Water Bomb

Today was a slow day for work, which was making the blond, spiky-haired man antsy. Antsier than he already usually was. It was only a small comfort that he could now sit in the Red Dragon Inn and have some food instead of starving because the tavern had a tab system. He was new to the guild and the times of no jewel income between the fall of the West Fiore Trading Company and making it to Sabertooth but him in the red with Willa, his family's carer. The jobs he'd done the last couple days had had their rewards sent straight back to Willa for his mother and sister's medicine. Rainer would have passed out on the floor again if not for his running tab. He wasn't one to accept charity of any sort if he could help it, so paying back his tab as well as Gaia for that sandwich the other day weighed heaviy on his stubborn mind.

But for now, let him eat soup! Rainer was perched impatiently at one of the stools at the counter, one leg bobbing irritably. Will could have had the soup and bread to him immediately and it still wouldn't have been soon enough. His stomach twisted painfully, growling constantly though thankfully no one could hear it. He refused to sit close enough to others for anyone to hear even if it had been audible. So far he'd done what he'd told Gaia he would, even though she'd seemed unhappy with his answer. Keeping his head down was the best for everyone, especially since he wasn't much of a conversationalist if he could help it. He was very serious and always preoccupied with making the next paycheck, so he had no time to waste on things like friendship and comradery. As long as everyone stayed out of his way except for big, high paying jobs that needed more than one mage, Rainer would be just fine as the lone wolf of Sabertooth. Or maybe the Lone Porcupine, since that nickname seemed to haunt him no matter where he went.

The soup came, and Rainer didn't wait for it to cool. Shoving a spoonful of nearly boiling soup of course burnt his tongue, causing him to yelp and poke his tongue out, revealing his guild mark to any patron that might be interested. Deflecting his own mistake onto someone else, he started angrily screaming at Will, though it was unintelligible since his tongue was hanging out. If only the man would give him a glass of ice water!

wc: 426

Asher was in the best of moods. While things didn’t go exactly as he expected it to, not that he had much of a plan past the letter anyways, it turned out for the best. He was a member of the guild Sabertooth now! And all of its members seemed very nice! But he knew that he hadn’t met them all and was eager to make even more friend. The feeling of being around new things and people still hadn’t worn off for Asher, who had previously spent months lost alone in Fiore’s wildness and isolated in a small village before that. These days he was practically vibrating with excitement, speeding from one place to another in an attempt to meet as many people as possible. Today in particular seemed to be a good day. A group of local girls he had gotten to know earlier stopped him for a long chat, and had even given him candy as he left. Asher was too polite to say that he didn’t like sweet things. This usually was troublesome since lots of people in the Ace of Spades liked to give him sweet things randomly!

Stuffing the candy in his bag Asher wondered if Mai was around so he could giver her some, Asher walked into the Red Dragon Inn which was his current home. He hadn’t totally gotten used to the new smells of the city, but here at least things started to feel familiar. Looking around Asher didn’t immediately see anyone he knew and decided to grab some food before attempting to talk to someone new today.

Approaching the bar, he paused at the sight of a man with blonde hair even wilder than his yelling at the bartender, Will. Mildly concerned Asher approached the two from the side. The man's yelling was garbled for some reason, and as the albino got closer, he noticed the other also had red eyes. And then to his delight and slight confusion, he noticed the Yelling Man had his tongue sticking out. The delight part came when he noticed the black tattoo of Sabertooth on the tongue. ‘A fellow guildmate!’ Asher thought, eyes glowing with excitement. ‘A new friend!’

