Event Horizon: Kaori's Story: Episode 8 - Private

Aquarius walked through the halls of the Celestial Spirit World's legal department where he made arrangements to get Samira's 'Gate of Passion' key made. He stopped at the receptionists desk and gently tapped the knob at the top of the bell with his middle finger, releasing a dinging sound that let everyone in the room know there was someone waiting to be assisted. The sounds of feet stomping on the ground were paired with a highly irritated voice declaring "If this is another person ringing my fucking bell and running, I swear to god I'm shoving a pineapple- Oh." the woman paused and looked at Aquarius while blinking "You're back, Aquarius... did you come to check on that request?" she said, her tone changing to being quite composed. "Yeh, been a while since that giant ass snake got the axe." the zodiac spirit replied. While normally, other spirits were terrified of Aquarius. The past spirit who held that title was short tempered, had hydromancy, and was ruthless when she got enraged. She could walk into a room ticked off, step on a lego block and get so painfully triggered that the room was destroyed in seconds. This new Aquarius had proven to be every bit as fearless and protective of his summoner. His will to protect her and everything she stands for pushed him to even exceed the last Aquarius's gall by means of him challenging the Celestial King himself. Even if he lost that battle it earned the king's respect, which means that Aquarius had won the war. This woman knew that Aquarius was a reasonable man for the most part. "Sadly we haven't heard anything about your request for Jing Wei to get time off." she had said with a gentle smile. "Damn, do I gotta punch the king again to get this done?" he said under his breath. It had been over a week since the snake was killed and several days since Kaori was returned to normal.

A letter appeared next to the woman and upon opening it she moved closer to the desk and gave it to Aquarius. "As amusing as it would be to see you launched through another building, I'm happy to report it won't be necessary." she had a small swat bubble running down the back of her head. The fact that he was willing to fight the Celestial King was both amusing and terrifying at the same time. Aquarius took the letter and began scanning over the words, not really caring for all the legal jargon and filler bull shit that people added to letters to make it look more important and focused in on the part that mentioned that his request was approved. "Well, that's no fun." he said and turned to leave, exiting the building without getting to take another shot at the Celestial King. He went and vanished into a flurry of golden particles before appearing at the entrance to the record keeping department where almost all of the contracts for the spirits were kept. Aquarius stepped in and began scanning the room, looking for someone who looks like they're not the average scrublord, over burdened worker doing a job so they can eat food and have a place to sleep and a place to shower so they don't look like hammered rainbow shit when they go to work. His eyes locked on a rather large man wearing a black, two piece suit with a matching tie who, upon seeing Aquarius look at him tried to act like he was busy and retreat behind a counter. "Oi!" he called and began walking towards the man. The man had paused while cringing, the reputation of anyone given the title 'Aquarius' being the cause. He then let out a sigh and put on the best smile he could and turned around. It was an awkward as hell smile, but it was still a smile. Aquarius glared down at him with his mouth in a blatant frown, making the boss man sweat drop while secretly hoping he wasn't as pissed off as he looked. The zodiac pulled the folded up letter out of the bandages covering his abdominal muscles and handed it to the man who flinched, originally thinking it was a legendary Iron Fist punch of doom. He looked again and gently took the letter, opening it and began scanning over the words, not really caring for all the legal jargon and filler bull shit that people added to letters to make it look more important and focused in on the part that mentioned that Jing Wei was being relieved of her position for 30 days to 'recuperate from her daring assistance with the man-made incarnation of Apophis'- a line that made her boss raise an eyebrow. "She spent ten minutes in a room with me. Alone... and unarmed... and lived." Aquarius said, knowing exactly why the boss was looking so confused. "I see... I'll need a few-" "The order is effective immediately." Aquarius took the letter from the boss and tapped the bottom to show there was a signature from the Labor Department, Legal Department, and in big letters, the Celestial King. Of course, it used his actual name and not his title... Aquarius walked away and walked straight to where a certain pig-tailed secretary was, his eyes shimmering golden as they did everytime he approached her. Considering as he only went there when he had something to ask, and never to just say 'hi' it would be understandable if Jing Wei was nervous... especially since Aquarius was approaching HER and not someone else.

Upon arriving at Jing Wei's station, Aquarius handed the letter to her and said "Congratulations Jing, the Celestial King has recognized your valor and provisioned a recuperation period." his tone was very professional, reminding the spirit that being a zodiac was more than just being powerful and famous- they also were directly under the Celestial King on the ladder. Aquarius also moved closer, leaning on her kiosk and speaking in a lower tone. "We both know hell will raise if the others knew about this, so I'd prefer you not let them find out. I'll be waiting at the Celestial Sea tomorrow at midnight." He was obviously talking about the other matter of business he had when the snake was attacking, the two of them spending some time together. Aquarius didn't know all of Samira's spirits, but he knew that Amaterasu was about as dense as it got, Sasuno was a jackass, Agni was a pervert, Serqet was immature, and the new ones... well, Kaori dealt with Kuku's intimidation effect. She was now 'Ku-chan' in his eyes, and Ira wanted to snuggle her. Then on Kaori's side... Charlotte would think they were just friends and be happy that Aquarius was making alliances. Jediniah would joke about how Jing would probably show up in a sexy dress with the wrong idea, Scarlet would teas Aquarius for going after a younger looking woman, mammoth wouldn't care much- just tell him to bring him back a good book. Query would begin getting a bedroom made for her inevitable niece/nephew, and Ira would tell him to put a strange rubber sock encased in a metal envelope suspended in a strange oily liquid inside his wallet... something Aquarius would bop her on the head for. With his messages delivered, Aquarius left the building honestly thinking that Jing knew it was just a friendly outing, a way to thank her for all her help thus far.

The Celestial Sea was an area that had no water as the name would imply it did, but rather looked out over the vast expanse beyond the borders of the Celestial Spirit World. Stars and darkness as far as the eye could see, as though it were the sea itself. It was a place very few spirits had any business being since there weren't any shops to go to and since it wasn't even a proper beach, no one was there. Of course, there was a beach- it was on the other end of the Celestial Spirit World and was made by spirits who used their combined powers a long time ago. When Jing Wei arrived, she'd notice that Aquarius was wearing his normal attire instead of something more... fancy. He was wearing black shoes with blue pants, a leather belt with three metal strips on the front to serve as a buckle, bandages over his abdomen that were white as snow and bloodless. He wore no shirt, but his black cloak covered most of his chest so there wasn't much to see most the time. He would have an eyebrow raised at her attire but not actually laugh. He may be blunt and sometimes an ass, but he wasn't insensitive. He knew that this situation could be quite awkward for her and commenting on it could be enough to get him smacked into the next century. The world immediately slowed down for Aquarius as he looked at her and began thinking how to go about this. 'I wasn't exactly planning to go on a date with her, I'm forty and she's... I think late teens, early twenties? Wait, but celestial spirits are all 'technically' immune to aging... she could be as old as Charlotte for all I know- scary. She spends most her day in that office, probably hasn't had a boyfriend in years if ever. If she thinks I was asking her out, that would've been the highest 'high point' of her life. Telling her otherwise would make her feel like a complete dumbass... But...' Jing would have been standing before him for exactly five seconds at this point and only see Aquarius close his eyes while looking at the ground, as though he were facing a massive internal conflict. '...I guess it's okay if I let her have a fun day. I'll have to let her know the bad news when it's over... and avoid betraying you.' Aquarius opened his eyes, beaming his cerulean eyes at her that shimmered like the ocean. "Sorry for being underdressed. I never saw myself in this situation, so I never actually thought of getting something more classy looking." his eyes were as serious as ever. It'd make it hard to tell whether he was lying or being truthful, even his tone was the same. Lying was a skill he developed when he was alive. Stowing away on ships at a young age, Aquarius had to be able to talk his way out of an ass kicking whenever he got caught. "You look amazing by the way." 'Shit, if she thinks we're going on a date then I need to change my plans. Taking her to Hibiscus would be a tacky move on account of who owns it...' The mystical, magical, all powerful genie of cannabis appeared in a puff of smoke. "Ey, sorry fo bein' late. You two ready?" he said, being by far the most straight talking version of himself that any of his summoners would've seen. "Yeh, we're heading to the Hargeon Fair. I figured it'd been a while since Jing was able to stop being an adult and the Fair's not gonna be around forever." Snoop Genie knew why he actually chose the fair, the original plan was Hibiscus but the sudden change as well as Jing's clothes told him everything. Naturally the almighty Snoop Genie was cool as all fuck so he didn't say anything, just immediately snapped his fingers and they appeared at the entrance to the fairgrounds. "Ey, I'mma be busy fo da next couple days- you two's on ya own." was all it took to make Aquarius go wide-eyed. 'You mother fucker!' he thought, knowing the genie was doing that on purpose.

A rather strange face for Jing would be leaning against one of the support beams for the sign that said 'Hargeon Fair' in the form of a man who wore a pair of black dress shoes polished to a perfect shine. In the middle of the bottom lace was a solid gold flower, a hibiscus. He wore a set of black dress pants to match and a well cared for shirt of the same color was tucked into them. From his neck dangled another golden hibiscus, as though it were symbolic to the man. His broad shoulders gave way to normal sized arms, the muscular structure hidden behind black silk sleeves; courtesy of his dress shirt. The man wore a dark grey tie that had a crimson outline on the top and holding the two tie ends together while preventing wind from flicking them about was a golden clasp. On his face, over his eyes was a pair of black sunglasses that surprisingly weren't shutter shades. "You suck at keeping secrets." Ikuchi said calmly while straightening up and walking towards the two spirits. His sunglasses came off and he began cleaning them with his tie while glaring hellfire eyes at Jing Wei. "A weak spirit like her won't last more than a few hours in this world. She's that secretary spirit Samira called on before, I can smell the paper and ink on her." his voice was cold and almost as though he were gonna start throwing verbal daggers at her the same way he did with her summoner. "Snoop's gonna be busy evidently, and I doubt the portal spirit would stay quiet if you asked him." Ikuchi then pulled out a set of keys and tossed them to Aquarius who caught them nonchalantly. "You know where my place is. Ash and Gabriella are helping out at Hibiscus this week so they'll be staying there. As for me, I've got a meeting with an associate of mine so I'll be gone a couple days." he began walking towards town while saying "You should both enjoy yourselves; I'll come back later with something for your girlfriend so she doesn't leave you at half-mast in a puff of smoke." and then vanished into thin air.

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Kaori was helping Samira pack up her things in preparation for the guild's moving to Pandora, the new landmass they acquired by kicking monstrous ass and setting up a habitable zone. It was decided that the guild would move their guld hall to the landmass and have the members live there so they could dispatch hunters wherever they were needed in a timely fashion. Kaori however was the exception to that since she lived on the Ark of Destiny, a moving fortress of death and destruction. She was also someone that not many people could force to do things, that list being quite short with only one name on it- and she was in the same room as that person. A buzzing sound was heard as she was folding one of Samira's jackets that made her gently put the item down and move over to her satchel. She pulled her iLac out and saw a message was received. Upon checking it she saw that it came from Eagle on the Ark of Destiny. 'OMG, is he on a date!?' was what it said and had a very high quality picture of someone who looked a hell of a lot like Jing Wei except... sexy... and not Secretary-ish... Kaori blinked a few times. "Hey Sammy..." Kaori said and turned to her lover friend. "You might wanna turn off your spirit link for this one." she said, knowing it was much too late for her to do since her spirits already saw the image. Once Samira told Kaori it was done, Kaori would say "Evidently Iron Fist and Jing Wei are at the fair together... and Jing went all the way on aesthetics." She'd then pass her iLac to Samira to show the underdressed Aquarius and Jing Wei together. Luckily, this wasn't one of those 'cryptid sighting' pictures that look like it was taken by a tourist's Kodak disposable camera from forty miles away with oil on the lense... No, this was a three-thousand, eight-hundred forty (4K) pixel image that was compensated for low light conditions with eye redness filter. There was no chance of either face being distorted. Aquarius seemed like the type who'd wear his normal stuff to a date, so Jing Wei being dressed up made it very convincing. Kaori looked at the half empty closet of clothes and the box they needed to go in. "Hmmm... We could just ask them for details tomorrow..." she said, sounding very mature. "Or we can spy on them tonight." she added while looking at Samira. "Snoop Genie, Sammy needs-" "I got you, baby." the voice said as the man appeared with Samira being magically changed into black clothes that were exactly her size. The clothes consisted of a black hooded top, and a mini dress that stopped at the top of Samira's bust while cutting off at mid-thigh and fit more like a business skirt than a flowing dress. He had a pair of black leather boots that would go up to Samira's thighs, but would leave an inch or two exposed from where the minidress ended. "Great! Now to take care of her hair!" Kaori said with stars in her eyes at the opportunity of playing with Samira's silky strands again. Snoop lifted his hand to snap while saying "I got-" Kaori glared at him, the stars turning into flames and the genie stopping in his tracks "-I don't got you, baby. Snoop out." and like that he was gone. If Samira asked if it was completely necessary, Kaori would say "Subterfuge is often ruined by the most minor of details. I've seen many people get killed because of it, I've also killed many people because of it." implying that 'yes' was the answer. She would then say "Now, sit." while gesturing to Samira's vanity set and a spinning stool that magically appeared out of nowhere.

