Speak of devils, and they shall appear it seems. Silver couldn't help the slight chuckle as a job seems to appear right when he made a call for one, albeit it appeared to be above his registration. A grin that continued at Prince's casual flirting tho. . . something else seems to be present as well as his gaze lingers a bit long on the pair before turning his attention elsewhere. Nodding to Enma in acknowledgment of his refusal, the martial artist was moving to head to the board himself to pick a solo job when he heard Ash's call out, both to him specifically and to the group as a whole. The only outward response that game from the baiting was a tightening of his grip around his bag, but rather than respond to such childish prodding, he spoke to the man making the offer.

"It certainly sounds like a fun time. That said, like Prince, I don't believe I'm allowed to take part in this quest according to the guidelines of the ranking system that Fiore guilds use. No matter how eager or skilled I believe myself, I am aware the system is in place to keep those who have yet to prove themselves from taking on tasks too big for them." Silver's voice remains calm and inoffensive, but the smile he held did not reach his eyes in the slightest. In truth, he oft took issue with the assessment of his skills by the guild, and snide remarks like those made by Ash did little to take that chip off his shoulder. "As such, I will wish you all a safe trip and pray for a safe return."

Clapping his hand over his fist, he offers a short bow(just low enough to be respectful but not so low as to show total deference), before making his way towards a nearby table. He'd wait for all the ruckus to finish and pick a job later at his leisure. While he hadn't been as . . . unaffected by Ash's comments as he'd have liked, he felt he made enough of a showing to fight off any further attempts by the woman to stoke his ire.

@Lunarlord34@BlackMaiden@Silver Fox@hatakekuro@MarshiestMallow@Landaus Five-One@Zarkun

One of these days he's gonna get one over Karn and Neil, but today was not that day. Instead, there was that strange tailed girl. Was she a Kitsune? He heard of them from a passage in one of the old tomes back when he was studying as a child in the monastery though he did not expect see one for himself. However, he did not expect her to be so forward.

"Life-mates?" He caught Ariel's glance and then back at Nyssa. "I'd say that we're almost there." He said reassuringly, his hand reached out hers and gently squeezed it. She was being patient, he knew she was, but he also knew that she wouldn't wait forever.

So this fox girl was pretty much completely striking out on her own in a foreign land. Well, he couldn't say that he didn't know what it was like to be a stranger in a strange place. Nolan took a great deep breath and exhaled to calm his nerves. "Nyssa huh? My name is Nolan Waltz. I'm one of the S-Class mages of this guild." He introduced himself as any proper guild mage should. "Where you are from is irrelevant to whether or not you can join as long you are serious about it. I don't see Jamie around, but you can ask Jarvis about joining." He said, pointing towards the man tending to the bar. "He's the Co-Guild Master and Jamie's husband so he can get you all set up with becoming a member and finding you lodging for the meantime." It was as much passing her off to someone else to deal with as much as him helping someone unfamiliar with how things worked around there.

"I'll take her over!" Dalton chimed in. For some reason, he had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't lead her over she would somehow find herself getting derailed by something else.

Nolan watched as the Exceed took the kitsune off their hands. Trinity was making a ruckus over her mental privacy being invaded by Brianna's sword, but it seemed to have resolved itself so there was no need for him to interfere. He glanced at Ariel and knew that she was pushing herself just by being here. "Do you want me to take you home? It must've been a tiring trip back."





"Ayyye, you know it." He snapped his fingers and finger gunned Prince his way.

That chilled out attitude went as quickly as those snaps; Enma choked on the air from pure surprise at what the strange things the little miss was saying. What in the actual hell was up with this kid? "No Keiko, no. I cannot be your master. That is quite literally illegal and I'd rather not be known as the oni that enslaves teenage-. Oh shut up cinder brains!" The oni yelled at Ash for her hysterical laughter at his expense. For her, pissing people off was as easy as breathing; it was her own natural talent and god damn did she make use of it. The only thing that kept Enma from picking a fight with her was the fact that Ammy announced one hell of an S-Class mission.

"Well, Ash is right about that. You best stay behind and- Wait, what?" Enma arched his brow at Ash. There she was again making decisions on her own without even consulting others about it. "Yo, hold on. Who says that I'm not interested in the job?" The oni stood up, the floor beneath him creaked as he shifted his weight. "I'm sure as hell not being left behind and let you guys have all the fun." Though someone did need to keep an eye on Keiko and show her the ropes. He turned to the flirtatious cat eared mage and asked, "Hey Prince, can you keep Keiko company? Maybe give her the grand tour and explain what Dragon Fang specializes in?" Prince had been in this guild longer so it should fall upon the more senior mage to watch over the newbies. At least that was what Enma's excuse was.

Silver went off to do his own thing though not before saying his own piece. That guy sure had a chip on his shoulder for what class he was placed in, but Enma trusted Jack's judgement. After all, there were plenty of monsters in this guild and beyond. Maybe someone needed to give him a reality check?"He really needs to learn to relax. It's like he constantly has a stick up his ass. Anyway!" The oni turned to Ash and had a fanged smirk. "You're talkin' mad shit for someone who gets scared by a bit of water."

They stopped just outside the hall. Someone else had gone in just before them, and yet another soul approached them directly. There was... Something about her, Regan couldn't quite put her finger on it. The forced smile was her first tip, but that could have just been Bullet being obstinate. She couldn't put her finger on it any more than that. Maybe she seemed... Heavy? Careful how you say that, though.

Bullet spat some sharp words at Regan's new acquaintance, even as he retreated into the guild hall, "now, that's no way to repay the concern of this lovely young lady..." Regan watched the door only briefly, before bringing her attention back to the woman in question, "miss Manami, the pleasure is mine." Regan gave a bow, and as she did, she softly picked Manami's free hand and ever so gently kissed the back of it, "Regan Hadou." She gingerly returned the hand whence it came, and straightened. "Not at your service, unfortunately. Zhulie had been so gracious as to give me a tour, so we will have to become acquainted another time. Unless you'd join us?" She gave a coy wave with her fingers as she turned to go inside with Zhulie.

On the way to the kitchen, she sat Bullet getting chewed out just a little. Poor, stubborn fool. In the kitchen, they were greeted by who Regan could only guess was the head chef. Though, somehow, things didn't feel so formal as that. "Regan," she offered, in response to Zhulie's introduction. She carefully accepted the cookie Olga gave her, taking in the aroma and considering what she'd just been told about this particular cookie. "Yes, I can tell by the scent. It will be delicious. Thank you." She gave a gentle bow before considering the cookie, "my beloved, huh…?"

She considered that idea for a moment before Zhulie caught her attention, with a cook book. Looking it over, it became apparent what the lass wanted. Sweets! "Hmm…" Regan paged through the book, looking for something that wasn't there. This was their recipe book, they could make things from it wherever. No, no, this was an opportunity to cook something from without the book and give them something special!

"Hmmm…" she reached the end of the book and closed it, turning to Zhulie and smiling, "have you ever had a souffle? I didn't see it in the recipe book, let's make some. We'll need eggs, milk, butter, flour… salt… And cream of tartar. And then, for the filling, I do not expect you to have~..." She held her hand out over the counter and grabbed vanilla pudding from her requip, "vanilla pudding," and put it down on the counter. "For everything else, you'll have to show me. Oh, we're making for…" she went and poked her head out if the kitchen for a head count. "Eight, so double… Eh, triple it. Make extra," striding back in, "ninety mil butter and flour, seven salt, six...ehh… five-fifty milk, a whole twelve eggs and four mil cream of tartar. We'll need to separate the yolks, have you done that before?"

@lunarlord34

Still remaining bent over with his hands up in front of his face in an apologetic manner when he was told that the hooded girl didn't mind though that he should show restraint. He nodded his head a number of times before letting out a small chuckle." Ha hah...you're not the first to tell me that. I have been trying to work on that but...Yeah." Letting his hands fall and noodle at his sides like balloons deflating with a sigh; glad for being told such as his mind had felt like it was on the verge of overheating and short circuiting from seeing all these new things in such a short span of time.

