Beau sat behind the counter drying a few plates from their lunch earlier. As he did his chores his eyes scanned the guildhall, watching each and every mage and identifying each one to himself. Laughter, shouting, jokes, insults, you name it, everything was said by his guildmates. That is how Fairy Tail was for as long as he could remember. Being unofficially a part of the guild since he was a youth and growing up around it, Beau had gotten used to the loud, rowdy sounds that filled the halls. A smile grew on his face as he chuckled to himself quietly.

"What's so funny?" A voice chimed from his right. In his peripheral he noticed a glowing aura, and that only meant one person.

"Nothing," Beau replied back, giving the source of the voice a giant, fake grin. "Just thinking to myself. And you're down here early, Dia. What's the occasion?"

"I've got some more jobs to post up," the busty guildmaster sighed. "Lots to do you know. I have to keep myself busy somehow."

"More jobs, that's good for the members. A few of them need something to do." The magician said. He took a second and thought to himself, "I'm one of those people, sadly."

He watched as his sister wandered over to the job board and posted up a fresh list of jobs that were up for the taking. He hoped there was one that would be easy enough for him to do alone, he needed a quick job for some easy money as he was running a bit low. He waited at the counter, watching to see if any of the others were going to run to the board first. That's how it usually was when new jobs came in, first come first serve.

A large group of animals surrounded one boy. He had started singing a cheerful tune as he made his way to Tolbi. As he did, wild animals that lived in the area flocked to where he was. Small birds flew around him, stray dogs nuzzled his ankles, and even a few butterflies sat on his shoulders. Tim, simply laughed. "Haha, hey guys! How've ya been?" For a moment, Tim was happy. Animals were his life. They were the best friends he had ever had. Humans however, were an entirely different matter. While he knew there were good people in the world, a lot of the ones he knew were judgemental jerks.

It was his first day as a member of Fairy Tail, a prominent Mage's Guild. While he was honored to have been chosen for this, he was nervous about having to be in a group with a bunch of strangers. Thinking about it made him shudder. Who knows what kind of people he was going to have to be with. When he was invited to be a member a few months ago, he was looking foward to being independent. To be able to travel at his own pace, meet some interesting animals, and stop to smell the flowers once in a while. Speaking of smelling flowers, Tim took the opportunity to sniff a few that were scattered around, as well as pick a few berries to make treats for himself and his animal friends later.

As soon as he approached the edge of town, Tim had to shoo his new entourage of animals away. "Ok guys, can you go now, please? He said politely, "It's not safe for you guys to come into town. I'll bring back some treats as soon as I can." All the animals obeyed his request, leaving him and Alice alone. "Well, it looks like I'm on my own now..." the boy said with a sigh. For a few moments, Tim just stood there taking deep breaths trying to calm himself. Taking the first few steps was a nerve-racking experience. Once he finally mustered up the courage, he stepped into the crowded city, and made his way to the Guild hall.

---

Tim cautiously entered the Guild Hall. The place was crowded, and filled with other mages. Tim sighed, bit his lip, and started wringing his hands as he looked at the other Magess in attendance. He felt completely out of place, like a goldfish in a lake filled with piranhas. Judging by the way everyone carried themselves, these people looked like they had much more experience than he did. He was unsure why they had asked him to come here in the first place. He had completed his training and became a Guild member not that long ago. Surely there were other, more qualified Water Mages they could've called on? There weren't even any animals around to play with.

As much as he wanted to get out of there, he had already come this far, and it was too late to leave now. Besides, running away after being invited would make a bad first impression with the ones in charge. Then he'd never get assigned to any important tasks. The Water Mage kept his head down, and quietly took a seat at a table, away from everyone else. He saw someone who looked like the Guildmaster put up a list of jobs. Not being sure what he should do, Tim watched the others, and waited to see what would happen.

"I think this is the place..."

Looking like a shady stranger, she quietly peered into the building and looked at the plethora of Mages hanging out and generally having fun, the seemingly common usage of crude languages notwithstanding. Her long, brown hair gently shifted as she looked around like a timid little child and she felt her bag, carrying her treasured Magic Cards, bump against her hips many times as she nervously shifted around. A voice at the back of her mind nagged at her, telling her that she's out of their league and that they weren't the crowd for her. For a brief moment, she was tempted to listen to that rational voice and leave the building lest she was suspected as a spy from a rival guild.

