Freya Hirane's Story

Freya fell.

"Help! I'm falling! I can't-" the sugary voice paused. "Ooo, nice carpet."

The grace of the dainty blonde mage was astounding, so much so that she tripped on a flat surface. The slap of wood against her small nose sent a feminine yelp through her lips as her fingers tangled themselves in her light hair of silk. There was some chuckling and Freya growled like an angry kitten as she picked herself up, frowning as she held back her tears. Freya's nose hurt and she didn't like hurting. Rubbing her thankfully intact nose, Freya glanced over at a familiar brunette. Two magnificent creatures of blue and red encircled her and a grin burst from Freya's lips.

"Izzy!!!" Freya squealed with glee, stumbling in her extravagant dress of frills. Perhaps Freya went a little too 'over the top' but who would she be if not too much? The dress laced in a criss cross of ribbons, sinking low beneath her back; the mark of Amaranth resting between her shoulder blades was as clear as day. A mass of blue and white billowed behind her, along with her flowing hair of large waves. "Izzy!" she squealed again before launching herself in the air and tackling the tall woman with a ferocity that contradicted with her petite frame.

Freya Hirane was Amaranth's other S-class mage.

"Oh, how will I miss you if you won't go away?" she teased, an all too cheerful smile on her lovely face. Izzy was certainly one of her favourite people in the world, which was saying something, as she had about a million gigantic hearts for everyone. Well, almost everyone. A small frowned crossed her face as she thought of K'brak and H'mong - why on earth did she have to be teamed with him? Shaking the thoughts from her head, she turned back to the beautiful mage before her. She loved Izzy dearly and it had been so long since she saw her, there was no one else she could fight with and no one else who would pat her back as she wept in her Corner of Doom from being ignored. "I was so worried that you wouldn't make it for the feast, Izzy-love. I even helped to cook!" 'I screamed at a pot of boiling water,' was what she meant.

Turning her head to look up at Sarah with her multi-coloured hair, Freya smiled harder, if she that were possible. How she loved people.

"I love people!" Freya announced at the top of her lungs - which was not very loud, considering how soft and timid her voice naturally was. Freya ran around the guild for a few minutes, grasping everyone in a bone-crushing embrace. She was shorter than anyone else in the guild and definitely, seemingly, the most harmless but her loving hugs could hurt. Despite Freya's lovely appearance, she was as deadly as the deadliest of deadlies and as vicious as Issabella, if not more, when it came to training the members of Amaranth. Freya took her job very seriously.

Racing back to Sarah, she took the mage's hands in her own and with a comically serious face, said, "I like you."

Then again, Freya liked everyone.

Flashing Issabella a wicked smile, the palms of Freya's hands held two blazing white flames that lit the entire room in an ethereal light.

"Ready for round two?"

Sniffing the air, Freya dropped the two balls of sizzling light, nearly burning a hole through the guild. A smile lit her features as she raced toward the bar, having completely forgotten about her Izzy. Pressing her palms on the wooden stretch of table, Freya pulled herself up, resting her flat 'stummy' - as she liked to call it - on the bar. The small mage reached out with her hands, kicking her legs in the air. "Give!" she yelled, pointing at the freshly baked apple pie.

"Or I'll kill you..." she whispered before giggling. "Just kidding! No, not really."



"I would call you a woman but your beards do not allow me to interpret you as such," said a perpetually breathless voice as wintry eyes burned through hair of blue.

Boots with heels to very literally kill sat upon long lean legs, the right braced with a thigh sheath and its vicious daggers. The curvaceous woman had dark hair that fell over a revealing tank top and tight leather hot pants, Scars peeked from the black cloth, along with the edge of a lacy maroon bra. There were an uncountable amount of weapons on the woman, in her belt, her boots, the pockets of her shorts, the band that gripped her arms - every part of her body was laced in weaponry, even her lips were poison.

Crimson Blade's master sat upon a majestic throne of obsidian.

"Where's that half woman friend of yours, Burns?" she asked, unable to look more bored than she did right then. Ravenna rested her head on a fist, her arm on the intricately carved arm of her grand seat. Hundreds upon thousands of scars could be seen beneath the half gloves Ravenna wore, an obvious marker of her use of the forbidden Blood Magic. That, or she truly was quite depressed.

