Blazing It [INTRO]

Huh. Usually, trouble only partook outside of the guild hall, but today was different. There had been rumors of a sudden surge of street fights happening at the outskirts of the averagely peaceful town – with emphasis on ‘peaceful’ – and obviously, it wouldn’t take long before their patron guild caught news of these rising street bullies beating the crap out of each other for jewels or clout. At first, it wasn’t looked upon as a major issue – a guild as battle-experienced as Fairy Tail always invited a new challenge – but there were reports of destroyed properties around Dragonbane Avenue – and let’s not even begin to mention the lack of regulations and proper authorities in these matches. In this case, it was just a dumb idea.

And now, it resulted in a strange redhead being smashed through the guild’s old oak doors, now laying on their clean floor. Kumiko had just broomed that. How disrespectful.

He leapt off of his chair at the bar desk and nodded to the bartender Adam, who quickly began making a few beverages ready. Meanwhile, the Guildmaster approached the scene and glared down at the red-haired woman with inquiry. She sounded like she had been searching for Fairy Tail, given by her strangely excited proclamation. “8/10 for that. Heavy deduction for the rough landing, but I give you extra points for shock value.”

Then, he would lift his gaze up to look out through the entrance to see whoever had hit her, for a little bruise mark was apparent on her belly.

WC: 255

Bandits, huh… maybe she just bothered them at a bad time. It was clearly up to him, as of right now, to dampen their angers and calm everyone down. Nymara was her name, and she appeared way too energetic for a girl who just got her torso blunted by such a huge weapon. When said ‘bandits’ walked in, Mura walked up towards them and decided to help out Nymara a little… if she caused trouble for them, then that would be his responsibility to kick her out again.

These men looked more like sailors, honestly… but she stated that they troubled a shop or something. “Okay, guys, hit me up – what’s the big iss-“

He blinked for a brief moment, then suddenly saw the bandits on their knees with their hands clapped together. They were begging him to forgive them for throwing the girl through their entrance, explaining that she picked a fight with them out of nowhere. Now, this didn’t correlate well with Nymara’s version of the story, where they were harassing a shop outside.

“Huh… I’ll go and ask all the shops, then,” he suddenly suggested with a bright smile, “Woe to you if you’re lying to me-“ Before he could even walk out through the entrance, the men began to plead for him to stay. They knew about him and Fairy Tail, and they knew just how resilient and thorough this rowdy guild could be in these kinds of cases. Therefore, they simply confessed, to which Mura crossed his arms in disappointment.

“Can’t have troublemakers harassing hardworking citizens in Magnolia… we’ve literally just survived an ambush from Elysium. I’m pretty mad, right now…” he explained, the word ‘mad’ causing the bulky men to shiver like frightened, little kids, “And I think I’d only get madder if other… huh, ‘Red Tusk’ members were still around the streets, know what I mean?” They gulped cowardly, realizing where he was going as he tried to make it clear to them through subtle but readable codes between his lines.

They then told him of their little hideout in the sewers of Magnolia, to which Mura then asked them to go turn themselves in – otherwise, he’d start a bloody witch hunt and throw them all the way to Era half-dead. His threat worked, and they were gone from the site moments later.

“Now that’s cleared and all… hey, I could’ve sworn that you said something about joining Fairy Tail. How come you wanna join us, specifically? We’ve really been getting a handful of new members lately, so I’m kinda curious to know our attractive factors…”

WC: 433
TWC: 1735

Tapping her index finger against the wooden surface of the table she was sitting at Akemi was studying the contents of the parchment before her. It was classified information, so maybe sitting in the guild hall where others could try to sneak a peek wasn't the smartest of ideas, but at the same time Akemi would be very impressed if someone actually managed to do so without her noticing. That, and while the information was classified whether other Fairy Tail members knew about it wasn't too relevant. After all, if they tried to blab about it they'd be bringing themselves into trouble as well.

The parchment contained a detailed data set about a certain man who'd been angering the wrong kind of people. Rich, influential, the usual stuff. Worked at a spa, which was a bit more odd. She'd expected the spa to be little more than a side business with him being involved in some big trading company or something, but no, apparently that really was his main source of income. Then again it was one of the biggest spas Hosenka had to offer, so it wasn't like it didn't make a lot of money already...

What was more important, and interesting, was the data on his abilities and why he had a bounty on his head. While the details were rather vague there was good reason to believe that he was somehow involved in the destruction of Hargeon years ago. Part of what was interesting about that was that Akemi herself had been there for that disaster, doing her best to help fight off the sea creatures which had risen from the depths to wreak havoc and sow chaos. At the time there had been little sign of any land dwellers being involved in the attack, but according to this data set this Arnold Baggons was part of a cult of sorts which might have had some way to contact the abyss dwellers who had come to destroy the most prosperous harbour city.

There was also some stuff about him having a wife and daughter, but that was honestly irrelevant. Akemi had little interest in using them as hostages and whether her targets had family didn't bother her any. His abilities... in relation to the claims of him having been part of a plot to attack Hargeon from the sea apparently he could summon marine and abyssal creatures. The raven-haired hunter was quite certain that at least the biggest of the monsters back then had appeared through their own means, but maybe he'd helped spawn some of the lesser threats which had roamed the streets and docks at the time? The fact that he was only getting hunted down after years had already passed meant someone was holding a grudge. That or it was more profitable now...

Akemi would have pondered this a bit more if it wasn't at that point that the main doors of the guildhall were torn open and someone was thrown inside. That in itself wasn't so strange: Fairy Tail almost openly encouraged its members to be lively and willing to resort to violence to settle their dispute, even if actual injury was frowned upon. What was more interesting was that the person who'd flown through and crashed into a table was not someone Akemi recognized, but carrying a scent which was very familiar indeed. The scent of a mortal who's had dragon magic incorporated into her being. Or, what others would call it, a dragon slayer. While in her human form Akemi herself kept her draconic magic hidden, but she still had an interest in others who made use of it.

