Within the Kingdom of Fiore, there was a great and prosperous city called Magnolia. Its mages had formed the guild Fairy Tail at the north side, Twilight Ogre at the south side and Golden Shark at the east side. The last one was fairly new, so most people claimed that they were no match for the other two guilds. However, the members themselves knew better.

At the entrance of the East Forest, one could see what seemed to be a majestic tree, but what was in fact the Golden Shark Building. On the outside, there was a Golden Shark logo colored gold, there were several windows and a blue door to be perceived. On the inside, it appeared to be as large as if you were standing within a castle. The floor was made out of wood with a light brown color, meanwhile the walls were looking green to give the Golden Shark members a relaxed feeling. If you entered the building, your eyes would immediately gaze upon the enormous Golden Shark logo, obviously bathing in the color gold.

On the first floor, there was some kind of café at the left side and the request board at the right side. At the center of the room, one could see a dance floor where a small device played music twenty-four seven. On the second floor, there were several bedrooms of which a few members made use, among which the guild master. Golden Shark decided not to divide the S-class mages and the other mages in order to encourage team spirit.

It was a warm summer morning, still nine o'clock, with only three members talking and laughing in the café. The guild master, Amelia Hamilton, was sitting on top of the counter, while wiggling her legs, with her magic broom sitting in the ground leaning against the counter. Her thoughts drifted to a group of her mages being on a mission in a far away town with two newbies. They should be back somewhere that day, probably in the afternoon.

Suddenly, she heard a kind, male voice from behind her. Jared Tanner was washing the glasses from behind the counter. He could use a little bit of water magic, which was pretty useful as a bartender, but he wasn't really strong enough to go on missions. That's the reason why he usually worked as a bartender in the café. "Worried?" He asked the guild master with a grin on his face, but without moving his glance from the glasses he was washing. Amelia chuckled, but didn't answer Jared's question. She sipped from the coffee Jared had poured her and ordered him to make a sandwich for her.

Sayuri strode into the guild hall casual as ever. Her usual jacket held under her arm reading a large grey novel. She makes her way straight to the cafe and dropped into a seat near the two, "Morning. It's quiet this morning has anyone reported in yet?" she drops her jacket over the counter and places a few sheets of paper next to it. Turning the chair she crosses her legs and leans agaisnt the counter continuing her reading without looking up, "Could you get me a latte Jared? Feeling coffe this morning."

Daniel groggily walked through Magnolia, soaked in slime. It was a B-Rank quest, nothing to write home about. The quest board looked a little too full and he wanted to get some time off by himself - as he usually accompanied other mages into quests due to his role as mainly a support for the group. But lately, he's been training to get himself on the battlefield instead of hiding away behind the lines. His gravity magic had a lot of potential in a real combat situation, completely throwing other people off their groove by changing the gravity around them.

Unfortunately, such a method did not quite work well with the slime monster he was supposed to exterminate. For each method he tried, the slime either simply split itself apart or spew out slime that made him slip. Overall, while it was sort of an easy quest and does not need that much attention, it was tedious and messy. The only reason he had managed to successfully defeat the slime was to find its main body which held its life crystal inside and stuck an explosive lacrima in it. Needless to say, there was a very understandable reason as to why he was covered in slime. Once he was paid and wiped himself down, he made his trek back to Magnolia.

Which brings him to the present. He's gotten most of the slime out but his clothing was dripping with it. He can't wait to get back to the guild house and change out of it. He let out a long sigh as he arrived at the door to the Golden Shark guildhouse. He grabbed the sack of jewels that was his payment and pushed open the door. He scanned the area. Jared. Sayuri. Amelia. At the bar. Three others talking to each other. He gave them an acknowledging nod as he closed the door gently and walked towards them.

"Here's the reward." He said as he handed it to Amelia so that the guild tax could be counted. He didn't want to seem insincere and separate it himself. "Good morning." He then regarded the others with the greeting. It doesn't seem he was all too keen to explain why there were still slime blotches scattered all over his clothing. He brought his hand up to play with the button of his coat.

As Jared dropped the sandwich carefully next to Amelia's coffee, he started working on Sayuri's order. "Certainly!" Meanwhile Amelia mumbled a soft 'good morning' to Sayuri, her gaze drifted to Daniel as he entered to room covered in slime. She couldn't help but chuckle. "Looks like you had a lot of fun on your mission." She said playfully. However, her face immediately got back to the usual serious look as her hands reached for the reward. With a couple of quick movements, she took a part of the reward, gave the rest back to Daniel and put the part she took in her pockets with the thought of putting it in the safe later that day.

Ziv was having second thoughts as he ascended the hill outside Magnolia. The massive seven foot double headed axe he was balancing on his shoulder was just impractical. He got it from the job he had just completed, he had hunted down an absolute mountain of a man, a former mercenary guild member who had gone rogue. After capturing the man and collecting his reward Ziv had been foolish enough to ask what would happen to the axe. Since noone else could use it due to it's sheer size it would just sit, so Ziv negotiated to take it as a trophy. Now though he was realizing that was probably a mistake, for one he was walking over the hill into town because the actual transportation that is available to one transporting an over seven foot tall axe is actually somewhat limited. Further he couldn't even figure out the axe's cool tricks that had initially drawn his attention. The whole reason he had even noticed the thing was that both of the axe heads came off the handle attached by a chain, it had a chain, he has a chain. It felt like enough of a connection for Ziv at the time.