Kaori opened her satchel and pulled out her hair and makeup vanity set, the same one she used after snuggling the Snow Phoenix to death so long ago. She opened all the caps on everything and pulled the drawers to expose her plethora of tools. She pressed a finger to her lips while trying to think of how to do this. Iron Fist knew Samira's face very well, and Jing Wei wasn't a moron, so she'd need to look completely unlike herself. Kaori said "You won't like this... but I can undo it when we're done." with a hesitant tone before picking up a pair of scissors and a brush. Kaori didn't have all night to spend on it so she brushed Samira's hair before clipping it, taking the hair from its normal length to not even a third of it- all the way to barely past Samira's shoulders. She styled the hair, giving Samira a look that made her look sassy instead of sweet, innocent, respectful, or any of the other things she actually was. The whole time she was turned away from the mirror so Kaori would have room to work without Samira trying to hit her with the brush she was using. Once the hair was done, Kaori put the scissors down before picking up a powder brush. If Samira looked down, she'd see all of her green locks on the ground- slain like a monster... Kaori turned around with a black mascara brush that had small bits of glitter in it saying "Hold still and don't blink." before kneeling down and gently combing it through her eye lashes. After that she used a pink eyeliner on her to give some contrast while drawing attention to her eyes. "Alright, we're almost done..." Kaori then pulled a strange container out of the vanity set that was two very small containers connected. "I had these specially made. The center resizes automatically so it'll look as natural as your real eyes." she said and pulled out an amber colored contact lense. If Samira fought back, Kaori would remind her that her green eyes stood out from other people and if Jing Wei saw them, her cover would be blown almost instantly. If she trusted Kaori to put her finger that close to her eyes, the ninja would remember that later and continue to the last two steps. Once the contacts were in, Kaori would have her cheeks turn pink for a moment. She was hesitant, but she pressed her lips against Samira's while closing her eyes. Samira would feel a bit of magic being used on her, implying that Kaori didn't just kiss her for no reason, but even after the spell was done being cast, Kaori would still be doing it. If Samira didn't resist her, it would get to the point where Kaori's tongue would get involved before the ninja realized what she was doing and quickly separate herself. With crimson cheeks she would say "I- I'm sorry, I- I didn't... I didn't mean to go that far." before turning to the vanity set and pulling out some pink lip gloss. "H-hold still..." she'd then put it on Samira's lips and turn her around to reveal her new face. Kaori wrapped her arms around Samira's shoulders and rested her head on her shoulder. After that, Kaori had transformed into a rather handsome looking boy and they'd be ready to go.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Spirit Portion:

Once again a certain spirit that specialized in keeping the contract records organized and valid was busy doing what she did best; work. It never ended, which really one had to wonder why. It's not as if summoning magic was so ridiculously common that it required so much management! Then again, with all the drama and constant nagging of spirits and summoners alike, there really should have been more restrictions and limitations to using such a magic. Letting any common Joe or Jane be a summoner and make a contract just made even more unnecessary work! What a bunch of selfish bastards! Lower tiered spirits that didn't specialize in combat needed lives too! Then again, she was a workoholic. Even if she had absolutely nothing work related to do she would still find some way to keep busy while also having it relate to her job. Which explains her current activity. It was time for her five minute break, but she ignored the time and kept on working through it. A stack of papers sat on her desk with each piece of paper waiting to be glanced over and approved. "New summoner makes a contract with a death spirit. Approved." With a pen in her hand she made a few professional unreadable squiggles on one of the many lines. The paper then lifted into the air and rolled itself up before magically transforming into a fancy looking scroll. She gently grabbed onto the hovering scroll with her hand and then tossed it over her shoulder so that it flew behind her. One would assume it'd hit the ground or at the very least smack against something or someone, but the best secretary spirit in her mind at least had perfected her over the shoulder scroll toss technique over the years. The scroll landed inside one of the filing shelves perfectly. It was even in the correct slot! One by one this continued with each piece of paper with Jing Wei making a comment for each. "Stupid summoner gets themselves killed. Hmm, that sounds like Samira's future. Permission to form a new contract granted." Scroll toss, although she thought she had felt a cold breeze in the room from daring to say such a thing. "Spirit demands contract be cancelled because summoner is an insane egotistical prick that should go die in a fire. Correct terminology not used. Denied." Scroll toss. "Summoner makes contract with other wordly magical ponies that do nothing but spread friendship." Just as her pen was about to give the approval she realized just what she had read out loud. "What the? We're really lowering our standards here in the celestial realm. I thought it was just summoners that got lower in quality." With a shrug of her shoulders she signed on the line. "Approved."

"Psssttt, Jing!" a co-worker whispered from the desk beside hers. Jing Wei's arm had raised to toss the scroll she had just signed, but stopped in mid throw as she blinked her eyes and looked over. "What?" With a sweatdrop and a rather awkward look that confused her, the co-worker pointed his finger towards the front of the office. "He's baaaacccckkk." The co-worker couldn't help but snicker when she gave a look as if to say she had no idea what he was talking about. He waited eagerly to see her reaction.

"Who are you-GAHHHH!" Her eyes had followed the direction of his pointing finger until she saw a very familiar and usually intimidating figure speaking with one of her bosses. Her eyes widened and all sorts of panic alarms began going off. "What does he want now?!" She whispered, thinking out loud as she left her seat and tried to hide herself by kneeling down in front of it and behind her desk. Two times already she had broken the rules to give him information he really should not have been given without the Celestial King's consent. The poor girl was at the bottom of the corporate ladder though. On one hand her bosses would strangle her, and on the other... well who ever wanted to face the wrath of an Aquarius? She'd get in trouble by the bosses for pissing him off too! There was no winning! Honestly, she was also surprised Susano had not come to flick her on the forehead and yell at her for giving the location of Samira's mind space. Trouble on three sides! Samira herself would have made the fourth, but the summoner rarely called on her, and even if she did, Samira wasn't really the one that did the yelling between the two of them. "He's coming this way," said the co-worker with a large grin. Jing Wei panicked and got lower to the ground. Surely she had not been seen! She wasn't at work that day! Nope! "He's still coming... I am pretty sure he already saw you....your wings kind of give you away. Just FYI."

The contract spirit groaned. So much for properly hiding. She quickly got back on her chair, pretending she had dropped her pen and thew it on the desk. Her movements to compose herself and keep up the act were a little too quick and panic-like though. The stack of papers on her desk had accidentally been knocked over and took to floating everywhere from the generated air of her movement and wings. Jing Wei raised her arms to grab some of the papers but it was a futile effort. Some had even flown behind her at that point. As Aquarius approached her desk, the much younger looking spirit quickly placed her hands on her desk and put on the best but really nervous smile that she could, pretending that nothing had happened. All the while her work space was a complete paper filled disaster.  "Aquarius! How um... nice it is to see you again." A sweatdrop had formed during her greeting, assuming he was there for yet another request instead of a friendly chat.

Instead, a letter was handed to her. The nervous smile faded and she arched a brow at his words. "Valor?" She took it the letter, opened it, and quickly scanned over it. Reading through redundant legal text was something she was quite used to and could do very quickly. Then she got to the most important part. She was given a thirty day vacation in order to 'recuperate from her daring assistance with the man-made incarnation of Apophis.' Another sweatdrop. That actually got approved? She looked up from the letter as Aquarius spoke again. "Oh, right. Got it!" Jing Wei put on a smile as he left, being the best secretary ever and going along with it just to keep him happy and not cause him to go into a temper tantrum. Then it dawned on her. "Omg!" Her cheeks went pink for a moment as her hand dropped the letter and went to cover her mouth. He had mentioned seeing about getting her vacation time the last time they spoke, and she clearly remembered him mentioning the two of them spending time together sometime afterwards. "He...he actually meant it!" It wasn't just a delusional fantasy! He had kept his word! She really had a date with a Zodiac and vacation time! What a sweetheart! Her hands went to her pink cheeks as she closed her eyes and started mumbling to herself while picturing all sorts of things that a typical school girl would picture when getting a date with the most popular guy in school. She was sure she could even hear wedding bells!

"Uh...Jing? Are you all right?" The co-worker from before asked now that it was safe.

Jing Wei snapped her eyes open and stood from her desk while slamming her hands on its surface. "I am fantastic! I have approved vacation time! See you, losers!"

Everyone in the office blinked and turned their heads to stare at the shouting woman. "Vacation, huh? What are you going to do?"

Jing Wei went around her desk and placed a hand on her hip while flashing a victory smile at no one in particular. "I'm going shopping!" Poof went the spirit. Now she needed to find the perfect outfit for her date! The spirit went from shop to shop, place to place, friend to friend, until she found an outfit that would do for a first date. Yes, there would be more as far as she was concerned! With each outfit, the girl commented on them either being "Too slutty." or "Too cute." to "I'm not that desperate." Finally she settled on an outfit that satisfied her to some extent. It wasn't perfect, but really she was convinced such an outfit for the occasion did not exist. Naturally, none of the other spirits Samira had in her contract files knew what was going on. Only Susano kept any real tabs on her, and as far as he was concerned she was working. The meeting time had eventually approached and to the Celestial Sea the spirit went. A weird place to meet up, but it was supposed to be a secret "date."

Upon arriving at the meeting location, Jing Wei noticed something was very off. Either she was way overdressed, or Aquarius was slightly underdressed. Well, not slightly. More like way underdressed. His normal clothes was all he wore while she had taken great effort to look nice! As the world seemed to slow for him as he thought about the situation, so did it for Jing Wei as well while blinking and staring at him awkwardly. 'This...was not exactly what I expected. Was I wrong to assume this was a date? No...no. It clearly had to have been. No one wants to hang out just for the hell of it! He could have stopped with just the vacation time. He even wanted this to be kept a secret. No, this has to be a date. Oh no, but what if it wasn't supposed to be one?! I must look so stupid wearing this thing!' Her face got redder and redder as she thought about the chances of her completely misunderstanding the hang out time. It would have been the first date she actually accepted, so it would have been even more embarrassing.

A sigh of relief soon formed and escaped as Aquarius reassured her he was underdressed due to not having anything else to wear for such an occasion. She believed every word. It sounded convincing, and she didn't really want to think he was lying to keep from hurting her feelings anyway. "Oh, that's all it is. I was starting to worry that I may have misunderstood a couple of things!" Jing Wei put on a bright smile that got even more so when he had complimented her appearance. "You really think so?" She asked with sparkling eyes as animated hearts appeared and throbbed above her head. It was going to be the best day ever! While he thought about a new location for the date, Jing Wei did a little happy twirl before clasping her hands together in front of herself and letting her imagination take over on where they were going. Then she overheard fair. Not the classiest place, but she was so happy she could overlook it. It was just a first date, and going to a fair would be a lot more relaxing and fun. A very logical choice! No suspicions at all that it was all a misunderstanding. "I love fairs! Well...sort of. I haven't really been to one. Ever. Workaholic." Sweatdrop.

With the help of the really strange genie, the two spirits were transported to the entrance of the Hargeon Fair. They were then informed that the two would be on their own for the next couple of days since he had business or something. Well it wasn't really that worrisome. She would return to the celestial world automatically when her power reached its end. The date would end slightly prematurely, but it wasn't the end of the world. There was always the second date! She giggled quietly at the thought.

As she was about to cling to Aquarius and pull him along inside the fair she noticed a slightly familiar person leaning against the beams that held up the fair sign. It was that person she saw all of two times and had never said a word to him. Mu-, Bea-, Ik-... guy who screwed Samira and apparently hates her for some reason. Well not really a guy per say. A dra-, hou-, god, person...thing. She really didn't care enough to keep tabs. He was Samira's problem, not hers. Or at least wasn't until he showed up to her most awesome date with Aquarius. Him saying she was a weak spirit that wouldn't last long in the mortal world on her own was true, but damn, the tone made her cringe. She could have sworn the temperature had dropped with all that ice. 'Jeez, he's clearly got a grudge or two. I thought he was supposed to be nice! I must of missed a few details in the paperwork. He's nothing like the one who got me some vacation time and even took me here on a date! Aquarius = sweetheart. Dragon man that needs a pineapple shoved up his ass = jerk.' Those were her first thoughts anyway. Aside from the tone, he was actually being helpful. She lost it at "girlfriend" though. "Oh my, oh my. It's much too quick to be labeled as girlfriend. This is only the first date. There needs to be a couple of more before we're official. Who am I to deny fate though? Omg, omg." The girl's hands went to her red cheeks, and her eyes closed as she muttered those words to herself while moving her torso back and forth between the left and right.

The weird movements came to a stop as she opened her eyes and realized she probably looked a little ridiculous. With a sheepish smile, she lowered her hands to her sides and tilted her head. Her mouth opened to say something but then it hit her...what was she supposed to say?! She had never been on an actual real date before, and certainly not with someone of high status. Left with nothing else, she resorted to what she knew best; work related actions. Clearing her throat, she summoned up a scroll with her hands and then let the bottom half drop as she held onto the top half. "Lets see, there are a lot of things to do at a fair so we should probably try and do a little bit of everything. This means we should stick to a regular time schedule for each event. We should also probably try starting at what is closest." By that point the bottom half of the scroll had shown just how long it was as it had rolled all the way past the gate and into the fair itself. A few people had even gotten blasted out of its way due to a magical aura on it that prevented the paper from being stepped on, torn, burned, or destroyed in typical common ways.

Jing Wei studied the writing on the scroll and materialized a pen that was then used to make a few adjustments. "Probably too early for the games. Maybe we should try some of the rides! Oh! Or even see some of the shows!" Comment after excited comment as the spirit went over all the things they could do at the fair, meanwhile poor soul after poor soul that met their fate against the paper scroll. It was getting to the point that people thought it was a new sort of game and had surrounded it. One of the security officials went over towards it and had picked it up. Bad move. As soon as he did, Jing Wei had completed her list and had recalled the bottom half to return to its upper counterpart. The security official shouted with surprise as the paper jerked with great force and started to drag him along until he was outside the fair and right at the front gate, where he finally let go. Jing Wei was completely oblivious to it all. The scroll poofed out of existence.

"Enough standing around, lets go!" Jing Wei latched onto one of Aquarius' arms with both of hers and began to walk forward, forcefully pulling him along unless he resisted. Past the now dizzy guard they went, through the gates, and into the crowded fair itself. The first stop? Roller coaster, of course! "Lets ride this one! I haven't been on one before... or any ride really. Workaholic." Her smile faded though as she saw the line as they approached. "Oh..." It was a rather long line, and as disappointing as it was, they really didn't have the time to waste just standing around for what may be a couple of hours just for one ride. "Well, there are probably other rides. Which one was nearest?" Assuming she was still acting like a living attachment for the Zodiac, she finally let go and walked over towards a sign that was actually a map of the large fair. "Hmm, what's close by but also wouldn't have a line that would take several decades to get through?"

Summoner Portion:

Now with the guild deciding to change its location to a newly discovered landmass and soon closing its guild hall within Hargeon, Samira was left with the task of packing up her things so she could follow with the transition. It was a big move, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to really leave. Hargeon Town had become a comfortable home for her, and while most of the people she knew would also be relocating, the new location was a little bit on the dangerous side. Pretty much anything there that looked cute and cuddly was anything but. She probably could have stayed or got a place elsewhere, but she was a guild Ace, and she felt that she needed to be a little more responsible by being with the main guild location in case anything happened. Helping her pack, was her best and only person she considered as a real friend. Honestly she had expected Kaori to have better things to do, but the ninja mage didn't even put up much of a fuss when the topic had come up. Regardless, Samira was happy for the help and was in a general good mood throughout what some would consider a chore. She was packing some of the things that were in her desk when a sort of buzzing sound echoed through the room. There was a confused frown as she turned her head in the direction of the sound, and then it deepened as she saw Kaori take out her iLac. Something must have come up, which meant she probably had to take off and leave her with the rest of the packing to do alone. A sad thought since she enjoyed the company, but she understood and said nothing about it as she returned to her task.