She remained quietly seated at her table at first, watching the scene unfold. Mura, often present in the guild hall, quickly took charge and questioned the intruder, along with the thugs that followed her in and begged the guild master for his mercy. Fortunately for them Mura was a pretty merciful man, which resulted in the rather amusing situation of an entire gang of bandits leaving to let themselves get arrested by the guards. Of course, they were given plenty of incentive in the form of sincerely not wanting to get into trouble with Fairy Tail, one of the less restrained guilds in Fiore even if they weren't actually dark.

But the thugs weren't important. Akemi kept her eyes on the woman who flew through the doors first, listening to her conversation with Mura. It looked like she'd been trying to hunt the thugs down but was now instead focused on trying to join the guild. Tapping her table once more Akemi briefly considered her options. She could just leave and head for the library, leaving this up to Mura... but on the other hand, she was still interested. Both because of the girl's magic and because she was pretty hot.

Standing up the raven-haired hunter rolled up the parchment she'd been holding and put it in a pouch before walking over to where Mura and Nymara were talking. "I'd assume that part of her motivations is the fact that a gang of bandits would rather turn themselves in than anger Fairy Tail's guild master." She said this rather dryly, as if Mura really shouldn't need reminding of what happened literally less than a minute ago. "That, and this guild knows how to make a scene." Akemi personally preferred to keep collateral damage to a minimum, as it was wasteful. Other members of the guild? Not so much.

"My name is Akemi. As for the alcohol..." She glanced towards where the bartender already had a couple of drinks ready. "The bartender appears to already have prepared some for when our guild master is satisfied with your answers. Although it might be prudent to wait a bit longer..."

This red-haired newcomer possessed dragon magic, which was intriguing, but she just said she lost to those bandits because she hadn't expected them to also have a magic user. Maybe there was an opportunity to find out just how capable Nymara really was...

Current Appearance:

WC: 1,008
PWC: 1,008

“Yeah,” Mura commented the scene of the rather unfriendly hooligans walking out of the hall in amends, “Sure hope they’ve learned their lesson…” They were definitely members of ‘Red Tusk’, whose lifeline was about to reach its end once Mura had settled this interesting fellow and her fiery approach towards the guild hall.

His drink was still waiting back at the bartender, who was preparing a third drink for the involvement of Akemi. Mura turned his face towards her as she assumed what was probably the most obvious trait of attraction towards Fairy Tail in the eyes of promising newbie wizards; the power of sheer intimidation that Mura displayed as the Guildmaster. “I’ve been working on my sheer intimidation techniques for a while, too. Glad to see that it’s effective… though I’m sure they’d shit in their pants if Vandrad was here in my stead.”

Feeling pretty good about himself, he then turned his attention back to Nymara. She must’ve been a wandering wizard for quite some time, to which Mura could understand her desires to join a guild. Other than wanting to get a solid pay and strengthen her magic, he felt that she would deeply appreciate the camaraderie as well – she did refer to herself as a ‘lone wizard’, signaling her apparent loneliness.

Hearing of Fairy Tail’s reputation always brought such a vibrant smile on his face. He couldn’t help but feel flattered, scratching the back of his head with that grin. “We’ve certainly toned down on the wild side if you ask me, but old habits die hard, I guess… hehe,” he joked about. Nymara’s reaction to Akemi showed a slight phase of surprise, after which she snapped back quickly. Was she…?

Well, for the love of God, Mura knew what Nymara was, already. While he didn’t possess the finely-tuned senses of beastly embodiments, pure experience with these specific kinds of wizards slapped its hands on his head while screaming ‘She’s a Dragon Slayer’. Even if he was slightly confused at first, the reaction to Akemi’s entrance was suspicious… but Zirconis’ and Kyuken’s entrance was damning.

“H-Holy shit, she looks just like… I thought it was Haru for a second!” Kyuken let out in mild shock, “Who’s this fine lady, Mura?”

Not knowing whether Nymara possessed shamanistic abilities allowing her to see Kyuken or not, Mura turned around and gazed up to about a few feet above their heads where Kyuken and Zirconis floated in their round spirit ball forms. “Her name’s Nymara – and if you try anything lecherous, I’ll have Akemi slice you up.”

“Wait, why wou- aaaaa-aahhhh-ah-ha-ha-ha… h-hah, oh, h-hello there, A-A-Akemi…”

That properly shut Kyuken’s cheeky mouth when his attention allowed him to spot Akemi in their ring. Zirconis, on the other hand, felt somewhat pressured.

“Are you planning to gather an army of Dragon Slayers, Mura? You know how rare they are…”

“Huh? … Oh, that’s right,” Mura replied gently before gazing back at Nymara, “So you’re a Dragon Slayer, right? Just like Akemi here.” He’d point a thumb towards the gloomy Dragoness and refrain from revealing her ‘dragon-ness’ and rather just refer to her as a Dragon Slayer, “If you’re willing to answer my question, then tell me how you learned Dragon Slayer Magic… if what Zirconis says is true.”

If it was true, then how she learned her magic would speak volumes about herself. After all, she would use her magic in her quests as a guild mage, so he was sure to find out how she applied herself in the field. He figured that Akemi, as a fellow Dragon Slayer, would be interested as well… but being interested in fellow Dragon Slayers sounded more like a Thea-chan thing. Maybe Akemi didn’t care at all… but then again, why would she then join the convo?

WC: 634
TWC: 3846

"If you want to be as intimidating as Vandrad you'll have to grow out your hair." Akemi commented in response to Mura. Maybe her words had been too vague: rather than Mura's personal intimidation prowess she figured that what attracted new mages to a guild like Fairy Tail was the fact that it was one of the strongest guilds, and by extension only a lunatic would get on the wrong side of the guild master, the one who was in charge of such a powerful group. But it didn't really in the end, so she moved on and instead raised an eyebrow at Nymara's... interesting reaction.

