---

"After All... you do realize you were trying to take an innocent little girl under your wing for a spicy curry challenge, yeah?"

”Well I do admit that I hadn't thought farther than just inviting you two, my love for curry and money blinded me…...” with a remorseful tone while scratching the back of his head “I approached you and Ceri because I recognized both of you, and I wanted to see if you would want to go, but it seems like I scared her” Eric started to feel guilty for what he did, since it seemed to him that Ceri was enjoying the festival before he asked her to participate. Not doing anything would leave a bad impression of him to Matt and Ceri, so at least he had to apologize. The problem was that he didn't had a clue on where she was, she ran pretty fast for those few seconds of smoke so he turned to Matt and asked him ”Do you have the slightest idea of where she went?”

”Well I do admit that I hadn't thought farther than just inviting you two, my love for curry and money blinded me..."

Matt's eyebrows perk up as he cocks his head down with a sigh, as if he couldn't argue with that truthful response.

"Well... at least you're being honest." the lizardking responds while scratching his head.

Eric continues.

“I approached you and Ceri because I recognized both of you, and I wanted to see if you would want to go, but it seems like I scared her.”

"Personally I would be happy to go if I were alone," Matt responds with a mild smirk, "Being able to transform into a giant fire breathing Lizardman has its perks... but not with such a fragile passenger by my side."

He then looks out to the crowd again. Eric had true intentions. He didn't seem to be lying or deceiving the truth, he was simply being honest and truthful. He has a good sense of honor, even if his original intentions were somewhat foolish. The young man would than ask him another question.

”Do you have the slightest idea of where she went?” he asks.

"I don't know..." replies Matt somewhat quietly, while turning to him, "You may want to check the guild hall first. She most likely should be there. Otherwise, you're on your own."

"While I don't see the appeal of pure ice myself, I'm sure you'll like this stuff a bit once you try it." Joshua said, taking a seat next to Amaya after she took the cone he had offered her, enjoying his own. His eyes scanned the crowd, taking in the variety of people who where here. That's what made festivals fun, that no matter who you were and where you came from, festivals where something every culture had and everyone could enjoy. Part of him wished for a fighting tournament to be announced but he knew with the Grand Magic Games coming up, there would be no point. Best none of the possible contestants got hurt before the big event.

Hearing Amaya speak, he turned towards her again before looking back at the crowd.
"Festivals are a part of all cultures. They allow us to celebrate so many things, be they the day of your birth, a holiday, an accomplishment, or something concerning one's culture, like a religious festival." He said before seeing her stand up. She suggested that they go mingle with their fellow guild mates, to which he nodded, standing up as well. Seeing Amaya gain a rather nervous air, he smiled before placing a hand on her head and gently ruffling her hair a bit. "Don't worry, I'll be right here. And if anyone bothers you, I'll chase them away. Also, I have some free money, so if you see something you want, I'll try and get it for you. Sound okay to you?"

---

Suddenly, there was a loud poomf noise . . . followed by a thick blanket of almost fog like white, odorless smoke filling the area in a surprisingly short amount of time. . . . The smoke only lasted seconds and likely could be seen from quite a way away[.]

Still a bit confused over his momentary run-in with the various members of Golem's Hand and as yet unable to figure out where Kyuuten had gotten off to since he'd caught sight of him earlier, Jansen is completely taken by surprise by the loud noise and surge of cloudy expanse further off down the street. Glaring in the direction of the sudden bit of commotion, the young wizard observes yet another diminutive, robed girl at the heart of it, this one apparently fleeing something with both alarming swiftness and a haphazard disregard for what direction she aimed said flight. For a few moments, Jansen considers possibly intervening and seeing what exactly it was this girl was running from and why, but given how well that turned out so far today, he thinks better of it, and simply sidesteps out of the way as the small and oddly somewhat familiar looking hooded figure passes by him.

After another few minutes of fruitlessly wading through the streets and crowds of people in search of his fellow guild-mates, Jansen decides to just abandon the pursuit entirely. In earnest, he didn't really have anything in particular to discuss with Kyuuten anyway. Noticing a booth selling cups of noodle soup and onion rolls across the street from the game with the cardboard cut-outs, Jansen finds himself a seat and commences engaging in some casual people-watching whilst leisurely enjoying a simple meal.