Her name had been called, causing her to turn back again and blink. "Yes?" She had expected to be informed of her leaving, but instead was told to turn off the mind link with her spirits. "They do not usually enjoy me turning it off. It is part of my contract. Does this really require me to do so?" Samira had turned it off many times in the past, but mostly for circumstances that required it to be done or ones the spirits were thankful for having it turned off. Whenever it was done selfishly they got pissed. Kaori was not budging on the matter though, and Samira was not stubborn enough to argue. Her curiosity won the battle. Off went the link. "It is done. Now, what is it?" The green haired summoner walked over and stopped in front of Kaori. The response brought a wave of confusion for Samira. Blink blink. Moment of silence as she took it in. "I did not even know they knew each other. There must be some mistake." The iLac was passed to her and on the screen was a very detailed picture of the two familiar spirits. Well, somewhat. Kaori was right on Jing Wei looking a little more fancy than her usual self. All of those times Samira had summoned that spirit just to get yelled at for wasting her time when there was so much work to be done and that spirit was now taking off for a date. Interesting priorities. The life of her summoner versus a date. It made the poor woman sweatdrop. That line of thinking was very commonplace. Why was she a summoner again?

The green eyes of Samira continued focusing on the image, trying to find something that was out of place or wrong so she could say it was a fake or that it really was not Jing Wei. Her head nodded as she heard Kaori mention that they could just ask for details tomorrow. That was the mature and considerate approach. Then she heard the comment about them spying on them. Another quick nod before she fully processed the words and then looked up at Kaori with wide eyes. "Wha- No! We cannot do that! That is an invasion of privacy!" As mature and logical as her words were, her curiosity was running wild. She wanted to know, and spying did sound fun, but they'd get caught! Well...she would. Her magic power alone was enough for anyone to sense her. Not to mention her skills with being sneaky were practically nonexistent. Her words would go ignored as Kaori had already decided they were taking on the mission of Operation: Spy on Spirit Date. Snoop Genie had been summoned and with a quick second her clothes had been changed into something she had not exactly ever considered wearing before. It was cute, but different. Maybe a little bit too black for her tastes. She did usually wear white with her normal outfit, after all. Her hands traveled the length of the mini dress, feeling the material while staring at a full length mirror on the other side of the room that had yet to be packed. She had just begun to play with the hood and adjust it when Kaori mentioned her hair. "What is wrong with my hair? ....and why are you looking at me like that?" The stars in the ninja's eyes were a little bit concerning. Was her hair really that much fun to play with? Sure Samira secretly enjoyed getting her hair done, but it was also one of her best features. She couldn't just let it be played with for no reason. The genie almost took care of the matter, but Kaori had sent a threatening glare his way that made him disappear completely. "I do not think changing my hair style is really something we need to do. Surely the hood can keep most of it hidden. Is this really necessary?" The answer made her pout. A logical answer, but one that made her shake her head. It was not as if they were going to be in a life or death situation. If she were to be the sort of person to argue though, it would not be over something so silly. She allowed the urge to fight for her hair go away, and she took a seat on the magically created spinning stool, although rather nervously. As Kaori took out her tools Samira got even more tense, and then even more so when the ninja leader even stated she would not like what was going to happen next.

Samira did not need to look at a mirror to tell what was going on. She could hear the soft clipping of scissors and the weight of her hair become lighter. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip as the cutting of her hair continued. Her hands that were on her lap clenched tightly around her knees as she fought the instinct to defend her hair from being destroyed further. Kaori had said she could fix it...she could fix it...she could fix it. Eyetwitches. Snip. Snip. Snip. Finally the sounds of her long strands dying came to an end. A nervous sigh rather than a relieved one. Just how much had been cut off? She dared not look down at the floor to see. Next came the eyemakeup. The summoner wasn't used to another person messing with her eyes and had some difficulty with not blinking. She do her own eye makeup just fine without that effect, but apparently as soon as another attempted it her eyes went into a blinking frenzy. Somehow she had managed to hold them still long enough for the mascara and eyeliner to be put on accurately and without making a complete mess on her face.

A strange container was brought out, causing Samira to blink curiously as she wondered what it was. She had never seen contact lenses before since she never had a need for them, but as soon as Kaori went to place the amber lenses into her eyes she flinched and raised a hand to block the action. "Now these I know are not necessary. My natural eyes are fine." Her refusal to accept the contact lenses would be met with even more logic. There was a point to it, although Samira considered it a small point. "I am not the only one with green eyes," she mumbled to herself as she looked down and to the side. Sure hers may have been a different shade than most others with the same general color, but surely hers would not be such a stand out, especially for a spirit she rarely saw. Samira raised her gaze so Kaori could put the lenses in, complete with more nervous blinking during and afterwards. Although the afterwards part came to a quick end as the ninja connected her lips with her own before she could make additional comments. The now amber colored eyes widened and the thought of pulling back crossed her mind as she raised her hands to Kaori's shoulders. There was literal magic coming from the kiss though, which caused Samira to relax a bit since that meant Kaori wasn't trying to take things further than they were supposed to. They were just friends, and nothing more. The spell seemed to be taking quite a bit of time though, and soon she began to feel no magic coming from the kiss at all. Someone may have been beginning to get a little bit carried away.

Samira didn't want to completely embarrass her so she remained still, waiting for Kaori to break the kiss. Then things got taken a step further; a step she could not allow to continue. The grip on Kaori's shoulders tightened as the tongue came into play, and the summoner started to push her away to break the kiss entirely. Luckily, that did not take much effort at all since Kaori had realized what she was doing and broke away. Once free, her hand instinctively went to her mouth to protect it from another sudden kiss. She didn't want to be insensitive to the situation, but she couldn't just allow it to continue. The magic kiss shouldn't have even been allowed. "It is fine," Samira said with a sigh as she brought down her mouth defense. "So long as you understand that we cannot do such things." The two of them had gone very far before, but that was under a different set of circumstances that required it. Kissing Kaori did not disgust her, in fact, deep down a part of her enjoyed it, but Samira would continue to be as she always was; in denial. As far as she saw it, the two of them were not in a relationship, and therefore should not be doing certain acts as if they were in one. Not to mention she never saw herself as swinging on that side of the sexuality fence.

The last step of her disguise was the addition of lipgloss, which was allowed to be put on with no fuss at all. Once she was turned around and saw herself in the mirror, Samira gasped and nearly cried. Her hair...gone! The distress of losing such a precious thing was lifted as she felt and saw in the mirror Kaori wrap her arms around her shoulders and rested her head on one too. Samira smiled and leaned her head against Kaori's. "Aside from my hair getting cut off, you did well. I do not think any of my closer spirits would be able to tell it was me. Well, maybe. Isis, Chaac, Agni, and Geb have been with me for over a decade, so they may be able to see through it, assuming they did not faint from the change first." Samira let out a small giggle at the thought. Her friend than did a disguise of her own; that of a handsome boy. Samira arched a brow as she wondered why she just didn't make a female disguise for herself, but said nothing. To each their own. She stood up from her seat on the spinning stool and prepared to leave and begin the mission of spying on their spirits because they clearly had nothing better to do than be a couple of stalkers. "The image looked as if they were at a fair. There is one right here in town! I have not exactly been to one, so even if we somehow miss them it should be worth the effort. Although, I do hope we actually catch them doing something they would not ever tell us about." With that said, the summoner may have let her more curious and mischievous side slip out just a tad. An excited smile was on her face as she grabbed Kaori's hand and forced her along through the door to her room and down the halls of the Guild Hall that were becoming more empty with each passing day as more and more guild members moved out from it. There probably could have been a faster way to get to the fair, but why bother when it was right there in town? Assuming Kaori did not resist, Samira would lead the way the entire time until they reached the fair, holding her hand the whole way and not even realizing it. If it was pointed out, Samira would let go and apologize with pink cheeks before continuing the trip. Even if she was disguised, it was still Kaori.

Upon reaching the entrance of the fair a group of security guards were conversing with one that seemed to have been ruffled up a bit and had even lost his hat. Samira overheard something about a scroll and how some woman had dragged him all the way from his post to the front of the fair. She was a monster! A sweatdrop had formed at the back of her head. If a scroll was involved then it did sound like Jing Wei. The monster part was weird though. An exaggeration, perhaps? "It would seem they barely even passed the front gate before one of them caused some sort of trouble. Although, I am honestly surprised it was Jing Wei and not Aquarius..." Samira's eyes left the group of security officials and focused further into the fair. It was big, and already pretty crowded. How were they supposed to find them anyway? Splitting up to cover more ground was no fun. "This question may be a bit late, but how were we supposed to find them in this place? I can probably find Jing Wei just by sensing her, but that would require my link being open. Unless we are going to just walk through the entire place until we spot them." Honestly the last option didn't bother her in the slightest. They'd run into the two spirits naturally and she'd see more of the fair.

Aquarius could only stand back and watch as Jing began going into a montage of planning. 'Yup... definitely her first date...' he thought, noticing that she had wasted no time in trying to organize the day and think of the perfect sequence of events to make the day what she thought would be perfect. The fact that she was so eager to be here that she would begin making a priority list, and planning an order of events like that had made Aquarius feel even worse. However, his uncomfortability with the situation would have to be put aside since Jing was creating issues for the others in the area. "Umm... Jing..." he said while looking at the people being thrown aside by her scroll but was ignored by her intense, over powered focus. "Jiiiinnng...." he said again in the same soft tone, but her focus was too strong, it couldn't be stopped or countered. The spirit captain winced when he saw the guard getting dragged along the floor but was unable to do anything before his arm was grabbed and he was being pulled along. 'I'm going to hell for this...' he thought while surrendering to Jing Wei's strength. He looked back at the currently unconscious guard wishing that they could trade places so he didn't have to be the one to be captain asshole at the end of the day.

Jing had taken them to one of the rides, having decided playing the various games should be held off for later and much to her disappointment, the line was massive. 'She has honestly never been to a fair, carnival, or amusement park once in her life before...' Aquarius thought with a small sweat drop rolling down the back of his neck. All of those were places that were infamous for massive lines, and the ones that weren't subject to them were either closed or trash. Jing had began looking around, wondering what was nearby that didn't have a massive line ahead of it. Aquarius had played this game a few times, the relationship game that is. He found that it was better to let things happen instead of constantly trying to control it. The times he tried to control his relationship, even if it was just having a scheduled date that was planned to perfection, things had always just gone wrong. The ride Jing was in front was a roller coaster, the crown jewel of the fair, so it was natural to have a long line. There was also the smaller one for kids, nope... that's out of the question. There was a tunnel of love ride, something that you couldn't possibly have a fair or amusement park without. Though, he had already given misleading information before so Aquarius simply ignored the fact that, that ride existed. A swinging ship ride was somewhat close but had an equally long line. A log ride was also in the fair but would lead to Jing being soaked so that was out. The rest of the fair was filled with random games and food stalls, a couple religious guys trying to introduce people to their religion with no one being interested, a stall for donations to a research foundation of sorts, and of course, the one thing no festivity is good without... a restroom that can be used as an excuse to get away from a bad date that just so happened to have a window in the back to sneak out of. 'Break her heart and make things harder for Sammy and Kaori by proxy... or dig my grave another six feet deeper...?' Aquarius thought, weighing the options.

Aquarius moved his hand behind Jing's back and rested it on her hip before leading her to the line for the roller coaster. "You'll find a long line anywhere you go, but that's not necessarily a bad thing." His tone was gentle and warm, contrasting the usual firm and somewhat cold one he used. The line was moving faster than expected but was still fairly long so would likely take a good fifteen or so minutes to reach the ride itself. Aquarius knew that he'd need something to keep Jing from getting bored. It was her first 'date' so he actually had some sort of standard that he was being held to even if it wasn't clearly defined. "Did you always wanna be a record keeper?" he would ask, immediately regretting choosing such a lame topic. His first thought was the ask about what it was like being a record keeper, but that answer was so unbearably obvious that he felt stupid for even thinking it... Paperwork all day every day, that's what it was like. If Jing had said she didn't want to be one, Aquarius would ask what she originally wanted to do. If she did want to be a record keeper, he would ask what she does when she's not at work, mostly out of an attempt to find something relatable.

---

---

Upon arriving it had seemed as though the two mages had just missed something happening. A guard was recovering from a traumatic event where he lost his hat and upon looking for context clues, Kaori heard that there was a scroll involved with this. None of her spirits, especially Aquarius, used scrolls as part of their abilities so Kaori was at a loss but Samira's comment had made things a lot clearer. She had commented that she was surprised that Jing Wei would be the one to cause a scene instead of Aquarius, which Kaori was about to reply in an attempt to preserve her spirit's name. Her mouth was open and she was ready to tell Samira that Aquarius wasn't that bad of a person as to cause such a scene, but she couldn't force herself to say something so blatantly false. Aquarius was a good man who cared quite a bit, but that good nature and caring often times leads him to take the initiative in situations quite often. It leads him to openly challenge people, and be quite forceful at times which very well could end up in a similar scene. 'Shit... I can't even say she's wrong.' Kaori thought and immediately closed her mouth. Samira had then asked about how they'd go about finding the two spirits, which was something Kaori hadn't exactly planned on. Samira mentioned she could find Jing Wei, but it would require turning on her link which would give away their position, something that ran counterproductive to them changing their looks entirely. "I have to admit... I didn't think that far ahead." Kaori said in her manlier sounding voice, which she was still getting used to. "Give me a moment." Kaori added and began looking around for something useful.

Kaori had spotted several sea birds flying high above and her ruby eyes took on a violet aura while locking in on one of them. The bird, an osprey, promptly came down and landed on Kaori's hand while making a several soft sounds. Kaori gently rubbed under its neck with her finger and turned to Samira. "We can use this guy to find them. He'll also-" Kaori felt the bird peck her hand and looked down at it, blinking a couple times. "You're not a boy?" Kaori asked and the bird shook its head side to side. Samira would have very few issues understanding Kaori since she was talking like a normal human, she might even be surprised that the bird was understanding her. "I apologize... She'll also be able to watch from above in case we lose them." The osprey spread its wings and let out a screech to indicate it was okay with the plan, but Kaori still looked to Samira for a final verdict. If Samira had asked about how their new sea hawk friend would be able to help them find Aquarius and Jing Wei, Kaori would say "I'm able to communicate with animals telepathically and my clairvoyance can be used to see through their eyes. She can tell and show me where they are."