It looked like Nymara had sensed the dragon magic hidden inside Akemi. While the raven-haired woman did her best to keep the nature of her magic a secret it wasn't entirely unexpected that someone else who also possessed dragon magic would at the very least notice something, even if the redhead appeared more confused than certain about what made Akemi stand out. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd met you before today, although you do look similar to someone else I used to know." It was already quite some time ago, but just like Nymara that woman had a striking figure you wouldn't just forget. Brilliant, blazing red hair, a confident look and a body that clearly was used to exertion. "Better not to think too much about it." While Akemi was interested in Nymara's magic and abilities she'd rather her own weren't immediately discovered.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when Mura's two spiritual companions popped out and started behaving as usual. The samurai ghost was immediately showing a certain type of interest which made the guild master threaten to let Akemi hit him. Placing a hand on her hip Akeya looked at Mura before shifting her gaze to the spirit, her expression flat even as to Nymara's eyes she was probably looking into thin air. "Just stay quiet." She didn't want a lustful spirit to get in the way just when someone potentially interesting was trying to join the guild.

Although she couldn't help but let out a light snort when Zirconis seemed to feel threatened. Nymara might have dragon magic but she was still young and inexperienced. More than that, as a spirit Zirconis wouldn't need to feel threatened: it wasn't like he had a body or a life for the dragon slayers in the guild to destroy. Akemi herself was actually in more danger than Zirconis. Then again, she was less likely to actually antagonize any of her fellow guild members.

On the other hand, her fellow guild members might say things that would give Akemi reason to be hostile towards them. When Mura revealed the nature of her magic so carelessly he earned himself a glare from the golden-eyed woman. She'd told him that he'd have to keep her true nature secret, and sure enough calling her a dragon slayer wasn't entirely truthful, but it looked like she'd have to stress that when she meant 'don't talk about me' that included talking about her abilities. "You didn't need to tell her that." She stated this curtly before returning her attention to Nymara.

At least Mura had a good question. Where did the fiery redhead get her dragon magic from? Akemi had come across quite a lot of mortals who possessed dragon magic, but they were still relatively rare and the methods for obtaining it were rather limited. Either a dragon saw fit to teach you and in the process pass along their dragon magic to you, or you embedded yourself with a dragon lachrima to act as the source. Which method Nymara used would tell them something about her.

"There are several dragon slayers in the guild, so aside from normal training you can also get help developing your magic from experts here." Nymara would have to train against more than just slayers to truly grow and become stronger, but it certainly helped when you had the assistance from others who used abilities similar to your own.

Current Appearance:

WC: 681
PWC: 1,689

"I don't know whether I've seen the others around today, specifically, but I'm not surprised to learn you're a Fire Dragon Slayer: you're got quite the fiery streak going on!" Having watched the scene from afar, Aven wore his usual, bright smile, sitting at one of the nearby tables. He was fairly confident he had a grasp of the situation: Red Tusk had been just as uprooted by recent events as Fairy Tail, though they hadn't quite the capitol or power to rebuild nearly as quickly. It made sense that they'd be stirring up trouble, though he was far less interested in dealing with them at the moment, than sizing up the newcomer.

Nymara was almost assuredly newly trained, from Aven's perspective: her magical presence was slim, the telltale sign of recently awakened magic. He couldn't be sure just how long she'd trained with this 'Vulcanis', but given her apparent age, and the fact that she'd called the Dragon her Father, Aven would have placed his bet that she'd been honing her skills for many years. Given that she was far stronger than Aven was at that age- at least, the age he was guessing she was, Aven could never truly be certain with women- he was prone to believe she had potential.

Aven rose from his seat as he spoke, adopting a slow and steady pace as he approached the gathering. His gaze shifted briefly to Akemi, one of the members of Fairy Tail he hadn't spoken with at length, as of yet. "I'm sure Mura's intention was nothing but pure, Miss Akemi. Miss Nymara, here, is looking to hone her skills, and it seems like you're two sides of the same coin! It couldn't hurt to have a sparring partner, now could it?" Returning to face both Nymara and Akemi both, Aven swept his arm across his chest and dipped into a light bow. "Aven Alveron, one of Fairy Tail's Aces," He straightened, his smile still just as warm, "It's nice to meet both of you." Aven paused for a moment, gauging Nymara's expression from before. His smile softened, as did his tone. "You used a peculiar word, when describing your father, Miss Nymara: 'taught', in the past tense. I apologize if this subject is painful, but am I to believe he can no longer teach you?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Word Count: 390.]

Yeah, growing enough hair to rival Vandrad wasn’t that big of an interest from the shaman. The Taskmaster would have to keep to his wig himself, for Mura liked his duck-tail dew. He was likely going to keep this hairstyle for a long time, too…

“U-Uurrgguuhuuhhh…” Kyuken sobbed under his breath, bewildered by both Mura’s and Akemi’s commands and threatening auras. Oh, how much freedom had been stripped off of him in comparison to times past; times when Mura would get smacked around by passers-by who assumed him to be the culprit who rose their skirts like a little gremlin lecher. Truth was, he didn’t hear Nymara’s comment whispered to Akemi, but he certainly noticed her body language. He was used to people not being able to see Kyuken from times past as well, but all Fairy Tail Wizards could now see the two ghost pals that kept bringing him troubled conversations about who was the best in this and that.

Mura did notice the glare from Akemi after him mentioning her Dragon ‘Slayer’ Magic, and he was honestly found… confused? Did he say something wrong? He still called her Akemi, and he didn’t say that she was a dragon; he knew that she wanted that to be kept under rags. Therefore, he glare and comment was met by dumbfounded eyes. “U-Uh? I just thought that-“ he was trying to explain, but his sentence was cut short by Nymara’s growing interest and honest amaze at the news. With the wild attention aimed at Akemi at the moment, Mura worried that he might’ve gone better off not having said that…

And in comes Aven to the rescue with a reasonable plead to forgive the shaman for his blabbering! Good timing, too, for Mura certainly didn’t want to hurt Akemi’s trust in him to keep her secret… well, secret. “Yeah, of course… besides, there are many Dragon Slayers out there, Nymara. Kinda shocked that you didn’t know that.” Dragon Slayers had been a thing since ancient times, so to justify Nymara’s own assumptions would be by having her stay isolated for most of her life… was that the case, then?