Now though the axe was as solid as a log, as Ziv crested the hill he decided to have one more look at it, even being a fairly large man Ziv still had to lean the thing towards himself to examine it in any way. It looked like an axe, a normal metal axe, there was not sign of any of the mechanisms he had seen used when he fought it's previous owner. Frustrated, Ziv sought out a boulder at the roadside and with a shout of anger he swung the axe at the boulder. And perhaps predictably it dug in, the axe was stuck and it was stuck good, Ziv spent minutes pushing and pulling at the axe his initial confidence at the prospect of seven feet of leverage to get it loose was quickly diminished. Eventually he resorted to kicking but it was still to no avail, and worse still Ziv heard a familiar sound, wheels on road, someone was coming up the hill, he had really hoped noone would ever witness his blunder. As the carriage crested the hill it was greeted by the sight of Ziv sitting atop the handle of a massive axe sticking out of a boulder at the roadside. Ziv smiled and waved "Howdy!" he was met with a nod from the driver and he thought he saw some acknowledgement from one of the passengers but he wasn't really paying attention enough to see.

As soon as the carriage was out of sight Ziv began pulling his chain using his magic energy to add links to it until it was about thirty meters he fashioned it into a harness around himself and wrapped the other end around the very end of the axe handle. The plan was simple, run at an angle from the axe. On the bright side it worked the chain went taut for just a moment before the axes came loose from the rock. On the less bright side Ziv had lost his balance and was tumbling towards a faceful or rock, further the axe was now flying towards him from behind. Thankfully Ziv's stumbling meant that his vision caught of glimpse of what was behind him before he fell and he managed to jump out of the way, though it meant landing directly on his left cheek leaving it thoroughly scraped and with a couple fresh cuts. Ziv barely had time to unsuccessfully check for blood though before the the chain was taut again, in a moment Ziv slammed to the ground and slid three feet over.

As Ziv got up and dusted himself off he resolved to just not deal with the axe any more than he had to. Still he had to hold onto it for now so he reeled it in retracting chain links as he did so until it was close. Once it was he began at the task of attaching it to the back of his makeshift chain harness. As soon as it was able to suspend the axe Ziv spoke aloud "Bind". Ziv could feel the chain snake tighten and knot around himself and the axe. Once it was done it was definitely uncomfortably tight, though that was expected. The more important part was the sheer weight, between the chains and the ridiculous weapon if it was less than two hundred fifty pounds it wasn't by much. But it was worth it to be done worrying about adjusting the thing for the rest of the trip.

By the time he reached the guild hall Ziv had been many a bystander's entertainment and was so drenched in sweat if one didn't know any better they might think he'd just come in from the rain. In a stroke of luck noone was outside at the moment so he took his opportunity and rushed to the door. Retracting his chain as he ran to the door he only slowed his pace to gently lean the axe on the wall next to the entrance. As soon as he was content iot was going nowhere he he dashed into the guild hall. Panting Ziv stumbled his way to the bar and leaned against it before speaking. "One whiskey plea-" A drop of sweat fell from his brow onto the bar below. "Better make that water." Ziv slumped down once he finished speaking, resting his head on his arms atop the counter.

Daniel chuckled at the comment as he grabbed some napkins from the counter and began to wipe some more slime on his coat to no avail. "I guess you could say that." It was certainly one way to put his little adventure. He did wonder if he would have been able to fare a bit better if he had taken a quest that included less slimy beings. Still, the reward was kind of worth it... for a magic guild like this. He couldn't help but think of the number of jewels he was able to collect back in the days. But there was no use for complaining now. He had made his decision and he was supposed to stick with it.

He gave the guild master a smile as he took the remainders of the reward and placed it into the inner pocket of his coat. Well then, it was high time that he should change out of his clothes. He bowed his head and was about to leave for his own room and change when Ziv came into the guild house, tired beyond belief. It looked like he had been lugging around an entire carriage from how tired he had looked. Either than, or he had been walking to the guild house nonstop for half a day. He had a couple of questions for the younger man - mostly concerning the reasons of why he looked so tired.

"Are you okay Ziv? Do you need help with anything?" He decided to settle for that. Might as well get helping the other members out of the way before he changed.

Sayuri slid her coat and the papers down the bar away from Ziv as he leaned against the bar. Her favorite coat and letters from her former guildmates were not going to be dripped on. Much less from her sweaty overenthusiastic guildmate. Once sure the items were safe she watched Daniel hand over the guild tax and pocket his share. She then watched Ziv charge in and make an order before chuckling which turned into light coughing, "It's a bit early for whiskey Ziv, especially considering you're appearant workout."

Her gaze slyly returned back to Daniel. He'd always interested her. Not in any grand or romatic way more that he'd always tugged at her curiosity. His avoidance of the past especially. It wasn't as steadfast as her own but definitely left more to think about. Her eyes quickly returned to her book as she flipped the page.