Feeling himself beginning to wind down but then the girl had to go telling him the girlfriend's name causing his head to perk up with renewed vigor." Her names Ariel?! Ooh that's a pretty name and I bet she's a great and kind person..well its Nolan who has probably become quite the lady killer now." Muttering more to himself currently, clearly having envisioned his own views of the guy thought to be dead as he had to ponder and muse over what kind of person his cousin has become since learning he was live.

His ears then pulsed from catching an even more exciting news of learning that they had actually been dating for two years already. He couldn't help but look up at her with sparkling eyes and an look of excited awe." Oooooooh." Wiggling his fingers rapidly in front of his face as he felt all sorts of questions popping and brimming into his mind.

" I-" Splash!

Still bent over with his forefinger raised and mouth wide open when the floating cloud had floated above him to suddenly douse him with a focused downpour ensuring only he was rained on.

For a moment D'angelo remained still with strands of wet hair fallen over his eyes as he spit a small stream to the side from his mouth." Nimbus....did you just..rain on me?" He huffed from his nose and his tone that of disbelief and for a moment he looked as if he was on the verge of lashing out in anger at his companion.

Then he stood up and placed his hands on his hips laughing in relief." Ah..whew! Talk about refreshing and good thing too. Otherwise I might of went crazy there with the questions and such." Nodding as a wide grin returned to his face now dripping water then lifted his head and right hand to pat the cloud." Nimbus for the save. Don't know what I'd do without ya pal." His patting received a small rumble from the cloud causing the soaked chubster to nod his head once more." Very true indeed." The drench of cold water was just what the over excitable newcomer needed; helping to cool his nearly fried brain down to allow himself to slow down and properly listen and pay attention to the hooded girl.

Using his right hand to push back the damp hair back out of his eyes and smoothed it back." Right, so you can take me to him yeah? And its awesome about the hood being a gift by the way. Always nice to have something you can cherish." Pointing at the hood while stating the compliment.

He was ready to get going but the girl spoke of getting back to business leaving him to raise an eyebrow of his own out of curiosity. Noticing that she was musing over something and took this chance to start wringing out his shirt, lightly humming to himself while listening to her speak and in doing so learned her name to be Ethel on top of it." Hm? Yes, that I did and I intend to give it." He stated matter of fact as it simply was unavoidable while continuing to wring out his shirt though hearing her asking if he was a threat pulled his attention back to her." Wait what? A...a threat? Pffft..hahahah." The sheer accusation of being considered as such had him clutching at his bouncing belly laughing, thinking Ethel to be joking, it had to be a joke right? Leaning forward after his laughter died expecting to see her smiling or laughing too but instead had such a serious blank look on her face after threatening to eradicate and butcher him.

" Oh...wait you're serious?" He blinked at her a few times before leaning back to burst into a even bigger fit of laughter. He didn't mean to come off rude by laughing in her face but the sheer ludicrous idea of him ever being a threat or intending to harm his closest friend made it impossible for him to not laugh and to such a degree to bring tears to his eyes.

D'angelo could hardly recall the previous time something made him laugh so hard and jovially like this. Eventually feeling all laughed out as he bent over a bit shaking his head gasping." Hah..whew! Oh man that....was great. I'm...liking you a lot already, Ethel." Speaking through gasps wiping a tear." Ah..man can't even think of the last time I laughed that hard." Exhaling slowly through his nose after catching his breath.

Once settled down he stood back up again, a big smile on his face and raised his fist up to start counting off with a finger." First, its a great pleasure to meet you, Ethel. Second, I find it hilarious the way you threatened to kill me as that was a jab for rocking you I bet, yeah?" Pumping his left arm a few times in playful way at her with two fingers raised on his right hand." And third, I assure you regarding Nolan that I am probably one of the least likely person to ever harm him not that I could anyway knowing how strong he must be right?" Turning his right arm to nudge at the air with his elbow wiggling his eyebrows.

" And sorry about all the laughing. It was in no means aimed at you or anything just that.." Trailing off with a low chuckle before waving his hand in front of his face." And it didn't help with the suspicious way I hinted my intentions as I saw you looking so serious that I wanted to tease a bit with hopes to get you to laugh when you saw what I planned to do. " Seeing that he did enough messing around and leaned in closer; right hand covering the left side of his mouth to whisper." You have nothing to worry about, I just plan to give him the best darn hug of his life, him being my cousin and all." Winking playfully with a light nudge at her shoulder with his elbow, having to bend down a bit due to her short stature.

"Hey there James. A pleasure to see you." Joshua said when his senior came over and asked how the job went. Joshua considered it for a bit before shrugging. "It wasn't hard at all. Just some herb gathering. Amaya's nose was very useful once she memorized their scent. Sadly, despite our best efforts, we couldn't find any hints that might help her find her mother despite it being near the area Amaya grew up in."

He then turned to Amaya as she addressed him and the fact that he hadn't returned before her. He smiled at her as he removed his hand from her head, straightening out some of the hair he had messed up as he spoke
"Well, I went to check out that smoke cloud. It was a village that got attacked so I helped out where I could. That took a while. I only managed to get on a train back here just last night. I just got here less then an hour ago. Still, I'm sorry if I worried you." He said, deciding it was best to not mention the fight with the bandits or his injuries. He was definitely hiding the one on his left arm, moving it as little as possible to avoid wincing from the pain.

Joshua then listened to Cody speak but said nothing in return, as the boy seemed more interested in talking to James. He wasn't sure why, but Cody had never seemed to be a big fan of his and even when Joshua tried to be friendly, he often seemed to get brushed off in favor of others. Still, Joshua didn't bare a grudge or anything for it, so he was content to stay and listen for the time being.



"I'm fully aware of how late it is. You know I get rather sleepy some days. It's hard to sleep when you can hear the voices of your contracted spirits bickering all the time. Still, I at least manage to do so most nights. They were just a bit louder then usual last night." Amelia said in a gentle and calm tone, fighting back a yawn as she did so. However, her fatigue vanished as soon as the box of chocolates was slid over to her. She stared at the chocolates and lifted up the box for a second before lowering it and looking at her. "You got this for me? Aren't these very expensive though? You know how I'll feel if I find out they are."



"Oh come on, you know we don't actually have to go anywhere expensive. I'm fine going somewhere cheap. That being said, I wouldn't mind if you went somewhere a bit more scenic and relaxing to eat. Maybe somewhere along the beach for once, though I guess that would mean a little bit of travel. Besides, there aren't that many expensive places nearby anyway. Better to support the smaller businesses." Pyrrha said, letting her thoughts be known but still looking thoughtful as she tried to think of where they could go in Shirotsume. She had only brought up going somewhere expensive as a joke, not intending Jake to take it seriously at all.

Sasha laughed, giving Nolan a smile "Oh, I don't know about that... she's pretty energetic these days. Part of me wonders if she lives on the magical energy around us." She said with amusement, her gaze flicking to Damien, Faith in her arms happily bouncing along. Penny was loath to interrupt, but there were things to talk about. Her gaze flicked to Rajeh as she made quite an obvious show of distress. "Still quite the actor, aren't you Rajeh?" She said with amusement, Igantius fluttering- there really was no other word for it- around Jasmine and Rajeh. "I've actually got something for you, Jasmine. And you, Rajeh." She said, "But probably best to give it to you guys later."

When there weren't so many people around. Penny knew she ought to catch up with the rest of the guild, but the exchanges so far were exhausting. She still wasn't sure about Brianna and that sword of hers, but things seemed alright there. For the moment.

"Have you guys eaten, yet?" She asked Jasmine, and Sasha, deciding that a meal would be a perfect excuse to sit and talk. And it might make Rajeh shut up for a few moments, with her mouth full. She could understand how having the collar put on her might be demeaning- and they'd be lucky to get one onto Ignatius- but the Exceed was being dramatic.

Her gaze flicked to Trinity- and she could agree with the statement of the telepathic shit. She didn't like it either. She wasn't sure what they were going to do about it, but Penny was already slightly off put by the sword essentially sprouting informatiomn it shouldn't have. "Lets get a table."