"Kiev, was it? He's almost as difficult to look at as you and your twisted paper face." The exact meaning of 'Twisted paper face' remains a mystery. Watching the S-ranked wizard with piercing eyes of pure aqua for she could undress anyone with those eyes, the mage crossed her legs tighter. She really, really hated Murmur Burns.

Then again, Ravenna hated everyone.

Of all the guilds she could've been the master of, it had to be one filled with so many men. She hated men more than anything and she hated that they triggered an irrational fear in her when they came too close for comfort. Absently running her fingers over her scars, Ravenna's eyes glazed over as she thought of Jyel. A barely perceptible flinch, a flinch perhaps only K'brak, who was always with her, might see, crossed her features. She remembered their disgusting hands roaming over her body, their lips, their - she wished to scrub herself thoroughly enough that she bled. Bled, so that one day she might eventually be pure.

Ripping herself from her mind, Ravenna forced the fingers of the hand she was not resting on to drum on the arm of her throne, Ravenna envisioned leaving the dark guild - oh what a gift that would be. The late Naciel Harlen, old Master of Crimson Blade had entrusted her with his guild and how could she abandon one of his many last wishes after all he had given her? Why on earth did the bastard have to die?

The throne on which Ravenna sat upon fit surprisingly well with the guild's decor of deep mahogany and obsidian. The bar, filled with liquor, gleamed in all it's black granite glory. So Ravenna liked dark colours - sue her. All in all, the guild's common room looked like a night club for vampires - the imposing, armed and scarred master didn't quite 'lift the mood,' either.

"Keep going, you whiny little girls," she growled, staring distastefully at the muscled men doing an endless number of push ups before her. They were mages but Ravenna, being one of combat, liked to know her mages could hold their own without any magic or weaponry. Besides, their large frames made them so much more intimidating. "You're only at 2034 - you're acting like I'm killing you."

Rolling her eyes at the panting, sweating men, Ravenna twirled a butterfly knife in her free hand with deadly precision before arching her arm back and throwing the knife smack dab into the centre of a dart board, narrowly missing someone's head. Suddenly, an idea came to her - Ravenna grinned her infamous smile that made all who saw it uneasy.

"We should destroy Amaranth."

Gren was sitting at the bar, hearing out his fellow guildmates while drinking. It was his routine in a gathering, hearing everyone's story and get drunk together. Gren was wearing a dark green vest, with a white shirt and gray pants. "So what about yer story Gren?" the guildmate that sits beside him asked a question. Gren was quite surprised hearing that question, especially since he had nothing interesting happen to him before.

"Eh? My story? None..." Gren answered as he took another sip from the mug. He looked around the guild hall, he saw Izzy, who just came back from her mission, still wearing things that is more minimalist. Gren raises his mug as Izzy went by. Although Gren doesn't really like the fact that she is half naked, he respected her for being an S rank an age younger than him. Gren then looked at the girl who bugs Izzy when she arrived. Gren never really know her that much other than her name, Sarah, and the fact that she belongs to this guild. This fact somehow disturbs him. And then another S rank, Freya bugs Izzy as well, she then proceeded to run around the guild and gives every guild member a hug, including Gren. "Woah! Easy there, hey! Watch it!" Gren was surprised as he gets hugged by Izzy, the hug is rather hurting than loving, which Gren somewhat dislikes

"I mean, spare me from that hug of her, it surprises me, and it hurts quite a bit... What else?" Gren somehow thinks that Freya was forcing herself to show her positive sides, although she doesn't look like someone that needs to be worried about, Gren worried about her past, not that he know anything about her past, but seeing her attitude and all, he really thinks that Freya is like that because she didn't want to be worried by anyone else. He then looked around, he finds Sidney in the Living Area, sitting on a chair, Gren thought that Sidney was weird and childish, and that he needs to change a little bit. And then Freya looked like she challenges Izzy to fight.

