Lessons in Restraint

“Well, this sure brings back some memories.”

It had been quite some time since Thana had been to Era. About a year had passed since her execution at the hands of Vandrad, and longer still since the fateful day that she’d walked straight into the Rune Knight headquarters and turned herself in. She could still vividly recall the rage on Vandrad’s face when she’d revealed what had been done to his lover, and the horror on Mythal and Serilda’s. Thana was quite sure that they had all breathed quite the sigh of relief upon her death. If any of them had been aware of her return, and her true place as one of the guild masters of Divine Calamity, she was sure they would have dropped everything to carpet bomb Port Lavanitir off the map.

But her adversaries were blissfully unaware of her resurrection, and she intended to keep things that way a bit longer. Oh, the time to reveal herself would come, and it would be an entrance unlike any other, but that time was not now. For now, Thana needed to simply bide her time and wait patiently – a skill that her young protege had yet to master.

In the spirit of education, she had elected to take Willow on a little field trip to the mainland, boldly electing to venture into the home of the Rune Knights themselves, where they were the least likely to expect either of them. Thana was doubly disguised, having taken on the appearance of her Luminous Covenant alias, Simeon Talzin, a tall and gaunt looking man of middling age with a horrific scar over his left eye, which was disfigured in black and red. However, instead of normal clothing he was dressed for the holiday in a suit that had been fashioned after a superhero from a comic book, complete with grey spandex, a bat shaped emblem on his chest, and a black cloak. There was also a mask to go along with the suit that covered most of his face except for his mouth while wearing it, but for now he had removed the item and had it tucked into the utility belt around his waist.

The crowds were rather lively, as they were during festivals, and this one was impressively packed given their location in one of the most densely populated cities in Fiore. There were a number of games and rides, and even smaller events for dancing and costume contests. “Now, my dear,” Thana purred through her disguise, her voice a slightly nasal, masculine baritone rather than her usual feminine tone. She slipped a familiar arm around Willow’s waist, drawing her up against her side almost like a boyfriend might – a sight that was probably a bit concerning to any onlookers, given that Thana very much looked old enough to be Willow’s father, presently. “Don’t forget.. We are not here to cause trouble today. Blend in. Mingle. Enjoy yourself. You never know what opportunities you may open when you show a little discipline. What would you like to try first?”

She knew that Willow was bored by the idea of leaving the confines of the guild hall only to keep their activities tame. In truth, Thana would have loved nothing more than to let the little Xocili run rampant to her heart’s desire, but there was a time and a place for such things. To bide one’s time, lying in wait for the opportunity to wreak the utmost chaos in a single stroke… that was the type of instruction she was hoping to impart to Willow. Not to hold her back, but to hone her into her fullest potential.

Willow was eager to let herself be pulled close, giving a delighted hum and putting her hands up on Simeon’s chest. Though she offered up a pout at the reminder to be good, the younger woman acquiesced to the demand, stating that she would simply miss the opportunity for a little public display of intimacy. The warlord chuckled as Willow kissed her on the nose before turning to take stock of the activities and see what she wanted to do. Her eyes lit on a potion crafting stand and she was immediately full of energy, bounding over and providing orders to the attendant about what ingredients she wanted to use. The man was a bit flustered but otherwise ran with it, offering the potion over.

It took a moment for it to have any effect, but clearly it had one. Willow seemed to lose her focus for a brief moment before finding it again, glancing around in excitement as she saw something that Thana clearly could not. It was still a bit odd – and sometimes frustrating – to not have the benefit of Darius around to answer questions for her, but she knew the archmage would be returned to her in time. For now, she simply had to content herself with the mystery of not knowing everything she wanted to. Willow gave the attendant a disgusted look before turning to look at the disguised Thana with much more enthusiasm.

The image of her male visage smirked. “Hello, sweetheart… like something you see?” he asked coyly. Slipping his arm back around her waist, with a hand planted rather firming on one of Willow’s ass cheeks, Thana pushed them forward and back into the crowd, walking at a slow and easy pace to take in the sights and opportunities.

Ultimately, she elected to try her hand at a game as well. There was a stand that was set up with a large bucket of water that was filled with floating apples. The aim of the game was for people to withdraw an apple from the water without the use of their hands, or really any other extremity that wasn’t their mouths. It was a game that didn’t particularly interest her, but she supposed if she was there to set an example for Willow then she ought to be one. Besides, from the looks of things not all of the apples were the same. A few people walked away from the game in pain as some of the apples appeared to have bitten them back, which did sound like a fun little thrill.

