girl guilders were definitely something else. Maybe he should be a guilder too...?

Oh shit, he was staring. Uh. "You guys have enough to eat? The chefs here love to cook, so don't worry about imposing or anything. Or... I could get something for you, so you don't have to get up?"

Dylan's face had slid back on the table with a loud moan. The aristocrat just laughed in response; he had never seen the matter artist so hungover before. "Rough night, buddy?" He patted Dylan on his shoulder.

La Mansión de Cervántes - Library
"Woo!" Moira cheered in response to Xan's mini prep-talk, although she immediately regretted it when her voice bounced loudly around the room. Gods damnit fuck...

Only for the girl to then also offer her her own drink. Moira stopped, staring at her like she had grown an extra head. Even Syed stopped what he was doing, looking up at her as well. Although he looked less shocked and more impressed. "Haha, you don't have to do that, Xan."

"Uh..." Moira said slowly, somewhat taken aback by the sudden act of generosity. "Uh... alright then." Sure, hot chocolate was pretty low down in list of preferred beverages. But it was still on there, and the offer was nothing to sniff at. She took the glass, her fingers accidentally brushing against Xan's prosthetic. "Ey, we can still share. I ain't got any diseases last I checked," she waved the cup back in Xan's direction, very nearly slopping it across the wonderful gleaming floorboards and plush, luxurious rugs.


Syed sighed to himself. He was overthinking the situation with the thief, getting himself worked up over the possibilities and clouding his own judgement. They knew nothing, and calling out what-ifs wasn't helping at all. Hell, even Xan had changed the subject, and she seemed similar to him in that regards. Well, it's better late than never.

"You know, Xan," he sat up straight without realising he was doing it, "you never talk about yourself much. Not that it's a bad thing. I guess we've just never really had much of a chance to talk."

"Yeah, like what happened to your arm," Moira suggested bluntly. Although her tone was less suggestive and more as a statement.

There was a sharp crack as Syed whipped his head to glare at her, a small arc of electricity jumping from his temples. What kind of invasive question was that?! And from Moira of all people, she should really know better. Although knowing her, she probably just didn't care. "I was going to ask her what books she likes," he hissed.

"We're all thinking it!" Moira protested, gesturing towards Marcus somewhat unfairly. "Can you take your metal arm off and slap people with it?"

"Moira!"

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Kitchen

“That’s sweet. That’s really sweet,” Lute swallowed his food before shooting an exasperated look at Aria. She could’ve nabbed the garlic bread… She looked suspiciously happy about her thievery too. He stood up from his seat and reached over the table to grab her empty cup just as a topless Angel walked in. Delilah’s hoots made the virtuoso’s head hurt and he grimaced, awkwardly balancing the mug with one hand as he straightened up. Their host made a point of greeting them, inquiring about Dylan who still seemed pretty out of it.

“Good morning! And uh, again, thanks for the hospitality,” Lute meekly butted in as he returned from the inner kitchen, this time with a new cup of coffee for Aria and a plate heaped with the standard breakfast. Lucien came in too and assembled a plate for Amy before leaving as quickly as he went in.

“Here, eat up. The hungry you is a big bad thief,” The virtuoso grumbled as he set the food down in front of his friend. He couldn’t see her expression thanks to that feather fashion she got wrapped around her head, but Lute bet that she was staring right at Angel. Not that he minded since Delilah was doing that too, but she better start eating and leave his food alone. That and... "You shouldn't drink coffee on an empty stomach, Aria," Lute tutted and crossed his arms over his chest, sending looks of disapproval down at the illusionist as he returned to the other side of the table.

“Dylan,” Lute called out to the matter artist, “Want me to get you some bread or something?” Obviously not soup lest he drown himself in it, but maybe a croissant? Anything to fill a stomach. He still hadn’t touched the fruit… “How about you?” The man turned to Angel this time. “Can I do something for you?”

It might not seem obvious why, but Lute didn’t seem too troubled about the future events.

"Heh, we'll give him a show he won't forget!" The summoner slammed a fist into the palm of his hand and grinned. "We defeated a demon, this'll be a piece of cake." Lucien would have said more, but before he could do so, Angel strolled in from the opposite hallway.