Interactions:@TheHangedMan@Shadeflare123@Rune_Alchemist

Soon all the dating rumors was clearing out, what a relief that it was stopped as soon as it started. Xerath looked over at Kitala who was pouting over the whole mess, you don't really see that face on her everyday. Xerath made eye contact then looked the other way, putting a hand over his his mouth as he tried to hide a laugh. "For someone so tough you can act like a baby sometimes, but overall good job handling the situation, I was sure you were gonna start something " Xerath said teasing her. Xerath patted the heads of the kids he was with before sending them off. Xerath was relieved with the results of the altercation, the new master won't have anything to worry about and no one gets punished. Xerath turned to Kurai,"Why must you bully a member of another guild?" Xerath said folding his arms and letting out a deep sigh.

---

Kitala felt a wave of relief as the crowd seemed to disperse a bit, meaning her ordeal was thankfully over. Xerath took one look at her pouty expression and immediately had to restrain laughter, which made Kitala take a mental note to not go easy on him if they ever got to spar together. Hell, she was a bit tempted to sucker punch him right then and there. "For someone so tough you can act like a baby sometimes, but overall good job handling the situation, I was sure you were gonna start something." At that, Kitala just rolled her eyes. "If I'm a baby, then I can't imagine what that would make you. And for the record, I was going to start something until...well...you know." It was at that moment that she remembered her donut was on the table next to her. She gingerly took it in her hands and started to slowly nibble on it.

Then Xerath turned to Sihu and asked her why she was bullying a Harpy's Wing member. Kitala couldn't help but grin at the remark; any mention of a Harpy's Wing member getting their *ss handed to them put a smile on her face. "I think a better question would be, why not bully a member of another guild?" Then she turned to face her other guildmate. "Sihu, if you plan on getting into a fight, please let me join in." She was still a bit disappointed that she hadn't gotten to sock that Harpy's Wing girl in the face, to be honest. But she had a feeling that there would be other chances for a fight. And besides...there were people around here. Imagine if they'd caused someone's festival stand to get destroyed, or if they somehow managed to cause a building to cave in? She felt a pang of regret just at the thought of it. Maybe it was for the best. But enough of that, she thought. "Also, Xerath, the next time Golem's Hand has a sparring session, you're my partner. And I'm going to knock your teeth out."

You'd think that Kurai would have found someone by now. He was sure that the two rival guilds would have made a lot more noise by now. He was rather disappointed if he was being honest. He guessed it'd be up to him and Sihu to spice things up a bit. He had been looking forward to a rematch since their last fight. He was going to win this time. He decided to stop looking for her the hard way and decided to use his nose to his advantage. Sihu's scent was one he'd never forget. You don't just forget the scent of someone that could beat you. The only problem was all of the collective new and old scents all around him due to the festival.

Kurai jumped on top of one of the festival stands and sniffed around the air. He was sure that the attendant of the stand was yelling for him to get down but he didn't care. He'd be down soon enough. He just needed to lock on. And there she was. She was around others but he didn't care about them. As long as she wasn't around her new or old guild master then they'd be okay. "This time the dark beast will become the prey."



The situation seemed to deescalate with some of those involved leaving. Only Taran and a few others from his guild remained. The rumors about Kitala and Xerath being a couple were quickly refuted and put to rest. Though if Taran was being honest he could see the two being a couple later on. He didn't believe it to be a stretch. He just wouldn't bring it up. The conversation moved to Sihu wanting to fight a member of Harpy's Wing and Kitala wanting to join in. Taran had witnessed one of their fights before and it was something he'd love to watch again.

"I won't interfere with the fun but I'd love to watch the fight." It was definitely another opportunity for him to get closer to his guild mates. So if they allowed him to tag along it'd be an overall win for him.

"So as I was saying they- Hey!", a festival-goer's freshly bought kebab was snatched out of their hand as a man in a black cloak walked by.

"Give that ba-...", the patron quickly stood down as soon as he recognized whose black cloak that belonged to. With a sympathetic sigh the shopkeeper gave him another one,

"It's okay, here's another one"

Vega Ashworth was not a man many in the town liked to trifle with. If you responded, you lose, if you didn't respond, you lose. Whether he enjoyed the way you reacted, or he thinks less of you for not 'living' as he claims, one way or another people rarely come out feeling better about themselves. He was a lot more of an issue when he first arrived, and first impressions are difficult to erase. Many of the townfolk avoid him almost instantly, or try and avoid any kind of contact with him, Harpy Wing treats him like a living plague, and his own fellow Golem Hand are simply mixed about him. It didn't matter to him at all though. He was a man who lived his own pace and his own life, he cared little for others beyond his own entertainment.