With a pat on Willow’s rear, Thana stepped up to take part, standing over the large basin with her hands on the rim to help keep her balanced. She peered at the fruits bobbing around in the chilled water, trying to see if any of them stood out in any way to help distinguish which ones were normal and which were more volatile. They all looked the same to her. Finally, with a mental shrug, he plunged his head into the water with his mouth wide open, pushing his face around as the apples tossed and swayed this way and that. It took a minute or so, but eventually he was able to latch one in his mouth, sinking his teeth into it and pulling free of the basin.

“Congratulations!” the attendant told him with a clap, the woman offering Simeon a disposable towel to dry his face. “Great job!”

He pulled the apple from his mouth and gave it an unreadable, if somewhat scrutinizing look. “Just a normal apple, is it?”

“Sure is! Lucky you!”

“Hmph. How disappointing. Oh, well.” The attendant seemed a bit confused by the fact that he seemed to have wanted to get bitten, and wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. So she merely handed Simeon his ghost ticket and the pair of them carried on, the apple tossed carelessly onto the ground where someone was probably likely to step on it and twist their ankle later.

Despite her protests at not wanting to get involved in the festivity without some chaos, Willow seemed to be enjoying herself. No sooner had Thana walked away from the apple bobbing game than her protege had pointed to another stand, declaring that it was her next destination: A dance competition. Thana slowly approached the side of the dance floor as Willow vaulted herself right over the rope, disregarding the attendant and the line entirely.

The guildmaster watched with a smirk as Willow began to put on a sensual, if somewhat unrefined, show in the middle of the dance floor, having pushed nearly all the other competitors out of the area to put the entire spotlight on her. His eyes roamed her openly as she moved, his interest only piquing further when the attendant attempted to stop Willow, only to find himself subjected to her whims. The younger woman was sliding her body against his, and doing a very good job at flustering and confusing him, the man torn between his desire to do his job and his genuine arousal over the way she was handling him.

Simeon chuckled as the girl put on a show of loosening the attendant’s belt, only to drop his pants and kick him in the backside, sending him sprawling through the rope line. As people gasped in surprise and attempted to help him, Willow beckoned Thana over, wanting assistance with giving everyone something to talk about. The much older man’s smirk deepened as he casually and confidently stepped over the rope, keeping his eyes locked on her and her lithe body as he approached. Much to the horror and disgust of many people that were watching them, he boldly reached out and slipped a hand around her waist, pulling her right up against his front, his hips gyrating slowly against hers in a sensual bump-and-grind style of dancing that would have been much more acceptable if he didn’t appear to be twice her age.

They could hear the murmurs and shocked comments around them, which only grew as the dancing became more passionate – and more touchy. Right around the time when people started wondering if they were going to need to find some Rune Knights and complain about the public indecency, the song ended and their dance came to a natural conclusion. “Mm, you are a naughty little thing, aren’t you?” he murmured to her in a husky voice, lifting up her chin with his thumb and pointer finger. Both to reward her, and to further upset the crowd, he leaned down and kissed her right on the lips, his free hand slipping around to goose her ass with a firm squeeze.

They moved on after that, if only so they could continue to find ways to have fun without disturbing the people around them so much that the authorities were called in to investigate. Most of the other game stands didn’t really draw either of their attention, and they briefly glanced at the roller coaster but decided it looked dull. It was then that Thana noticed the signs for a graveyard tour that was about to start any minute. Once more, she smirked. “Now, here’s where we can have some real fun…”

The pair joined up with the rest of the group, and they were only a few minutes into the tour when Thana started getting a little mischievous. Subtly utilizing some of her magic, she started casting hallucinations on the others, causing them to hear sounds or see flashes of ghosts or monsters. One woman even jumped and screamed, frantically claiming that something had touched her even though she had been standing a bit off to the side on her own, with no one else close enough to do so.

Then, Thana stepped up her game. Once they were deep enough into the graveyard that there wasn’t a quick or easy escape to the main fairgrounds, she cast another spell on the minds of the tourists. Suddenly, the ground was shifting as hands shot out from the graves. Zombies and skeletons began to claw their way out of the dirt from all sides, causing everyone, including the tour guide, to shriek in fright. They couldn’t even get away, because every direction they turned there was undead ambling toward them, groaning and growling. Thana merely chuckled, not even bothering to hide her amusement at how they wailed and panicked, the people far too wrapped up in their own fear and self preservation to pay mind to anyone else, trampling and hurting even each other to protect themselves. “See?” the man said, running his finger tips slowly down Willow’s spine until he could rest his hand on her backside once more. “There are always ways to sow a little chaos without painting a target on your own back. You just have to be patient enough to wait for an opportunity to present itself… There is more than one way to skin a child, after all.”