[IC] Fairy Tail: Next Generation

[Kitty]

Mimi shook her head at Iggy's childish behavior as the master sighed, "Fine. You all may go but keep in contact and be careful." The master said handing the sheet to Mimi before returning to the office. She walked over to where Iggy was with Karn on top of his head. Mimi reached up and scratched cat Karn behind his ears before opening the job sheet and reading over it herself. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she read what treasure they were meant to be receiving. Her hand went up and rested upon her key as she gripped it in her hand, finishing her reading of the job request. She folded it close again and looked up at the group waiting for everyone else to get over here before explaining in more detail.

[Constantine]

Luka walked toward the guild master as he laid out of the details of the operation with the broom still in her hand and frowned in annoyance as she was 'volunteered' for the operation without her consent. “Hey! Don't just go volunteering people without asking them Iggy!” Luka responded tersely with a clearly annoyed look on her face. She was not angry with him, though the look in her eyes did suggest that she might just whack him with the broom anyway. “Maybe I have another job lined up already,” she carried on stubbornly and crossed her arms in clear defiance. She tossed her head to the side and exhaled meaningfully. That was when Karn turned into one of his furball shapes and leaped atop of Iggy's head. For some reason he looked completely natural up there. Luka relented and sighed heavily, her arms dropping to her sides in defeat. “Karn, couldn't you at least pretend to think about it, don't just go along with it,” she said in a soft dejected tone. She considered the job for a moment. It did pay well, very well in fact. Suspiciously well even. So did her last job now that she thought about it. All at once her complexion became pale and tired looking. As if by magic a darkness had descended around her eyes and brow. She laughed weakly to herself at the memory. However now that she thought about it there was no possible way that the two jobs could be related. No way at all! Besides, if her admirer was following her to guildhall as she feared then she would rather be gone by the time that they arrived. In fact she insisted upon it. “Yeah! We can do this no problem master! Right Iggy? Mimi!?” she almost shouted, her voice full of determination and spirit as her complexion returned to its usual glow. "So what's the plan?"

[The Irish Tree]

"...4...Billion..." Torie muttered to himself in disbelief. Behind his helmet, and behind his brain case, Torie's mind surged with infinite possiblities of how much shit he could get with his share. An hour of thinking condensed itself into five seconds before Torie got up and slammed his fist down on the table he was sitting at, his chair disintegrating as he lost focus. "HELL YEAH I'M IN!" is all he said before raacing over to Mimi, eager to hear what was going on. Practically blowing steam from his nose, Torie kept repeating: "4 billion...4 Billion...a Billion fours..." Drool dripping from his chin onto his shirt. He kept his hands balled to keep from trying to grab the job, worried that he'd get drool all over it. it got to the point that he formed a barrier magic jaw-piece for his helmet, keeping the drool contained.

[Demon Shinobi]

(Gonna move us along!) Things got settled pretty quickly after that. The group would be heading on a mission. And by chance, the girl, who'd yet to join, would be coming along as well. Trinity was her name. At least, that's what Iggy though. Not that he was doing much thinking right now. He was currently laying in motion sickness induced agony, his head on Luka's lap. Yup. No perception of boundaries on that one. "Uuuuuhhh..." He groaned in annoyance. He hated this part of jobs. The travelling. Why couldn't they get there some other way. Of course, it was rather far. The place bordered the edge of Fiore, a large forest. It was possible to have been magically created by some wizard, but not much was known about it. There were temples scattered across it and it was rather large. It'd take a while to reach though. So he was stuck. And he was quite sure his guildmate wouldn't be so sympathetic.

[Silver Fox]

Karn sat across from the two, curled up on the seat in his cat form as he rested on the train seat. This was one of he reasons why he agreed to go, since Dragon Slayers just didn't seem to do well in travel. Especially Iggy. This was a long trip as well, considering they had to take a train then travel by foot in which case they will probably travel by cart with Karn pulling.

Cracking a emerald green eye open, the orange feline purred a little. "Poor Iggy. This is a long train ride too." he mewed.

[Constantine]

The carriage rocked gently as Luka sat staring out of the window, watching the world go by through the glass as they travelled across the countryside. They, that is her and most of the team had decided they would get to their destination by using transportation rather than by hoofing it. Which had made plenty of sense at the time. Their destination, while not on the other side of the world was far enough away from Magnolia that walking would have simply taken far too long. Besides at the time Luka was all for speed, especially if it took her further from the guild. At the time she had been happy. Enthusiastic even. In the meantime the situation had gone completely downhill.