Following Aven’s curious question, Mura turned back and approached the bar table where he picked up four mugs (partly with help from wooden appendages bursting out of his torso); one of them containing his own sprite-whiskey combination for himself, one with Aven’s classic, one light as to not cloud Akemi’s sense of judgement and some Hangar Vodka for the new girl who appeared to hold her liquor in high regard.

He reached the drinks out to each and offered: “While we’re gathered here and all, have a toast, why don’t ya? *sluuuuurp* I sure will…”

WC: 453
TWC: 5934

"Mura can talk to spirits. Since you're not a member of the guild yet you can't see them." Akemi quickly explained to Nymara why Fairy Tail's guild master was suddenly talking into empty air. It wasn't surprising that the redhead would be confused: for people in the guild it might be entirely normal for there to be spirits and ghosts following Mura around, but for an outsider, it would look like he'd gone mad. "Unfortunately one of them is a creep." She knew that Kyuken could hear her, but why should she care for the swordsman's feelings? It wasn't like he came across as very likeable even outside of his lecherous habits.

She grimaced as Nymara latched onto Mura revealing Akemi to be a dragon slayer. Truthfully it wasn't that big a problem, especially since depending on how this developed she might have revealed that 'truth' herself. However, that didn't remove the fact that she'd rather that Mura developed the habit of saying as little about her abilities as possible unless it was part of some plan. Right now she was pretty sure that he'd just not realized his mistake. "My magic is similar to yours but not identical. For one thing, we have different elements." Best to make the most of it. Akemi moved her bandaged hand a little, considering revealing a few of her tricks before changing her mind. "If you show me what you can do after this I might return the favour." It looked like Nymara was interested, so it would be easy leverage to get the girl to agree to her terms.

When Aven got involved the raven-haired woman switched her attention to him. White hair, blue eyes, a cheerful attitude... way too friendly compared to herself. However, she limited herself to a frown as he tried to explain away Mura's slip of the tongue. After glaring at him for several seconds she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "I specialize in tasks where secrecy and subtlety are important. The less anyone talks about what I can and can't do the less chance that information gets into the wrong hands." An explanation for why she was upset with Mura which was both accurate and deftly avoided the bigger issue. "Telling Nymara here might not be the biggest problem but information hygiene is something you should practise at all times, not only when it's important." While she was fine with performing other jobs at the end of the day her speciality was assassination. Not the kind of profession where you wanted people to know what to expect from you.

The suggestion that Nymara could serve as a good sparring partner made her raise her eyebrows. "She'll need more training before that point. I could help her with that, but that doesn't require her knowing my magic." While Nymara did look like she had potential she was still a newcomer. The only thing Akemi, a significantly more experienced and powerful mage, could learn from sparring with her was restraint, something she already had a lot of practice with.

She accepted the drink Mura offered her with a nod, although she didn't drink from it. Instead, she just held it even as Nymara explained that the dragon who served both as her teacher and parent was called Vulcanis. One eyebrow twitched at that and she almost grimaced again. She'd met that dragon once or twice, and it made a lot of sense that he would be Nymara's adoptive father. Of course, Akemi found him a lot less endearing than Nymara. Her golden eyes shifted from Aven to Nymara as she waited to see whether the redhead would confirm the ace's suspicion that her father was no longer around. She'd hoped to guide this situation so she could get Nymara somewhere with enough space to test the newcomer's abilities but with both the guild master and an ace present she was outnumbered and outranked. Mura on his own was informal enough that she could rely on her personality and attitude to get what she wanted, but Aven decidedly made things more complicated.

WC: 687
PWC: 2,376

Aven lightly bowed his head in acknowledgement of Akemi's plight. It was reasonable for her to ask the Guild to keep her personal information a secret, and by all means, he considered it a blunder for Mura to so openly speak of such matters. He'd heard in passing, in talks among the other Aces, of Akemi's "specialization", so it came as no surprise that she was adamant on the topic. As the Ace of Human Resources, however, it was his job to ensure proper relations within the Guild Hall, and while Mura's words may have been revealing, an undermining of the Guild Master of Fairy Tail in front of new recruits- or anywhere, for that matter- was not something he could allow. "I hope you'll forgive our impertinence on this matter, Miss Akemi. In the future, I'm sure there will not be any further slips of the tongue!" Aven shot Mura a quick, telling glance. "Isn't that right?"

He allowed Mura a response, before continuing with his usual, warm smile, returning his attention to Nymara. There was pain and loss painted plain on her face like a mural, and Aven let out a small sigh.  "I'm sorry to hear that, Miss Nymara... though, I wouldn't give up hope on finding him. The ones we love, even when they are out of sight, never truly disappear; even now, while you wonder where he's been, I'm sure you can find Vulcanis nestled in the memories you cherish. Hold onto that, and let it drive you forward and become strong!" Aven's eyes were no less a mirror to his own thoughts: for him, it was all too personal, with his twin brother, Zane, still under the control of the Void Lord, Castor. His mother had only restored his memories of their childhood together a year prior, and he'd held tightly to them ever since. Even if it took him decades, Aven was determined to free his brother from that monster's clutches.

Turning to address both Akemi and Nymara, Aven's smile brightened away from the melancholy thought. "On the topic of training, thanks to the contribution of Vandrad, Fairy Tail now has a wonderful training area, built to house even the rowdiest of Wizard battles! That said, I've recently finalized my plans to start a training initiative for Fairy Tail Wizards under S-Rank, to help them hone their potential and practice their magics in a more sterile environment. If either of the two of you would like to participate, all you'd need to do is find me in my Study while the Guild is open, and schedule a time." He rubbed the back of his neck, laughing. "I don't tend to be very busy, most days, so the odds are I'll be available immediately."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Word Count: 461.]