The slayer then didn’t hesitate to quickly speed to the angry blonde's side, use a stool as leverage to lean far into his personal face and loudly proclaim “Hi there! My name’s Asher Brightward and wow were guildmates huh?! It’s so nice to meet you! I’m sure we're going to be great friends!” He exclaimed loudly, smiling brightly at full watts. Ignoring whatever was being said next, if the man wasn’t too shocked at his introduction to speak, Asher frowned a bit at the spikey blondes’ tongue. It was very red and swollen. Glancing at the steaming soup Asher surprisingly managed to put two and two together and his smile returned with an idea to help his new friend. “Burnt tongue huh!? No worries I gotcha!” Asher chirped with excitement with straightening up. Looking over at a nearby sink and feeling the water inside of it, Asher waved a hand at the faucet (Will had a hand in his face, already realizing where this was going and unable to stop it) to let a torrent of cold water come out. Immediately Asher whipped that water into his new friend’s face, causing a few bottles to go flying on the way, eager to help as always. The torrent lasted a full five seconds before stopping, the bar silent with horror and contained laughter.

WC: 589

A person bobbed right into his face in the middle of his gibberish berating, literally chirping something guild mates and friends. His aggressive noises stopped and he stared at the newcomer. It didn't take long for the initial shock to subside and annoyance to rush to its place. Beady red eyes narrowing, his hands gripped the bar as if to keep them from wrapping around this guys neck, since he'd promised he wouldn't hurt anyone that didn't threaten him first. So...perky... Rainer wanted to hit him. Would that shut him up? It didn't matter, because before he could really digest what was being said, this guy would "help" him.

"BrbrgrhghRAAAAGH!!!"

Rainer was blasted in the face with water, going right into his mouth and even up his nose for what felt like forever. Once the torrent stopped, Rainer was left gasping for air, spitting and gurgling water from his mouth and lungs, and generally losing his temper. While he couldn't yet speak due to the light drowning, his hands would display his displeasure by channeling his rage and exploding the bar he'd been holding onto into splinters.

Now that there was nothing to hold him back, the angry porcupine hopped off his stool and turned on Asher, his palms raised and sparking with tiny explosions. Burnt tongue forgot, now he was more focused on both keeping his temper and destroying this guy, guildmate or no. "Tryin' to drown me?!" he barked angrily, barely able to keep himself in check. "You wanna fight?!"

wc: 252/687

Going a bit cross-eyed looking at the fiery hand shoved near his face Asher belatedly wondered if he was in danger. Then promptly decided that since they were guildmates, of course Spikes Guy wouldn’t actually badly wound him! Confident in his assessment of the situation Asher ignored the spell almost about to goo of in his face and looked at Spikey Guy instead. The young man instantly felt a bit bad. His blonde hair looked even weirder since it was half down and slicked back from the water, and his eyes and nose were running as well. “Er, sorry about that.” The slayer said sheepishly, scratching the side of his face. Then he perked up a bit. “But at least your tongue doesn’t hurt anymore, right?” He chirps, looking proud of himself.

Before his guildmate could properly react, someone lightly coughed. Turning, Asher looked at Will who had his fist to his face, having coughed to grab their attention. The bartender then very pointedly gestured to the broken and slightly on fire bar top, looking very disapproving. “Whoopsies.” Asher said, even more sheepish than before, and did another hand gesture to put out the flames.

A still very unimpressed looking Will pointed to the bar and while making eye contact with Rainer, then quoted more gill than Asher makes in months.

Paling, Asher looks toward Spikey Guy, and no matter what he looks like or says, will blurt out “I’ll help Spikey Guy! Uh, pay that is. Or fix it? Because we’re friends and friends help each other!” Asher finishes with a determined nod, bright eyes looking toward his guildmate.

WC: 271
TWC: 858

Look at this proud, pointy-eared freak!

Rainer did pause to check his tongue since he mentioned it. It didn't hurt for now, but the soothed burn wasn't enough to quiet his rage. All he'd wanted to do was eat in a meal peace, but ended up with a sore tongue and water in his lungs. And worst of all, he looked stupid in front of all the patrons! Having his blond hair slicked down and blown back was bad enough, but his white shirt was also wet and sticking to him, and his khaki pants were soaked and dripping into his shoes. He hadn't meant to blow up the bar, but sometimes he lost control of his magic when his temper flared. The only thing keeping him from clobbering this smiley water hose was his promise to Gaia.