Once Samira had agreed, Kaori would let the hawk fly up with the knowledge of what her targets looked like to find them. "While she's looking we can look at some stalls." Kaori said with an optimistic tone. She'd only been to fairs a couple times, but never once was she able to explore and enjoy them. Every time she was at one, it was because she was on a mission that normally involved taking someone out. They always went well since Kaori chose methods that were appropriate for the situation. Poisoning a crepe, bow and arrow from the top of the ferris wheel, exploding bathroom, the last one was a fake date with a tunnel of love execution- Kaori didn't like that mission since the guy tried to get grabby. This would be her first time going to a fair and not being on a murder mission and she wished her partner would be grabby was glad that Samira was the respectful sort who wasn't going to randomly put her arm around her waist without permission. However, Kaori's trip had instantly turned painful when a little girl rushed up to her and Samira with a stack of fliers and handed Kaori and Samira one. "The Celestial Ninja fan club?" Kaori muttered with a raised eyebrow. "Promise you'll come visit?" the little girl asked, blasting Kaori in the face with a bright smile that made a sweat drop run down Kaori's neck. 'Why does this little girl know anything of that abomination of a book...?' "We might not be-" "Pleeeeaaase!!!" the bit at the end made Kaori's masculine heart turn to watery mashed potatoes. "I-if... we get a chance..." she said, feeling ultimately defeated. There were various stalls to visit ranging from food, both customary and bizzare, to games that were also customary and bizzare... like fried broccoli... it wasn't even tempura. Once the little girl was gone, Kaori said "Mission number two... avoid that fan club at all costs." before entering the fair fully.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Spirit Date Portion:

Jing had been fully concentrating on mentally organizing the best routes to get to what may have been the best rides with the shortest lines. Her expression was serious as she stared at the large map and calculated. Professional expert secretary mode had activated. All she was missing was an iLac to make some calls and magical texts to get the word out and manage things so they'd go a lot more smoothly and quickly for the Zodiac that was with her. Granted, he wasn't exactly being the impatient one. It was unnoticed by her though as her selfish desire to put everything super special awesome into one afternoon and date took over. Then she felt a hand rest along her hip, the sensation getting her attention and her eyes looking away from the map and towards the Zodiac that was now leading her over to the line for the roller coaster. That combined with the tone of voice used that she had never heard before gave her nervous fuzzy butterflies in her stomach. 'OMG!' She thought, her cheeks possibly turning a shade or two of pink with possible steam materializing in the air as her thoughts went to inappropriate places. Jing Wei was not prepared for a more gentle side of the normally demanding and cold sounding Zodiac.

The two spirits were now standing in the line of the roller coaster. It was moving, but not quick enough for a spirit that was used to moving quickly and had effective time management skills. Still in disappointment at having to wait, the younger looking spirit pouted. Jing Wei remained silent though and did not complain so she didn't annoy her "date" and ruin her chances for a second one. Then Aquarius spoke, breaking the small silence and attempting to start a conversation. The topic was...well it was pretty generic. That fact went over Jing Wei's head completely. "Omg! He's actually interested enough to ask!" Heart eyes and rapid heart pounding from her school girl excitement. To her, it was not a dumb question at all! Well, it would have been under normal circumstances, but such things could be overlooked when future "love" was involved!

"Of course not!" Jing Wei said with a wide grin that contradicted her words. Normally people would be filled with disappointment and resentment at having to do what they would rather not. "Oh, that may sound a bit weird." Her excitement went down a notch as her facial expression went back to normal after realizing her own words. "I should probably explain a bit more instead of leaving it at something that vague and stupid. I am not exactly like an everyday run of the mill spirit. None of Samira's spirits are. We are just creations that were given a purpose by our originals. There really aren't that many that have strayed from it, and those that have are considered flawed and are usually destroyed. Mine just so happens to be record keeping. I am pretty sure my creation was some sort of weird joke since I am not exactly in upper management, but I am apparently also the only one that can handle the whole fake god contracts. I wasn't even a part of Samira's list of summons until I get tricked into it. Now here I am, tied to a summoner that doesn't know the meaning of call me when I am on break, not before. She summoned me once just to fly her over a patch of snow when there was a perfectly good ice slide she could have used! Sure there may have been no emergency breaks, and she may have crash landed when reaching the end, but those are minor details!" That very slide she was complaining about was the one Aquarius had created back when Ikuchi and Samira were in Iceberg. Not that she knew that the Zodiac was the one that created it and unintentionally made her life more complicated because he forgot to put some sort of stop button on the damn thing. "But yeah, what we do isn't exactly something we choose or even want to do. It's just something we have done since the beginning of our creation. It comes naturally. I am not even sure how many of us even think about doing anything than what they were assigned for. It's kind of a grey area that has a very thin line."

Around the time that Jing Wei had finished her explanation, some random individual was passing out fliers down the entire line. It wasn't the same little girl that had given Kaori and Samira their own flier otherwise one could question that girl's powers of teleportation or cloning abilities. The person was likely another member of the fan club. Nonetheless, uneventfully Jing Wei was given her own flier, to which she looked down at it and raised an eyebrow. "Celestial Ninja? Wasn't this the book Agni was poking me about? I think I was supposed to find him a limited edition copy or...something." The spirit shrugged her shoulders, crumbled up the paper, and tossed it behind her...where it may have bumped into the head of a person also waiting in line. A shout of "hey!" could be heard, but then the friend next to the person that got hit picked up the paper and unraveled it. "Dude! Look! There's a fanclub for Celestial Ninja!" The friend said. The original person that got hit then looked at the flier he had been given a while ago, having ignored it because who honestly reads those things while waiting in line for a roller coaster? "Shit man, lets check it out! Maybe they have some collector's edition copies on sale! This roller coaster is lame by comparison."

Upon hearing the interactions behind her, Jing Wei turned her head and watched the two leave. She also took notice that most people were not exactly reading the fliers that were being passed out. Maybe she could help out with the advertising a little bit while also making the line...well a little less crowded. No, it was fairly certain she mainly just wanted to decrease the line population. A sly smile formed on her face as she noticed an abandoned megaphone on some sort of podium. "Save my spot in line," she told the Zodiac with a grin before taking off towards the podium, somehow running smoothly and quickly despite wearing heels. The megaphone was then grabbed and she turned to face the direction of the roller coaster line. Switching the thing on, Jing Wei raised it to her mouth and spoke, using the device to amplify the volume of her voice. "Hey, ladies and gents! I see most of you ignoring those fliers that had so much work put into them. You're bad and you should feel bad! These are not normal boring fliers about something no one cares about. These feature information about a fanclub of the best book ever: Celestial Ninja! I have no idea what it's about, but you all do! So go on and check it out. I heard there are collector's edition copies to be bought but be warned, the supply is limited! Get going now before you lose your shot at the best edition ever, signed and autographed by the author, and don't worry, as a new member of the club you will get a nice looking pin and your name will be put into a drawing. If you win you will be able to meet the people the characters are based off of! So stop standing in line and making me wait longer to ride the roller coaster. Go stand in line at this fanclub I don't care about instead!" The announcement worked. A good number of people that were in line scattered and headed in the direction of the fan club area. The line was now significantly shorter! Some wanted a book, some wanted the pin, some even wanted to be a part of the drawing that probably did not exist but the people in charge of the club would now have to make happen. Mission accomplished.

Pleased with her success, Jing Wei skipped on over back to the line. "If I wasn't created to be a record keeper, I think I would be pretty good at hosting and managing public events." The question that had been asked just before the conversation was interrupted had been recalled. "What's it like being a Zodiac? I know you didn't start off as a spirit like the rest of us, so you probably have a way different view than I could picture. I'm a lower ranked spirit, but at least I started as one so it'd be a less weird feeling for me if I somehow became a top ranked spirit."

Summoner Portion:

Samira nearly fell over when she was given the answer to her question. Well, it probably shouldn't have been all that surprising. She was sure there were plenty of times Kaori planned ahead, but she was also the type to just do things as they happened. It just so happened this was another one of those times where the ninja quickly came up with a solution. A bird had come down as Kaori had used a sort of power on it. It was a power Samira had seen only one time before back during their first mission in the Desert Ruins. Although it was with a rat and there was less communication. Her green eyes blinked a couple of times as she listened to the interactions between the bird and Kaori. "The plan sounds like it would work to me. I doubt either spirit would be suspicious of a sea bird." Their mission to find and stalk the two spirits was actually going pretty smoothly so far. The Osprey then took off to complete its task. Kaori then suggested looking at some stalls to pass the time, which Samira nodded in agreement with a smile. It didn't take her long at all to get used to Kaori's disguised appearance. Technically the ninja had been under a disguise since the day they met, and it was honestly less weird than when Ikuchi disguised himself as Kaori back in Minstrel.

Just as the pair of summoners were about ready to enter the fair completely, a little girl passing out some fliers came by and gave each of them one. Samira looked at it curiously, her thoughts matching Kaori's words in mentioning the fan club. A sweatdrop of her own had formed, not because of the book itself since she still had no idea what sort of book it was, but because of how adorable the little girl was. Kaori was no match for her. A small giggle escaped her as the little girl took off. Small adorable children were a weakness for many, Kaori included.

Samira followed the ninja inside, although she was a bit confused at the second mission they now had. "Avoid the fan club? Why? I kind of want to see what kind of fans we have. I already know Query is one. She had me sign a copy once! I did not get a chance to ask what kind of book it was though. I am kind of interested to know!" The summoner's words were a bit excited at the mystery of what the book contained. No doubt if she really knew she would probably die on the spot. Her spirits had yet to fill her in that there was a book floating around that had her partaking in fanfiction content. Probably for the best considering that would likely fall under killing their own summoner when she has a heart attack at the news.

The first thing that was noticed were all the food stalls, mainly due to the strong smells in the area. To the disguised summoner's surprise, a good chunk of it was fried foods. There were others that were seafood related of course due to being near the coast, but those were slightly overlooked due to the strangeness of the ones that were fried. Some of them were just...disgusting sounding. Who the hell thought of fried butter? Who would want to eat fried bubblegum? Deep fried ice cream? Fried sugar cubes? What the actual hell? It was probably best to pass on the food. If she didn't get her arteries clogged then she surely would get diabetes. It was nice to at least see how interesting they all were though.

There was a stall that wasn't about food that caught Samira's interest. It was a stall that actually had summoning keys! Interesting. "Look over there, Ka-" Samira stopped herself in mid sentence while pointing at the stall. It was at that moment she realized another flaw in their mission: they did not come up with fake names to call one another! "We should probably come up with some names. I almost said yours." Samira whispered after walking closer to the disguised ninja. She looked up and pondered for a moment. "This form looks like a Roxie. Maybe an Amber. I admit I have never planned out names that would fit this type of look." Samira would then ask for Kaori's opinion and go with whichever name she chose, even if a completely different one was suggested instead. She would then ask what Kaori's disguised name would be if it was not given. From there, it was time to get back to what had caught her eye in the first place!

"There is a stall that has summoning keys! We may already have powerful spirits and do not exactly need more, but there may be some cute lesser ones we may like." Samira had always depended on a set of keys that were solely for her to use and ready to go whenever she reached a certain point of power. Never did she have the need or desire to go around shopping for them like some other people. The fact lesser spirits and creatures could be summoned from everyday silver keys was common knowledge even to her, but still she never made an effort to even browse. There was a first time for everything though, and right then seemed like something they both could do.

Samira grabbed Kaori's hand and began leading her through the crowd of people until they reached the stall. There were many keys to look at, most of them very highly decorated and all of them actually very real and not fake at all. The magic inside them could be felt. The amber colored eyes were wide in awe as they look at each one. Finally they settled on one and stayed there. It was a bright shiny silver with a sapphire blue gem and flower on it. The design even had a sort of wing at the end. She reached out to touch it and pulled her hand back when she felt that it was quite cold. Back to the key her hand went so she could pick it up and maybe buy it, but a person behind the large sales booth had finished with another customer and returned to slap Samira's hand with a yard stick.

"Not for sale!" The large lady said as Samira made the natural "ow!" reaction as she pulled her hand back and rubbed it with the other one. So rude! "You want key, you must win!" The lady spoke again in her deep and mean voice. She then used the yard stick to point at the nearby sign beside the table that had the keys. Samira looked over and read it, still rubbing her stinging hand in the process. "It looks like in order to get any of these keys we would have to find the game the key goes to and beat it." She looked back down at the key and noticed there was a sticker with a snowflake next to it. It was likely used as a symbol that would lead her to figure out which game she would have to complete to get that particular key. "If you do not mind, I want to try and see if I can win," Samira said with a little bit of reluctance. Winning a game wasn't exactly what they were there for. They were just passing some time until the bird came back so they could get back to stalking their spirits. She wasn't entirely sure if there was one Kaori wanted herself, so it'd be a complete waste of time for her. If Kaori said it was fine, Samira would smile cheerfully before heading to the game area. If not well...she's coming back later and doing some bribing.

Meanwhile in the Celestial World:

Certain spirits were outside the mind space for a variety of reasons. Not that it mattered anyway since Samira's side of it was turned off. Some cared, some didn't. As far as they were concerned it was their day off and last they checked the summoner was with a powerful ninja mage. Rather than being in the normal parts of the celestial world that was filled with stars, stars, and even more endless amounts of stars, many of the false god spirits were in their own domain. It was actually normal looking aside from the stars that still managed to creep into the sky even if it wasn't pitch black. There may have been other bizarre things too such as a river that flowed and ended at a waterfall that fell into nowhere in particular; just an endless abyss all the way down to who knew where. A certain light spirit was standing near a bridge that went over that particular river. With her were a few other spirits such as Nu Wa, Kukulkan, Aphrodite, and Bastet. A girl spirit hang out or something. Amaterasu didn't really understand the concept. There were some that didn't even show either because they didn't want to come, or they were too busy with other matters.

Kuku: "So why the hell are we at a boring bridge again?"
Ama: "I like the scenery."

The reply made the sky serpent facepalm in her more human form. Shouldn't they be out getting drunk or something? Making trouble? Kicking the asses of a few spirits that tried to get too grabby? Hell would Ama even know what grabby meant? Just as Bastet commented that the view was interesting and Aphrodite complaining about how she was not getting enough attention by comparison, a male spirit materialized at the bridge. Cu Chulainn, The Hound of Ulster. A warrior type spirit that was an incarnation of a mythical hero. Despite his title, he was human looking and had no hound features whatsoever.

Ama: "Hello, Cu Chulainn, have you been invited to this female gathering too? I was under the impression males were strictly forbidden from this event, although I do not know why. Brother would make this more entertaining for me."

All the female spirits sweatdropped at Ama mentioning Susano attend the girl's party. Having a man around was bad enough, but having your own brother should have been ten times worse. Judging by her straight face as she said it, she really had no idea. Cu Chulainn sweatdropped at the fact she mentioned him actually being invited to a girl's party. The answer to that was an obvious no. The female glares should have been a giveaway. "I assure you that I was not invited. I just heard you were around so I thought I'd stop by and give you these." The blonde hero spirit handed over a bouquet of roses to the light spirit, who accepted it and held it in her arms. "Thank you, Cu Chulainn. I know just what to do with them, she said with a small smile and then turned around and began to walk onto the bridge, stopping when she reached the middle.

Meanwhile Cu walked towards the other female spirits with boosted confidence that his gift had been accepted.