Kyuken sure was a creep. Mura agreed… but he was also, perhaps, his closest pal who had stuck with him for the longest time. That, too, he took into consideration when judging Kyuken’s character… but he really was a creep, alright.

While Kyuken felt down like that, Mura slurped his drink in an attempt to drown the weight of Akemi being upset that he spoke a bit too much about her magic that carelessly. Aven did put in a good word, but ultimately, Mura was asked to keep it under rags in the future – Akemi did focus heavily on assassination tasks, and she really, really, really wanted to keep her magic, capabilities and overall character as unknown to people around her as possible… perhaps a reason why he hadn’t heard so much of her, despite her ridiculous prowess. With her and Aven eyeing him down, Mura’s gaze lowered in embarrassment.

“*gulp*”

Okay, yeah, he let his tongue slip a little, but he still technically kept his promise? Then again, Akemi favored that he kept his discretion at all times; even a slip-up could prove fatal in the worst of scenarios… unlike him, she was really careful with her surroundings. It was a little pain, but he ultimately decided to just let it be – Nymara didn’t appear to put up some mask or anything, and she would’ve likely figured out things overtime. Aven didn’t even know the full story, but Mura had promised to keep his mouth shut, and he would take that promise to the grave, shove it on Hades’ dumbass face and demand a second chance at life.

Nymara elaborated on her father’s whereabouts; apparently, he just disappeared one day… the notion of the volcanic lair dying out was worrying. Wasn’t that a sign that a volcano was either going to sleep or perish? Those two events could have happened for the dweller in that lair, too… but he refrained from saying that. Aven did state what he wanted to say in order to cheer Nymara up a little.

On the topic of their new training system, Mura remembered the Red Tusk intel that he effortlessly extracted from those terrified hooligans earlier. Akemi had stated her interest in seeing Nymara’s capabilities with her Dragon Slayer Magic, and Aven was intent on optimizing his training initiative for all Fairy Tail Mages under S-Rank – something very helpful to forge them into skilled and powerful, experienced wizards who could ward off future events akin to the recent attack from Elysium and the Warlady Janet.

If she were to grow cocky enough to attack them again, then Nymara and Akemi – along with the other Dragon Slayers in the guild – would definitely play a big role in the counterattack; if not for their affinities against dragons, then merely for pissing off the Warlady… that could lead into several other events, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Well, it sounds like we all want to see you throw hands, Nymara… remember the location that the Red Tusk members revealed to us before?” Mura asked her to replenish her memories a little, “How about you do the honors and shake their base up a little? Make them know that we don’t exactly tolerate morons who make life hard for Magnolian citizens… the group earlier wouldn’t turn themselves in without, at least, letting the others know, so they probably already anticipate our approach. Consider it your entrance exam.”

…


The sewer system looked relatively cleaner than, say, a few years ago… maybe it was the incident with the poisoning of the water and the broken leak to the wastewater, an event orchestrated by Basilisk Fang, that unintentionally took care of a few cells of cultivating bacteria, but a sewer would always be a sewer. Few people ventured down here outside of work, but once you take the Eastern Entrance into the sewer system – the one next to one of the exits for Magnolia’s river – and take the following directions: straight, right, left, down the large tube on the left of the facing wall (where a rope ladder had been placed for others), straight through the tube-way, out to the large hall with pillars at the cleansing facility, then take a sharp left towards the furthest edge of the hall where a fake, wooden wall had been placed up, then you would be able to hear the clinging of a metallic bar door and commotion further ahead. A kind of guard was on the other side of the fake, wooden wall… only letting in the people who knew a secret password.

But did they really need a password?

WC: 770
TWC: 8445

Given that it looked like Mura understood the importance of not revealing Akemi's abilities if he could avoid it the raven-haired assassin decided to leave the matter be. She gave Aven a curt nod and Mura a passive look which hopefully conveyed the message that she considered the matter close before moving on. "If they knew what the afterlife is like they wouldn't be here, I'd think." That was in response to Nymara who was more interested in the ghost's nature than Akemi would have anticipated. For her part she just ignored Kyuken for the moment, as he'd been put in his place.

Although she had to resist the urge to facepalm when Nymara began to describe her as a ninja. She'd hoped that she'd been subtle enough about her speciality that the redhead wouldn't put it together, but either Nymara was smarter than she looked or Akemi had to be more obscure in the future. Maybe both. However there was little reason to be too distant about it by this point, so she just shrugged in a rather dismissive manner. "Something like that. I think you'll have the opportunity to find out soon enough." Given that she was planning to test Nymara she could afford to give a little demonstration at the same time.

As the talk shifted to Vulcanis, Nymara's dragon parent, Akemi looked a bit more focused. She didn't really know the guy, she'd only met him once or twice. However his disappearance still mattered because if he disappeared against his will that would mean that there was a threat worth taking seriously out there. Between dragons there were differences in strength the same as with mortal, but the minimum level was significantly higher so anything which could mess with a dragon was automatically worth paying attention to. "If you couldn't find his body or signs of battle then there's a good chance he's still alive." She observed this after Nymara described the circumstances of Vulcanis's disappearance. "The corpse of a dragon is difficult to get rid of, and if they could be killed without them even putting up a fight there'd be no need for dragon slayers."

Her gaze shifted to Mura, the guild master quickly speaking up to suggest that they'd go to the Red Horn hideout. It wasn't exactly what Akemi had planned, but after remaining silent for several seconds she folded her arms and nodded. "Might as well use the opportunity. As for the training program..." She turned her head to Aven. "I'll talk to you later about that." Only a small quirk of her eyebrow betrayed the fact that she found his words amusing. Of course it was a direct result of her hiding her actual power, but to think he actually saw her as another low-ranked mage... It looked like her ability to deceive others had seen some improvement over the years.

But first, the sewers.