Michael hesitated, flicking his gaze back to Prince, before nodding. He still wasn't certain about a lot of things, and while he had done quite a few jobs for the guild, a lot of his time had been trying to help Gabriel find any information about the spirit world. "Yeah... " However at Ash's comments, Michael glanced around, raised a brow, and said with reasonable confidence "T-the only annoucement t-that c-causes us t-t-to s-shake in our b-boots is y-you y-yelling out you h-haven't b-bathed yet. B-because of t-the s-smell, you see."



Jamie wasn't surprised. Some of the other guilds were content to keep to themselves- perhaps in an effort to not draw too much attention to themselves, still worried about Magic users being hunted down again. She hoped in a few years that that might change, but it would be a long journey to it. Still. Jamie wasn't one to give up. She frowned at Jacks words, "It seems like quite a few monsters that have never been seen before are appearing- although I haven't been able to track down much more than rumours myself at the moment."

She turned her gaze to Priscilla, smiling. "Walls are easy to put up, not so easy to tear down. The last few years have seen magic become more common place, but many stull distrust it. If we cannot trust our fellow Guilds, then are we any better then the people who hate magic, distrust us for it? No, we need to be comrades. It will, at least, give us the ability to work together in difficult times."

Jamie glanced over to her own pile of jobs she needed to get out on the board, more and more recently they had had an influx of jobs- people finally opening up, letting them help. It had taken a few years to get the Guild to this place, and she well knew the first struggles of supporting it.

They all did.

"I've been thinking about a comunial job board. We get jobs all over the nation, and there are times when we can't complete jobs in a reasonable time frame. Perhaps sharing jobs with every guild will go a way to ensuring good will is had between us all." She mused,

@CitrusArms

Jarvis looked up as Trinity joined him, setting aside a tray, and nodding, proceeding to get her a drink. He took time to make it perfectly, and with care, setting it down gently in front of her. He watched for a moment or two, gaze flicking out over the guild floor before he looked back to Trinity. "Everything okay?" he asked, reaching for another tray and placing it on the bar, knowing that someone would pick up the food on it shortly.

Neil clasped his friend on the shoulder as he saddled up to the bar beside the younger mage. It wasn't even to make his presence known to his friend. He was fairly certain Markovis knew who was near him without actually turning to address the person. Or, maybe more to the point, that Markovis didn't care who was next to him. The fact that there was a physical contact that Markovis didn't shrug away from meant the guy knew it was Neil.

It was a moment of silence between when Neil joined Markovis and when he finally spoke. "Crowded now, huh? Lot more excitement than the last time I was here."

Markovis didn't even look over at his friend. Instead, he just took another sip of his drink. "It certainly is louder than the last few days, but the crowd is staying away so I don't care." Truth be told, the band playing actually made it easier to drown out the noisy reunions happening near the door. He wouldn't have let himself get caught up in all that even if he'd arrived with Neil and Trinity, but arriving alone made it easier to just head straight to his usual spot. If it got bothersome enough, he supposed the job board was right there - plenty of jobs that he could pick from.

The alchemist laughed, and the grin remaining in its wake. "Of course, silly me." He glanced around Markovis to look at Trinity when she joined them. "Done playing with the furball?" He paused for a moment when Jarvis had asked the question His smile faded, and he stood up a bit straighter. "Yeah, are you okay?"

That question caught Markovis's attention. He stopped mid-motion of bringing his glass to his lips, and put it down on the counter instead. His dark gaze landed on Trinity beside him. "What happened?"

---

Nyssa listened to the explanation of Ariel, then Nolan. Okay, not life-mates. But mates of some sort. Not that she wasn't still confused by their relationship status given the mixed information, but it was fine. There was time to get clarifications and actually understand things. This Nolan answered her question, though it brought up some more questions. Like what a husband was, and what an s-class was and -

The rest became irrelevant when a talking cat interjected and volunteered to take her over to this Jarvis person. Her eyes widen as her attention fell on the Exceed. She opened her mouth to start asking more questions as she walked away with Dalton, but the questions caught up in her throat. A look of a dawning realization overtook her curiosity. "Oh! Wait!"

The kitsune skipped back over to Ariel. "I forgot. I am still holding this and you had it before we met," she said as she handed the older mage back her lacrima box. "And I had said I would repay you for the food, and in getting me here. I would rather not forget about it, and if I do not do it now, I surely will. So rather than repay the - um - money! you traded for the food, I figure repaying you magic expended to get from - Oak Town you said? - to the food house and then here would be better."

Before she could get a response, Nyssa closed her eyes. Her tails fanned out as she lifted up on her tiptoes. Her fingers wiggled as she swept her hands toward her abdomen, and a glow started in the tips of her tails and moved to take over more of her. She swirled around, the glow seeping into her skin and moving to pool in her fingers and on her lips. Lacing her fingers with Ariel's, the kitsune leaned up and nipped Ariel's ear. The glow transferred from the girl to the rainbow mage.

Nyssa lowered to flat feet and stepped back. "Energy transference is not necessarily the same from one of us to another, but hopefully that was enough to recoup you for the magic expended getting from Oak Town to here." She grinned and bounced a little as she waved.

A quick twirl around, and she skipped back off to rejoin Dalton. "Can I ask you some questions? Because you are an - um, I believe Ariel said Exceed? Because she had a form that had ears and a tail like you - well not exactly like you because she only had one tail and it was not on fire, and wings. You do have wings, too, yes? They just happen to be hidden right now, correct? Do all Exccceed have two tails or is it just you? Do Exceed tend to have fire on their tails? Why are your tails on fire? Is it dangerous for you if that fire goes out?" Her attention fixed on Dalton, almost as if - and because it was true that - she had completely forgotten about what she'd just done.

"Yeah." She was done playing with Rajah, alright. Or talking to most people. When Jarvis passed her drink to her, she took just a moment to appreciate it. Jarvis, as she should have expected, noticed her mood almost immediately, something she figured he must have picked up from Jamie, if he wasn't sharp beforehand. Neil and Mark were both quick to follow up, she was really lucky to have met them. Mark even set his drink down before taking the sip he wanted. No brushing it off now. There was a large splash of water from behind her, and she thought of Karn immediately, but, no. Eddy would take care of him, she should speak.

Trinity knew it wasn't just Brianna's sword that upset her, even though that's what set her off. She almost wanted to, but she shouldn't blame them. Entirely. A sip of her drink, a brief hesitation as she decided how to start, a breath to calm herself, "you know I don't come around the guild much anymore," haven't for a while. She looked at her teammates, "if I'm not with you guys, I usually just end up feeling frustrated and out of place." She took another sip and then clasped it between her hands to await the next, atop the counter. "I feel like I can't really do anything anymore, compared to everyone else. I know that's not true, I'm not useless, but... It's hard not to feel that way when I'm surrounded by mages who make my current abilities look like parlor tricks." She glowered into her drink, "_{and then I can't even defend myself against a damn telepath without a boost... Stupid sword.}" She took a swig, letting the flavor fill her mouth and distract her from the surge of magic "noise" behind her. "Wonderful as always, Jarvis. Thank you." Even if it hadn't been alcohol, having a drink helped her to talk. She'd been keeping to herself for so long, her team was so supportive. She'd asked Neil for his help in her personal quest, but she hadn't really confided in them much, yet, beyond that. This aspect of her frustration had been all her own, because she had been worried her teammates would think they made her feel that way, too.

The musician stared into her drink for a moment longer before taking another sip and swirling it idly after, "Jasmine didn't like my collar joke on Rajah, either. Made her mad, I think... And I can't even play Big Band anymoooore," she slumped forward onto the counter top with her arms stretched out in front of her, careful not to spill her drink. She made sure her glass wound up next to her head, and formed a glowing white straw over about five seconds, from the soft light of the guild hall. She didn't feel like needing to pick her head up to drink it. "'s too many instruments ...sucks..."

---

Karn gazed in awe at Elena as he listened, tilting his head side to side thoughtfully. "Takeover magic huh? Wow I heard it was a neat magic, but no ours is a bit different I think?" he hummed as he thought it over. "Eddy is from Edolas, and during a bad fight, someone locked her soul into a lacrima on her dying breath. Then she got transported here and shoved into my body. The magic is made so my soul absorbs hers, so mine can get stronger and healthier. Past two years we've been kinda balancing it so one soul doesn't absorb the other. But things have been going well and we've been great! Seems you two figured out a dynamic as well." Karn chirped, ignoring the slight sigh of frustration within his head.