"Huh, this ain't bad... Maybe I should drive by festivals more. The food always seems to be decent", he mused to himself. He arrived to the festival late, mostly since he spent most of his time watching from afar as he was normally told to behave himself, while it never explicitly meant he couldn't go, he usually didn't go since if he 'let loose', it usually ended with a large fight.

"Now let's see... I reckon most of the Harpies are here somewhere... Hmmmm", he was thinking to himself. Should he hunt one down and have a little fun? Or maybe since most of them were here, make a move on their guild hall. He was known to sometimes commit vandalism, especially near the Harpy's place. He called it 'redecorating'. Regardless, he was pretty much banned from any arts and crafts store as a result, but being a former thief meant that wasn't a problem to him. If something interesting was happening now, he'll be there, if not... He'll entertain himself somehow.

Interactions:@Shadeflare123

Xerath laughed at Kitalas threat, "Let's see if you can
accomplish that" Xerath saids staring at Kitala with a blazing confidence in his basic fighting abilities."I'll gladly take you on Kitala, just don't hold any grudges when you lose" the fire wizard said with a chuckle. Xerath turned to more festival participants, his crimson hair blowing in the wind, he greeted them kindly, asking them how their day was. Xerath could appear mean but he is actually a nice guy deep down despite his dark past.

Feeling a little bit famished, Xerath went to one of the food stalls, and brought good sized pretzels. He moved back over to Kitala stuffing his face, all of that high tension seemed to have worked up his appetite, though he was satisfied he didn't have to intervene. He took another look at the sky, thinking back to his younger days where he lived in his village, smiling and laughing with his parents, sparing with his friends, and training with the village elder. Good times those were, Xerath then picked up a pretzel and offered it to Kitala. "You want one? Their pretty good"

While he was genuinely disappointed that Artial wasn't going to hang out with him and his Celestial companion he completely understood. Golem's Hand's inception might've brought a welcome sense of security for the town, whether be it the solace of having two guilds to protect or Golem's devotion to be Luna's sole line of defense, it was clear that it also served as a reminded of the lives lost that spurred the guild's creation. "Oh well~ Take it easy on the booze, or whatever that means in Artial terms. And say hi to your old man for me~" Kyuuten smiled warmly and he and Pyrrha turned to enjoy the rest of the festivities.

As they left Artial to her own devices Pyrrha glanced over at the snowy haired mage. "You sure you wanna leave her by herself?" Kyuuten began to glow and he floated a few steps ahead, turning around to face Pyrrha. "Don't worry, Artial isn't the kind to let things weigh on her. Besides, she knows where to find me or you or of course Anwen...we're Harpies, we'll be there for anyone~" He beamed as he glanced at the towering tree that was the Harpy guildhall and gave the little bear in Pyrrha's arms a poke. She nodded. Kyuuten chuckled as he floated backwards. "Kyuu, watch where you're going!" With a puzzled look he looked behind just in time to screech to a stop before colliding with a small hooded figure. "Whoops, sorry...hm? Oh, hey Ceri, enjoying the festival?" Pyrrha sighed. Without missing a beat the Celestial wizard glossed over his carelessness and went straight to a cheery greeting.

---

After leaving Kyu and his spirt Atrial finished off what was left of the drink she currently had. She decided she would lay off for a short while and see if she could find Matt or any of her other guild mates. This was a festival after all. She could probably hang around a little while longer than she had intended, she would just have to slow her drinking a bit. She had already had several bottles and she knew all of it hadn't caught up to her yet. She threw the empty bottle in a nearby trash and wondered off, avoiding the alcohol stand for the time being. After quite some time of wondering she came across who she was looking for, as well as Eric another guild member who too used Take over magic. "It looks as though I have happened upon the gathering of Takeover users, and I wasn't invited, how rude." She teased the two in a slightly slurred tone as she approached the two. "So what's up? Enjoying the festival?" She looked at the two who seemed to have been having some sort of conversation, one she had assumed she had interrupted but didn't really care. She simply waited to either be scolded for interrupting or for one or both of them to reply.

Picking the lock to get in wasn't difficult. It was closed due to the festival, especially as it began to transition into night. It appears nothing interesting was happening at the festival yet, other than the change in leadership in Golem Hand. Most would be worried Vega might be a bit wilder after this, and they may be right, it was the original guild master who he felt beholden to, not the new one, nor necessarily to the guild. It was probably a time for transition for him too, however... That wasn't on his mind right now, he'll worry about that later, who knows, maybe the new guild master wouldn't be so bad.

