Fleo Plector – Guild Hall
A nod from Fleo greeted Trinity's inquiry, but she had already spotted her distinctive target. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to...uh...” Fleo watched as Karn left Trinity to speak to a couple of people that she wasn't particularly familiar with. All Fleo really knew about Mithera and Zero, even after two weeks, was that they had become a sort of team. Having her own team, Fleo hadn't thought it appropriate to try and wedge herself into theirs for chatter. Her desire to speak to Karm about him replacing her for the Games had momentarily wiped this memory from her mind. “...Karn. Looks like he's occupied, though.” At that moment, Fleo heard Elyse's ear-ringing shout, and jumped. Jamie? Had Rose's little girl found the old guild master? Startled and befuddled, Fleo stood motionless for almost three seconds.
Fortunately, Trinity and Angelo provided for Fleo a miraculous solution to keep her from looking awkward.
“Training? Sure thing!” Fleo exclaimed, though the young ninja had caught her eye. As Angelo departed, she called after him,
“I'll be there in just a sec!” before heading back to the bar to seat herself beside the happy brunette. From what she'd seen, this girl was a kindred spirit to her; both shared a boundless youthful enthusiasm and energy, though in the ninja's case it was more appropriate. “Hi,” she said. “Welcome to Phoenix Wing! I saw that teleporting trick you did moment ago, it was really cool! What magic is that?”Harper managed to wolf down the remaining few bites of her pancake before replying.
“Shibobee!” she said, and hiccuped before swallowing. Laughing at herself, the girl corrected, “Shinobi, I mean! The secret way of the ninja! Flash steps, force accumulation, ki strikes, inertia redirection, all of it! I'm just in training right now, but one day I'll be a serious badass.” Another hiccup eroded her boast slightly, but it didn't seem to both her. “I'm Harper Saxum, Frenzy Plant Private! And you?”
“Fleo Plector! Nice to meet you.”After wiping her hand on her voluminous pants, Harper shook Fleo's.
“Cool! Uh, I hope you'll forgive me, but I was listening earlier when you said you didn't want to be a part of Phoenix Wing's team.”Fleo adjusted her headrag, eyebrows furrowed.
“Oh, yeah. I just don't know if I'm up to it, you know? This guild's weird, but it's really nice, and I don't want to compete in something if I know I'm gonna lose. I'm not a very high A-rank.”“I guess. I'm just a C-rank, but I think if they'd let me, I woulda tried anyway. Given my all just to see what I could accomplish.” Harper shrugged and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. Turning to her food, she said,
“Good luck training! I wanna try and finish my fruit before we're outta here. I hope I'll see you at the Games!”Shortly thereafter, Fleo emerged into the lot behind the guild hall, where Angelo waited.
“Alright! I've been told that dust and lightning are a good combination. What kind of training do you have in mind?”Xyster – Phoenix Wing Guild Hall
The green-clad swordsman that stood before Xyster carried with him an ominous air, though this did little to dissuade her. It did not escape her that he stood farther away than most when speaking to her, even though most people didn't care to converse with the inhuman Dullahan up close.
“Waltz? Like the dance? Sweet!” She took a step closer to him and eagerly raised her hands for rock-paper-scissors.
“You've got us all wrong. Our main reason here is just to give the newly-resurged guild on the block an official howdy-do! Learning about your members and magics is just a bonus.” Finding Nolan surprisingly cooperative, she played a quick round of games with him. The first hand turned up in a victory for the Dullahan, but soon afterward that triumph turned into bitter defeat. Xyster's head, tucked in the nook of her arm upside-down, adopted a jokingly sad face.
“Rats! Lost again. Hey, I have a weird question for you. I'm a Dullahan, you know, and we have a thing for death. I kinda...smell it on you. Killed anyone lately?”Now recovered from his embarrassment thanks to Penny's absence, Nandy heard Xyster's question and groaned. He went over to the bar to grab some pop, sitting between Harper and Mayt.