Sighing and turning her sight away from the interior of the building, she skittishly moved away and mused to herself, "That Mage told me that he belonged to Fairy Tail. He said that I would fit in, but now I feel like a fish out of water..." Why did he say that, I wonder? she thought. I'm just a Card Mage, one without much experience at that. I'm sure the guild has quite a bit of Card Mages already that are more skilled and experienced than I am. Still unsure of what to do, she decided to linger for a short time. Maybe she could stay for a little bit longer and have a look again, then leave for good.

The smell of oak and stone filled Fisk’s nose, the comforting noises of guildmates chatting, the clinking of glasses, and the occasional brawl were all music to his ears. Quietly, he smiled to himself, slumped and snoring away in a corner on the second floor of the guild. His black, leather jacket was draped over him like a blanket, comfortably resting with his illusion on. He’d slept in the building overnight, like he always does. Of course, he could easily afford his own lodging, but he was too lazy to search for his own property. Fisk would constantly pass it off as being ‘overly attached’ to the guild, but no-one ever believed him.

From this deep rest, however, a menacing presence introduced itself. A chill passed through his spine, as he opened his eyes abruptly. Further alarmed by the sight of his illusion wavering, he spent a short moment rebuilding it before looking behind him. Swatting his coat down, he came face to face with a very dissenting and unimpressed deer-person.

“H-hey Armin!” Fisk sheepishly exclaimed, quickly sitting himself up. The tension dropped as Armin’s face softened, and the two exchanged sighs. “…How long were you sitting there?”

Armin stood himself up, taking a long stretch. His pale green fur was painfully obvious in this light, and his dress suit did little to cover it. Not that he minded, of course. “I honestly have no idea how you managed to fall asleep like that, but…” Trailing off, he helped Fisk up. “…Eugh, that’s not what I woke you up for. I’d have left you well enough alone, but there are a few new wizards that just arrived.”

Fisk smiled as he dusted himself off. With a nod, Armin followed him as he led them down the stairs to the main floor. The wizard knew the look of a greenhorn from a glance, and he immediately picked out the unfamiliar faces. A lonesome boy sat at a vacant table, looking to be rather young for a wizard. Not far behind him, a lady had recently walked in, and looked to be leaving sometime soon.

“Yo!” Fisk called loudly as he and Armin approached the two, although his voice could barely compete with the roar of the guild. “The Master never told us we had some fresh blood coming in,” he said with a warm smile on his face. He motioned to Armin with his arm. “This snarky leech over here is Armin,” he began, with a ceremonious bow from Armin. “And I’m—“

Armin interjected, shoving Fisk out of the way. “—Long story short,” he continued seamlessly, “We’d like to welcome you to Fairy Tail.” With arm extended, Armin glanced over to the side, looking at Fisk. ‘His tail should be…’ He murmured to himself, searching for something. Without another moment spared, he stamped his foot nonchalantly on the ground, yielding a loud yelp from Fisk. His illusion broke all at once, leaving a very disgruntled and pained otter-person on the ground, nursing his tail. “Oh, right, and that’s Fisk.” Armin smiled, arm still extended.

Confidence had never been Aura's strong point, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, noone would guess this by looking at the girl leaning in the corner, twirling a magic pistol by it's trigger guard around her finger. To all the world, she seemed as cocky a gunslinger as any wizard, however anyone who knew her knew this was a fragile facade. Looking closely, once could see the way her eyebrow's furrowed slightly in concentration, or the way her free hand twitched slightly. She focused very intently on the constant, small motions required to twirl the weapon this way correctly. She stopped then, sliding the magic pistol into a holster on her hip. Though she could exquip and requip the weapon at will, she liked to have it and it's twin at the ready in case she needed to get into the fight immediately, which was why the pair of pistols now rested in their holsters on her hip.

Looking up and around, Aura's mouth quirked up in a slight smile. There were so many people in Fairy Tail, and all of them were her family, they treated her as such and that was how she viewed them. Eventually, her eyes stopped roaming when they fell on a face she didn't recognize. A girl had entered the guild, one who couldn't be too much older than Aura. This normally wouldn't warrant any attention, but Aura didn't recognize the girl, which meant she had to be new. Dismissing her usual response, Aura visibly gulped as she gathered her courage.