Kuku: "Roses? Really?" The humanized serpent asked sarcastically with a raised brow.
Cu: "What? They symbolize love, romance, beauty and perfection. There's a reason everyone uses them."
Aphrodite: "Oh, forget the flower nonsense! How could you go after Ama and not me?"
Cu: "I did go after you. You threw the flowers at my face because they were Peonies. It's not my fault I didn't read up on your original's lore that makes it so you hate that flower. Amaterasu seems a lot nicer and sweeter."
Nu Wa: "Cu, dear, you do realize not one spirit has ever gotten her attention in such a way? If Susano attacking you for it is not enough I must also say that I am not sure she even knows what getting roses from a man means."
Cu: "I've heard something along those lines, but she accepted them."
Bastet: "Yes, and they are wonderful water decorations."

The group of women could see what was going on since they were actually facing the bridge, each one gaining a massive sweatdrop. Cu, however, had his back turned. Kukulkan was snickering as she watched the light spirit tear off each flower from its stem and then drop the petals into the river to watch them float down the waterfall. Cu turned around just as Ama released the last bulb of petals. The hero spirit widened his eyes before sulking and going into a mini depression.

Cu: "Well, at least she made the river look pretty for about five seconds."
Kuku: "I counted three seconds. Great gift by the way. Maybe next time you'll remember to bring the chocolate candy so she can use it to feed the fish."
Cu: "You know, with Susano also being one, I have to ask. Is being a complete jackass a wind spirit thing?"
Kuku: "It's possible. We're a fickle bunch with heavy mood swings. I'm also getting hungry so I suggest you get out of here before I either eat you, or the triggered swordsman shows up. I can sense his winds in the air."
Cu: "Lovely."

It was then Amaterasu left the bridge and joined the group. She was nice enough to even give the mythical spirit the bouquet of stems. "Thank you again for the flowers, Cu Chulainn. They have entertained me greatly." Cu's mini depression intensified but fought it back with a smile and a "no problem" before vanishing in humiliation.

"You know, I don't even know why your brother worries about you. You're kind of a natural heart breaker." Kuku said, folding her arms across her chest and staring curiously at Ama.
"What do you mean? I have not broken any hearts." Ama replied with confused blinks of her brown eyes.
Aphrodite: "You threw the flowers into the endless river!"
Ama: "What else was I supposed to do with them? I could not think of any other practical use. Throwing them into the river both entertained me and made the water more pretty."
Aphrodite gasped, horrified at the response. Flowers were supposed to be admired and looked at. Some may have even enjoyed their scent. Throwing them into a river for a few seconds of entertainment?! Ludicrous!

It was then a certain wind swordsman arrived at the scene, looking annoyed and actually kind of pissed. "Ama! Is Samira blocking us all out or is it just me again? I swear if it's me again I am going to have to go into lecture mode again. I didn't even do anything this time!"

Ama: "Calm yourself, brother. She cut off her link with myself some time ago." The other spirits nodded and agreed.
Susano: "Dammit! She's not supposed to do that!"
Kuku: "Oh, come on. I am pretty sure we can give her a pass. She's probably fuc-" The rest of the word came out as muffled sounds as Nu Wa covered Kuku's mouth to prevent it from being said. A small glare was sent the Lamia's way, but nothing more. She'd never get too mad at Nu. The mouth was uncovered, letting the disguised flying serpent sigh in aggravation.
Susano: "I actually thought about that, and I really did not want to have to confirm that activity. It gets worse though. I stopped by Jing's office and she's gone. No one even knows where she went."

Ama put on a serious expression for a second before it turned into one filled with mild amusement. "Well, that is something that is new. I wonder who will fill out the paperwork for my indoor pool now. I've been trying to have it reach Aquarius's hands for quite some time now. I just loved the lake he added to the shrine. Maybe she is delivering it personally."

Kuku: "For a light spirit you are kind of spiteful, you know that? How many joke proposals have you sent Jing?"
Ama: "327."
Bastet: "You've...been counting?"
Ama: "Of course. I get depressed when I feel I am ignored."
Susano: "No, you don't!"
Ama: "My proposals are a punishment to waste her time. It's the lightest thing I could do after she gave information that was not to be shared, not even with Zodiacs without going through the proper channels. If an enemy Zodiac were to come through and demand such intell we would suffer greatly. I am lenient only because of who Aquarius serves. Ra would have been much more extreme regardless of this fact."
Kuku: "Good thing the high and mighty falcon is pretty much never here. I should learn his ways and do the same thing."
Bastet: "I am confused. Are we supposed to be worried or not?"
Ama: "Worried? No. Samira is with the Leader of the Leraci Clan. Jing Wei's activities I do not care about. It is not my business to be worried. Curious? Of course."
Susano: "Hold up! I know where this is going and I am going to say no on this. You are not going to the mortal plane to spy. You wouldn't even be able to last five seconds without being spotted. You stand out too much."
Ama: "Who says I would be hiding? I'll just go right up and ask what they are up to."

Susano facepalmed. Then he did so again when all the female spirits in the group agreed to it. "Why do I even argue at this point?"

The small spirit group featuring Ama, Kuku, Nu Wa, Bastet, and Aphrodite vanished and soon found themselves in Hargeon, having used their own power to get there. Nu Wa took on a more human form, switching her serpent body for a pair of feminine human legs. Aphrodite looked around and nearly fainted from how filthy the town was, even though the part they were in was actually quite clean and could be much worse for a port city. Due to their connection with the keys, they didn't exactly need to have Samira's link to know where she was. All they had to do was sense the keys that were attached to them magically. It got stranger since the summoner was not in the Guild Hall but in some type of fair. Most amusing. Naturally, they headed that way.

There were times where Aquarius thought the line was moving so slowly that it wasn't moving at all. The only thing that actually made it okay for him was that Jing Wei was talking, giving him something to distract him from the monotony of taking a baby step forward every couple of minutes if he were lucky. Aquarius found it strange that she thought her reaction was odd, it sounded normal enough to him. What he does find strange was that all of Samira's spirits truly were copies of the originals instead of spirits that just so happened to be similar and were being given the names, thought, in hindsight it sounded a lot more logical for so many coincidences to happen when they weren't coincidences at all. She spoke about how annoying it was when Samira had called her to help with avoiding a certain ice slide and mentioned that it had no breaks, causing a sweat drop to roll down Aquarius's neck as he avoided commenting on that slight mess up in remembering somewhat important details. It didn't sound like she knew that he made it, so he didn't bother with apologizing. A specific line made Aquarius feel somewhat disheartened... "But yeah, what we do isn't exactly something we choose or even want to do. It's just something we have done since the beginning of our creation. It comes naturally. I am not even sure how many of us even think about doing anything than what they were assigned for. It's kind of a grey area that has a very thin line." It was something that earned the reply "I'm sorry you all have it that way." in a tone that suggested that he truly meant it. It was shortly after that Jing was given a flier for something that was a fairly sensitive topic for Aquarius's summoner and much to his surprise she nonchalantly wadded it up and tossed it behind her. He didn't think she'd be the type to litter carelessly, but her work station was normally decorated in paper so it was possible.

What happened next was even less expected... Overhearing a conversation from the person who got hit by said paper and his companion, Jing had told Aquarius to save her spot and began walking off which actually made him raise an eyebrow. At first he thought she was doing the ever so classical evasion tactic where the girl has the guy wait in an arbitrary spot while going to use the restroom, or take a smoke break, make a call, or anything that let her walk away from him, and then get the hell out of dodge while she could. 'Yup, took me all of ten minutes and I done fucked up... I'll be catching shit for decades, won't I?' he thought to himself while turning to face the line in front him. The part that made him curious was when he heard Jing Wei's voice much louder as she announced the fan club's stall while also making up lies to make it sound like it was worth the time. When she got back to him, Aquarius had a solemn look since he would never be able to approve of what she'd done. However, she was quick to pull Aquarius into a topic, which he wasn't inclined to ignore.

Jing had asked "What's it like being a Zodiac?" following up by saying "I know you didn't start off as a spirit like the rest of us, so you probably have a way different view than I could picture. I'm a lower ranked spirit, but at least I started as one so it'd be a less weird feeling for me if I somehow became a top ranked spirit." which Aquarius thought was fairly accurate. Aquarius looked forward with a thousand mile stare, that kind of look that warriors had after their very first battle where they spilled blood for the first time. It was the same look he always had, and was the first time his gaze hardened up on this night. "I wouldn't know." he said before looking at the ground. "Unlike other Zodiacs, I'm the only who's contract directly states that my purpose is to kill my summoner if she loses control. Other than that, it's not much different from other spirits. Sometimes I have meetings with old 'stache face, sometimes get to have a brawl with him but anyone can do that if they've got the balls to ask. No paperwork needed." Aquarius took a few steps forward as the line moved, pausing his information as he did. "There's a bit of sway with other spirits, but I don't like exercising that power. Me personally, I like to keep as low a profile as possible. Got a small place on the far side of town and I spend most of my free time here in Hargeon, fishing and helping on the docks. Kaori earns a killing on those missions of hers' and she passes the cash our way so all of us are pretty much retired. Life was a lot more interesting as a human once you get past the genocidal older brother and occasional celestial spirit clone." If Jing Wei had asked Aquarius about what it was like being a human, he would ask if she wanted the full story or the condensed version. If she asked for the shorter one, Aquarius would say three words "It was shit." If after that she asked for the long version... well, the line was still fairly long.

Aquarius would talk with a fairly calm tone, not a single ounce of sadness no matter what. "I'll skip the boring first decade. I grew up, that's all." he started, not needing to go into detail about what growing up as a human child unless specifically asked. "When I was a kid times got tough. My old man worked on a crabbing boat. They use these eight hundred pound metal pods to catch crab... well, one of the greenhorns lost his footing and fell over the edge. He was still clinging to the pod, but that same pod swung and nailed my old man and crushed his skull. Mom didn't have a job so we lost our home a month later. She wasn't mad at no one, I was pissed at everyone. Ran away and started stealing anything that looked valuable, got damn good at it too. Went from town to town, hiding in crates or the hulls of ships and getting out wherever they stopped. Sometimes I stole a horse, or an entire trading wagon by killing the owner and made damn good profit from selling em off. Three years and some guy caught me, kicked my ass, and showed me just how much of an ass I was. I never thought about the morality behind my actions till he had his psychic buddy show me all the families that were destroyed because of me. Also showed me that my mom wasn't doing so hot. I had to give up everything I stole, including the cash so I was broke. But I still tried making my way back to her. By the time I found her she was already dead. She had a note on her for me that I didn't read for years... couldn't force myself to.

After that I took up a job on the docks making just enough money to eat scraps and be shit out of luck whenever I got food poisoning. Spent a lot of time in the free hospital, thinking about everything I'd done. There was this girl the same age as me, rich girl that I absolutely hated. She was so nice and kind that I could only think of how great she had it, didn't even know she had cancer. She came in every time I was there and tried talking to me, said I needed a friend but I did my best to ignore her. I was a murderous thief, but I knew better than to hit a lady. After a while she stopped coming and I never asked why. Next time I was in was for a broken arm, fell from a hundred feet onto an anvil. Day two that girl's kid sister walks in and hands me three hundred fat ones and a note... I remember every word. 'Mister Johnson, I know you don't like me much, but I wanted to let you know that the time I spent with you were the happiest moments of my life. It was the only time no one was poking my arm with needles and reminding me that I was going to die soon. You gave me hope that I could be your friend, but it seems I won't be getting that chance. My daddy tells me you work for that mean old man at the docks, so you probably don't have much, which is probably why you're always here. I hope you can get a better job, but this money should help you live better for now.' After that, I realized that I had a chance to make up for being a dick and I messed it up. I quit the job and used the cash to buy my childhood home and go to school. Her sister was annoying as hell, just like her big sister always smiling and happy but I still tolerated her. I didn't know cancer wasn't hereditary back then and I didn't want to repeat mistakes.

Another year and my past caught up to me. One of the wives of the people I killed found out where I was and burned my house to the ground while I was asleep. I made it out but the remains of the money that girl gave me didn't, so I was back on the streets. I didn't want anyone in town to know about what I'd done so I stopped talking to that kid sister and moved to River Village. I wasn't planning it, just stowed away on a ship and they just so happened to stop there. I spent my time begging for cash and for days I drank water to substitute for meals. Winter rolled in and my stroke of luck was that some family got assassinated. I saw the guy escape through a window and got nosey, found the bodies and hobbled over to the guard station. It just so happened that the detective wasn't able to come until the snow cleared out so I busted the window in and stayed there. The guards were cool and ignored it but the inspector arrived a week early and had me arrested as soon as I was found. Prison food was better than dock worker food, but not by much. Lacked flavor, and sometimes the rice had other things crawling in it but damn was the corn bread good. I got out on good behavior and was back to being on the streets. I had to go back to stealing to survive since no one in town wanted to adopt some random kid, and no one wanted a one-armed worker. No kids wanted to be friends with a dirty, scary looking vagrant- which is understandable. I kept remembering all the families I hurt with every thing I took so I only stole what I needed. A jacket, a bottle for water, food, but never anything of value. I went for bread if I could find it, but sometimes had to settle for a random pie being set to cool... damn did I hate pie, still do.

Fast forward another year and some slavers found me when they were passing through. I made the mistake of watching them make off with some other kid and tried to be a hero. They caught me and spent the next week kicking my ass. Some of the friendlier ones skipped the beatings and substituted it for using me as a glory hole. Their captain gave me the choice of joining his crew or joining his slaves. I joined his crew to make the beatings and other stuff stop, but I hated the work. He gave me the hard stuff... cleaning the cannons, refilling ammo, making bombs, keeping the slaves under control. The others liked making me beat them, they could see that it hurt me as much as it hurt them. When I turned twenty three they caught me trying to kill myself again and the captain shot me in the leg and dumped me off at a random island. It wasn't all bad. I didn't have to capture anyone, didn't have to hurt em, there were coconuts everywhere and the leopards kept me on my toes. I had to stay on the beach to avoid them coming at night, and sometimes my camp got washed out. I spent so much time there that I ended up learning to control the water. When I was twenty four I finally got off that damn island along with a dozen pelts I kept as souvenirs. I sold most of them, but I've still got one in my room. I used the money to hire a crew and get me a ship, hunted those damn slavers down. I found em with a full load of slaves and let them get their justice while the captain watched, then I killed the rest. Unfortunately my ship was damn near destroyed do we had to use the slaver's ship to get back to Hargeon where I sunk it. The town's navy somehow found out what I'd done and I found out that, that annoying kid sister's old man was some big shot. He set me up with a ship, a crew, a new arm and made me a pirate hunter. His daughter never visited me, too hurt that I abandoned her. After a couple years I ended up getting married and had my own kid. They died and I took out the ones who did it. After that I came across someone with a bigger ship than mine and lost my whole damn crew. I retired and used the wreckage of my ship for a home.