---

The sewers were, as Akemi had already expected, a labyrinth. The assassin wasn't even entirely sure why they had to be built that way, but she assumed that it was the natural consequence of the city growing bigger and the drainage system snaking about to try and connect to every household and installation. Either way it meant that navigating the place was not only annoying because of all the scents but also confusing because it all looked the same and different parts of it were linked up in unexpected ways. She'd been here in the past, but she let Mura and Aven take the lead while she looked around, memorizing everything she saw so she'd have an easy time making her way through on future occasions. Or at the very least, make it look like that's what she was doing.

Reaching the fake wall Akemi stepped forward, sticking out a hand to the side. "I'll open the door." Better to leave Nymara to fighting people. Fire dragon magic wasn't very suited for taking care of obstacles. Not because it wasn't good at it, but because it tended to involve way more collateral damage than acceptable. They could test Nymara's precision when a mistake couldn't result in the city collapsing on their heads.

Shadows were pulled in from the tunnel around them, wrapping around Akemi's hand and taking on the form of a jagged claw with a malevolent, crimson tint to it. Reaching out with her other hand she pressed the palm against the wooden wall, shadows slithering over the surface and seeping past the edges as she concentrated. The bar door behind had a simple lock... just needed to roll some tumblers, which was easily done with some manifested shadows. Timing was more important...

There was a click as the door behind the fake wall was unlocked at the same time as Akemi plunged her dark claw into the shadows of the stone wall she was standing next to. There was a surprised but muffled shriek from the other side. "Done." Pulling the fake wall aside Akemi revealed an open door and a man who was pinned to the wall, large dark talons having shot out from the shadows on the wall and grasped him before pulling him flush against the surface. Looking over her shoulder Akemi addressed Nymara. "You're up next."

Current Appearance:

WC: 878
PWC: 3,254

Mhm. The sewers had been scarcely visited by Mura himself in the past, mostly due to people fearing the presence of evil spirits gathering down here. For some reason, these gloomy tunnels and basins were popular among them, but after several years of chasing them out, the sewer channels provided safety for anyone curious enough to venture them… at least, it was the case before the arrival of Red Tusk. When did they arrive, anyway? They had been awfully nonexistent until today… perhaps a change in leadership? Were they planning something?

Either way, Mura led the way through the tunnels, floating across them in the middle and looking back on occasion to see if Nymara was following up. With the kind of magic that Akemi possessed, he wouldn’t be surprised to know that she could, say, chill inside his shadow and just jump out when they got to the fake wall… but she managed to do just fine following them without any crazy antics like that.

After a while, they finally got to the hotspot of troublemakers and their little hiding spot somewhere near the heart of Magnolia’s sewer system. The fake wall was standing tall in front of the crew, and at first, it was thought of by the Guildmaster that Nymara would just burn her way through… it wasn’t as if a wooden wall could stop a girl trained by a Fire Dragon. However, a more discreet passage was made possible for them by the other possessor of Dragon Magic in the vicinity; with her Shadow attribute, she swiftly paved the way through the fake wall, opened the barred door behind it as well as subdued a door guard, all at the same time. “Oooooooh… nice, Akemi...”

He wouldn’t want to alert anyone further ahead, so he kept his voice low until Nymara was up. She did raise her voice far more than him, but… huh, nothing happened just yet. Nymara was free to charge in without any upcoming counters.

And thus, she unfolded her violent prowess on the masses of Red Tusk members hurdled inside the cistern, raising the room temperature by tenfold of digits. These guys weren’t happy to see a wizard enter their cistern and wreak havoc wherever she went, and while watching Nymara throw hands and blazes at them – from his comfortable, cross-legged position atop a ruined wall – he also noticed the crumbling around them. She wanted to deal with all the bandits herself, and he would most certainly grant her request, but with a flickering of two hands pointing upwards, Mura channeled some of his Onmyōdō to control the old bricks holding this place together. His mana forced them back to their previous positions, rocking them back to place so that the room wouldn’t fall apart in a sudden crash.

Things began to take in weight once she faced the big guy wielding an anchor as some kind of morning star. He put up much more of a fight against her, actually pushing her to a corner at a few intervals… but damn, it felt as if that alone increased the heat emitting from her leaking flames. Mura could’ve sworn that her fighting style was identical to that of… of an old friend. Yeah, the grinning pushover from years ago, wielding the same magic as her once before.

Maybe Dragon Slayers inspired each other, whether it be intentional or not. The shaman had to admit that the magic used to sound like such a pushover back in the days, and he thought that it was too straightforward – at least in comparison to other types of magic. He had been a Guild Mage long enough to witness a myriad of different kinds of magic at this point, so he could allow himself to have thought that… but looking at it more and more recently, he began admiring it once again.

Dragon Slayer Magic was pretty cool, in the end. Maybe he should try and learn it one day… oh shi-

The huge hole leading up to a ‘Thank God’ empty street… sure brought back memories. Long ago, Fairy Tail was synonymous with collateral damage, and it was an issue that the Council had discussed with them for a very long time…

It wasn’t the biggest hole, for sho, but Nymara surely had things to work with concerning the wilderness of her Dragonfire.

She looked at him and asked for a confirmation. Mura had seen enough; her exhausted posture signaled a temporary limit of strength that she could output, she lashed her power around, and she was tenacious and, in a way, quite too naïve? Was that the right term?

Even so, Mura made a mental note… more like a promise. Nymara would get much stronger than this in the long run. Her Dragon Slayer Magic would and will take a jump among the ranks of Fairy Tail, transforming her from a street brawler to a plasmatic surge of heat in human flesh who, on any occasion, could unleash a tremor of fire and live up to their title as Dragon Slayer.

Right when she asked, he clapped his hands loudly. The hole would begin rebuilding itself with the fallen debris that floated up to fit onto where they once stood. In due time, the hole was completely covered; his Onmyōdō sure came in handy when it came to cleaning up. Still nested on top of the visually unstable wall, he nodded with a soft smile: “You remind me a lot of a certain Dragon Slayer... both in voice and action.” A vision of the 5th Master passed by his head as he said so, “... When you find your late ddraig, don’t hesitate in showing your later Guild Mark. For I think you fit right in...”