"They always change where they shelve it... But they're always so predictable", he muttered to himself. In not long he found where they moved the spray paint and nicked a few, before promptly leaving the dark empty store like a shadow.

Shortly after Matt finishes his response to Eric, saying that he was on his own in finding Ceri, they see a familiar face come towards them. He glances towards the incoming figure curiously, as he tries to make it out. As soon as he figures out that it was a female, the mage makes a rather jealously-teasing tone of remark.

"It looks as though I have happened upon the gathering of Takeover users, and I wasn't invited, how rude."

Matt simply chuckled at this statement with a smile.

"Nothing personal, Ms. Atrial." he remarks with a friendly head nod, "Just a secret gathering is all, too bad you blew our cover..."

He then issues a hefty laugh as he finishes his little joke. At least he didn't remark about her height. She knows how absolutely furious she can get when someone calls her 'short', hell even he knows to respect her based off it. In truth, he liked Atrial's company however, for she's very friendly most of the time and quite laid-back. Her Take-Over abilities were also rather impressive as well.

"So what's up? Enjoying the festival?" she asks curiously towards the two.

"Yeah, it's been pretty delightful." Matt responds kindly with his own laid-back attitude,"Was walking with Ceri just a minute ago and wouldn't you believe the bastard Eric scared her off?"

Again, that was also another joke as he attempts to make a friendly knuckle in Eric's hair, chuckling a bit as well. Hopefully he wouldn't mind.

~Ceri~

Oh goodness.

She hoped Mat and the other person wasn't too upset with her. She had fled on instinct really, but it was too much pressure to go back now and try and say she'd like to help. She probably wouldn't even be able to if she did walk over there. Not to mention anytime something spicy was brought up, she just legitimately couldn't eat it. Really she just wanted to be back at the guildhall right now, in her room among her plethora of books. Rather, she would just like a quiet place to just sit and read in general right now. At least help her collect her thoughts and calm her down.

She looked up from the ground where she was walking, taking a quick look around the area. No one seemed to be paying too much attention to her. That was good, she was glad that her robe worked wonders to diminish her presence even in crowded areas like this. It seemed she also stumbled into an area of the festival where they were selling books.

If she was a more excitable person, she might have visibly emoted. Instead, she simply walked over to the first vendor and observed the books for sale. She didn't particularly have a lot of money. Jobs weren't exactly her specialty, so she never had more than just to live on. It didn't particularly seem like they were selling anything interesting, however. She had already poured over almost all of the books she could get her hands on in Luna Crescente.

She wondered if they were selling anything interesting?

Before she got much of a chance to reply though, another one of her guildmates decided to show up. Her initial instinct was to kick Kyuuten, but she had been paying better attention to everyone around her this time and realized who it was quite quickly.

"O-oh...uhm...hi..." She quietly greeted, taking a few steps back from Kyuuten. He was at least one of the few people she was somewhat comfortable with. Enough to not be completely scared of him anyways. "I...I'm trying to, but..." She took a quick look around, shaking her head. "It's a bit...crowded."



@Shadeflare123@pkken

Sihu frowned, tilting her head slightly to the side as Pheobe said she didn't know where Kurai was. Well, she'd just have to sniff him out and find him herself, then. Wouldn't be too hard to find him.

"Mhm, yeah nothing else." She replied as Pheobe walked off, turning her attention back to her guildmates. They were still arguing about something. Sihu was still confused as to what, but she still didn't know. Not that it mattered much. Wasn't any of her business and the two seemed pretty content as it was so she wasn't gonna butt in...not unless it was something to do with fighting at least, heh. "Fight, eh? I could ask him, but two on one wouldn't be very fun." Sihu bit into a piece of barbecue, turning her attention away from the two of them. She wasn't still entirely convinced that someone wasn't on a date, but she wasn't gonna press the issue.

"You got your own fight anyways." She continued, looking over to Xerath. With that, she headed away from the others. It'd probably be easy enough to find Kurai somewhere a bit less...crowded. Or at least, away from the other guildmates. He'd probably find her first, though, considering his nose. She'd have to keep an eye and ear out for any sneaky sneak attacks.

Sneaking onto the premises was always a bit of a challenge, since it was a huge stretch of grassy plains all around. The trick was to use the long grass to hide, though considering Vega, he's done this countless times already. It wasn't difficult doing yet again. As soon as the coast was clear he emerged from the long grass like a silent reaper, here to claim the wall's short life span of cleanliness. Immediately he set to work, starting with some words on the side of the guild hall, in big letters.