Iggy groaned in obvious distress, his head resting awkwardly on Luka's lap, her dress bunched up slightly to provide him something of a pillow. It was a small gesture, though why she had made it she had no idea. She brushed a hand absent mindedly through his hair in a supposedly comforting manner, only the irritated look on her face suggested anything but kindness in regard to her mood. And she was getting more annoyed by the minute.

“There there,” Luka intoned with mock kindness that contained a hint of the sadistic. Normally Luka would have not have put up with this kind of crap from Iggy, especially if he had planned to do so on purpose. Only he clearly hadn't, so she tolerated it, at least for the moment. Besides, his helplessness was somewhat heart warming. It gave her a warm glow inside. His current suffering was revenge for the fight that HE had started back in the guildhall. However with that said her tolerance was rapidly becoming strained and it was starting to show if the vein on her forehead was any indication.

Luka turned toward Karn, still stroking Iggy's head as it she had no idea she was doing it and glared irritably at him. “Huh? Poor Iggy? Why not poor Luka?!” she said in mild annoyance as she lifted Iggy's head up slightly and proceeded to drop it limply back onto her lap. He really was close to helpless while travelling. “Jeez! Why me? Why not Mimi? Or the new girl?!” Luka complained more to herself than to anyone in particular and with a huff returned to looking out of the window, a slightly flustered look on her face. “If we don't get there soon I'm going to strap him to the roof,” she said with complete seriousness.

[The Irish Tree]

Torie's mental state (And drool output) hadn't changed at all since they left the guild hall, to the point that there was a Barrier-magic bucket on his lap that was already half-full. Aside from the occasional muttering of how big the payout would be, Torie said little as they rode along, to the point that the driver was probably thinking that he was comatose. Or a vegetable. Or just an idiot.

Probably just an idiot. A bit into the ride, he finally snapped out of his money coma, and nearly spilt his drool bucket out onto the floor. Shaking his head slightly, he wiped his chin on his right sleeve, before wondering: "...How long was I drooling into that damn bucket?" Torie remained silent for a bit, before figuring that he hadn't really gotten the chance to break the ice with anybody he'd met today besides Luka, and even then that was just a short meet-n-greet. Turning to his side, he looked at the...person who turned into a cat to say: "I don't think I ever caught your name. I'm Torie, Torie Derringer."

[Demon Shinobi]

(I'm gonna say that since Karn's post we had move from a Train to a Carriage to get to the village we'd be meeting our client at.)

Iggy groaned a bit. He couldn't really reply or do much. Even as dragon slayer his state was rather patheitc. Even Mimi, who was also a slayer didn't act that much like this. Though his suffering would soon come to an end as the carriage, which they'd immediately switched two after the train ride, came to an end. At least on the train he'd taken a seat all to himself. Poor Luka would then have to deal with him during the carriage ride. "Ugh..." He slowly sat up. "I-it's because you're actually pretty... K-kind... And pillowy... A-and I don't know the new girl..." He answered Luka regarding why she had to deal with it. "Plus... You sat next to me..." He was still fairly weak, but gradually getting better. At least he hadn't thrown up. That was something. Right?

"We're almost there. Just gotta go through this little checkpoint." The town was rather strict. They would be stopped for a few minutes. Which gave them all time to talk for a bit before they had to go again and Luka had to deal with Iggy... Again...

[Constantine]

Pretty and kind huh? Luka stared at Iggy as he struggled to sit upright under his own power, which was not the most awe inspiring of sights. It still puzzled her as to why such powerful wizards would be so vulnerable to something as harmless as a little travel sickness. It was almost enough to make her feel sorry for him. Almost. Instead her expression darkened as she reached out towards him in a threatening manner as if she was going to throttle or electrocute him. And instead tried to lightly push him off of the seat. “Stupid dragon slayer, where else was I going to sit?” she replied with an exasperated sigh before returning her gaze out of the window. She ran a hand through her long white hair. Up ahead the checkpoint loomed. "I wonder if they have any cake," she mused half-heartedly.

[Silver Fox]

As the group had transferred from train to carriage, Karn had harnessed himself up as a black horse, trotting along the dirt path while his ears twitched a little as he listened to the chatter behind him. Though he soon stopped as he reached the checkpoint, one man about to go up to the side of the carriage until jumping as the horse suddenly talked.

"Hello! We're Fairy Tail Guild Members coming to the village for a job." Karn chirped, earning a few curious looks before Karn craned his neck to the side to grab at a paper stuck to his side before holding it up to them. His head bobbing up and down a little like regular horses do.

The guards tsked and grabbed at it, looking it over.

After a few moments of talking and questioning, they finally let the carriage pass. Karn gave a neigh, before pulling the carriage once more in a light trot. It wasn't long until he could see the village up ahead.

"The village is in eyesight!" Karn cheered.