The summoner gave him a wave then watched as he made his way into the kitchen and asked about whether or not they had enough to eat. He cocked his head to the side, then spun around so his chest was pressed against the chair's back rest. Lucien propped his head on top of the soft edge, chewing on his bacon lazily as he did so. "Hey, Angel, yeah? Thanks, this was all cooked really well." He grinned brightly then waved a hand to nab Lute's attention. He didn't feel like walking again, but the virtuoso looked really energetic. He wouldn't mind too much, right? "Hey Lute, can we get a cup of coffee?" He stuck out his thumb at Amy before perking up. "Hey Angel, do you have any soda lying around?" If anything could get him fired up for a long day, it was definitely a can of soda.

---

"It's not a problem, I can go get another one but if you insist, then thanks." She laughed a little at the way Moira was staring at her

Syed sighed and she returned her attention to the papers. They didn't have any leads, and were getting nowhere. Whoever this masked villain was, he was good at what he did and she'd have to give him points for being so confident, though arrogant might have been a better word to describe him.

Xan was snapped out of her thoughts by Syed and she turned to look at him. Talk about herself? There wasn't much to say. She came from a small farming village and her parents owned a small plot of land where they grew crops to sell. It wasn't as interesting as being a guilder, so the thought of bringing it up never really crossed her mind.

Moira suddenly asked about her arm and Syed turned to glare at her.

The metallurgist stared at the duo for a bit, she froze for a moment but ended up smiling at their little spat. To be honest, she didn't enjoy talking about it, but the question was brought up more times than she could count. "I haven't read a lot of books, but I enjoy the occasional legend or fable." She scrunched up her nose then turned to Moira. "Ran into an angry bear four years ago," she didn't say more. "I could, but I'd rather not slap people with it."

Xan decided to toss up a question of her own. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you two get stuck together? Was it a spell gone wrong on one of your missions." It must be tough, living stuck to one person. She really wondered how those two did it.

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes

Ooooh my.

Aria blinked appreciatively at Angel, shifting her scarf with a grin. A nice coffee, wonderful selection of breakfast, and a cute shirtless guy fresh from the shower? Her hangover was feeling much, much better. If only every morning after excessive drinking was like this- she wouldn’t mind the hangovers at all.

She almost took him up on his offer of getting more food if Lute didn’t come back with a steaming plate of breakfast and another cup of coffee, milk and sugar already added.
“Have I ever told you that you’re the best, Lulu?” She sat up slowly, unwinding some of the scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face to reveal a large grin as she pulled the Virtuoso onto the seat next to her. She stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth after he was done speaking as a show of gratefulness for his food earlier before helping herself to the syrup drenched waffles.

“It’s less the ‘rough night’, more the morning after,” she replied in lieu of the miserable looking Dylan as she finished off the last of the sausages. Aria lay back down onto the table with a sigh, returning to appreciating the shirtless Angel as Lucien walked into the room asking for coffee… And soda. Soda first thing in the morning? Well, it was Lucy. His love for soda knew no bounds. She waved to him, before glimpsing a blonde head over the back of the sofa. Was that Amy?

“Wonder where everyone else is?” She mumbled curiously. She would have thought Moira would’ve been at the kitchen for breakfast, Trixie too. Unless they’d already had breakfast?

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Kitchen

“Ugh…?” A weary, inhuman groan lurched from the hungover Matter Artist, and he lifted his eyes open to see Angel sit next to him, his eyes hovering almost shut again. He sighed with another groan, his head spinning, but despite it he tried to force himself to sit up properly and eat something to help make his head throb and hurt less. It seemed to be helping Aria, so it made sense for him to do so too, even if the effort felt Herculean. “Morning, Angel,” Dylan greeted. “And thanks.”

He then turned and looked back towards Lute, the man’s constant shuffling and talking always making sound despite how dim he had endeavoured to make it. He brought his finger to his lips again. “Lulu~” He copied Aria. “Bread please. And, shhhh~”

His stomach loudly groaned.

---

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Library

Marcus raised a brow but said nothing as he watched the exchange between Moira, Syed and Xandra. Moira had asked a rather curt and rude question concerning Xandra’s arm, to which his friend’s response was short and without extrapolation. He couldn’t help but feel sorry at the mention of a bear attacking her, forcing her to lose a limb, but he could sympathise with the trauma. Marcus himself had had some extremely close calls in his past… being left limbering on the verge of death, and…

Unpleasant memories. Despite these people being his friends, his most closest of friends, he couldn’t bring himself to speak of the past either. There was simply no way that he could, and he couldn’t fault Xandra for not being willing to either. But her response was as gentle as possible, and her own question interesting.