"What? She just came back, why would you---" And then suddenly Freya dropped her white fireball that she held on both of her hands, caused a hole on the floor, she then ran into the bar and rested her chest on the bar as she wiggles her legs as she pointed to the freshly baked apple pie. "Give!" she yelled, pointing at the freshly baked apple pie. "Or I'll kill you..." she whispered before giggling. "Just kidding! No, not really."

Gren slaps his left palm to his face. "Well, at least she didn't fight Izzy." He then looked at Freya "Woah there, that pie is for me, and mine only." Gren said to Freya as he walked towards her and takes the pie at ease. "But eh, I suddenly lost my appetite for it, here, tis' for you." He shrugged and then hands over the pie to Freya.

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Erina looked at the scene, she then continues to look at the mission board. Many of the missions seems to not fit with her current rank, except the babysitting mission. Erina thought to herself "Maybe I should tag along with a team or something."

It's not that babysitting doesn't fit her role, in fact, it fits perfectly as she usually taking care of the childrens at the orphanage when she is free. But looking at the other jobs, all of the payments looks really promising than the babysitting mission. She sighed then leaves the mission board and took a seat at the living area. She then looked at Sidney.

"Hey, I have yet to know your name, are you new here? So was I." Erina started talking to Sidney, she continues with a smile "The name is Erina, you can just call me Eri, what about you?"

Out of the corner if her eye Izzy saw Sidney wave at her. It was a slow, delayed, somewhat awkward wave. And it was precious, she thought to herself as she smiled and waved back. Sidney seemed occupied with something at the moment, he was paying particular attention to the side of a chair, she was pretty sure he was counting. Sarah then came up to her, "Welcome back, Miss Carrington," Sarah said with a respectful face and tone. She never really liked being talked to so formally, she felt very awkward whenever she heard her last name. Till this day she had no idea what her parents were like, she didn't know if she should wear the name proudly or not. But it was just...too formal. "How did the mission go? It was a high ranked mission wasn't it? Sarah asked. "I know I can't do a lot, but if my power could help then I would be happy to assist you." Izzy sighed a bit, "Hello Sarah. Please don't call me that." Izzy paused for a moment, her face turning grim, somewhat like the happiness - had it been there, had been sucked out of her. "They said it was a success..." she started to say monotonously, "All of the children were found alive, all of the children which were kidnapped were returned..." she paused obviously leaving out some kind of important bit of information. She then changed her mind, several days before till the moment she walked into the guild she had been fighting with herself wondering, what if? But if the what if had happened, perhaps something else could have gone wrong. Sarah was a lower ranked mage, she knew her magic was lacking and weaker, she did recall a time where Sarah helped her in a mission before however. Izzy never forgot things like that. She looked at her for a moment, pondering something, she didn't really like taking people with her - she didn't ever want people to get hurt. But when people wanted to learn and get stronger - "It's over and done, but I will surely take you on a mission, sometime." She glanced daggers at the girl as if to warn her. She had very little trust for most people.

She then began to invade her personal bubble, something which always unnerved her, depending on the person. Had it been Freya they would have ended up sparring or something. "Sorry 'bout that," Sarah then said. "It has been awhile so I tend to forget boundaries, you know?" the girl Flushed slightly. She remembered the girl doing something similar before but her thoughts were interrupted. Freya tackled her giving her a tight squeeze. So there you are. Izzy's personality around Freya was different, and her attitude towards her was different as well, she seemed like a different person towards Freya. Her serious demeanor would temporarily be replaced - something it seemed only Freya was capable of doing. She had the utmost respect for Freya, and was overly fond of her. "Oh, how will I miss you if you won't go away?" she said. Izzy tilted her head and smiled. "Hi Princess." She thought the name was appropriate in so many ways, she also just liked to tease her with it. She looked at her adoringly for a moment, "I was so worried that you wouldn't make it for the feast, Izzy-love. I even helped to cook!" If only for a moment, her face turned into something completely distorted and indecipherable at the words 'helped to cook.'