[Kitty]

Mimi sat behind Iggy. Her face was pale as she bit her lip and closed her eyes trying to push past the motion sickness. God it sucked being a dragon slayer at times like these, but then again she was glad she didn't act like Iggy. She opened one eye to look at the new girl, Luka, and Iggy. "Looking a bit sick flame brain..." Mimi teased despite being sick herself. It was stupid teasing but hey what could a girl do. It was in her nature.

Shortly after the teasing, they finally arrived at the village. When the carriage pulled to a stop Mimi launched herself out the back and to the still ground. "Oh Mavis! I never want to ride in one of those again." Mimi said as she stood up and brushed the dirt of herself before walking to the front of the carriage and stopped to look around the town.

[The Irish Tree]

Torie tapped his foot impatiently as they traveled along in the carriage, gripping his forearm as his greed and impatience started getting to him. It was a lot of money on the line, even if they were going to split it a lot of ways. In fact...he was pretty sure that each team member's pay was going to be more than double what Torie'd gotten in addition to Iggy's. Or maybe not. He never went to school. Or learned to count. Or spell. Or write his name. He just signed everything with the insignia on his helmet.

Shaking his head, Torie finally shoved the thoughts of literally swimming in a pile of money as they arrived. Sprinting out, Torie took a deep breath, finally resting his left leg solidly on the ground. Looking around, he started to wonder how an ordinary town was going to shell out that much money. A tightness formed in Torie's chest as he thought of his money pool disintegrating into ashes. Of course, he never knew. Looking back into the carriage, he asked Luka: "You uh...want me to get Iggy off you?"

[Demon Shinobi]

Iggy fell easily when Luka pushed him. Had the carriage not started moving again he might have done something. "Damn you Karn..." He cursed his friend. Of course he knew Karn HAD to move, but that didn't stop him. And then there was Mimi. He didn't know why it effected him so much. But he was working on it! In secret. Totally. He groaned until the carriage stopped again. They were there. He practically broke the door off getting out onto the floor. Ugh..." He groaned before finally hopping to his feet. "FINALLY!" He said with a small burst of energy. "Luka! Torie! Get out here." He took a breath. Much better.

"Ah~ Fairy Tail Guild mages." A man's voice came from a bit away. "So glad you could make it. I've been waiting for so long." He chuckled lightly. "Thank you for accepting the request.

Iggy got a bit of a bad feeling from this guy. But he shrugged it off. How bad could he be. The people around here seemed to like him as he greeted various people while coming to meet the group. And he wasn't giving off any real menacing vibes. Just a bit of a... It was hard to explain.

[Constantine]

“No, I think I’ll manage, thank you,” Luka replied to Torie with obvious amusement as Iggy barrelled out of the carriage ahead of her as if propelled by some explosive force. The fact that he immediately seemed to turn on Luka and Torie with some apparent notion of retribution made her laugh out loud. Taking hold of her staff Luka carefully climbed out of the carriage and took a moment to dust herself off. “Cool it flame brain,” Luka said with no real enthusiasm and took a moment to stretch with a satisfied groan. Ignoring Iggy she quickly surveyed the town and almost at once felt a disquieting sensation that something was off. Not least the fact that from appearances there was absolutely no way in hell that this town could pay the kind of reward that they had offered. The welcoming committee did little to alleviate her concerns. She sighed and rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on.

“My name is Luka Magnolia. These are my fellow Fairy Tail guild members, Iggy, Karn, Mimi and Torie,” Luka said in a neutrally polite tone as she motioned to each of the wizards in turn, her intent being to dispense with the pleasantries as soon as possible. She offered her hand to the man in a polite gesture. He would feel a slight but harmless jolt emanating from her skin. Harmless but attention focusing. “Now, since we are here, perhaps you could elaborate on the…finer details of this request. The reward was very enticing to be sure. I'm sure you can understand that we might have a few concerns about that?” Luka said with a gentle smile that possessed something of a sadistic quality to it. He would find that her grip was surprisingly firm for someone of her delicate features.

[Silver Fox]

Karn watched as everyone got out of the cart, the Dragonslayers looking quite please about it and enjoying the cease of movement and fresh air. At least they somewhat recovered quickly as long as the transportation wasn't quite fast. Once everyone was out, his body changed into a cat. Easily slipping out of the harness before hopping onto Iggy's shoulder, lounging his lithe body over the dragonslayer's left shoulder as he listened to the discussion.