Slowly leaving her posting in the corner, she approached the girl who stayed near the front of the guild. The place was packed full of people, arguing and fighting and laughing, but for now Aura's focus had locked in on one thing. After a few minutes of picking her way through the Hall, she began to near the girl. It was then that Aura stopped, and began to worry slightly. What if she didn't want to talk, or wasn't actually even coming for the guild? The latter was an unfounded worry, as Aura knew the only reason one would be in the Fairy Tail guild hall was if they were in the guild or planned on joining it.

Gathering her courage one more time, she forced herself to step in front of the girl. A small, guarded smile appeared on Aura's face as she gave a tiny wave with her right hand. She bit her lip, unsure of how to proceed, and tapped the fingers of her left hand on her thigh to partially distract herself. After a second, she managed to say "Hello, my name is Aura, what's yours?" This much was difficult for her to say, but she continued regardless "You are new here, aren't you? I've been here a couple years and I've never seen you, but uhm.." Then, all at once in a great burst, talking a million miles per hour, she said "I just wanted to say welcome to the guild and ask me if you need anything!" With that, her eyes went to the floor and she bit her lip again, knowing she must've seemed like a fool.

Vocalia's intention to leave had all but vanished the moment she was spotted by not one, not two, but three guild members at the same time. A part of her wanted nothing more than to dig a hole in the ground and bury herself alive out of shame, but another part of her nudged her towards her welcoming party. Not wanting to be an ungracious visitor, she opened her mouth to thank the three Mages for their warm welcome... until one decided to suddenly stomp the ground, resulting in one of them turning into a humanoid otter with an injured tail that seemed to have been on the receiving end of said stomp. That looks painful, she thought with a wince of sympathy, but a glance at the three Mages reminded her that she was about to do something.

"My name is Vocalia. Vocalia Lac Ciel. Thank you for your warm welcome," she replied with clasped hands and a bow, secretly marveling at her lack of stuttering or muttering. "I'm actually not a guild member, but I happened to meet a Mage who claimed to be a member of Fairy Tail in the past. He suggested that I come to this building and 'have a look around', as he said. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." If there was one thing she could be grateful about her past life, it's her education on decorum and social finesse. That aside, as much as she would like to remain polite, she couldn't help but curiously gaze at Aura's weapons and Fisk and Armin's physical form, a clue to her naivety.

Aura listened to the other girl's introduction closely and smiled when she finished, looking back up at her. She had been referred then, but she wasn't a member yet? Well, that simply wouldn't do, or at least not according to Aura. Of course, first she wanted to finish this conversation, so she nodded along. Looking at the girl, she noticed her eyes lingered on not only Fisk and Armin, understandable as Aura had been pretty fixated when she first saw the pair, but also on Aura's own pistols. She giggled softly at this, the girl must not've seen a gun mage before.

Aura drew one pistol in a fluid motion, causing several nearby members to gasp and start to whisper, perhaps suspecting that a fight was about to brew. She flipped it in her hand so the barrel faced her and the grip was towards Vocalia. She gave a light smile and said "As I'm sure you can tell, I'm a gun mage. I also practice requip magic, so I have a few other weapons too. If you want, you can hold it, as long as you treat it carefully it'll be careful with you." She then added "I think you'll like Fairy Tail if you decide to join us, as bad as it may seem with all our members, they're actually really nice, we're all family here." Aura wasn't sure why, but she really liked this girl, Vocalia.

With a slight tilt of her head, she added "Oh! And if you are worried about friends, don't! If you do want to join us, and your scared about taking a job, then don't! If you want, I'll even go on a few jobs with you." Aura felt it was her duty to help the newer members of the guild, hence the reason she was offering this. Still extending the pistol to Vocalia, she let her smile brighten ever so slightly. With that, she finished "And don't worry about getting in, as long as you have a good heart, the Master will let you in, and something tells me you don't have to worry too much about that."