Glancing to Jane, the blonde smiled brightly to her and gave a double thumbs up. "Nice performance Jay!" Karn said in a cheerful sing song.

That was until a distinct splash was heard. Instantly his green eyes dilated, blonde hair spiking as he bristled, body locking up and trembling as his hands shot up to cover his ears, preparing as if to duck away. Eyes whipping around behind to see the pudding man and his strange cloud that seemed to cause a mobile rain fall.

"Hey wa--" he could hear Edarn say in his head but it had went blank and he didn't listen or hear. Fire erupted from his mouth as he was about to let out a blood curtling scream, his hands and arms bursted into golden fire, scorching his dress and quickly making it into ashes.

"AAAA--" Karn started his scream before his own firey fist clamped over his mouth before he could fully scream and accidentally vomit fire everywhere. His terrified emerald green eyes were soon replaced with calm ethereal glowing green.

Edarn took a deep breath before removing her hand and proceeded to pat down the arms and torso, as she had not made these clothes fireproof. And were currently on fire. Unfortunately, there was nothing to save as the fire had burned away the sleeves and the upper part of the dress, so now it was just struggling to stay on. She gave up and allowed it to flop on the floor, putting her hands on on this male body's hips as it wore just black shorts now. Taking another deep breath, her left hand raised so her index and thumb slightly rubbed her temple.

"....Elly that costed a good jobs worth of jewel." Edarn murmured before looking to the two ladies. "Apologies, the kid can't stand water." she said taking another breath before clapping her hands together in front of her flat chest in a vertical position.

"It was nice to meet you, but we should swim on. Laters." she said while moving her hands in foreword, proceeded to drop them to her sides, then walked past the door and started off toward the East Forest. Casually walking out in the open with bare chest and legs without much of a care.

---

---

Prince tried his best not to laugh at the combination of Ash's comment and Keiko and Enma's reactions to it, giving a bit of grunt of a chuckle with the sides of lips twitching in a threat to smile and bust out laughing. His nose followed the flow of magic around Michael that was examining him in interest but didn't pay it too much mind. Giving a few coughs into his hand to clear his throat, he flashed a amused grin toward Enma has he tried to wiggle out his predicament to go adventuring on this tantalizing job. "Awe come now Enma! Not even five minutes of becoming a master and already you wish to drop your teenage servant upon your senior? What a naughty lad." he chuckled as he teasingly waved a finger from side to side as if to scold the Oni. He took glance toward Silver Wolf, giving a soft amused smile, but said nothing of it. For now.

"But I don't mind keeping the kitten company. As for your questions Keiko my dear, usually you can't join in on the fun of Guild Missions unless a Guild Member or a special guest. This particular job with combination of these trio of troublemakers is definitely not a recommended first time. Our Guildmaster Jack or our S classes would likely take you on a little trial job to test your skills out a bit to give a official grade after playing a little questionnaire on how's your magic work, experience, history, etcetera etcetera. Our Guild generally specializes in monster hunting type jobs so we usually want to ease newbies into it. Unless your already kind of a brute busting machine like them." Prince chuckled, swishing his tail to point to Hunter, Ashlyn and Enma.

"Still even if you were, it's for the guild to know how you work and what you feel comfortable with so we can help you grow and learn." he smiled before ending up snickering as Michael returned Ashlyn's provoking comment.

Giving a grin, Prince gingerly poked a clawed finger to the blue haired man's cheek. "Aye fiesty! Perhaps you could go with the trio, they could use a cooler head in their little group. Less you want to wait for your brother, but I'm happy to send a message in case he has anything important to say." the tall feline esc man purred.

Seemed that they'd managed to assuage some of Nyssa's curiosity for the moment. Dalton stepped up take the Kitsune girl to see Jarvis which gave Ariel a bit of a break. Or at least it would have anyway. Taking back the lacrama the woman watched as Nyssa began to glow. For a moment she thought this might be some kind of performance. That was what the girl had been doing before this. Evidently what was not what she was doing, and before she could protest Ariel had been nipped on the ear and magic transferred to her.

Transference may not be the same from Kitsune to others, but Ariel was not like most other mages. Nyssa skipped away as Ariel put her free hand over her just bitten ear. The glow spread over the woman as the magic seemingly found itself at home. Shaking briefly and lost in a flash of light those familiar with her would recognize her tell tale transformation. Her regular ears shrank away as two fox ears popped out of her locks on top of her head. That was a more minor change though as her tail bone began to extend, segment, and branch out. Impulsively she leaned forward as, one after another, large fluffy tails shot and splayed out until there were nine in total. Glow dying down as the transition completed Ariel blinked her now yellow eyes several times.


The large tails practically occupied as much space as Ariel herself and she'd managed to knock a number of things off a nearby table. "Ah, what now!" Turning to pick the things up Nolan ended up with a face full of fur and was half engulphed in tails. Getting the things back on the table and turning back she was beginning to piece together that she was causing another scene. Reaching out she hooked an arm around as many of the tails she could get a hold of and hugged them close, leaving three still moving freely. "S-sorry about that. I uh..." She trailed off a bit as the personality trait that accompanied the Kitsune magic caught up. A cute little smirk made its way to her face and she released her tails, a couple of which purposely brushing against Nolan's face once again. "Actually Nolan, I'm feeling much better now." She couldn't quite get a guage of how she looked without a mirror but... "How do I look?" One of the tails wrapped around her left leg as she looked up at her boyfriend and put him on the spot.

Damian chuckled as he sat down and ordered a slice of apple pie. "And you know that for me, price is not an issue. You're my goddaughter, Amelia, the least I can do is spoil you. And regardless, it was Penny's idea, so talk to her about price." Thanking the person for the slice of pie, Damian takes a bite before continuing. "Anyways, how's things been? Been about a month since we last talked, so I'm a touch behind."




Jane shrugged and let Karn explain their unique situation before speaking up herself and answering the ones that she could. "Well, to be fair, the guild's reputation is always on a knife's edge for the most part. We got the white knights like James and Damian that keep us from sinking under completely, then those of us like myself who are known to get the job done under any circumstance, albeit with some...small, extra damage to the surroundings." This drew a small chuckle from the energy blade mage and then she addressed the drinking. However, as she was about to continue, the young shapeshifting mage had a water induced panic attack and quickly excused themselves from the area, drawing little more than a shake of the head from Jane. I'll have to thank him for the compliment later then.

"Well, that's unfortunate, but probably the best way to handle that. Anyways, I think Mark might have something to say about that. He may not be much for words, but that man is a steady drinker and I'm about ninety-five percent sure he's drunk nearly double his body weight since he joined up. Fair warning, before you rush over there, he's not a big fan of unexpected conversation. In any case, we've got a few people looking into ways to separate two people into one," She takes a cup of juice from a passing guild member who was acting as a server for the day and takes a sip, "so I'm sure someone would help ya if you talked to 'em."




Herb gathering, huh? Seems like a simple enough task barring the unforeseen." Joshua, however, was quick to shift to answer Amaya's question and so he turned to his pupil, who had once more lost himself in the combat drills and neglected the Light of the Protector. Not that the Paladin blamed him, being new to the magic and all that. James had grown up learning to wield and cast his magic, even before it had progressed to the Light of the Avenger. Keeping on top of all of it was in his nature, between his magic training and his being raised to become a knight of the realm. "There's nothing to worry about, Cody. We can go over them later. For now, why don't you take a break and enjoy the company of your friends and guild mates."




Jake chuckled as he took a drink of the water that was brought over to him. "Ah, too late for that. Lets say we head out to Hargeon here in the next couple of hours, have some fresh caught fish?" Jake knew she wasn't necessarily a fan him spending a lot of money on her, he enjoyed doing so, since it was really just sitting in his account before. Not to mention that Hunter had this job under control, so there was nothing for him to worry about.