Marcus had travelled with Moira and Syed for quite some time now, but he didn’t know why or how the pair became magically bonded as so to each other either. Again, he had never asked because he had no intention of prying. And even now, he wasn’t particularly interested in the answer itself… but moreso how Moira would respond, and whether or not she would be as forthcoming about personal matters as she liked to asked.

He sipped his coffee and flickered through a page of the newspaper before him.

---

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Back Porch - Pool

"I'm really not good at rich people stuff. Oh! But what did you mean by 'floral training'? Like training for flowery stuff...?" Her smile widened for a moment, before returning to a frown. "Lissa was really good with flowery stuff..."

“Lissa…” Estelle frowned and said with a sad gurgle. Her face dipped lower into the pool and bubbles streamed to the surface from where she sighed heavily underneath the water. Rose’s attention flittered between the two with curious surprise, then back to Trixie, smiling.

“That’s right. I like to practice flower arranging, and that’s where my main area of study at the academy is. I don’t just spend all my time governing the student council, haha.” Rose smiled. “A lot of people, when they think of art, they tend to think of paintings, or statues, or music or plays… and very rarely flowers or nature. Which is a shame, since it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“Your friend Lissa sounds like a fun person. I wish I could have met her!” Rose smiled with a laugh, before jumping into the pool, and breaking through the surface with her head a second later. Her feet swayed back and forth, helping to keep herself aloft as she turned and looked to Trixie.

“I know you said you can’t swim, Trixie, but would you some lessons? Over there the pool’s a lot shallower. I wouldn’t mind teaching you.”

“Ooh, ooh, me too!” Estelle grinned in excitement.

La Mansión de Cervántes - Library
Short and to the point. Nonetheless, the lack of information if anything made the attack sound worse. Even Moira, as familiar as she was with the brutality of life, couldn't help but cringe a little at the thought. Bears were massive, powerful creatures. It could probably take a limb away in a million ways, each as gruesome as the last.

Syed meanwhile brought his hands to his mouth briefly, before clutching at his own arm in empathy. It must have been absolutely horrifying - and he doubted Xan's injuries would be purely physical after something like that. Especially with it as recent as it was. He knew that from personal experiance.

Nonetheless Xan dealt with the question admirably. Who could blame her for turning it round on them?

Moira froze. There was a moment of silence, her knuckles going white as she clenched her glass. Syed watched her warily, although he had similarly gone pale. Well, she definately deserved this. And then suddenly, without any warning at all, the glass shattered beneath her grip.

She wanted to be angry. She wanted so badly to be angry. Her fists clenched, her right now dripping blood from the glass shards, she gritted her teeth and her pupils constricted. She wanted to throw the table. She wanted to hit someone.

And if it were someone she didn't know that well, she probably would have told them to fuck off, and lashed out if they persisted.

But this wasn't someone random. This was someone she knew, someone she trusted. A blood sister. Someone she had fought with. She wasn't there when Moira warned the others not to ask about it, and Marcus was keeping out of it. Moira had asked her a personal question, and got one in return.

Moira averted her eyes, her entire frame trembling with repressed rage at her situation. "I..." she hesitated, averting her eyes to Syed. The mage looked up to her from his seat, apprehensive as to her answer. The Pride were their closest friends. Like family, even. They could trust them with anything, right? Even something like this?

No.

"...I made a mistake..." she finished through gritted teeth, her voice low. "It... it wasn't just Sy's life I ruined that night."

Without another word she turned around and strode towards the exit, not waiting for her partner. As a result he stumbled over his chair as he was magically pulled after her, and left unable to do anything but grimace apologetically as he was dragged out of the room.

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Kitchen/Dining Room

Angel merely laughed back at Aria's response. "Eh. Night, morning, same thing. Rough's rough - and the kid's right, make sure you eat some food with that." It wasn't long until both Lute and Dylan bid him a good morning, with the former offering some help to the aristocrat. "Pfft, what? Oh, like as payback or something? Nah, don't worry about it."