---

Not long after Ziv slumped upon the counter, a white-colored patch can be seen flying from the stairs to the second floor until it smacks right onto the back of Ziv's neck. "Leave that on until before you go to sleep and it will make you feel better. But don't do anything you still wouldn't do if you felt dead tired." Annalyse called out as she descended the stairs. She had spent the beginning of her morning working on her various commission work for enhancing guildmates' armor and weapons, but she needed some breakfast before she continued.

As she headed towards the cafe's bar she nodded towards and greeted the other members present. She sat down and turned to the guild barkeep, "Mr. Tanner, could I please get one of those sandwiches that you make really well? And maybe some orange juice as well?" Despite having come down here to eat breakfast rather than to work, she still couldn't keep from it. She used her Requip to pull out a pair of gloves that one of the guildmates needed for a coming up trip to Mt. Hakobe. While her magic could be used in combat it was extremely optimal for utility so she often did commission work for other guild members to make varying kinds of things for them. She looked at the others, "Mr. Bosmir and Mr. Talentino, how did your missions go? And is that a new book Ms. Takashi?"

Ziv perked up when he heard is name he took a deep breath and wiped his hand across his face to eliminate some of the sweat. As soon as his hand left his face it revealed a massive grin as he turned to look at Daniel "Oh no, I don't need any help, just uh..." He looked around scanning the guild hall briefly stopping on Sayuri before looking back at Daniel "Yeah, working out you know." He nodded toward Sayuri as though her statement was in some way proof of something.

Ziv theatrically flexed his biceps "You don't get jacked, nay ripped, nay dare I say shredded like this without a little total exhaustion in the morning sometimes." He figured it was a good enough excuse, noone could possibly prove it wasn't true that he spent his free time away from the guild as a gym rat.

As Annalyse approached Ziv briefly reached to the back of his neck. "Appreciate the concern." Ziv began to stretch his neck continuing. "Job went swell." Ziv lifted up his shirt and turned towards her revealing a recently sewn gash a few inches wide across his abdomen. "Even got a fresh souvenir!" He let out a brief chuckle before letting his shirt back down already feeling pretty re-energized.

"if you say so." Daniel responded with a nod. It must have been quite an intense workout regime if he was this tired, but as Ziv did say, if you weren't feeling exhausted after a workout, would it really count as one? No pain, no gain, as most often say. Maybe he should start taking that saying more to his heart. After all, he's been striving to rid himself of being a pure support mage. While it had been extremely fun to be relied on by man, it becomes less than ideal when he has very few allies and one too many enemies. Though, with the current people he was with, it would be quick to delegate him the part of being the support. The King, in terms of his own magic.

"In any case, take care of yourself Ziv. You're no good to yourself broken." He reminded the fighter. Pushing one's limits is always ideal - after all, if you don't push yourself, you would not improve. However, they are limits for a reason. "Pacing yourself is crucial to your training." Quite a funny thing to be saying nowadays. Before, it had always been catch up or get left behind. It wasn't like that here though, there was no need for such intense training sessions. Everyone moved at their own pace and everyone had their own capabilities. And that was fine here. That was acceptable here.

Annalyse had come down, giving Ziv temporary relief from the aching of his muscles before turning and asking them how their missions had gone about as well as Sayuri's book. "It was a tad messy, but everything went well. And please, Daniel is fine." He said with a small nod before turning to Ziv as he proudly showed off his scars that he had gotten in the recent mission. "Careful now, you never know what those beasts have in store aside from superior physical strength."

Jared gave Sayuri the latte she had ordered and nodded as Ziv and Annalyse arrived. With a chuckle, Jared told Ziv: "I think that glass of water is a better idea." He immediately gave Ziv a large glass of fresh water, after which he started working on a sandwich for Annalyse, which he handed to her accompanied with a glass of orange juice. "Here you go, Annalyse!" He told her with a kind smile on his face.

Amelia was wiggling her legs with a smile on her face as the group of people she was worried about the most enterred the guildhall. Looks like everyone's missions had gone well. A group of two tall males, one tough female and two teenagers had arrived in a very loud manner. Amelia took the last sip of her coffee and handed the empty cup to Jared, who was standing behind her, without even looking at him. "Well, it seems that you somehow succeeded at your mission too, Ziv. Glad both you and Daniel did well." She said with a very relaxed voice as if she didn't expect or would have accepted another result.

Sayuri smiled and nodded at Jared as he handed her the latte, "Thank you Jared. I'm sure it'll be as good as everything else you male," she turns to Annalyse, "It's new to me. It's several months old but I've just recently gotten to it with my back log. I've been enjoying it so far."

Sayuri turns to face the group as they enter the guild hall. She looks the group over. Her eyes linger on each member examining their behavior and checking for any injuries or other things to take note of. She takes several moments before nodding at them all, "Welcome back. Hope the mission wasn't too much trouble."

She pauses momentarily before looking up at the board seeing what was on it. The one that had been cayching her eye for the last week was still up there and there was a new escort that payed quite well, "Speaking of missions. I've had my eye on that supposed dark mage in Acalypha. That or the escort. I am running out of booze money."