Fast forward a few years and some white haired little shit was sitting on my ship. Made a deal with me and got me another crew, another ship and we went and hunted down the folk who killed my crew. I died during that fight but luckily the Celestial King decided I wasn't done so he turned me into this." Aquarius paused and gestured to his eyes that shimmered golden for a brief moment before returning to their cerulean color "After that fight I gave Kaori my key. I paid her back for my life, but I keep watching her to repay for each member of my crew she helped me avenge. Charlotte and Mammoth found me pretty damn fast and they found Jed and Scarlet, talked them into sticking around. You might've handled the paperwork, might not, but they got the same deal as me and we all became Kaori's spirits and the only family I've got..." Aquarius's iron fist tightened up and he said "I won't lose them." under his breath. If Jing was paying attention, she might notice that he didn't go into any detail about his wife and kid, not how he met them, nor the time they spent together. As soon as he finished his story, the man in charge of letting people into the ride had said "Cool story bro, now are you two getting on the ride or not!?" and the guy behind them mentioned that they've been standing around for five minutes waiting for him to shut up. "S-sorry..." Aquarius said awkwardly and began moving into the ride. It was a fairly standard rollercoaster in his opinion, buuuuut Jing Wei probably had no experience with them... If Jing had shown any sadness for Aquarius's story, or asked if he was okay, Aquarius would show a smile and say "There's no point in mourning. I've avenged everyone who needed it, got a new life with a damn good family and no intentions of messing up my second chance." His tone was light hearted, and showed that he'd be fine and not go into a depression fit.

---

---

Samira had nearly called Kaori's name while trying to get her attention but caught herself. She was caught between choosing Roxie or Amber for her appearance and asked Kaori for her opinion, to which she said "Roxie seems fine..." not knowing anything about the correlation between a name and a person's look. The two names were both alien to Kaori since they were western names, so she just chose the first one to make it simple. Samira had asked Kaori what her name would be, to which she said "I believe Sammy is short for Samuel in this land, so I'll go with Sam." obviously choosing the name out of her bias for Samira's name. Once the name issue was resolved, Roxie had pointed out a stall with various keys. Kaori would have pointed out that both of them combined were fairly indestructible, but Roxie was already tackling that subject by tacking on that they might find some lesser spirits that they liked. Kaori had decided to go with her since she wasn't quite sure about what she meant by 'lesser spirits' since she never studied all too deep into celestial magic. Upon arriving at the table, Kaori saw a large variety of keys that were oddly colored. While she was used to seeing silver, black, and a gold key; these ones were different shades, some being blue, white, yellow, magenta, and a weird sickly green color that Kaori couldn't remember the name of, and many more. Samira had touched a white key and immediately got her hand smacked, which surprised both of them. As it turned out none of the keys were for sale, but rather, they were prizes. 'How ludicrous...' Kaori thought. The fact that these were celestial spirits, and all of their keys were being given off as a children's prize was enough to make Kaori want to raze the fair to the ground. Roxie had told Kaori that she'd like to take a try at winning one of the keys, which wasn't really why they came, but Kaori couldn't refuse her. That, and she didn't want the keys to be given to someone who was a jerkish summoner. "We still haven't found Aqua, and there's no point in staying completely focused with no intel so I don't see any harm."

Kaori continued looking over the various prizes, but none of them actually attracted her attention. Kaori had looked at the nearby game stalls and saw one that had a busted clock on the table. There were no people at it, so she had assumed that it simply had a bad game. "I'll be right back." she said and moved over to the stall. The person who owned the stall had his back turned and was tinkering with something, so Kaori didn't mind looking at the clock that was busted and completely taken apart. There were parts that didn't belong in any clock, meaning that it was some sort of weird clock that had extra stuff in it. Kaori put her hand over it and began looking at its past, watching the clock being put together and causing the parts to be put together as they originally were. She had finished moments before the man turned around and paused, looking astonished that the clock was fixed and asked "Did you do this?" while blinking a few times. Kaori nodded and began walking away, pausing when the man asked her to wait, saying she forgot to take her prize. "Prize?" Kaori asked while tilting her head and looking at him with a confused expression. "Aye, lass. The game's fixin' this here clock. Your the first to do it, so the prize is yours." he said, his accent (scottish) bleeding into his words. "I... didn't think it was a game..." Kaori said calmly, trying to find the logic in making such a boring game. The man took a pendant from the wall and set it down, saying that it was Kaori's, even if she didn't know she was playing a game. Kaori thanked the man and walked off, still surprised at the fact that she accidentally won something. She could feel the item had some sort of magic, though, she knew not what it was... Upon arriving back to Samira, Kaori had informed her that Jing Wei and Aquarius were entering a ride and that it would be best they keep some distance. Her iLac had buzzed again and Kaori pulled it out and blinked. "We... may have a problem..." Kaori said to Samira, showing her a picture of several spirits, two of which would be very easily identified. "If they spot Jing and Iron Fist, they might come to the wrong conclusions. Do you think they already knew they were here?"

---

---

From afar, Ninja had been following a group of females whom he knew from several brief interactions beforehand. By brief, the interactions consisted of him appearing, delivering an item, and promptly leaving nonchalantly. He had paused when he was faced with the sight of someone approaching, thinking that the man had some actual business with the group that wasn't trivial, but no, he was a fanboy who was in for a heart breaking and then continued approaching, undetected. Ninja looked at the pictures he had been given of his targets, one of them being a woman with the lower half of a snake that had white scales and red hair. It was fairly interesting that the man walked right past Aphrodite and to the group's warrior, Amaterasu, who he personally would have chosen second to last of the group. In Ninja's mind, Kuku was the most interesting since she was the least reserved. He didn't know much about Nu Wa, had many concerns about being with someone who turned into a cat, knew that Amaterasu was very disconnected from romantic feelings, and Aphrodite was a narcisexual. The thought of Bastet crossing his mind, he began questioning if those ears and her tail were actually real. Granted he was within kicking range of the group and was still unseen and unheard, Ninja refrained from touching her to avoid being rude and breaking up the poor man's attempt at making a score. Ninja watched as the man walked away disappointed, thinking only one word to describe him for thinking any of the women would be present when his first option was Aphrodite and the others were just contingency plans... 'Fool'

Naturally he didn't say anything but was preparing to confront the one he was there to talk with when another spirit had shown up, mentioning that Samira had turned off their mental link. An argument had ensued where the new male had protested the activity of finding Samira to find out why she had turned off the link where it was established that Jing's situation was of little concern. Ninja however had his own agenda that was delayed many times before that could be resolved by following the group, and he actually hoped that they'd ignore the man's protest. The group of females had vanished and Ninja was about to go as well but paused, deciding to uncloak himself while standing in front Sasuno with one of his arms inside his sleeve. If Sasuno had tried to draw his sword, he'd find that Ninja was quick fast and grabbing the swordsman's hand and preventing the draw. If Sasuno hadn't tried to attack out of reaction, Ninja would remain still for a few moments before pulling something out of his sleeve. If he had to stop Sasuno's hand, he would gently release the hand to pull out the page and hand it to Sasuno. The page was a picture of the letter Jing Wei had received that was signed by the Celestial King, stating that she was given a one month break from her duties at the records office. He was then given a second picture that showed who her replacement was, someone who was authorized to approve contracts but was completely unable to handle Samira's set. He then pulled out a third image that was face down and gave it to Sasuno, the same spirit except swimsuit edition. Ninja didn't speak, he simply bowed after giving the third image and immediately vanished into a flurry of black particles.

When he reappeared, the girls hadn't moved very far but were all standing at a fair of sorts. His eyes were immediately drawn to Bastet, who seemed to have retained her cat ears. Since they were at a fair, it wasn't uncommon for people to dress up and there were already people wondering if Aphrodite were part of the fair's staff since she wore quite flamboyant clothes. Ninja had walked up to Bastet and gently pinched her ears, vanishing and reappearing in front her as soon as he did. 'Not fake...' he thought, and then decided to show himself. He turned and looked at the woman who used to have a serpent's tail and pulled out a box from the sleeve of his robe and handed it to Nu Wa. The box was made of wood with rounded edges and a mahogany finish that was polished to a shine. There was an extravagant heart burned on the lid, and Nu Wa's name written in calligraphy. Inside the box was a rose made of red crystal for the petals, and green for the stem and a note that simply read 'To my dearest, Nu. From Anonymous.' and at the bottom 'PS: The delivery guy doesn't talk... ever.' to imply that his identity would remain confidential until he had the balls to show himself. If she tried to thank Ninja, he would bow to her, but not accept anything in terms of payment. Ninja would then turned to Amaterasu, who he saw as their leader, and pull out a picture of Kaori and hand it to her. His idea was that if he followed them, he'd find Kaori, who was his second target.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Jing and Aquarius:

The line was slowly moving, even after her little trick to make it shorter. She listened to the answer to her question as best she could without trying to have the attention span of a fly. It wasn't too terribly long, which she was grateful for considering it was ridiculously hard to not multitask in some way. Although, she kind of expected being a Zodiac would carry with it a lot more than normal spirits would have. It didn't sound much too different honestly. The only thing that stood out was the main part of his contract, the one very unique part that would have normal spirits receiving a punishment for: killing his summoner should she lose control. Jing looked away for a moment and stared ahead of the line. By this point, was it even possible for him to do that? Even if she stayed away from most of the events that took place with her own summoner she knew Kaori had only consistently gotten stronger since that day Aquarius was forced to act.

"Retired, huh?" Jing repeated as she turned to face him with an awkward smile. They may as well all of been. With Kaori being who she was she didn't really have to depend on her spirits. A shame her own could not work the same way. Being retired seemed like it would have been great! Oh wait...she was a damn secretary spirit. There was no retirement... Instant depression. Shaking her head to get rid of that expression and thoughts, she moved on with the conversation. "Sounds like you still have a lot of your human side in you. What's it like being one anyway? From the examples I've seen it...kind of sucks. I think I would take my endless job any day than live a single one as Samira." From there she was asked for the short version or the longer version. Well they were kind of standing in a line, and it was certain their turn would come soon. It would be quite difficult to do a long story in that time. Plus, her attention span. She very much enjoyed simple summaries. "The short one!" That version consisted of three words. She stared, expecting more. Stared some more. The silence was awkward and a sweatdrop had formed at the back of her head. He...was someone that took it a little too literally. Finally she could take it no more! "Um...no offense, but I was expecting something with a little more...detail, even in the short version. What you gave me is basically the tldr version for the lazy. Which basically means, too long didn't read. In this case, too long, didn't hear. My attention span may be a liiiitttllleee bit short, but I think I can handle the longer one. So, tell me!" The grin of anticipation appeared. She was excited to know more about a Zodiac and her "date." Oh, how she would come to regret asking for the long version.

So began the long tale of Iron Fist/Aquarius. Jing had been thankful that he had skipped the first decade but a small explanation would have sufficed either way. It was interesting, and, like she had expected and was told, it was shit. Human life suuuccckkkeeddd. As the tale went on she was instantly regretting asking for the longer version. Aquarius only knew how to tell a story in two ways: short version and long version. Having a middle ground did not exist. Her eyes dulled and began to glaze over. She forced herself to listen to the entire thing even though her body was itching to do something productive. 'So long...' She thought to herself with mental tears flowing. Now she knew to just ask for an audio tape next time so she could listen to it in parts. One thing was strange though and brought her dead eyes back to life in bewilderment. He had entirely skipped over any details regarding his life with his wife and child. No mention of how they lived, no details on how they died, no tellings of who had even done it and why. Strange. Jing wasn't going to be insensitive by asking about it though. In fact, they had reached the end of the line some time ago. She didn't want to interrupt though. Facing the wrath of a tidal wave was not exactly on her agenda for a date. At least not one she wanted to go well.

Her mouth motioned the word "sorry" to the guy that was in charge of the ride. Then came the awkward and embarrassed smile. Surely he was almost done. Someone had been about to poke him and tell him to stop talking and get his ass in the ride, but the hand was smacked by Jing Wei's own. A death starry glare was sent their way, of which the person left the line and fled. Near instantly she turned back into her cute and totally not psycho self. Once his story concluded and they were seated in the ride, Jing Wei shifted a few times to get comfortable. Never before had she been in one, but today she was finally able to! Of course, firstly, she should probably comment on his long ass story. "You're right," Jing Wei commented as she turned her gaze towards him. "Your life as a human did kind of suck. You all live some very cruel lives." More respect for humanity would have to be given if everyone's life was just as hard. The most difficult thing she had to do was complete paperwork, and it wasn't as if she didn't enjoy it. That couldn't very well be labeled as a hardship. Aquarius had expressed sympathy earlier for being copies that couldn't really do what they actually wanted during their existence, but it wasn't as if it were uncommon or something she considered bad. It's just how it was. It paled in comparison to the story she was just told...even if she had tuned out parts of it unintentionally. "Sorry for demanding the more detailed version," she said in a saddened tone. In truth, she now felt slightly guilty about having him recall his past life. It couldn't have been easy talking about it. More reason to not bring up the missing details of his dead family. He seemed to be okay with it though and had no regrets. Aquarius was looking more into his current state of life and the future rather than living in the past. Jing Wei smiled and gave a nod, agreeing with him.

The ride then started and went on for over three minutes. Even for a fast flying spirit it was enjoyable, at least for the first time. Second time may have lost a bit of excitement. Not like there was any time for it. Too much to do, too much to see, so little time to jam pack it all in! When the ride completed, Jing Wei hopped right out and bounced around excitedly, clearing enjoying it. It was time to move on though! Out came the near endless scroll, it's effect being the same as before and even making gaps within lines of other rides. "Lets see, what's next?!" She hummed as she looked at her notes, but was interrupted by a loud growling of her stomach. A very noticeable loud growl. An embarrassed sweatdrop formed as she tried to hide the fact it had happened. Spirits technically didn't have to eat to survive, but that didn't mean such things didn't occur, especially when out in the human world...surrounded by food stalls. Ignore. "Uh, lets try that swinging ship ride I guess." It was another ride with a long line, but she needed to quickly make a distraction. Another growl. Bigger sweatdrop. Red cheeks from having not eaten before the whole date started to avoid the scenario. Ignored again. "Come on, lets go!" Nervous laughter as she began to walk towards the other ride.