But then it got worse. It always did. "I AIN'T PAYIN' FOR NOTHIN'!" Rainer roared, the quote jabbing him right in his sore spot. Jewel was his sore spot. A giant one. There was panic in his rage clear as day. All his money went for the care and medicine for his sick family. Yes, he'd blown up the bar on accident, but he sure as heck wasn't going to jeopardize the health of his mom and sister to pile on the debt of a stupid wooden bar. Would he have to go on the lam? Why did the universe hate him?

But he also didn't want this dumb water boy to take on the debt for him. That went against everything within his proud nature. So now what? Situations Rainer couldn't punch his way out of were beyond him, so for a moment he'd just yell nonsensically, bonking the water boy with a closed fist on top of his stupid head as non-violently as he possibly could. It probably wouldn't hurt, and was much better than being punched or blown up. Then he grabbed Will by the collar and gave him an equally as restrained shake, clearly wanting to hit him too, or maybe beg him, but doing his best to contain himself. Once he simmered down to someone capable of looking like he was capable of murder but wouldn't, he spoke again. "I'll... fix it..." he grumbled, then shot a glare at the cause of this new problem. "It's Rainer. And I don't need help from no water hose...I'll do it alone. Ain't got time for friends. Go away."

With that he turned and made his way out of the bar, already on the hunt for supplies to fix the damaged bar counter.

wc: 433/1120

Asher cringed a bit when the Spikey-Haired guy started to yell at him. “I said I was sorry…” Asher said with a bit of a pout. It felt hilariously close to his grandfather’s scolding, and that wound was still rather raw. But the Ocean Demon Slayer was yanked out of any dark thoughts before they even had a chance to form by a fist to his head. It honestly wasn’t that hard and still eerily reminded Asher of his late grandfather, causing a few tears to form in his eyes. Though that might have been from the hit. “Ow! What was that for?!” Asher said, rubbing his head, pout definitely on his face now.

While Spikey harassed Will, Asher used the time to nurse his non-existent wound and sulk a bit, but immediately perked up when Spikey addressed him again. While Asher felt happy that he finally knew the name of his new friend, he had to frown at the reply to his offer. No time for friends? How busy could he be to not have time for friends? The young man was honestly baffled by this statement to the point he didn’t immediately notice Rainer leaving. But that didn’t stop him from giving chase.

“It’s Asher, not water hose!” He chirped with, running after Rainer with determination as the man seemed to leave with equal determination. He was going to help his new friend or die trying! “It’s nice to meet you, Rainer!” He yelled at the man's back and frowned a bit before sprinting forward. Asher ran past Rainer until he was directly in front of the other man, then turned to face him, blue cape possibly slapping Rainer in the face. Then Asher clapped his hands together and put them under his chin, eyes wide and begging. “And please! Let me help you? It’s my fault you got angry and blew up the bar, right? I can help you fix it! I had to help my Grandpa fix our cottage after it burned down so I know what to do.” Mostly. Fixing a bar top couldn’t be that different from fixing a cottage, right? Asher just stared at Rainer with wide, pleading red eyes, waiting for his reply, only muttering a small “Please let me help you.” So we can become great friends whole bonding over the property we destroyed went unsaid.

WC: 393
TWC: 1253

Of course, as the boy raced ahead of him and spun, the blue cape would smack him in the face. For just a moment, it reminded him of his sister, when she'd do something similar and her long, blue hair would whip his face as she spun around to giggle at him. It was a bittersweet memory since his sister could not only no longer play, but she hadn't been out of bed for years other than occasionally being wheeled outside into the sun. Annika... Rainer thought, feeling a pang of guilt for missing her recent 18th birthday. It wasn't as if she could celebrate it anyway, and he didn't have the luxury of taking trips home.