With a thrust, he launched himself off of the wall and planted his feet firmly on the gritty floor, stretching up and concluding the entrance exam. “Hey, your element is Fire, and you do look a little dry... here, eat this,” he offered her, raising his hand up in the air and conjuring a large fireball. It wasn’t too big – about 3 meters in diameter – but it was packed with pure mana which he sheared free of Hades’ energy... y-y’know, the energy that did annoying numbers on most Dragon Slayers. The rest of the beaten Red Tusk members were all handcuffed by iron clubs beaming up from the ground and bending around their wrists and shins.

They sure had a lot of stolen goods and items stored in here. Apart from the present mugs of wine, the safes stored with jewels, and the common furniture, there was also a huge storage room locked and shut by a round, enchanted gate. It smelled of all the world’s riches for some reason...

WC: 1,132
TWC: 12,817

Akemi nodded as Nymara confidently stated that she didn't want any interference in the upcoming fight. Given that this was an opportunity for the fire dragon slayer to prove herself before joining the guild proper it was only natural that she'd be taking care of it by herself, at least for as much as possible. Given that she was still young and fairly inexperienced Akemi wouldn't go so far as to simply watch Nymara die if she got overwhelmed: that would be a waste of potential. That and she assumed that neither Mura nor Aven would just let a new recruit bite the dust either if they could avoid it. This wasn't some high difficulty mission where everyone was to carry their own weight.

Clenching her fist and pulled it back Akemi turned the claws that bound the gatekeeper to the wall into dark wrappings, allowing her to move freely instead of being stuck there with her claw in the wall. Since he had no magic ability and no extraordinary strength either it shouldn't be an issue to rely on the weaker, static form of restraints to keep him in place. This way she could follow Nymara deeper into the hideout as the redheaded slayer got to work purging the gang of thugs. Mura and Aven seemed content to just observe as well, so Akemi could just take her time studying Nymara's moves and tricks.

Folding her arms her golden eyes took in the contents of the cistern before focusing on Nymara, who had already engaged the bandits. Her moves were... traditional. Fire dragon magic was perfectly suited for a straightforward and aggressive fighting style, holding little back and relying on both speed and destructive power to bring down the target before they had a chance to resist or fight back. It looked like Vulcanis had also taught Nymara a little bit about using fire as propulsion, given how enthusiastically the slayer jumped about while beating up the thugs.

What was more interesting was the smokescreen that Nymara created. It was a useful trick, and more resourceful than Akemi had expected. Not to belittle Nymara or anything, but she came across as someone who was just too honest to be sneaky. That she could use her magic for techniques more complicated than jumping about and hitting people was promising, even if she was still too straightforward overall.

Like Mura Akemi noticed that Nymara's reckless fighting style was resulting in the structure around them weakening. Normally that wouldn't be too much of an issue, but Akemi preferred it when collateral damage was kept to a minimum. Aside from that, it really wasn't a good idea to destroy your surroundings while underground. Even powerful mages could end up burying themselves that way, even if the sewers were close enough to the surface that the four of them should be able to deal with it. The raven-haired assassin was preparing to take action when Mura beat her to it, the guild master using his own magic to ensure the ceiling wouldn't come falling down.

Aven, for his part, was watching just like Akemi. Given that he was the one who seemed more interested in training the lower-ranked members of the guild no doubt he was evaluating Nymara the same as Akemi. Of course, given that he believed that Akemi was pretty low-ranked as well he might be disappointed that, aside from opening the door and capturing the guard, Akemi was letting Nymara do all the hard work.

When Nymara finally managed to finish the boss with a blast that actually broke through the ceiling Akemi unfolded her arms, stepping forward into the cistern and looking around. "I'd say you did a good job taking care of them, although your technique is sloppy." Her observation was casual, although her eyes were sharp. "Not surprising, given your element and what you've been taught, but something you could work on." As someone who prized precision and efficiency Akemi wasn't going to ignore the fact that Nymara's approach was effective but simultaneously reckless and exhausting. The amount of destructive force Nymara had brought forth was respectable given her status as a new recruit, but even so she'd clearly burned most of her stamina to achieve it.

"I'm not the one who decides whether it was good enough, but I think both the guild master and the ace can agree that you show promise." She turned her gaze up towards the hole in the ceiling. "Although someone will have to fix that."

She thought back to Nymara's response when the dark claw mage had told her that Vulcanis was probably still alive. Rather than being grateful at the news the fire slayer had appeared nervous at the mere suggestion. Had she never considered the possibility, or did she just prefer not to think about it? Either way, her behaviour suited her fighting style well... which would make it harder to break her off her bad habits.

Current Appearance:

WC: 828
PWC: 4,082

@Aven Alveron @Mura Kensho @Nymara

Aven tagged along jovially, letting the others lead the way. Dragon Slayers were famous for their senses of smell, so it only made sense for the two of them to track their adversaries. When they arrived at the doorway, however, Aven's attention, which had been directed heavily toward Nymara's demeanor and handling of the situation, was stolen by Akemi, as her arm burst forth with some type of shadow magic. For the first time since he'd met her, Aven felt the weight of her magical presence, unconcealable during casting. It was only moments before he realized the mistake he'd made, earlier in the day, referring Akemi to Nymara as a sparring partner: a single serious blow from Akemi could've collapsed the entire block, not to mention what it could do to a Wizard as green as Nymara! Shooting Mura a small glance, his silently begging the question, 'Why wasn't I informed of a powerful Guild Member like this?'

Aven didn't have much time to dwell on the issue, however, as his primary goal for tagging along was right in front of him: Nymara's potential. From the show she proceeded to put on, it was clear that the Dragon Slayer had spirit, if nothing else; as for her fighting style, it seemed her experience was quite narrowly focused into raw, destructive power, rather than skill or tactics. Still, her reflexes were nothing to scoff at, and her threat assessment wasn't half bad, either. If he were to give her a grade on potential, it would be a solid nine: not a prodigy, but given enough time and effort, she could catch up to the rest of the Guild well enough. Whether she had the drive or perseverance to do so... that remained to be seen.