Spirit Party:

The girls had entered the fair, and actually managed to fit in quite well. The only strange thing was Ama glowing everywhere, but in a world of magic why question it? She could turn it off if she had really wanted to. The spirit didn't. Instead she was being thoroughly amused by Aphrodite's complaints and reactions towards the civilians. A few had even attempted to touch her, causing the spirit of beauty to cling to the nearest ally: Kuku. The serpent spirit arched an eyebrow when she felt the new living attachment on her. "Don't worry. I'll protect you," she said in such a sweet manner that anyone that knew her should have realized it was not sincere. Aphrodite's blue eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, but then brightened and she put on a smile. Finally her natural charisma and beautiful aura had charmed the flying serpent to be her bodyguard from the filthy humans! It was really the only thing the winged snake was useful for. Any other time she was just absolutely dreadful. She was best used as a pet than a spirit ally. "Really, Kuku? You have finally realized your place to be my pet and guard me against such filthy barbarians?" The eyes of the disguised serpent rolled. Seriously?! "NO! Now get the hell off of me!" The blonde spirit was then shoved away to a point that she had lost her balance and ran into a trash can.

The rest of the party besides Ama, who had more of a small smile as she walked forward with closed eyes, sweatdropped. Then it happened. Bastet felt a mysterious pinching of her ears. They twitched. The action had been done very quick, but it was still noticeable enough that she knew imagining it was impossible. An annoyed cat hiss sound was made as she turned around to face the one that apparently could not keep their hands to themselves. They were just lucky the tail had not been pulled as well or she would have swiped her claws at them as she turned. However, upon seeing nothing...she felt foolish for there was no one there. Maybe she had imagined it... Her eyes looked up just in case it was someone floating in the air just like Ira had done before. Nothing. "Samira really is making us all go slowly crazy," she muttered to herself as she turned back around to continue following the other girls. Just as she did, the mysterious spirit that had appeared in the mind space a couple of times before had done it again, appearing in an instant from out of no where. The feline jumped back a bit in surprise, while the rest halted their steps to stare at the new arrival.

"Oh look, it's this guy again. Hey, Aphro, did you ever get that letter from last time?"
"Don't you dare call me 'Aphro', you giant worm! It's Aphrodite, and yes. It was the most terrible experience of my life. Who told Serqet to give it to me? Wait...what...what is he doing?" The blonde gasped, horrified even, at witnessing that a gift was not given to her but rather Nu Wa. And one so pretty too! What was going on?! First Ama, who was completely dense when it came to romantics, and now Nu Wa? A horrible half snake woman?! Preposterous! Who would go after something so hideous?! Her jealously showed on her face and she scoffed. Of course, Ama was a several century old virgin. No doubt many would try and claim that for popularity status. For Nu Wa it had to be some other disgusting snake creature or something just as ugly. The creature had good taste when it come to giving gifts, but it had to be on the level of appearance as the two females. That's right. In actuality, both could have been competition when it came to beauty. Aphrodite would never admit such a thing though. It would render her title completely meaningless!

"Oh? For me? Thank you, dear." Nu Wa accepted the gift with a warm smile. She took some time to admire the box before opening it and revealing the crystal rose inside. She was ecstatic, although she remained quite calm rather than jumping around in joy and shouting to the world how she got such a lovely present. The letter was then read, of which was then taken by Kuku. "Anonymous, huh? If I find out who this guy is I'll be sure to eat him for you. Twerp lacks confidence so you can do better." Nu Wa sweatdropped but still smiled sweetly. "Kuku, sweetie, you won't ever get a mate if you keep threatening to eat people."
"Eh?" Kuku waved off the comment. "Me threatening people really isn't the reason. I'd eventually find someone just as hostile that could handle me. The problem is that my original is male."
Silence from the other female spirits, aside from Ama who was busy looking at a picture of Kaori that the Ninja had handed her. Apparently a gender swapped god spirit was a little out of the ordinary.
"What? You gals didn't get the memo?" Kuku had a smirk on her face at first, but then it turned into a deep frown as she noticed Aphrodite lowering her gaze to a point that Kuku had realized the beauty spirit must of been wondering what was between those legs of hers. The blonde even seemed to recoil farther away from the serpent spirit, as if finding out she was possibly male and had touched her was completely revolting. "Di-Did you really just look down there?! I'm completely female, you bitch! Damn! Just like all the rest that assume I am secretly male just because dear ol' father was."
"I didn't even say anything!"
The anger the feathered serpent was feeling instantly vanished, making things a little bit more creepy for Aphrodite. Kuku was not one to settle down so quickly. A devilish smirk appeared on her face and her hands went to loosen her clothing and pull them down ever so slightly. "Wanna see?" Clothes went down a tiny bit further.
"Wh-what?! You would undress yourself to prove it?! And in such a public setting?! What is the matter with you?!"
"I enjoy the stares." Some of the fair visitors, rather the more perverted ones, stopped when they heard tidbits of the conversation and could see the woman lowering her clothing. There were shouts for her to take it all off and many cheers and hollers. "I've got an audience. I can't stop now... I think I'll add even more flavor by 'taking' you right here and now. We'll put on a good show, won't we?" The words were said rather seductively and she gently touched Aphrodite in a teasing manner. Before she could make the blonde feel even more awkward, Ama's voice interrupted.

"Kukulkan, now is not the time to put on our own show," she said, completely oblivious to what kind of show the serpent was even talking about. Whatever it was involved removing clothing, which she did not disapprove of. Granted, she was also oblivious to what that sort of thing was often connected to. "As a thank you for delivering gifts, and for aiding me in my word search puzzle, we will help Silent Ninja in locating the Leader of the Leraci Clan."
"For celestial's sake this is a blessing! I was getting worried I would have to shield my eyes and make a run for it."
Nu Wa giggled. "Kuku would never really do such a thing....well actually she would have removed her clothes, but she would never be intimate with Aphrodite in public. She doesn't play with what she considers food."
"Nu Wa...that doesn't really make my opinion of her any better..."
Kuku had fixed her clothing with that same devilish smile on her face before turning away from Aphrodite, who was staring wide eyed and shaking from almost being violated in public. Not that it really would have happened, but now she was most certainly not getting anywhere near that serpent again.

"Come, Silent Ninja," Amaterasu said to him as she left the area and began to accurately pin point where her summoner was. Where she would be, then Kaori would be as well. One could question why she would trust him so easily, and it was simple. He had been rather harmless to them in the few times he had appeared. If he wanted to make a fatal strike he would have already done so. There was also the fact it was doubtful he could do anything to Kaori. The many disappointed sighs of the crowd could be heard as they all moved on.

Samira and Kaori:

The names had been chosen with Samira posing as a girl called Roxie and Kaori being...Sam. Well that was going to be strange, but at least it was very easy to remember. Her mouth formed into a bright and excited smile once she was given the okay to take part in a game to get one of the keys. The fact Kaori was a little more than ticked about keys being given away as prizes was unknown to her and was something she would not have considered to be a problem. It was quite common for typical silver keys to be bought even in magic stores. Them being prizes came as no surprise for the woman that had been a summoner for many years. Samira nodded her head when Kaori said she would be back. "All right. I am going to look around for the game I am supposed to do then." The two momentarily split up. Kaori doing some sort of clock game nearby while Samira went to one that had a sign with the same symbol as the sticker that had been next to the key she wanted.

The game she had to do was not a typical game stall. It was more of a mini arena. Inside the arena were small ice elementals that some ice wizard running the game had created. Interesting. Then she heard the objectives of the game when some nearby person had asked. Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull from how wide they got after hearing it. "You cannot be serious?!" Apparently a mage that specialized in magic of the mind also helped run the game. Those that wished to play would have their minds linked with the elemental and their consciousness transported to the small body. After all participants had their minds fused with the elemental, they would then fight until one was left standing. A fun little battle without the actual disturbing violence that could wreck the place. Or, well, that's what it should have been. Samira was a very special case. Her spirits were a part of her mind. Her part of the link was off, but their own was very much still active. When it came time for her mind to be transferred it did not take her own, but one of her spirits. Agni to be specific. One of her lower ranked ones and therefore had much less resistance to such things.

"Whoa, what the hell? Where am I? Actually, forget that, why am I so COLD?!" Being in a body of ice was not really comfortable for what was normally a fire specific spirit. The mini elemental he was transferred to shivered.

The mages in charge blinked, realizing that the spell didn't work out the way it was supposed to. They had been considering either trying the spell again or having the summoner disqualified. To which Samira just smiled and tilted her head. "You probably should have asked if there was more than one thing occupying my mind. There are no rules against this, correct?" To which there was a reply of "Uh..." as they thought about it and hesitated. "...I guess there really isn't." The mind mage said. The ice mage shrugged his shoulders and went back to his cheerful announcing style way of speaking. It was time to get the mini battle started!

"Wait...Samira! What am I doing?! I didn't agree to this, and you haven't explained anything! This is why you don't turn the mind link off! I hate being in the dark Q.Q "

"Calm down. You just have to...fight a bit."

"Fight a bit?! Fight what?" As he said this a mini snowball was tossed his way, having been formed from an enemy contestant's ice elemental. Then ice beams, then more snowballs, icicle weapons, a snow drizzle... actually the last one was kind of pretty and made both question what that was even supposed to do. Regardless, the Agni elemental flailed about, trying to evade and dodge everything in the unfamiliar body. He had no idea how to use the attacks of the elememtals, and the other fighters were not giving him a chance to figure it out. So, he did something that surprisingly worked. He used his fire abilities. Apparently they had carried over and fused with the elemental, creating frost fire. The attack unleashed in a complete circle all around him and covered the entire mini arena. All the elementals were destroyed. There were many disappointed sighs and several glares since it technically could have been called cheating. It wasn't against the rules though. Samira was one happy camper and had absolutely no shame. Agni returned to the celestial realm, reminding his summoner that she should probably turn the link back on at some point since Susano was already on a rampage about it. She acknowledged it, but ignored it. The link would not be on until the super secret stalking mission was complete!

A ticket had been handed to her so she could claim her prize later on. It was then Kaori had shown up with information on the location of their two spirits. A ride? Really? "So, it really is some sort of date instead of some strange and peculiar way of meeting up to discuss important secret information," she said while tapping her cheek with her index finger. What kind of super secret information those two would have to discuss she didn't rightly know, but it sure made more sense than them going on a date. The ninja's iLac then buzzed, bringing Samira out of her thoughts and to stare at the ninja while she brought the device out and looked at it. "A problem?" To the iLac screen her gaze went. A sweatdrop then formed at seeing the group of female spirits. That...was odd, and a problem for their super secret stalking mission. "Hmm, they might not. I have already been informed that Susano is annoyed that the mind link is off on my end. They are probably here to check up on that. Why that many though I have no idea. We should think of a convincing story while we-"

"Hello, Samira and Leader of the Leraci Clan," a familiar voice spoke as a flash of light appeared and materialized the light warrior spirit. Samira was easy to find and recognizable due to the fact the disguised woman had the keys, and quite literally all of the spirits that were contracted to her had their energy flowing around her. As for Kaori, gender swapped disguises were not an uncommon tactic so it came as no surprise the ninja mage could do it. Being able to hide one's magical power was also a rare gift. It honestly did not take over a second to put it together. "What brings you two to this unique celebration?" Her tone was friendly enough, but had with it a slur that made Samira think Amaterasu was teasing and pretending she had not heard a thing in regards to a "convincing story."

Soon after, the other female spirits had arrived, and quite possibly Ninja himself.

On their way up, Jing had apologized for making him talk about his past. It was common for others to find pain in it, and at the time, he did too. But with age comes wisdom, and Iron Fist had long since made peace with his past. The ride was about to start and he didn't want to make her mood any worse, so he remained silent. The ride wasn't terrifying for Aquarius, he found himself smiling to see that Jing was enjoying it even though it was her first ride. When the ride was over, Aquarius locked in on the low growl of Jing's stomach and didn't comment at all. He knew such things were embarrassing for most women, so it would've been insensitive of him to call it out, even jokingly. Aquarius sweat dropped at the scroll's sudden appearance and tried letting her know that she was causing issues again, but was very much, like before, completely ignored. When the scroll finally rolled up again, he let out a sigh. Jing was hellbent on ignoring her stomach in order to try and do more things in the fair, but seemed to not know the food was part of the fair. Aquarius would grab her by the waist again and begin walking with her, taking the lead.

In Kaori's mind-space, Ira had walked in and kicked her feet up on the chair while holding a bowl of cherry and vanilla ice cream. She looked at Query who was looking into a crystal ball with a soft expression, a gentle smile, which was abnormal for her. "What's going on?" Ira asked out of curiosity. She and Query were twins, the same age, and in their entire life time Ira had only seen Query have an expression when things were truly interesting. "Our summoner is in a high pressure situation." she answered calmly before looking into a second crystal ball that was levitating over the table. "You're not gonna bail her out? And what's with the second ball?" Ira asked. While she was very playful at times, Ira was the avatar of the sun, awakened state, and reality. "Our leader seems to be acting as an escort for one of Samira's spirits." the sound of Ira choking on ice cream was heard across the room, her pounding her chest to cough the tiny spoon up sounded like a drum. She rolled, falling onto the ground on her hands and knees and managed to get it out with tears in her surprised as hell looking eyes. "Q, that's a good joke, but next time don't tell it when I'm eating." she said with a wheezed tone. Query looked at Ira with a curious expression. "Shit, you're serious...?" Ira said while getting up, grabbing her spoon and wiping it on a napkin from a nearby container.

Ira walked over and saw Jing Wei in her cute attire next to Aquarius, which made the fire spirit blink many times. "... holy shit, you were serious." she said, still trying to believe what she was seeing. "Would you mind taking watch?" Query asked, something that she didn't normally do. "N-not at all... why?" Ira asked while blinking in further disbelief. "Our leader didn't intend to go on a date, it was Jing Wei misunderstanding and assuming. He has lost many people in his life, and is afraid of losing anyone else. His reason for continuing the date is likely a desire to not hurt Jing Wei, but he will have to do it later regardless." Query's expression was somber, as though the concept of either of them being in pain was an issue for her. "What are you going to do?" Ira asked, knowing that Query wasn't normally one to get involved in the lives of others. "Samira is our summoner's ally, and so, her team are our's. If there is awkwardness between any one of the few of us, and any one of the many of her's, it can complicate things. I will attempt to push them together... That... and Iron Fist needs to take the pole out of his ass." Query commented and held her hand out, forming a small, azure ball at the tip and creating a human form. At first it looked like a mannequin, no distinct features yet. She altered her appearance to be an ancient looking woman with beads dangling from her ears, neck, and hat. Her voice was high pitched and cringe inducing, a stereotypical psychic. She gave the newly forged spirit the name 'Magdalene' and the nickname 'Maggie' to be cute. The spirit was given the divine ability to see the past, present, and future of anyone she desired and a love of talking to random people who were damaged. She was then placed in the middle of the fair, right along the path where Aquarius and Jing were walking.