"VEGA WAS HERE. HARPIES SUCK"

It was simple, despite his terrible disposition, his skill at graffiti was visibly getting better with each time he did this. As soon as that was done he moved like a shadow around the guild hall, even jumping up and climbing to hard to reach places to spray small little faces in silly and creative places. The speed at which he did this made it clear he wasn't new to this, nor was he new to moving quickly, in some cases he just swung around spraying randomly, ending up with a rather messy result.

In not long, one half of the guild hall was almost completely turned into a scene from a back-alley. He still had another spray can in case he decided he had more time to keep going, now that he expended one, he was making sure no one else was around, discarding the spent can with little care as he wiped his hands clean and cast it aside.

---

Atrial chuckled at the older man's remark. "Looks like the jig is up I caught you two, maybe the next time you have a secret meeting you should find a less public place." She teased back as she examined the two males in front of her. She had known both of them for a while now. Matt longer than Eric but she had known him since he joined. She was quite fond of the two mages who shared similar magic with her. "I am glad you two are having fun, and Eric scaring Ceri is expected, I have tried to talk to her before but she just runs off most of the time. I think I am too much for her." She chuckled a little, sure that her, sometimes, overly friendly demeanor has scared the girl off on more than one occasion. "You two planning on staying for the inauguration? I hear it is going to be a sight to see." She was partially teasing, but not really. She had been around when Anwen was appointed as the new guild master of Harpy's Wing and she figured this one would be no different, only difference she could think of was that the Golems may want to bash on the Harpies even more than usual. She grimaced slightly at that thought but tried to keep it hidden behind an awkward smile. As this thought passed through her brain she pulled at her collar a bit. She had no interest in getting into a fight with a Golem tonight.

A sudden strong wind swept across the small island where the Harpy guildhall resided. As it blew the empty spray can that Golem's trouble making trespasser had callously tossed was sent flying back at him and catching him harmlessly on the back of the head. "I hope you plan on cleaning that~" Without a sound, Anwen, the guild master of Harpy's Wing, appeared behind the rebellious young man with a motherly yet unmistakably intimidating tone. "Vega...have I got that right? If I'm correct this cliche'd delinquent behavior is rather par for the course for you. Still, this is my nest and I would like it if my children came back to a clean home~" Her voice was sweet and welcoming and her expression was tranquil. It was clear she was treating Vega like a misbehaving child and from what she gathered about this Golem member he wasn't going to like that. However, if he was going to act like one...



Ceri replied to the ever exuberant Celestial wizard as shyly as ever. Kyuuten smiled. Even though they were the same age her demeanor and small stature made her like a little sister to him. He dropped a hand on top of her head gently with a chuckle. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm actually surprised you made it out here~" He commented in response to her concerns about the festival and the people gathering for it. Ceri was essentially the opposite of Kyuuten; while he was enthusiastic and a glowing ball of energy that drew everyone's eye, she was reserved and preferred to bundle herself up in her cloak and hide. Heck, he couldn't think of a single person who had actually her face entirely. "I'm happy that you did give it a try. Hey, why don't we go play some of the- owowow!" Kyuuten was interrupted by Pyrrha pulling his ear. While trying to help Ceri become more sociable and relaxed around others was something she commended her partner for he could get carried away. "Give her some breathing room. It's good enough that she's here. Hey Ceri, you were checking out the books right? Looking for anything in particular?" Kyuuten rubbed his now red ear settling down a bit. "Uh yeah, books are fun too..."

Arwen Kendrick

Perched up high on top the ceiling beams keeping the place together sat Arwen Kendrick, S-Class Mage of Harpy's Wing. He had been sleeping comfortably for quite while with his guild mates running around at the festival. Well that was going good and well until he heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice roaming the halls of his home. His eyes peered downward like a hawk, watching and waiting for the moment to strike the vandalizing Golem's Hand. Arwen knew the man's face quite well and was almost delighted to see that he had come to Arwen. Vega was a known name and hinted at being a worthy of fight with Arwen. Suddenly before he could intervene, his sister Anwen decided to make herself known to the boy, antagonizing him further.

"Well sis. I think I should be the one to show him the way out." The voice echoed through the room, "Forcefully." The wind broke as Arwen leaped to the ground with a loud crash. His met with Vega's and he only could grin in excitement. What would be Vega's next move?