Sitting at one of the tables stationed nearest to the job bulletin was a scrawny looking young man with hair as white as his skin and a rather deadpanned expression on his face. His gaze was directed at watching the then-empty mission boarrd as he slowly and calmly drank from the drink in front of him as the rest of his guildmates did what they did best all around him, drinking, chatting, brawling and just in general making merry as they usually did. The young man was like a rather jaded looking eye of the storm, if a comparison was to be made. Despite his stature, the 10032nd creation of the Rainsworth family, known to Fairy Tail and the rest of the world as "Index", wasn't as weak as he looked. Being a mage in Fairy Tail tended to make sure you were sufficiently powerful, what with all the brawls breaking out, you wouldn't want to seem weak after all.

Taking his eyes away from the board for just a moment, Index glanced around the room, it seemed that there was something interesting enough for people to be gathering over yonder, so the artificial mage decided to focus his attention on that, not really noticing that the guildmaster had decided to set up the jobs he had been so eagerly waiting for, despite his expression not showing it. Nevertheless, the white haired fellow decided to direct his attention to the group.

'So it's a potential member, I see,' Index thought as he listened into the group's conversation just in time to hear everyone's introductions - Aura, the Requip Gunner; Fisk and his 'sidekick/literal split personality' Armin, also known as the 'strange otter-esque creature that gave me a weird name and forced me into their clubhouse'; and finally the potential member, a gal by the name of Vocalia, who seemed to be quite formal, polite, and all things considered, probably not going to have those qualities by the end of her third month or so here, or at least, have them in a much lesser state, if personal experience were anything to indicate.

Index took his attention away from the group and checked back at the recently stocked board. His lips curled into a small smile as he got off his ass to check out the board for missions.

Tim's thoughts were interupted as he was approached by two guild members. Tim opened his mouth to say something, but then one of them suddenly stomped the ground, causing Tim to jump in his seat, startled by the sudden gesture, and let out a high pitched yelp. "Eep!" He nervously looked around to see if anyone noticed that... It didn't look anyone did. Then he saw the guy that had been introduced as Fisk had turned into a human/otter hybrid, and was lying on the ground in pain.

The Water Mage perked up very quickly. His eyes went wide as he got out of his seat. "WOW!" He knelt down next to Fisk as he nursed an injured tail. "I'm Tim. Wow, I've never seen an animal person before! What's it like being part otter?!" He said rather excitedly. He soon realized that statement may have sounded rude, and felt bad about asking. "Oh... I'm sorry. You don't have to say if you don't want to... Here let me help with that. I'm a Water Mage..." He waved his hand, and it became surrounded in magical glowing water. Then Tim applied his hand to the injured tail. "Um... I'm kind of new at this, but... I can use water to heal. This should make you feel better..." Once he felt enough time had passed, he removed his hand, "Um... did... that work?"

It had been less than an hour since she actually stepped foot inside the guild building and already she had a member trying to persuade her into joining in her own way. While she had seen Magic Guns some years back, it was the first time she was able to view one up close. "Ah, thank you kindly. I will be careful with it," she replied and gingerly held the grip of the gun, finally taking the chance to examine its shape, size, weight and feel in her hand. It was certainly not for her, or perhaps she was simply too accustomed to her lightweight Magic Cards. Nonetheless, she could tell that Aura really liked her guns and was quite adept at using them.

Hearing someone talking near her, she glanced to her side and realized that there was another Mage, presumably a new member of the guild. From what she could see and hear, he was a Water Mage and he seemed to know what he was doing, evident in the way he quickly set out to help Fisk. A small wave of relief washed her heart, knowing that she wouldn't be the only one learning their way around, if she was going to join, in any case. Putting that aside and having satisfied her curiosity, she held the barrel towards Aura and extended the grip back to the gun owner, a polite smile on her face. "Thank you again, Miss Aura."

Aura gave a smile and took her pistol back, sliding it into it's holster, and replied "Don't mention it, after all I did just kinda freak out on you, so letting you hold my gun is a small compensation." She stretched her arms above her slightly and glanced over at the other mage. A water mage, based on the glowing water, and it seemed he was tending to Fisk. Giving a sigh, Aura shook her head and said to Vocalia and Tim "Don't mind those two too much......they're really goofy...just like everyone else here I suppose." She giggled lightly at that before setting her hands on the grips of her pistols for a moment.