To top that off, Lucien came strolling in seconds later and thanked the man as well. Angel held out his hands in a playfully defensive manner. "It's no problem at all. Seriously. Guests are welcome whenever they want." He laughed again. "You guys are way more polite than the snooty guests we get all the time. Dad's acquaintances aren't quite... well, come to think of it, most of Aliquam... maybe I'm just surrounded by the wrong people." His head turned to the door leading to the back porch, and his sister swimming with two other girls. "Or maybe we should get out of here too."

Angel had muttered the last few sentences to himself rather than as commentary for the others. When his voice began to trail off Lucien spoke up next, catching Angel's attention back to him. "Soda? Yeah, got some right over here." He jumped off his chair and motioned for the summoner to follow him into the kitchen passed the chefs. Ahead were two fridges reaching to the ceiling. One was clear, however, and lined with cans and cans of carbonated beverages - specially designed to resemble a vending machine on the outside. The inside had rows and rows of cans lined up, so that when the front can was taken, another would roll in to take its place. Fancy to the nth degree. "I'm sure we've got something here you'd like. Take your pick."

---

Aliquam: La Mansión de Cervántes - Back Porch

Luckily Rose was quick to break the sad reminder flitting between the two guilders. The hot mama plopped into the water and resurfaced a short moment later. With a single, graceful shake of her head, her hair whipped from one side to the other with utmost grace and majesty. Trixie was bedazzled. And then she offered to teach Trixie (and Supersis) how to swim!? Oh golly gee whiz, anything to become a hot mama like that!

Trixie quickly downed the remaining cheesy toast before she let excitement take over. "Oh! Oh! I would love to learn how to swim, please! I really don't know how to swim. I'm definitely the worst swimmer on the team. See, this is what happens if I try to swim." And she suddenly dropped off the spot she had been sitting at and into the deep pool waters, where she began to squeal and flail for help.

Lucien gave both Aria and Dylan a wave. The duo seemed to be fairing better now.

"Heh, I wouldn't be surprised it they got lost." He let out a low whistle, "this place is pretty huge!" He wondered if the boss was somewhere, trying something super awesome. In his excitement he kind of let out a loud whoop. The man brought both hands to his mouth then shot both Aria and Dylan an apologetic glance. "Sorry, sorry, won't happen again." Angel then began leading him away towards two humongous fridges.

He thanked Angel, but his glance lingered on the man. Lucien understood the feeling of wanting to run away from everything. It was why he left home and all the balls and silly piano recitals in the first place. "Being a guilder is pretty fun..." he tapped the man on the shoulder and grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, hey, maybe it'll be the life for you, or you could head to this place called Thaum and become a gladiator." He struck a pose, before taking two cans. One had cherry soda and the other had grape in it. He made his way back towards the table, in a few hours they would need to start preparing for their mission.

---

The glass shattered into several pieces.

Suddenly, Moira looked like she about to lose it. Drops of blood dripped onto the table and she clenched her fists. Xan flinched at the sudden unexpected reaction and found herself at a loss of words. She stared at the duo, expression one of confusion.

The berserker began to tremble and muttered something about a mistake. Whatever it was, it was probably something terrible. Something very personal. "I shouldn't have asked--" but before Xan could apologize, the woman began striding towards the door and Syed was practically yanked out of his chair. She took a step forward, the apology already on her lips, but before she could say it, the door slammed shut.

The girl let out a sigh then turned to face Marcus. "Sorry, I didn't know it was an off limit topic." She sank into one of the couches, eyes plastered to the door. She'd apologize later, hopefully by then Moira would be calm. "It must have been something really terrible..."

Aliquam: The Academy of the Arts
Afternoon

The Pride ventured forth from the home of Rose and Angel with mixed spirits. Estelle still shook her head with a disbelieved expression at what Trixie had done in the pool. After shocking both her and Rose, and almost traumatising herself, the two had managed to rescue Trixie and carry her to the shallower part of the pool. After calming down the prankster’s nerves and reassuring her that the pool wasn’t a liquid monster intent on trying to eat her, they began to help teach Trixie how to swim. The results were of course mixed. No one could learn how to swim within a matter of hours, but for the first time in her life, she began to make progress, and after seeing the helpful and encouraging smiles from her friends, Trixie started to grow a little bit more confident. She could just about manage to swim within the shallower side of the pool, and with time and more practice, her friends were confident Trixie could learn to swim on her own, even in the deep part of the pool.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Pride enjoyed their breakfast and made as best a preparation as they could for the mission to come, nursing away their hangovers as best they could. There was still quiet tension radiating out from Moira towards everybody else, much to the poor Syed’s comfort. As unnerving and guilty as Xandra might have felt towards what she had inadvertently done, Marcus had comforted her after the Berserker’s storming off from the library that she would feel better soon enough, and that what Xandra had did was quite alright. All of them had things in their past they didn’t want to talk about, and if Moira’s own was that hard and difficult, then she should have known better to try and pry into others’ own. If anything, Moira’s anger might prove beneficial in capturing the Masked Phantom later within the evening, it did wonders to help improve her determination. But would the Academy withstand her rage? The rest of the Pride had to act quick to save Lucien however, after he started to tell an impromptu and ill timed joke that would have likely resulted in his head punched clean off and sent flying into the stratosphere.