[Kitty]

Mimi turned around on her heel at the sound of someone speaking to them. She turned to see a guy with amber hair and golden eyes. She opened her mouth to introduce everyone but Luka beat her to it. She closed her mouth as she looked more closely at the guy. She was getting a bad feeling coming from the man. He might be the one that is giving them a job and paying them, but she didn't trust him. Mimi's eyes lost emotion as she stared at him. On instinct her hand wrapped around the key on her neck. She ran her thumb over the intricate design feeling comforted. Mimi watched the man ready to defend the group or attack someone if this guy did turn out to be bad news. Her body was slightly tense but not enough that it was noticeable unless it was Iggy. He could read her pretty easily since they grew up together.

[Demon Shinobi]

Iggy sighed and shook his head before lightly slapping Mimi's back to get her attention and snap her out of it. "Relax." He whispered quickly before the man cleared his throat.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet each of you. Now, Miss Luka was it? I suppose after you're most courteous introduction I could move on to the more important business." He smiled. It wasn't an evil or sadistic smile or anything like that. But there was something about it. Just something that Iggy didn't like. Still all the same he remained quiet, his left hand curving up to begin softly petting Karn as he rested his arm on Mimi's shoulder. "I'm looking for you all to help me with a search. I've spent years of my life studying and tracking, looking for the location of some very special artifacts. They take the shape of keys. Think of them as something like celestial spirit keys, but so very much more rare." He paused for a moment.

"What do you mean more rare?" Iggy asked quickly.

"The truth is they some rather special celestial beings. That is... They summon the celestial dragons. Dragon's who embody the zodiac much like the celestial spirits. These keys when gathered could make the finder a very rich man." He snapped his fingers. Two young boys pulling along large trunks can up beside him. He had them open the trunks to reveal the reward money. "Though, as you can see that it not my reasoning for the search." He was calm as his smile shifted to a smirk. "You see I wish for the discovery. And to see these majestic beings in all there's glory." He was quite passionate, but that didn't deter from the aura he gave off. "I'd like to discuss things more after you've settled in. We can also discuss the payment." He added as he turned to leave.

Iggy motioned for everyone to leave things at that. This was strange. Of course the job would be dangerous. They had heard a bit from the master but now they were going to get some real details. After they settled in a bit more of course.

[The Irish Tree]

Torie simply remained silent as the man explained his job to them in detail. "Thank god...nobody has to know I can't read." he thought to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest. Then the reality of what the man had just said hit him. They were going to find keys...to summon dragons. Scratching his left shoulder, Torie started to wonder if the guy was even in his right mind, given that dragons were kind of...not around. At all. Then again he'd never seen one. For all he knew, maybe there were dragons on the moon...After that thought, he gave a rather suspicious glance to the skin, glaring at the nothing that was there.

Looking back over, Torie saw the sight that made him fully believe that he'd died and gone to moola heaven. That. Much. Many. In such a tight space. Just as the man turned to leave, a single tear dropped down Torie's face, which he quickly wiped off on his sleeve. Falling to his knees, he clasped his hands together and looked up to the sky, whispering: "Thank you God of Money..." just before he started drooling again. Torie took about a minute before he stopped drooling and got to his feet, looking at Iggy with a determined glint in his eyes. "We gonna do it? That's a LOT of money..."

[Constantine]

The moment Luka heard mention of dragons and Gate Keys her first instinct was to get back into the couch and simply leave. Nothing involving Dragons could possibly turn out well. And unlike some members of the team she had no love of money to the point that she would endanger herself in its pursuit. That was why Luka was known in the guild for taking easy, reliable missions that were often well below her skill level. You had to be alive to spend the reward after all. However Iggy seemed to be willing to go along with the situation, at least for the moment. Perhaps because of the mention of dragons and Gate Keys. And if Iggy was going to go along with it then she supposed it only right that she go along with it as well. They were a team after all.

Luka sighed and shook her head, feeling a headache coming on that would no doubt result in some form of emotional discharge in the very imminent future. It was then, as she turned toward the reward that she caught sight of Torie. “Oh, gross, could not drool everywhere!?” Luka exclaimed with obvious disgust, prodding him cautiously with the tip of her staff as she was unwilling to physically touch him. She had noticed him drooling in the carriage as well but had put that down to being asleep. Now it seemed more than apparent that it was a little deeper routed then that. “I mean really, its only money. Money! You've seen it before I assume?” Luka carried in an annoyed tone.

[The Irish Tree]

Torie looked at Luka in confusion as she started poking him with her staff. Then he realized he'd been drooling. His right eye twitched ever so slightly before he started to wipe it off on his sleeve, his ears starting to burn bright red. Once his chin was free of liquid, he cleared his throat, saying: "Well...of course I have. But never THAT much! And so what if it's just money? Money's the most important thing of life, so of course I'd be excited that I can make some! Can never have too much money these days..." After he gave his spile, Torie just crossed his arms and resumed waiting for a group decision.