“Hey, what's up?”Zander Louvier – the Frenzy Fort
Nodding stiffly, Zander authorized the match-up. In response to Gabriel's request, the red-haired smith put his hands together, causing silvery blots of energy to appear and rapidly coalesce into a ball. When Beardo pulled his hands apart, a medium-to-large infantry blade rested on his palms. Its size, halfway between a longsword and a greatsword, mean that while a skilled man could wield it in a single hand, it would be better served given two. This sword Beardo handed to his opponent before conjuring his own. When the smith's own light faded, he held two weapons. One was a lance, almost as tall as he, and the other was a short, thick cavalry sword, better suited for defense than attack.
The Ruby Knight redrew the lines between the candidate and the soldier, and bid them,
“Start!”For a few moments, he was able to spectate the combat between the two, but he found his attention coveted by a new presence. Having to look at a notepad to understand what the hooded arrival wanted earned Thor a unamused look, but Zander did not allow that quirk to influence his judgment.
“So be it. Are you familiar with the procedures involved in joining Frenzy Plant?” When Thor nodded, Zander cast a glance at the ongoing duel between the strange boy and the large man, then responded.
“So be it. Your first opponent, the one you'll need to beat in order to receive a C-rank, is Private Riggs”A noise from the sparring area caused Zander to look that way. He found Heisty Beardo seated on the ground, his lance on the other side of Gabriel, and a line-shaped bruise on his cheek. Luckily the weapons he'd crafted were dull; otherwise he'd be bleeding. Beneath his visor, Zander narrowed his eyes at Gabriel. While it was true that Beardo's fighting skill left some things to be desired, it hardly looked like he'd been fighting Gabriel all-out. The motivations of the silent northerner were, unfortunately, indiscernible.
“Looks like you've earned a C-rank. I salute you. If you wish to attempt a B-rank after...” Zander glanced at Thor, who hadn't given him her name,
“...this one fights, your opponent will be Lieutenant Bolganone. Riggs, step up.”Edith dutifully lined up behind the ruby mark, waiting for Thor to take her own position. The minstrel held her lyre closely; it was clear her magic was of the Holder variety.
”It's been ages since I've tested anyone! I'm not that great at fighting, but I'll give you the best I can.”Meanwhile, Rat hadn't had much success with Andrea. She'd assured him that it was alright, and asked him to thank Gabriel for his appreciation, but it hardly came off as genuine. Following that, she'd shut down, laying on the floor and content to watch the upcoming fights.
“Ready for another wonderful, insightful day at Pie-urn E-Pig-ma?” Nero cracked to Ayame as they approached the dark guild's hall. As he chortled, he looked upon the building, and recalled the struggle he'd gone through to become this familiar with it. Despite the apparent ease with which the girl Luna had found Phoenix Wing, her own guild had proven much more difficult to track down. It had taken nearly a week of asking around, exploring, and travel for the genie and his young friend to finally find that place, but locating Iron Enigma had been only the beginning.
After entering the decidedly modest building, he had been struck by how much it resembled Phoenix Wing—but not for long, as one of its members had accosted him almost immediately. Only after Nero had cursed the man into the shape of a silkworm and threatened to crush him beneath his heel had he realized that the man wasn't very high-ranking in the guild. Still, the speed and ruthlessness with which Nero had asserted himself kept any of the dark mages from overly bothering him or Ayame further. As he'd said to her then, “For most dark mages, there's only one philosophy: target the weaker. You've gotta show them how strong you are.”
Since then, he'd slotted into the Enigma life surprisingly well. Always keeping Ayame by his side lest she run afoul of some hooligan's temper, as so that she didn't implode from fear, he had accompanied Enigma wizards on several jobs. Compared to Phoenix Wingers, they were much more likely to let Nero work his magic on them, usually in the form of temporary magic boosts but other things as well. Two plucky dark mages had even let him try his Law of Manifestation on them. He'd removed the former's sense of balance and the latter's restraint, leading to much laughing all around as the first volunteer fell over repeatedly and the second stuffed herself so full of food that she went comatose for half a day. Of course, he'd made sure that Ayame hadn't been around when that happened, and he'd given the mages back their aspects afterward.
Today, however, Nero expected something even more exciting. It looked like Iron Enigma, sneaky sneaky, would be getting into the Grand Magic Games after all, and that today they'd announce their participants.
“I can hardly wait! First Phoenix Wing, and now Iron Enigma. I should volunteer to be the guest announcer! What d'you think of that, eh, Aya?”