Jack rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he accepted the tea that Jamie offered, taking a moment to pull out a vial of green flame and add some to the tea, the flame dancing upon the top of the liquid without issue. "The primary issue, as it were, is that most of our requests are of the monster hunting variety. We've built something of a reputation as a specialist guild in the field and so we're highly popular for it. Suppose having a Dragon Slayer as an S-Class does somewhat build a confidence towards us in that regard. Though...Hold on." Pulling his phone back out and taking a sip of the flame topped tea, Jack taps a couple of different things and then some documents print from Jamie's printer. It had been a gift from him to her and it had made many of their more urgent conversations easier to exchange information with.

Standing and retrieving the documents, Jack hands them to Priscilla before retaking his seat. "I've already informed the clients that I've forwarded these jobs to you and Wolven Pyre and to expect to hear from either you or your members upon job completion. I hope that's sufficient for the time being. And these may not pay well, but should your members do well, these are the kinds of clients who get your guild's name out there." Jack had handed the Guildmaster of Wolven Pyre three jobs, all paying about 500,000 jewel total, that seemed easy enough. One was a delivery job for some wine from a well known winery, the Betalo Winery, to various locations and paid the best at 200,000 jewel, plus one bottle to the person who makes the deliveries. The second job was only paying 150,000 jewel, but was helping for ten hours a day for three days at a lumber mill run by Despardo Inc. Some of their workers had fallen ill and they figured magical help could help make up for it.

The last job was also 150,000 jewel, but was the most intriguing. They needed someone to retrieve some historical magic items and bring them to the Museum of History in Crocus. It also included a reward in the form of a magic sword from amongst the items retrieved. As Jack had said, all three were well known for recommending guilds who do well to other potential clients, and with these three jobs, it was clear the Dragon Fang guildmaster had essentially handed Priscilla the keys to the kingdom in a way.

"As for a communal job board, we'd have to accept some of that new digital age tech to make it work. Simply put, it would take too long to get everything to all of our guilds traditionally. And I would still prefer to keep the Monster Hunting with us, at least until we can corner and get a look at one of these new monsters."




Hunter just sighs as Ash comes in and immediately sets to trying to rile up the other members of the guild. While he was always ready and willing to brawl with all comers, he didn't feel an incessant need to belittle anyone else just to burn the losers. "Right, that makes two, I need either one more A-Class or I'm taking our two support mages. Can never have too much support, even if we aren't expecting trouble. So hurry up and speak your peace, otherwise hold it."

Mentions: @PandaBrady
Location: Magnolia (Outdoors)

The second piece of cake found it's way to his mouth in a smooth manner, but it came accompanied by someone approaching on his location.

A common commoner? No. An uncommon commoner. A foreigner of some kind most surely. Of this he was convinced. Was it someone seeking directions? He allowed himself to softly breathe out of his nose, taking his time to taste the piece of cake until finally swallowing it. To multitask was something he had gotten used to, so he adjusted his hearing to it's regular level, causing the initial muffled sounds of the girl which had approached him to become more clear.

"The cakes are of acceptable quality, but are held back by not having better ingredients. And what exactly is Crocus? I am not familiar with it. I however find enjoyment in trying out a few new things, providing ofcourse they are not revolting. Whereof that is enough to label me as a connoisseur, I do not know. As for me being deep in thought, I wouldn't go that far... this is after all just a piece of cake. However I find enjoyment in analyzing it's contents." He said as he placed down the plate with the cake on the armrest and also his cup, before smoothly crossing one leg over the other. His eyes looking Xing over from top to toe, looking over her outfit, her haircut and trying to determine her age.

"Are you here with your parents? A child should not be alone in a place like this." The man held out one of his hands, with the palm facing upwards as if what he just said came as natural for him. "Also what is with that outfit? I've never seen anyone dressed like that before. Some ceremonial outfit?" Galdin said aloud, which sounded more like a verbal thought than a question. He threw a second look over Xing's outfit in the same inspecting manner as he did with the cakes.

Just when he thought that the kitsune was out of their hair, there she was again skipping back over to them. Well, Nyssa was just giving back Ariel's belongings and said that she also needed to repay her back for assisting her. "You can pay her back when you can. Just get settled..." Nolan trailed off as soon as he heard her say 'pay her back with magic.' Two and two quickly went together as he realized what she meant when the tips of her tails began to glow. "Wait, st-!" Alas, it was too late; Nyssa had transferred magic into Ariel and with a flash of light, she now had a new unpredictable form. That transformation looked like it was painful though."Are you-? Mph!" He was cut off by the fact that he had face full of fluff. To be honest, it actually wasn't unpleasant at all. That's really soft. Nolan thought to himself as he plucked some of the fur out of his hair.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." He brushed off bits of pink fur from his shirt and wiped down his glasses to get those hair follicles off the lenses. The tips of her tails trailed across his face and he looked at Ariel's playful smirk. Uh, wait hold on. Wasn't her Charm form supposed to be the more flirty one? Or was it Crystal? What the hell was the personality of this form?

Whatever the trait was, this form definitely had way too much impact. She already knew that she looked cute as hell, but that mischievous minx wanted to hear it from him. It looks nice. "Holy shit that's cute." His eyes went wide-eyed as he realized that what he wanted to say and what he was thinking got switched around. Now he was just dying inside. "Just forget I said anything."




"Huh, okay." Dalton said, watching Nyssa bound towards Ariel again and watched the scene that unfolded before him. Well, that happened.

The kitsune skipped back to the Exceed and bombarded him with a series of questions, quite unaware that she inadvertently caused Ariel to transform. Perhaps it would be best to lead her away from that so he wouldn't suffer a death via overdose on questions. "Yeah I have wings and no, as far as I know I'm da the only with two tails. The fire never seems to go out though."

Dalton lead her through the mosh pit of people and over to the bar. He hopped up onto a stool and waved to Jarvis. "Ayyyye Jarvis, we got dis new girl that wants to join, but she's not from around here and needs a place to live. Do ya know how long till Jamie is back? Also, a shot of milk please." He fished around his jacket pockets and pulled out a wad of Jewels as payment.

Cody and Cecilia @Lunarlord34 and Joshua Tamashii @Joshua Tamashii,James Avelin @Zarkun

"I am so glad to see you have taken to training and I am excited to possibly see how strong you could have grown. The magic here is so amazing you know. I hate mine for many reasons and don't like using it so I haven't truly grown to be like the other slayers. I still feel I am weaker than them, even possibly jasmine as she is growing so fast into her magic."Said Amaya listening between James and Cody as she was happy to see the not so timid Cody in front of her as she returned to Joshua giving him a blank state not fully believing all the details he stated. "You took too long and I can still smell your blood on your so your wound story isn't fooling me as I know you too well from all these years. I told you not to fight alone. You might have quick reflexes but I can see in the dark and track a lot better than you. You could have gotten severely hurt or worst die."She exclaimed in a blank manner giving her usual harsh rant about him neglecting his own care for her sake and blah blah blah. She calmed herself down when she heard James mention Cody should take a break and relax amongst his guildmates and friends "He is right Cody, As much as keeping up on training the mind and body, it is always good to relax and enjoy the company of those around you cause you never know when and if you may never see them again."She said gently "I would hate to only train and never talk with you only to never see you or any of the friends I made here in this guild ever again cause I neglected to relax and make precious memories and strong bonds and friendships...That is no way to live."She said "So You and Joshua need to stop wanting to constantly train. at least for my sake of mind."She said sweetly looking between the two before looking at James "Though I will say, I really had enjoyed your show and I am excited to see the festival the guild is assisting in, especially the S ranks showing off their magic. I wish I had that confidence to do so. Hell getting any sort of attention makes me wanna run and hide." She said a bit excited before calming herself back down to her timid, shy state. "I think Hunter and Zero have rubbed off on me" She added embarrassed of the excited outbursts scratching the back of her head.

"You know it, she would hide under a rock if I wasn't around to keep her in gear and paying attention to the need to grow and understand her magic that was given. I just wished we could actually find her mother instead of following all these leads for them to prove false...It hurts her a lot each time" Said Cecilia in her usual all high and mighty tone, taking credit she really didn't have, allowing Cody to pet her as she listened to them before looking around the guildhall. "Seems the other exceeds are having so much more fun but they seem so much louder than they need to be."Cecilia noted watching the scene around them curious of what else was going on.