For the moment, he pushed any further delving into Akemi's business to a later date. He'd be having a firm discussion with Mura on the subject; after all, as the Ace of Human Resources, he needed to know the Guild Members, first! Honestly, what was he going to do with Mura... sighing, Aven stared up at the hole alongside Akemi, and with a slow wave of his hand, dark particles coalesced into the gap, steadily reconstructing the lost architecture. The resulting fix wasn't exact, by any means, but it filled the space well enough to be structurally sound. "We'll speak with local construction crews, to arrange a more permanent solution. In meantime, this will keep anyone from falling in." Refocusing back to Nymara, in response to her breathless inquiry, Aven smiled brightly. "AS for your trial, you pass in my book, and it sounds as though Master Kensho agrees! Welcome to Fairy Tail, Miss Nymara!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Word Count: 450.]

”You sure do (show promise),” Mura agreed with Akemi’s statement, relieved that the ordeal was finally over. Now, all he had to do was make sure that the giant hole she blew through the sewer system was shut tight, so that no random civilian would step on some unstable area and make it all crash-

W-Wait… squinting his eyes, Mura recognized the Magic that Aven cast. Yeah, he sensed that before, but funny enough, he’d never seen it up close like this. Was that… no, it wasn’t the kind of Dark Magic that Mura was familiar with. Maybe it was of another element… but it felt like nothing he had ever witnessed before. What the shit, he must’ve obtained it after their last spar… but Mura had grown stronger, himself. It was to be expected at this point.

It was nice to know that his fellow guildmates grew ever stronger within the walls of Fairy Tail.

“Glad to hear that from a Dragon Slayer, Nym,” he replied to her complimenting the taste of his fireball… a strange compliment fundamentally, but one he took kindly anyway, “Uh… hmh, we should get your stamp back at the guild. Those Red Tusk guys got to realize by now that they can’t do whatever the hell they want, especially when it puts hardworking neighbors in harm’s way. Having you beat them will send a message, and I hope they take the warning.”

Tik… tik… tak… tak…

And as time passed, so did the scenery; now familiar with the path through the lower levels of the sewer system, Mura would happily lead the others out to the fresh, jolly air of Magnolia Town once more. Finally rid of the troublemakers who, for some odd reason, were always fated to be a pain in their asses, Mura zoned back into his laidback expression and left the company in the guild hall as he ventured up the building to retrieve the guild stamping tool.

He didn’t take the stairs or the elevator, though… as happy-go-lucky as he could be, he simply floated upwards, ignoring gravity altogether and melting into the ceiling before vanishing for a moment. They would see him phase back down again, holding a wooden box in his hand. “Sorry for the wait, I’ll try and contact the construction crew after this, Aven… t-they kinda owe me a thing or two for making me buy a haunted- y-you know what, that’s for another day,” he spoke up before cutting himself short and approaching Nymara, “This is a stamping tool that we use to mark each other with Fairy Tail’s Guild Mark – like the one here *poking on his forehead with his thumb*. It’s your physical proof of being in our ranks, and I sincerely hope that you’ll take pride in it… now, just tell me where you want to put it – please, don’t say forehead…”

WC: 480
TWC: 15,159

Akemi's attention was pulled away from Nymara when Aven used his magic to close the hole in the ceiling, or at least temporarily put a bandaid over it before they could have it filled up with proper construction work. That was... strange. His magic looked like it belonged to the element of dark, but Akemi could recognize that stuff from a mile away, and what Aven was using wasn't that. Instead it felt like... something else she was familiar with.

It reminded her of Serilda, in fact. And deep inside Akemi's mind Akeya also thought of one of her own tricks, which she rarely used but which also couldn't be called true dark magic.

Shaking her head Akemi returned to the matter at hand. Figuring out what Aven's magic exactly was about could wait. For now it meant that at least the cistern was no longer in danger of falling apart. "That's a useful ability to have. Since I have to deliver the one thug I captured myself I might as well alert them of what happened here and that town officials need to get started on repairs immediately." While Nymara had done a good job taking care of this ragtag bunch of criminals Akemi still had the guard bound to the wall, and it would be more efficient to perform several tasks with the same outing.

She raised an eyebrow as Nymara first ate the fire provided by Mura, and then admitted to being rather fond of fighting. "Enthusiasm is good, but control is important. We'll talk more about this after you've been initiated." She showed a small smile. "If you've regained enough strength from the flame our guild master gave you we could proceed straight to sparring after you've received your stamp. That should give you enough opportunity to show off. I'll see the three of you back at the guild.

With that said the raven-haired assassin turned away and headed for the exit. Passing by her captive she reached out with a dark claw and grabbed him, muffling his protests with the thumb as she quickly brought the two of them out of the sewers and to the officials who could deal with such a petty criminal.

---

Akemi would arrive at the guild only seconds after the other three did, glancing at Mura going straight through the ceiling without damaging it and then descending the same way. "You don't have to worry about that. Our expedition didn't go unnoticed and they're already getting to work on fixing the damage, although we'll have to pay for it since the Red Tusks didn't have a lot of valuables with them." In the end it was just a minor group of criminals after all. And a sewer system for one of the largest cities in Fiore was expensive to maintain and repair.

Placing her bandaged hand on her hip Akemi stood next to Nymara. "The guild mark is an important part of being a registered mercenary, magic user or adventurer. While it's not quite identification it's designed to be nigh-impossible to forge. You should put it somewhere that you can easily show it to anyone who wants to be sure you're a part of Fairy Tail. For example, because you broke something and they need to know where to send the bill to." Again there was that light smile of hers. She lifted her free arm to show her own guild mark on the palm of her hand. "So don't choose any body parts you're not comfortable showing to strangers."

Current Appearance:

WC: 590
PWC: 4,672

@Aven Alveron @Mura Kensho @Nymara