Rainer rarely reacted to anything that roused emotions well, so he just became even more disgruntled by the memories. Asher was annoying. "Yeah, it is your fault!" Rainer agreed, left eye twitching in irritation. He wanted to tell this watery puppy to take a hike, but he had provided a piece of information that he couldn't deny would be helpful. The blonde man knew working with his hands well, but that was more in line with fighting or mining in the quarry. If the bar had been made out of granite or some sort of rock he might have been able to carve a replacement, but it was wood. It pissed him off to admit his inexperience with repairing such a thing, but if he was going to have money for his family this week, he'd better make some compromises.

Continuing to loom over Asher with a radiating sense of anger, he suddenly stepped around the young man and continued on his path toward where he remembered seeing a lumberyard. "Fine," he gave in with a huff to the silver-head. If he looked at it like Asher was paying him back for nearly drowning him and causing him to blow it up to start with, then this wasn't charity, and thus not against his life principles. That's what he'd have to roll with. "You better be useful.."

Determined steps took him to the lumberyard quickly, whether Asher ended up following him or not, though he assumed someone so annoying would be all but nipping at his heels. Stepping into the storefront, Rainer was assaulted by seemingly endless options for wood. He blinked. "Why...are there so many...?" he muttered, eyes narrowing. "How will we know which one matches?!" he continued, already starting to become aggravated again. He hadn't check the bar! What kind of wood was it even made of?

wc:426/1679

Asher began to sweat as the silence began to linger, Rainer still looming over him with a look of absolute fury on his face. Asher swallowed and was about to suggest something, and probably get hit again for his troubles when the angry man suddenly started to walk forward. Asher felt his shoulders fall in disappointment, then elation as Rainer finally agreed to let him help. Giving a little silent cheer of joy, Asher raced to catch up to Rainer “I’ll be the most useful person in the world!” Asher cheered, then stayed silent to let the man cool down a bit but still smiling at him eagerly.

Asher hadn’t been a member of Sabertooth for long and had only been in this city for a few hours longer. Worse, this was the first city (Neutral Grounds DID NOT COUNT) Asher had been in as well. Thus, he was already hopelessly lost after turning a few corners. Thankfully he managed to see the lumberyard front before he started to batter Rainer with questions, and almost ran into the other man after entering the area. Asher blinked and looked around; there were indeed many selections of wood, from huge piles of common wood used for building, to the smaller and covered stacks of fine quality wood used for furniture. “This way!” Asher chirps, grabbing Rainer’s wrist gently enough that the angry man could shake out of the hold if he liked. Walking up to the better quality wood selection Asher picks up a piece and hums in agreement at his friend's yelled question.“Ya, I wonder how… Oh!” Asher says, clapping his hands together as an idea occurs. He turns and walks straight up the Rainer, getting almost nose to nose close. Personally, not minding the closeness, Asher focused primarily on his friend’s blonde spikey hair and perked up when he saw something. Rainer was a few inches taller than Asher including his hair so Asher had to balance on the balls of his feet for a second to reach up and grab something out of Rainer's hair. Stepping back a tad, but not too far, with a grin of satisfaction Asher holds up the chip of wood he recovered, leftover from when Rainer destroyed the bartop, thus the same type of wood. “Perfect, just what we needed. Having porcupine hair can be useful occasionally, huh?” Asher says with a wink.

Ignoring any reaction Rainer might have had to that, Asher had wood to find, after all, he sniffed the chip. “Treated oak wood, huh? Let's see… there!” Asher said, using his advanced slayer nose and eyes to find the woods match and after looking at and sniffing a few other selections Asher walks over to the proper pile. After another small test Asher nods and picks up a smaller piece before turning it over to Rainer. The slayer shows the chip in one hand and to the wood bar in the other for him to compare himself. “Do you think they match? We can ask the lumberyard guys for help if you’re not sure! Then we can head over to the shop, maybe if we're lucky they’ll have the blueprint for the bartop.” Asher says with a grin. That would save them time since they wouldn’t have to go back to measure and countertop and ask a probably peeved Will where to get the blueprints. Asher could probably mentally eye how much they would have to replace, and they could bond over Asher teaching Rainer how to wood-work!

WC: 588
TWC: 1,841