Aquarius and Jing wouldn't notice that the psychic wasn't there originally at all, and not notice any magic coming from her. No one would notice the sudden appearance out of nowhere, not Kaori, nor Samira, nor any of the other spirits present. It was as though she was always there, even though she wasn't. As Aquarius passed her, the old woman said "You there..." while pointing at her with what quite possibly was the boniest bony finger Iron Fist had ever seen. Her voice made Aquarius stop on a dime and look at her, making eye contact with the hazed orbs that were clearly that of a blind woman. "...Take a seat dear, let Momma Maggie talk with you." she said, making a chill run down his spine. "I-I'm fine ma'am... Thanks, though." he said with a nervous smile, trying not to cringe too hard. He turned but upon hearing "Aiatachi Johnson..." he turned into a human-zodiac popsicle. "Your mother told you not to ignore those with ties to destiny... would you disobey her after her passing, as you did in her life?" she said, causing Aquarius to slowly let go of Jing's waist and begin making his way to the stool to sit on it. "That's better my dear. Now, give Momma Maggie your hands. Let's see what the spirits have to say to you..." she held her hands out with the palms facing up, each being a sickly shade of white with inch long nails that could easily pass for claws. Still shocked by the fact that she knew his name, Aquarius slowly moved his now shaking hands and rested the backs of his palms on the front of hers.

"I see much pain in you, child..." she said calmly. "You claim to look to the future, but your heart holds to the past as a babe to the teet." Aquarius tried to pull away but the woman flexed her thumbs and grabbed his hands, using immense strength to keep even the iron one from being taken away. "She died, just like her sister... the cancer claimed her, but you knew that it was a curse and not a birth related sickness. You knew your daughter would suffer the same fate, but you failed to cure the curse in time!" she said calmly, with Aquarius trying to pull away. "Her spirit draws near. She wishes to speak to you, child." Aquarius stopped fighting and he looked at the psychic with a fearful look about him, his heart racing as she closed her eyes, opening them to show a pair of violet orbs that were crystal clear and obviously not hazed over. "Ai... Aiatachi..." the voice was different, it was soft, loving, and young sounding. "Kia...?" he said, his breathing becoming heavy and eyes filling with tears. "You killed him, didn't you? The one who cursed my grandmother." Aquarius sobbed and looked down. "I was too late... Shilah's... I- I..." "It's okay. She's with me, and she loves you very much. You need to let go sweetheart. It'll make us happy." The old woman then looked at Jing Wei and spoke in the same tone that was very much too young for her old face. "Please take care of him." she said before the woman's eyes turned back to the same hazy look as before. The old, cringe worthy voice came back and said "You heard it yourself dearie... the spirits have spoken." Aquarius said "Thank you Mo-" she was gone.

Aquarius stood up and began looking around, trying to figure where the hell she just went. In the spirit world Query was sitting with a microphone in her hands, flipping the switch off and holding her hand out. Ira slapped the hand nonchalantly for a glorious middle-five, and both spirits magically were wearing a pair of shutter shades. Meanwhile in the real world, Aquarius let out a sigh and took a deep breath before wiping his face and going back to take Jing Wei by the waist. "Let me show you my favorite part of the fair." he said calmly and began walking away from the rides. "The rides here are okay, but there's places you can go that are open year round with them. The best thing at the fair..." Aquarius then stopped at a stall that had a mess of foods from different cultures "...Is the food." he had a smile on his face as the ghost of his past came back to remind him of the good times. He didn't feel pain while remembering his dates with Kia, he enjoyed those times, and they weren't worthy of defiling with tears. Kia had given him permission to make new memories, so he would. Aquarius sat down and shouted "Oi, old man! You still got that Shinko Calamari with the sweet chilli sauce!?" to which the cook nodded and got to work. It was a dish only Aquarius ordered, he was the only one crazy enough to eat it because of how unbearably hot the chilli sauce was. The man would shout, asking what Jing wanted, and Aquarius telling her to order anything she wanted while handing her a menu.

While it was cooking, Aquarius would say "Being a human ain't so bad. I went through a lot of tough shit, sure, but in the end I always had a mess of friends. I got to meet two amazing girls who loved me, had a daughter who was sweet as pie, killed a bat-shit-crazy dark wizard, and died a hero. Then I got to serve a summoner who cared for my opinion, not something all spirits get. I've got a group of friends that I wouldn't trade for the world... I also got to meet an impatient, caring, cute secretary chick that listens to my long ass stories. Kaori had a tough life. Grew up an outcast, had to kill her mom, dad, and entire village... In the end she became the clan's leader, rich as hell, and has Sammy to back her up. Even Samira had a tough childhood, but she grew up to have a mess of great friends, you included, and ended up with someone so powerful the Celestial King's weary of her. Though... thinking back to that, I honestly question if I'm gonna end up an uncle..." Aquarius saw the plate of calamari hit the bar with the sauce and he stopped talking to take up some, dip it in the sauce, and eat it without shedding a tear. Everyone around that had the dish looked at him with a concerned expression, some were waiting for him to grab the water... wait... the cook didn't give him any... what?

If Jing went to try one, Aquarius would say "That's hotter than hell, just warning ya." with a calm tone, as though he was immune to feeling the heat. If she still went for it, the cook would come by with a glass of water, putting it down in front her with a gentle smile before walking away. If she still took it, despite all warnings, she'd immitially taste a sweet flavor... and then she'd feel the pits of hell ignite in her mouth.

Whether she tried it or not, the cook would come back with a plate that had a piece of brown cake on it. There was a sweet glaze on top, steam coming off it to show it was fresh made. "Crescent Island Rum Cake, just like you like it. Good to see ya back, Iron Fist." the cook said and set down the milk to help wash down the rum cake. The cake was made like any other rum cake, but Aquarius always had the man use a spritzer to hit it with some Crescent Island rum, which was notoriously strong. Someone like Sasuno would have no issues with it, but someone like Samira would be wasted after just a drop. Aquarius had taken the slice and had a bite, nodding since it was a good old slice of the good days, predating his marriage. This would be interrupted by Jing screaming "WOOOOOOOOO!" after her first bite, making Aquarius's eyes go wide as he knew that reaction... "Here we go." he said while dipping another piece of calamari in the sauce and taking a bite. Within seconds Jing was sitting on the bar top with a bottle of beer turned over, singing into the bottom a shanty that Aquarius was surprised she knew... using the correct accent. (Song is Mor'du from Brave)


Aquarius saw no harm being done and was glad that she wasn't the kind of drunk who threw shit, randomly cried, became two people arguing with each other, tackled someone to begin kissing them or going farther, or doing any other crazy stuff. He continued eating his calamari peacefully.


Several sailors had rushed over to the stall, making the cook stop his attempt at stopping the random singing crazy lady as he suddenly had a large amount of orders to fill. No harm being done, no reason to stop her now. -shrug- The sailors all began shouting the shanty at the top of their lungs, including a certain red headded former slaver captain who visited the port not knowing Aquarius was there. She didn't care for what Iron Fist was up to, she heard her shanty being sung and had to join that shit. That... and he needed to take the pole out of his ass, if that meant he got a girlfriend then that's cool.


One of the city guards had thrown his arm around a random sailor, swaying side to side with them while sing-shouting boistrously. Held in his left arm like a football was his helmet, shiny and stern- a real symbol of justice.


Aquarius let out a sigh and shrugged. He knew Scarlet didn't care and wouldn't tell anyone about it. While she was a snarky bitch, she wasn't a snitch and she was pretty cool. Worst case scenario she'd give him a bit of one liners, tease him about him 'filing her papers' and leave it after that.


Ikuchi showed up and leaned over to Aquarius. "She's drunk, isn't she?" he asked, to which Aquarius said "Yup." Ikuchi then asked "Rum Cake?" and Aquarius said "Yup." while eating another slice.


Ikuchi nailed her in the arm with a syringe that knocked her out and made her go limp, caught her, and dropped her in Aquarius's lap. "That'll boost her mana. Doctor Zhong said he never tested it on celestials before, so he's not sure how she'll react when she wakes up. Either way, she'll be able to stick around a couple days now." Aquarius still didn't get why that was necessary but he let it slide since Ikuchi was already gone. The crowd all moved to grab their food and drink, turning the place into quite an attraction since the presence of a crowd attracted even more people. Iron Fist wasn't a fan of crowds like this so he requested a box for his food, using a small jet of water to hold it while moving with Jing in his arms. He went and sat on a bench with the secretary spirit horizontally across his lap. She was leaning on him, holding onto his strong shoulder with her legs dangling just a bit. Aquarius turned to look at her and felt a bit of warmth in his face from how innocent and harmless she looked in that position. So calm, so vulnerable... He turned away as thoughts entered his mind, ones that he had too much honor to entertain. An hour had passed and he figured that this was the reaction it had with celestials, made them completely fall sleep. Since his date night was ruined, he used the water jet to pick up the food and made his way to Ikuchi's place where he found a devious tactic that made Aquarius curse the dragon god. Fucking wingmen... always setting people up. The living room had no furniture and only one door was unlocked, a bedroom with a bed and a lacrima vision on the wall. Aquarius set Jing down on the bed and covered her up before going to put the food in the fridge. There wasn't much he could do in that situation, so he went and put his cloak up on a nearby coat rack before going to the bed himself.

A few hours later, Aquarius woke up to find Jing Wei over top him with red cheeks. She lowered herself, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck while pressing her lips firmly against his. 'Shit, she's also the horny drunk!?' he thought while panicking. He pushed her up, breaking the kiss and saying "Jing, stop. You're drunk." with a firm tone. "Really? No one told me..." she said in a playful tone, moving his hand away and trying to go in for another kiss. Aquarius didn't want her to do this kind of thing where she ends up taking the walk of shame on her way home, avoiding the gaze of her friends and coworkers because she lost her first as a result of being drunk. If he let it happen, Jing would likely never trust him again... Aquarius quickly grabbed her shoulders and rolled, pinning her to the bed with his legs on either side of her. "Oh my... so strong. Does this mean you're taking the lead?" Jing asked. "I'm not letting you do this to yourself. You're not thinking straight Jing, you don't want this." he said in a firm voice, ignoring his male reactions to choose the more honorable option. Jing slid her shoulders from under Aquarius's hands, looking at him with a very strange kind of look that no normal man could resist. It was that look that implied they no longer had power of attorney over the next few hours of their lives, because something naughty was about to go down, and they didn't get to say 'no' for it without dealing physical damage... even then, sometimes the physical damage just made things worse.

Jing reached up, clasping her hands behind Aquarius's neck and pulled him down. To prevent himself from slamming into Jing and crushing her, Aquarius had no choice but to use his arms to support himself. "Ai.." she said in a very soft tone. "I'm not drunk... I want this." she then lifted her head and kissed him. It was short, fleeting, and made Aquarius's heart skip a beat. When it disconnected after not even half a second he felt sad, but was still trying to fight it. "Please." she said, looking at him with eyes that implied she was begging for him to act on her request. Aquarius lost control of his body and began slowly moving down, pressing his lips to hers and quickly realizing that her breath didn't smell like alcohol. She didn't seem drunk, and with that knowledge, he relaxed and allowed himself to have this moment... The shrill scream from when she woke up in the morning would be met with Aquarius saying "You said you weren't drunk..." in a tired voice. In all honesty, she wasn't drunk at all and would remember every detail just fine. The shot Ikuchi gave her increased magical power, but in her case, had made her act on her deeper desires instead of logical courses of action. In the middle of Jing's morning freak out, amidst her panic, she would hear Aquarius getting off the bed before he grabbed her waist and pinned her to the wall. His lips would press firmly against hers, locking her in place by grabbing her hand and lacing his fingers into her own. "It's a bit late to be scared." he would say before giving her another kiss. "Just trust that I'll treat you like the goddess you are." he would say before giving another kiss and beginning round two of the 'create things Jing would never tell her friends about in a million-billion-duodecillion years' game.

---

---

With Amaterasu's sudden appearance, Kaori had shown not a single display of panic. She let out a sigh and pulled Amaterasu behind one of the tents to keep her glow from blowing their cover. "One of my crew came here with some chick and I got curious; so, we're here to spy on him." Kaori's tone was straight, and if Amaterasu was any good at discerning truth from lies, she'd notice Kaori was being completely honest. Aquarius was part of Kaori's crew, third place right behind Ikuchi and herself, and he came with Jing, a girl... and they were here to spy on them. "Sammy came with me because I wanted her to, and we're using these disguises because everyone in my crew knows our normal faces- especially mine. I'd like to respectfully request you all leave, or stay far from us. It's nearly impossible to stay hidden with you glowing, and a crowd of spirits following behind." More words that were all true and logical. If the spirits didn't agree to leave, Kaori would say "I'm sorry about this, but Q- help us out." in a manly(seriously) tone. The spirits would all feel their gates being forced to close, sending them all back by force and locking them in the Celestial Spirit World. Kaori would let out a sigh "Thanks Q." just before a black hole would open in the air and a small, green hand would come out and give a thumbs up. If Samira asked if she should be concerned about Query knowing, Kaori would say "Admittedly I forgot to tune my spirits out, but Query won't say anything." with a gentle smile on her face.

Kaori would hear the ruckus being caused and grab Samira's hand and begin walking with her towards it, watching as Jing sang her sea shanty with a sweat drop running down the back of her neck. "She's drunk... isn't she?" Kaori would say under her breath. After the song was over, she noticed Jing go limp and saw Ikuchi hand her to Aquarius. "That's... one way of dealing with-" Ikuchi appeared behind them both and rested his hand on their shoulders. "I suggest we leave them be." he would say before vanishing to take care of his original business. Kaori looked back at Aquarius, who was beginning to sit on the bench and place Jing on his legs. Kaori saw him rest her head on his shoulder and support her to make sure she didn't fall. "I doubt anything else will happen. Jing's got other priorities, and Iron Fist won't let her do anything a drunk person would try." Kaori said and grabbed Samira's hand to take her away. "Let's have some fun while we're here. I've always wanted to ride a ferris wheel without killing someone." she said nonchalantly, as if riding a ferris wheel for the sake of killing someone was normal.

On the Ferris wheel, once the door was closed and Kaori and Sammy were moving inside, their disguises would be removed completely and Samira's hair would be back to normal. "Since we're not tracking Iron Fist and Jing anymore, we won't need them." Kaori said calmly before lacing her arm into Samira's and resting her head on her shoulder. "To be quite honest, I like the normal you better than any version." she added, speaking in a soft tone. Kaori had looked across at one of the other booths and noticed that someone was looking through the glass had quickly turned away. "Sammy, kiss me." Kaori said in a calm tone, not the usual embarrassed one that would accompany the request. If she asked why, Kaori would raise her head and rest her hand on Samira's cheek before moving forward and locking her lips with Sammy's. She would push forward, grabbing Samira's hands until they were both flat against the booth's seat. 'We're being watched. Personal displays of affection make others uncomfortable, keeping them from looking for too long.' she would say in Samira's head. What Kaori wouldn't admit to was that the several minutes of making out, lasting all the way till ten seconds before the ride ended, was also because Kaori was enjoying it.