A couple of hours later, the Pride were ready to venture for the Academy. Packed into three carriages, the Guilders were chauffeured to the Academy by Rose and Angel’s hired help. Coming up to the terrific gates that bordered the exclusive and illustrious Academy, the Pride were taken aback by the marked difference in atmosphere surrounding the Academy between today and yesterday. Gone were the burgeoning cheers, cries and adulations of a happy student body celebrating their school’s art festival – replaced by a quiet temperance where there were few individuals walking about. Aside from Rose, Angel, and a few others, there were no other students walking about. They had all been restricted to their dorms for the rest of the day, and the only people milling about, were the Academy’s faculty staff: The Priests and Priestesses which taught and ran the school dedicated to the goddess Aislin.

As the gates to the school opened up, and the carriages came to a slow stop at the Academy’s Courtyard to allow the Pride to disembark, they were greeted by Dalia jogging from the Academy’s main entrance to greet them with her traditional cheerful smile.



“Hello, everyone! I’m glad to see you’re all here, and looking much better too! Even you, Dylan!” Dalia smiled. Her brother flexed a small smile in return, whilst one hand returned to his forehead.

“Yes, I’m… getting better. I’ll be one hundred percent again by tonight. Just… remind me never to drink again…” Dylan said. Dalia giggled.

“Come, everybody, and follow me. We’ll go to the faculty lounge, where we’ll discuss what’s going to happen tonight, and what the plan is to capture this thief. Whatever it is he’s up to, and what it is he plans to steal… we’ll stop him!”

Estelle punched her hand with an determined grin. Speaking for them all, she nodded fiercely. “You bet we will!”

Aliquam: The Academy of the Arts

Angel let out a low whistle upon crossing the academy gates to the campus, moments after meeting up with Dalia. "Never thought I'd see this place so empty. Eh, sis?" Though he maintained an upbeat mood, his shoulders slightly sagged when he noticed all the art that was previously on display in the courtyard had been stored away. The nerve of this thieving asshole, striking during the senior exhibitions, going around and screwing up everyone's weeks. He could've stricken any other time of the year and Angel would have been a-okay with it, but no. It had to be this week. The aristocrat rolled his eyes just thinking about it.




Amy returned a smile as Dalia greeted them and led the way. But the second the priestess turned around, Amy's lips returned to a half-scowl. Thankfully the aristocrats had some to-go thermos on hand (seriously), so the cleric got to bring coffee with her. Getting out of the bed and into a shower proved challenging enough, but at least everything was ridiculously comforting and/or delicious. The nasty mood that would normally accompany her hangovers was mostly soothed out. Talking always made it worse during her recovery stage (that and she just hated talking when she had headaches), so she mostly kept to herself and drank her coffee as they walked.

When they stepped into the main wing on their way to the faculty lounge, they were met with the same stillness as out in the campus. Only now their footsteps reverberated even louder. Had it not been for the party chatting amongst themselves, Trixie wondered if any of those cowboy dustballs would have rolled through the halls, or something.

"Sooo, so what's the plan tonight, guys? He said it was gonna be here, right? Should we do our stakeout plan like in Fenaru? Or - or - hey, Mister, what's the most valuable thing here?"

"Hell if I know. Everything here is worth millions, easy. Besides toots, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What's more valuable to him might be less to..."

"Okay yeah whatever. What if he tries to steal that fountain outside? That looks pretty valuable. Oh, wait, what if he tries to steal the whole stage. I'm sure the entire room- wait, he can't steal whole buildings, can he!? Cuz designing buildings, man that's art too. So--"

"Trixie." Amy brought a palm to her face. Shut. Up."