========================================================================================================



Keiko watched hell break out from the stop sign's taunt of the other guild members as she listened to Enma's words with confusion written all over her face "I am so confused about the laws and traditions of this land I think. Sorry if that remake was sudden and rude Enma."She spoke looking over at the observer who was just as confused and shrugged in response as she watched Enma and nearly everyone goes off on ash's taunt before nodding in response understanding the gist of needing to be tested for the guild to get to know her and how her magic works along with what path she and her magic could take to grow. She was disappointed she couldn't go with Enma to bug him with more questions and see his magic at work, however, she knew the reason why and that was fine with her.

"I am not a kitten...at least, I don't think I am.."She added addressing the kitten comment. she wasn't sure if it was a metaphor of how adorable she was acting with not knowing jack of what was going on or what to expect from this guild she was determined to join in or if it was actually having cat features she could have sworn not having when she woke up this morning. She figured it was the metaphor route after a few moments of thinking "I am fine with the kitten nickname if it helps."She added to Prince watching Enma walk towards ashe "I hope you come back safely Enma! I got tons more questions I want to ask you okay!"She called after him before returning her attention back to Prince while moving closer to him listening to his explanation of the guild and what they specialize in "So this is a monster hunting guild? That makes a lot more sense now that you mention it. I have passed other guilds and bars on my travels and some seem about trade and others about fighting each other for rankings and some seemed obsessed with beauty. Wolven Pyre, I want to say is more for witchcraft, from the way my tome explains them from father's observations ages ago along with the guild known as phoenix wing to be a bunch of hoodlums? Are both of these assumptions of his still true?"She Asked curious if what she read was indeed true.
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Rose watched the attention and motion of the constantly changing guild members and topics flooding the guildhall. She looked down at elyse who finally decided to wake up during Damian's performance. Rose decided to move from the growing crowd, through the forming mosh pits of interaction and entertainment of the music. She found an empty barstool taking a seat before adjusting elyse in her lap "Your father had to go finish up something with his side of the family, that aspect is something he doesn't want our little Meno having to see or hear."She spoke gently to Elyse ordering two glasses of water for themselves. "I am sure that if you call for him, he will show, he tends to do so being one with that wind magic he uses."She spoke with a smile trying to cheer Elyse up a tiny bit about lucus not being with them at the moment

Markovis' eyes trained on Trinity for the entire time she spoke. The fact he came around here with no problem without them...it had completely slipped past his notice that Trinity only really ever came when she was with them. Or that a place that felt like home to her would feel so foreign now. Especially when that place was now filling once again with people she recognized but they didn't. He couldn't empathize...or sympathize...but he wanted to. He always wanted to be able to help support Neil and, in the past two years of building relations with her, Trinity. Times like these just proved how inept he was at doing just that.

The only thing he could relate to was that she had the same general reaction to the nuisance that was a telepathic sentient sword as he and Neil had. There was a pang of - was that regret? disappointment, perhaps? - something in his failure to note it to Trinity to make sure she was aware beforehand that something might invade her most personal of spaces. It was a matter that needed addressing, given how the sword and its owner were so unapologetically naïve - that was the kindest word he would give it - in both simply intruding in people's thoughts and not warning anyone in that it was a possibility. No matter how many reacted poorly to the intrusion, it never seemed to stagger the way the two seemed to approach new individuals.

That was for another time. Right now, dealing with a pair of unintentionally malicious individuals was not the crux of the problem. It was feeling like she didn't have a place here anymore. That simply was not true, and he knew it. It was a temporary feeling from being detached from what she was with the guild before he and Neil had joined and met her. A different Trinity for a different time.

True to the fact he rarely showed emotions, Markovis studied her impassively. Then, after a moment, he gently pat her head a few times. People liked contact when they were upset, yes? His cat certainly preferred scritches when he finally returned home after long days out - especially after jobs that took the team away for a few days. "Thinking about what was leads to a disappointing future." He meant it to be uplifting, but as soon as the words left his lips, he realized she may not appreciate it. Especially in combination with the fact he was still patting her head.

His hand suddenly returned to his lap as he looked at Jarvis. There was one thing he knew for sure that he could do that would hopefully help. At least, comfort food never hurt to try, that is. "As always, I will pay for the items I am to use, but I would like to borrow the kitchen facilities. Please and thank you." That was all he said, before tucking his bottle of liquor into his shoulder bag, handing it to Neil, and making his way into the kitchen.

Neil held the bag by its strap as he watched Markovis disappear into the kitchen. Then he shifted over a seat to fill the void Markovis' departure left between him and Trinity. The bag found a spot on the floor at his feet. The older mage leaned forward a bit, smile sliding into place, as he tried to make eye contact with their despondent teammate. "Hey, come on now. Don't be so down. If there's anyone that belongs here out of Smokin' Bottle - it's you. I get it - some old mates came back and seemed to have moved on. We're still working on your kick, but we're a step closer than we were a year ago - right? Soon enough, you'll be a one lady band way better than anything Damian and his group could put together. You're going to outshine everyone soon enough."

---

"So you have no way of knowing what would happen if it did go out? You would not die, would you? That would be awful. There was a legend we were told when little that said there was a kitsune once that had many tails, and on each one balanced a fire. We had made a pact with larger lands to trade and fight when needed, and when they called on us to fight - he went. Enemies struck at the fire and each time one flame extinguished he lost more power. Eventually, the final flame was snuffed, and he died. This is why those of us that can wield the gift of fire do not keep it for all to see, 'least we perish as he did." Nyssa's gaze kept moving back and forth between Dalton's face and his tails. When they came to a stop, her curiosity got the best of her. When he came to a stop and sat on the stool, she reached out to test the flame. Not only did she feel no heat before she got to the flame, but her fingers passed through without issue. Once, twice, three times. Interesting.

She blinked and seemed to realize they were at their destination. A brilliant smile spread on her face as she turned to face the man behind the counter. "Oh, yes. I would very much be interested in joining. I heard a little about this from Ariel, and am interested to take part in being a guild member to learn more. Though I can make do without burdening you or this Jamie person with finding lodging. I am quite adept at staying outside, no trouble." She sat down on a seat beside Dalton without taking her eyes off Jarvis.

@Zarkun@Silver Fox@Sanguine Rose@CitrusArms
"Oh dear. Scared of water that badly? Maybe he thinks he'll melt." Elena unconsciously said aloud to herself. "I heard of a dark mage that did that once in a story book. Death by water."
She realized she was speaking aloud.
"Sorry, sorry, too used to 'being in my own head'." she joked.
She listened to Jane talk about the reputation of the guild.
"Oh, yeah, the guilds used to be great! All over Fiore, you'd see dozens of them, doing this that and the other. It's too bad it's not the good old days anymore.
She snatched some juice as well, hoping it was wine.
"Oh, I felt old just admitting that." She sipped hastily. Just juice.
"Well, thanks for the tidbit, anyways. I'll try not to sulley the name too much more. She laughed "I think I can loosen up Mark, if he's anything like me. See what he might be interested in. I'll talk to you later."
Elena strutted away, happy to finally be opening up. On her way over towards Markovis' usual spot, she stopped by the job postings first.
"A drinking contest you say!?" Elena delighted. Maybe that would loosen up Mark. She walked over and noticed the man wasn't there.
"Hmm. Where could he be?"
She asked as she scanned the area for the man.
"Hey, either of you seen my future drinking buddy? I wanted to see if Markovis was interested in a job I saw." Elena said, approaching Trinity and Neil.



@Dezuel

She was taken aback by the man's words for just a moment. Did she really look that young? The outfit too!
"I'm 17, for your information, perfectly old enough to be out on my own where I'm from. She pouted.
"and my outfit is traditional wear. It allows for fluid motions with very little hindrance, like when I have to fight someone.
She said the last part putting up her fists and shadowboxing.
She then realized what his other words meant.
"Wait, so you're not a food critic for Magnolia? You're in a similar get up to the last guy I saw in Crocus. They said it was the Flower Capital of the country, or something like that, but they didn't even have many cool trees, or hundred feet tall bamboo.
She realized she was rambling.
"So, if you're not a professional critic, what are you? An actor? I'm a chef myself, looking to prove my worth in the world."
She smiled happily at her own boasting. Perhaps it might intrigue the stranger.