Blinking, she turned back to Vocalia and advised "Don't head into the crowd just yet, you'll probably get pulled into some stupid brawl or argument. The Master can usually stop them before magic get's involved, but I've seen them get pretty intense when she isn't around." She shook her head and added "But we're all family here, so nobody ever get's really hurt." That said, she drew a sidearm with one hand and with the other pulled a rag from inside her shirt. She began to clean the pistol, saying "I'm sure you know this, or maybe you don't, but Holder Mages have to really take care of their magical items. Like I said, I use Requip magic too, so I guess I'm also a caster mage, kinda." After shining the pistol for a moment, she demonstrated by Exquiping the sidearm, and she set her hand on it's twin and did the same with it. She proceeded to Requip her Magic Shotgun and sling it on her back, saying "I actually use this puppy more than my pistols around here, one good Wide Shot can take a whole bunch of brawls down at once, course I don't give it much juice, or it'd hurt them."

Aura was glad Fisk and Armin had come over here, sure she didn't know them all that well, but they were still her family. It was really their presence that allowed her to be so at ease with the newcomers. If Aura had been forced to greet them on her own, she didn't know how well she would've done. Actually, she probably would've given up by now and retreated from the situation. That fact aside, Aura made an effort to drag her thoughts into reality and not the could've been. "I hope I can get Vocalia to join, she seems really nice and polite, a change from most people here" Even as this thought crossed Aura's mind, her hand absently picked at the Shotgun's sling, another habit of hers.

As he lay on the ground, muttering curse words and holding his tail, Fisk suddenly felt a soothing sensation on his stamped tail. With a breath of relief, the newcomer’s cooling waters relieved him of his bruise, and he let go, standing himself up. With a panicked jump, he noted that he was out of his disguise, and backed away quickly. Scurrying like a terrified insect, he backed up into a post, instinctively curling his tail around it. Promptly, it disappeared as his disguise cloaked his fur and extra appendage like a heat-induced mirage.
“…Er, yeah, it worked. I feel pretty great, but… don’t mind me too much,” He scoffed sideways as he slowly regained his confidence. “Armin does this to me every time we meet someone new. Blasted doe has something against me.”

Armin watched the miniature fiasco, touching his hand to his forehead and sighing audibly. “I wouldn’t have to if you stopped putting up that ridiculous— ‘Doe’ is for female--“ Armin stopped himself, taking a moment to regain his calm demeanor. “Gah, just ignore the oaf for now. He’ll be fine. You’d think he’d be used to that, by now.” With a more cheery look, he turned to the water mage that bothered to help out his insignificant other. “I’m glad you’re fascinated by our appearance, but I’m afraid our marsupial friend here isn’t very comfortable with how he really is.”
Walking up to approach the wizard, he noted how much younger he appeared to be compared to everyone. “Say, that’s some fancy water magic you have, there. I don’t think we have a water mage at the moment..” Turning his head back slightly, looked at Vocalia squarely in the eye while fixing his tie with his hands. “Vocalia, we don’t have a wizard with card magic either, I don’t think.” Retreating to his own thoughts, Armin recalled their encounter with that Homunculus 100… something or other. No, Fisk was right, Index was easier. Once Fisk decides you’re joining the guild, he’ll never let go until you have that mark somewhere on your body.
With a contemplative look, Armin turned around to face his guildmate. "Vocalia, what do you think? Should I go fetch the Master and see about some new members?" he inquired, with little regard for their new compatriot's consent.

Behind the counter with his bright smile, Beau watched as the fresher members of the guild all greeted each other warmingly. It was a great sight to see because that's what Fairy Tail was, a home for those who needed one. Beau blinked as his eyes came on a new member, she would need approval by Dia, but his sister always had a soft spot for young girls. She believed that female mages were the strongest of all mages, but it wasn't like she was biased at all on that subject. He decided to just keep watch of the girl as he input her face and created a profile for her in his Archive magic database, even if she wasn't a member yet having extra information on mages never hurt anyone.

With his eyes back onto the job board he noticed that Index had already made his way to the board, being one of the first to check out the new jobs. Swiftly joining his ex-Rune Knight friend Beau gently patted the fair haired mage on the back with a wide grin. "Anything good posted up? I heard Dia saying a few of'em are high paying."

With a skittish gasp, Vocalia held onto the bag she was carrying wit her, containing her current deck of Magic Card. "How did you know?" she asked, believing that she had no divulged her abilities to anyone within the guild yet. Although, now that she remembered, perhaps one of the members that she met divulged this information to the rest of the guild. After all, it was quite common for guild members to pass information about new Mages, particularly if they're not one of their own. She felt slightly embarrassed for overreacting to Armin's knowledge.

Slowly working back to regain her composure, she let her bag go and sheepishly nodded her head. "Yes, as Mister Armin have said, I'm also a Holder Mage. I work with Magic Cards in contrast to guns." She opened her bag and showed the Mages a box where she kept her Magic Cards, opening them to reveal her deck with her cards facing up. The cards appeared to be in good condition, if not somewhat pristine, suggesting that she didn't use it as often as others. "I really don't wish to disturb the guildmaster. To be quite honest, I'm not sure if I would fit this guild," she said with a shy smile while letting any interested party take a closer look of her deck.

Aura leaned in and looked over the cards with a curious eye, and she grinned lightly after she heard the latter part of Vocalia's sentence. She was in Fisk's sights and her own, which meant she was as good as doomed. She would be a Fairy Tail mage, whether she liked it or not, or at least that was probably how it'd end up. She nodded lightly and said "Hey, then you and me are pretty similar in a way. We're both ranged Holder Mages, how about that huh?" She giggled and set a hand on the girl's arm, saying softly "Trust me, everyone fits in here, because we don't turn anyone away. And don't worry about bothering Master Dia, she won't mind at all, trust me." She gave a light tug towards where the Guild master was, though not too hard, and said "C'mon, if it'll help we'll come with you!"

With that, she turned her head towards Fisk and Armin, and mouthed to them "Help me with this one!" Afterwards, she looked back to Vocalia and casually placed her hand on Vocalia's head, ruffling her hair slightly. Hastily, she added "Oh, and if you actually have a problem with the guild, just say so now, we won't be mad or anything." With that, Aura gave her best shy expression, which was pretty good given that Aura had a lot of practice with it outside of the guild, and finished "But, we'd really like to have you onboard."

Tim watched as Fisk scurryed away after healing him, and Tim frowned. Did I do something wrong? Right after, Armin had explained that Fisk wasn't all that comfortable with the way he looks. Tim nodded, "Oh... I guess I can understand that." Tim figured he was probably bullied for looking the way he does. He would be scared to his real face in public too. Some people just couldn't appreciate the awesomeness of animals. People can be so mean sometimes.

Armin then said something about the guild not having any Water Mages in their ranks yet, and then offered to go fetch the Guildmaster. Vocalia pretty much said what he was thinking. He didn't want to bother the person in charge, he was sure they had a lot of important guild business to take care. "Um... well... I-I-I don't wanna bother 'em..." He said nervously, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Ria remembered her mission which was hectic, she felt so stuffed for eating an ice monster and a wind monster hence feeling sick to death about eating such elements which contained different elemental substances, "That was the day I never ate for a month, Dia." Ria was with Dia in a hidden location, it was like the two are killing sometime before revealing themselves or at least go back to the guild hall, it's odd for Ria to be slacking this days but ever since she ate two monsters, it's understandable for her to be slacking and not doing anything for long periods of time, she's on the path of recovery.

Armin was gleeming with amusement as he watched the youthful water mage, all timid and shy. "Ah, you won't get anywhere with that attitude. If one of us bothered to point you over our way, then you're definitely worth all of our time." Turning around, he set off to join Aura as she silently signalled for help. "And don't bother with that 'fitting in' crud this card wizard's blathering on about. If someone doesn't like how you carry yourself, then force them to accept who you are."
At his own words, he paused for a moment, temporarily halting his little march. He looked up with a vacant gaze before regaining focus and continuing walking. "Fisk and I got that part easy, since we've been here since we were kids. You two shouldn't have much trouble, though." Stoically, he made his exit, and the green buck had soon sped his way ahead of the two girls, in search of the Master.