Wait, Penny had something for the two of them? Blankly, Jasmine tilted her head slightly as she blinked at Penny. Jasmine didn't mean to come off rude, but seriously? Like, she might've expected Penny to bring back some souvenirs for the guild in general, but it seemed to be something a bit more personal than that, otherwise, it would've been fine to just give the younger girl whatever the gift in question was to her now. And even Rajah? Now Jasmine was just curious as to what Penny might've gotten the exceed, or rather she hoped it was anything but a muzzle. It would clash with the dress Jasmine had picked out for her!

"I-uh we, had actually only just got back from a job ourselves..." At the mention of food, Jasmine's stomach grumbled loudly, causing the girl to meekly smile as a small blush formed. Food sounded good, pretty good actually. And hopefully, it would also keep Rajah out of any more trouble.

Wriggling free from Jasmine, Rajah slowly floated up towards Iggy with a trademark smug look, arms crossed over her chest as she proudly boasted to him. "Ohohohoho about time for you to finally turn up Sir Ignatius, and here I thought you were neglecting your sacred duties as the Provider of food. Though no matter, now that you're-OW, OW, OW, OW!" Yanked back down by the tail by Jasmine, who just sighed and shook her head. "Rajah, how many times must I say that's not how you ask for something? Nor is that how you should greet something....Also it's nice to see you again Iggy."

"I-I get it! Lemme go already!"

"No. You're not leaving my sight, you'll just get yourself in more trouble."

"Hah! There's little these mere-OW! STOP THAT!"

"Y-yeah, let's go get a table Penny...we just walked here from Hargeon so a little rest sounds good." Pulling on Rajah to follow, otherwise, she would just tug on her tail again, the deflated exceed just slowly floated after her slayer, mumbling under her breath all sorts of curses.

---

As D'angelo spoke, Ethel simply gave him an inquisitive look, studying him intently. Why did he always seem to have the most exaggerated movements when he spoke? It was puzzling Ethel, she was already a pretty terrible read on a person's mood and motives, to begin with. She couldn't think of anything similar to this kind of interaction as she quickly combed through her memories for anything to aid in this situation. Maybe Ariel? No...she shouldn't delve too much into those. While it was hard to tell the difference most of the time, she had learned to pick up what was hers or Ariel's over the last two years. And it would be considered rude to just look over someone else's memories purposely...at least that's what Ethel assumed from the various lectures she had received from Nolan on the subject. It wasn't her fault she had them now, was it...

Back to reality though, he seemed to be laughing at her. Did he really think she was joking? Why would she be joking about this matter? This was a serious matter, no time nor place for jokes here. Should she just pre-emptively strike and not give him an opening? Though he seemed to be assuring her he had just been trying to mess and joke around with her, she just tilted her head and repeated back a single word.

"Hug?"

All that....for a hug? She had no clue as to what kind of relationship he and Nolan shared, but it just seemed odd beyond belief to Ethel that he would act so suspiciously and try to lead her on....over a hug. At this point, Ethel should just let him get that hug in. Nolan would swiftly deal with him for suddenly embracing him like that, he wasn't one for much physical contact with anyone other than Ariel. And his big puppies from what Ethel had caught him doing before, not that she would ever admit she had. Nolan was scary when he was mad.

Wait-cousin? Nolan had a cousin?

Blinking, a puzzled expression soon began to form as she gave him an even more suspicious glare. She knew Nolan had siblings, but she couldn't recall anything about a cousin? Not a single word. Well, there might be something in Ariel's if she really dug...but privacy. Then again, they were already in her mind, so hadn't she seen them anyway? What difference did it really make? Something about ethics and morals? Honestly, the blue-haired girl couldn't wrap her head around it. But regardless, she had never heard of Nolan having a cousin....actually he didn't talk much about himself in general, most of what she knew she had gotten from Ariel, or from hanging around him long enough.

"So you came all the way here....to give Nolan a hug?" She didn't budge at all from his nudge, taking a moment to process the thought. Yeah, no. That didn't really add up. "Nolan's never mentioned a cousin to me or Ariel..."

Her gaze moved past D'angelo and towards Nolan and Ariel. Should she really interrupt and bring this suspicious individual over to them? She didn't want to ruin their moment, nor put either in danger. But as the human pudding said, Nolan was plenty strong. She knew that. She knew that he didn't need any protection, however, there was a big difference between that and just throwing him under a bus.

"Ethel can't really tell if you're lying or not, but you don't seem to be much of a threat so there's harm even if you did try something. Et-I'll let Nolan deal with you." Returning her gaze to the older boy, she gave a blunt assessment before gesturing for him to follow her. Honestly, she was just going in circles in her mind at this point so this was the best choice at this moment in time. This was why she didn't bother with most people, it just gave her a headache as her mind tried to calculate what the best or most appropriate action was to take.

"Excuse Ethel for intruding Nolan, Ariel, but someone here is claiming to be-" Now Ethel had missed the transformation talking to D'angelo and only just noticed that Ariel had nine, massive, fluffy tails swishing about. Her entire body and mind seemed to freeze as she slowly took in the scene before her.

Fluffy. Soft. Multiple tails.

There was only one action to take here; as if any normal person could resist!

"Oh my god when did you get such soft and fluffy tails Ariel!" Running over, Ethel immediately latched onto one of the tails that were still moving freely, nuzzling against it as any thoughts involving D'angelo flew out the window. The soft fluffiness was just so comforting....and smelled good as well. "Hehehe...so fluffy~" A gleeful giggle escaped her as she reached for another tail, taking solace in nuzzling the bushy tail.

---

Gah...he knew what both James and Amaya said on training too much was pretty spot on. Honestly, while it was certainly difficult to get into when he first started...now that was he used to his training, he mostly had an issue of losing track of time. He was only meant to training a few hours a day, but one time he trained for a day and a half before Ethel came and dragged him out of the training grounds only for him to promptly collapse. Boy, his ears were still ringing on that lecture.

But he was weak, even now he wasn't sure how strong he was. He had yet to really test himself proper without it being in a spar or on a mission with James, nothing to really compare himself to. So there was nothing wrong with wanting to be even stronger right? He couldn't afford to rest on his laurels with his level of strength and talent. Not if he actually wanted to not only protect others, but not require to be babysat by others in a fight.

But at that same time, they were right. Training too much was also no good. He had already learned that the hard way a few times thus far during his training. But that was also why he was here, right now. He still planned on doing some magic practice later, but suppose if he didn't get time there was time tomorrow, right?

"Well, that's unfortunate," Cody remarked as Josh spoke of the herb gathering. He hoped that Amaya could find a lead soon...maybe he could try to help her? And he was at least trying to be friendlier with Josh, there was no point in trying to avoid him after all they were still guildmates.

"And yeah, yeah I got the memo. I'll try to cut back the training....maybe invest in a clock or a watch something. But like, I need the training you know?" Jeez he wasn't going to drop that subject. As much as he knew training too much was bad for you...he also couldn't convince himself was training too much to begin with. He needed to work harder to even remotely catch up to those around him, let alone be of any use.

"And the S-Class exhibition huh. That should be pretty good actually, though I'm more interested to see if Damian or Nolan use some of their swordplay over the magic itself. Like I'm sure their magic has gone to an insane level once more, and I'm not saying I would be able to copy their moves...but like, it doesn't hurt to watch other swordsmen go about their styles right James?"

---

Well, she certainly got a few people riled up, but not many seemed keen on saying anything. Kinda disappointing really. She was certain that would fire them up and make a few more eager to volunteer, but oh well. Upon Enma stepping forth, Ash simply just smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Oh come now Enma! Water is absolutely terrifying! It's cold, wet and ew. In fact, I distinctly remember you throwing up at the sight of the water!" Ok, while she may be exaggerating, it was more a little ripping on behalf of the sea sick Enma she had encountered on their way to Tenrou. Man, what a terrible first impression he laid-out.

At Micheal's outburst however, she went silent for a moment. Slowly, she turned over her shoulder, a blank look about her as she stared at the celestial mage. Then slowly, she moved away from Enma and walked over, looking down at the younger man for a moment with a fierce look. But in the blink of an eye it melted away as she let out a loud laugh, slapping Micheal on the shoulder. "Hahaha you ain't half bad eh? Really putting these nobheads to shame, Prince is right come on and join us. I'm interested to see how ya magic works."