By the time Armin had finished his bout, Fisk had collected himself. He came by and re-engaged conversation with Tim, illusion intact. With an embarrassed blush and a pathetic smile, he spoke up. "Yeah, I... Sorry about that. I tend to lose my cool when my illusion breaks all of a sudden, like that. Armin's right, I shouldn't be hiding what I am, but..." Fisk's eyes had drifted off for a moment, as if looking into the distance. He'd always been told by his father that it was important to uphold the illusion. Yet, as he traveled the world for work and met so many new people in his life, none of them really cared. And yet, there was always some nagging feeling whenever he was au naturel that urged him to hide it.
Immediately, Fisk's eyes snapped back into reality as he refocused. "Ah, sorry. Got lost in my own thoughts, heh..." Again, flustered, he he emboldened his spirits, sending his introspective thoughts to the back of his mind, for now. "Now, enough about me! I think it's about time we caught up with the others. Besides, if the Master's too busy, that just means we have some more time to learn more about the two of you."
With a more appropriately cheery attitude, Fisk smirked brightly as he began to lead Tim by the hand to catch up with Aura and Vocalia.

__________________________________________________

Armin had gone ahead with an inquisitve look on his face. Strangely, he couldn't smell Dia anywhere. Instead, all he was smelling was a queasy wave of sickly magic coming from... Somewhere. He figured the best way to help was to find the Master, but it wasn't any good if he couldn't tell where she was. As a parasite that feeds on magic, he can't consume anything but his host's magic... With that said, he was gifted with a good sense for tracking magical sources. With a change of objective, he steered off towards the source of this immense disagreement of magic.

After an undisclosed amount of time and wandering, he chanced upon the source. Peeking his head into the room in a brash manner, he took a quick look around the room. There nothing nearby, but far off in the corner, he saw what looked to be the source. He couldn't get a good look from the distance he was at, and all he could see was a figure slumped over on the ground, looking to be venting to herself. Taking a few steps inside, he recognized the woman, and Armin gave off a tiny snarl. "Ugh, I should have known you were the source of that charming aura." Still keeping his distance as his snout protested coming any closer, he began to feel a little queasy himself. "Ria, you really musn't go off eating every magical being that moves." Puffing out his cheeks as he laughed to himself, he failed to restrain his snarkyness. "I mean, you'll just gain more weight that way."
As he continued to laugh to himself, his attention was grabbed by a stray thought. "Wait a sec, where the heck am I, anyway? And what are you doing brooding in your own corner, here?" Armin sniffed the air again for any other traces of magic, only to cover his muzzle, regretting his decision. There was too much magic overflowing from Ria that it was impossible to tell if there was anyone else here, based simply on magic.

Vocalia winced as she reluctantly followed Aura, having heard what Armin thought about her opinion. Mister Armin does have a point. I suppose I wouldn't know for certain until I become a member of the guild myself, she thought. Her train of thought, however, was promptly derailed by Aura who took the time to try and help her loosen up. From what she could observe so far, formality wasn't in the guild's general vocabulary, which might explain the familial atmosphere she felt all around. The sound of footsteps prompted her to glance back as she saw Tim and Fisk catching up to them. "Oh, are you coming to see the guildmaster as well, Mister Tim?" she asked, taking a safe option due to being unsure of the Water Mage's age.

"Thanks." Tim replied to Armin with a smile. He wasn't sure what to make of the rest of his speech though. He put his hands in his pockets. No one would ever accept who he was no matter how much he tried to make them. He didn't know how he would make them do anything anyway. "I guess... I don't wanna be mean though..." He started to say, but he soon realized he was only talking to himself, as Armin went ahead to catch up with the girls. Shortly afterwards, Fisk came out of hiding, and returned to his human appearance. He reiterated Armin's point, then spaced out for a second before taking Tim by the hand, and the two of them caught up to the other mages he had met. Tim just nodded, and quietly followed along.

Once Tim and Fisk had caught up, Volcalia had asked Tim a question that caught him off guard. It wasn't the question that surprised him, no one ever called him mister, he was far too young and didn't have any kind of authority with anyone apart from the animals he plays with. He started blushing from embarrassment as he started to stutter. "Oh...um...I...yes...I... suppose so. Thanks..."