To be honest, Micheal had never really caught her eye before. Mostly because he kinda came off as....spineless? Maybe that was harsh, and she could see she was wrong on that before. But he didn't seem overly confident among other things which led her to that conclusion. But man, that was such a good zinger, she really couldn't even be mad about it coming from him!

Although at that thought...

"I...don't smell that bad right?" Taking a moment, she whiffed her armpits. She hadn't bathed since yesterday, but she also had only woken up not long ago. She couldn't smell yet right?

---

"But I am her servant." Shiro stressed. She wasn't sure how many times she and Meredith had argued over this little point, but the older lady was right in her thinking that this was an impossible argument. Not that Shiro or Manami had divulged much information or backstory on themselves, it was clear to see that there was that sort of relationship between the two. "I care not for your stupid antics Mr Baptiste. Just keep the idiocy to a mildly tolerable level around Lady Manami at the very least."

"Is that a request? Oh my, how bold~" With a soft smile gracing her features, Manami watched in amusement as Bullet stormed off and into the guild-hall. My, my he really did have a short fuse, didn't he? He really needed to learn how to relax a little, maybe some tea would help?

"Ah I asked Shiro to request Meredith prepare some tea for us. I must say, she has a rather magical touch with those leaves I'm afraid I'll never be able to match. Her tea is simply divine~" Humming softly as she answered the younger girl, she turned her attention to the newcomer as she felt her hand grabbed. For a moment, Manami tensed but upon realizing her own reaction, soon relaxed as her smile returned. "Oh no, the pleasure is all mine Ms Hadou." Returning the gesture with a brief courtesy, the group soon made their way inside where Zhulie and Regan broke off to go to the kitchen.

Manami considered joining them for a moment before Henri made his way over from the bar, and also proceeded to grab her hand and lay a kiss of his own upon it. Though Manami was rather used to Henri and his little greetings, which was simply met with a coy laugh and a sly grin. "I'm pretty sure I heard that from you yesterday as well Mr Baptiste, did you run out of material already?" Gratefully taking the seat offered to her, she took a moment to pat down the back of her dress before sliding onto the stool and gave Argus a courteous wave. "Good afternoon to you as well Mr Leandros, I pray you're doing well this fine day also?" She didn't seem to let on whether or not she had seen him fall over, but for now she was at least acting like she hadn't.

"Oops, my hand slipped." Looking up as a cup was placed beside her of steaming hot tea, she noticed Shiro move just as she poured a little on Henri's leg. There was no way in hell her hand slipped at all, it was blatantly obvious as she had to turn, reach over and then pour that small amount of still hot tea on the leg of the older mage. "I do profusely apologize Mr Baptiste, I was just so inspired by your earlier skills it must've rubbed off on me."

It was really hard to take an apology at face-value when a, it was absolutely not even remotely sounding genuine, b, her tone was smug and dry, and most importantly, c, she was holding back a snicker as she smugly looked down upon the seated mage. A real vindictive bitch she was.

Joshua at least at the decency to wince and look a bit regretful about his actions when Amaya scolded him.
"Sorry. You know I don't mean to worry you. I try to avoid it but I guess I'm just a bit too much of an idiot at times." He said to her once there was a pause in the conversation, having listened to what James and Cody had to say as well, lowering his head. "How about I make it up to you? I think... maybe one-thousand jewels of ice cream, your choice of flavors at the parlor of your choice? Does that sound like it'll help? We can go to any city you want as well."

Turning to Cody, he looked thoughtful as he examined his fellow guild member.
"I do have to agree with Amaya and James on this one. I understand the need to train and try and better yourself. But you do need to just take some time and relax. If you just focus on training, you'll eventually hit a rut and unless you take the time to relax and do some reflection, you'll likely get frustrated and make no progress." He said, remembering his time in the East when Kirin had been training him. He had experienced many, many ruts back then. "That being said, I do think you have a good idea in observing your betters. All martial arts training starts with the art of imitation. If you can't mimic the basics shown to you, you'll never get anywhere.

That being said, after a bit of relaxing, would you like to do some training together? I'm a swordsman too you know. At the very least, having someone to spar with can often times be better then training alone. On top of that, I can help you stop yourself from training too much, which will help these two relax and not worry as much."



"Well then..." Amelia said, looking around the guildhall before spotting Penny and shouting to her. "Thank you for the chocolates Penny!"

With her thanks given, Amelia turned back to Damian before looking thoughtful.
"Not much has really happened that I know of. I've mostly been trying to figure out the location of the at least one of the remaining two Riders. I only got Styx and Acheron to find yet. But, sadly, it's taking more time then I imagined. I suspect their locations where exceptionally well hidden due to their powers.

Other then that, Mama and Papa are at some sort of meeting with Master Jack, but I don't know what that's about. I don't know where Sam is though. I should probably go looking for her, make sure she's not in trouble. Maybe she's out playing with Elyse or something though. But if she's not, I can only hope she's okay and then she isn't hurt or anything.



Indeed, Pyrrha was not a fan of money being spent on her but at the mention of going to Hargeon, her eyes lit up a bit as she turned towards Jake.
"Really?! We can go to Hargeon?! Can we go to one of those restaurants by the ocean! I can only imagine how fresh the fish must be at those places. If we get there when the sun is setting, I bet it'll look so beautiful as well!" She said excitedly before catching herself. Her cheeks quickly grew red as she looked away and spoke in a more subdued tone. "B-but I guess any restaurant there would do. I don't really got anything fancy to wear to places like that so I would look... really out of place."

"The floor says hello, Ms. Manami." Argus's reply still came from beneath his hat, hanging somewhat limply in Henri's grip while still holding his hat so it covers his face and any embarrassing expression he could possibly be making at the moment. Eventually, he cot a hold of any possible emotions that the situation had sparked in him, raising the hat to show a friendly grin as he finally stands on his own two feet rather than leaning against Henri. "The floor also wonders if you and Shiro had a good trip to. . . wherever you two had gone. I forget."

"And it seems someone is as protective as ever. . ." Argus chuckles at Shiro's little 'prank' before moving to take a seat by Manami, wincing slightly as he rests his face in his arms, still trying to hide the red mark on his face from the two women. He also didn't want Zhulie to see it, as the last thing she needed was to have a twelve-year-old laugh at his failed attempts at romance. . . again. "I hope those weren't expensive pants, Henri."

"In any case does anyone know who that woman was with Zhulie, Ms. Manami? Doesn't seem like a new member."

@Lunarlord34@CitrusArms@Cello

---

"No worse than usual, though if you must ask then I reckon a visit to the guild baths couldn't hurt." Came Silver's tactful and assuredly mature reply to the question of Ash's personal hygiene, taking a long and purposeful sip of some tea that he had seemed to prepare out of nothingness(or the special thermos that he had stored in his pack). "I any case, if Hunter still believes more guild members aren't enough to deal with the issue, then I don't mind the following suit if you would have me."

"Failing that, however, I would be more than happy to give our new perspective guild member a tour of sorts around the facilities. give a rundown on what I've come to learn about how the guild operates and such." *Setting his cup down, he'd turn to the newcomer with a slight nod of his head and a warm courteous smile. "As for the guilds you mention, Miss Keiko, I've heard a couple of tales about Phoenix Wing to make think those rumors hold. . . a bit of truth. They certainly seem a wild lot, though I wager that Dragon's Fang isn't one to talk about having wild members." An errant glance towards Ash as he spoke made it clear where that particular critique was pointed.

"As for Wolven Pyre, I admit I've not really heard much of anything about them aside from some rumblings on their origins and that they are a new guild that neighbors our own in the Silverglade forest. I have. . . felt presences in the forest when I got here to train, but aside from that I remain clueless." Despite his best attempts to appear collected, talk of Wolven Pyre caused a very noticeable shiver to run up the God Slayer's spine as his free hand curled into a gesture against evil that he held against his heart. "Do you know anything else about either of the guild's, Prince?"

@Lunarlord34@BlackMaiden@Silver Fox@hatakekuro@MarshiestMallow@Landaus Five-One@Zarkun