Freya then ran about the guild crushing everyone with her hugs of near-death. This made Izzy smile some, it was funny to watch, especially for those that didn't know Freya well. "Ready for round two?" Freya shouted, as a fireball came her way, leaving her to jump backwards, along with her pets with were now palm sized. The fireball burned a hole in the floor, "Anytime." Of course Freya would then get sidetracked by pie. Who else but her would challenge someone to a battle and then attempt to get pie - and then threaten for said pie. "Woah there, that pie is for me, and mine only." Gren said. Izzy didn't know Gren all too well, but he seemed like a decent person, this wasn't to say she trusted him however. It only took him but a few seconds to give the pie up to Freya. Princess She thought to herself. "Come on spoiled, I don't have all day." she said as she walked up to Freya and stuck her two index fingers in her mouth, tugging this way and that, causing her to make funny faces. "You sure you want to fatten up now?" Izzy then saw one of the new guild members walk up to Sidney, new enough for her to not even know her name. She froze in place as the girl talked to him, leaving her to still have her fingers in Freya's mouth in a forced awkward smile. "New plan, after the the feast, we destroy each other." she trailed off a bit at the end, she would have normally said something like I destroy you or something similar.

Izzy walked over to the casual lounge like area and sat on one of the chairs next to the two. It wasn't like her to start conversing with others for no reason - aside from Freya, but it was in her character to try and get to know the very basics of the new members. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met. I'm Issabella." Izzy's pets floated above her shoulders, the red one nearing the blue one until the both of them both went at it. Little puffs a fire and water were spewed about, but at this point they were too tiny to hurt anything or anyone, Izzy put out the sparks with her fingers. Her expression was just as it always was when talking to others, she lacked emotion of any kind. She of course, still managed to look beautiful, and not like a frightening horrible person - she would like to think. She did tend to be painfully protective of Freya when she wasn't the one trying to take her out, it seemed Sydney would suffer the same fate. If only she could put some kind of magical bubble around him to protect him from any and all harm. She imagined a literal bubble around him for a moment, and it looked very strange. But a bubble not have been the right thing to do anyways, as she was a firm believer in letting people experience life. Mainly because had she not had the hardships she had as a young child, she didn't know what type of person she would have been today. She didn't know if she thought the same for Sidney sometimes, though. She didn't know him well, but he seemed extremely fragile somehow.

Her eyes then shifted over to him, and while her expression didn't change, her eyes were softer. She had a less intimidating look about her, it was also in her voice. It was warmer and more mellow, less cold and composed. "How have you been? And how is Amaya treating you?" she hoped that he was unaware of the fact she warned the girl not to pick on him. "And what about Stamps?" Stamps, that was his cat that he was very fond of. Izzy also had a cat - so to speak. But not the real kind of cat in which Sidney had and was very attached to, she was glad he was able to keep it, the guild was nice enough to allow him to. Her cat was something she had imagined up when she was younger, using Arc of Embodiment. He wasn't something she ever used in battle, but was more of a companion as he had the ability to talk. He also had a horrible habit of being overly sarcastic and rude to members sometimes. He was a good cat, though. She was curious about the new wizard, wondering if she had found her team yet. Perhaps she would be played with Sidney, all the more reason for her to be sitting here right now. Izzy glanced back towards Freya for a moment, there was some part of her that felt bad for walking away like she did. Freya should know by now however, she would make it up to her by giving her all the time in the world for this battle she desired. Not that she wasn't itching for it either. Competition with Freya, it was like a drug to Izzy. It was addicting, and she had to win. The both of them, they always had to win. She knew their battles would be never ending. There would be rematches, or round three, and round four, and round one thousand and so forth. Izzy looked the new girl up and down and waited for her response.

The kitchen of the Amaranth Guild Hall was particularly busy tonight, thanks to the feast. Every member that was good at cooking was moving about the room, occasionally shouting for a particular ingredient or utensil. There were also some people who did not belong, trying to steal a bite of some dish that hadn't been carried to the tables yet. They were, in most cases, noticed well before they got anywhere near the food and were driven away, but some actually used magic for such a childish purpose.
Yuliana was one of the people working in the kitchen. She was good at all kinds of housework, cooking included, so she was a natural choice for the people who were in charge of preparing the feast. She didn't mind, really. She liked cooking, and it was thanks to her doing chores like these that the Guild took care of her living expenses. She didn't go to missions often because of how unsuitable for battle her magic was, so she managed the Guild instead, and was compensated for it.
She slapped away a hand that tried to snatch one of the orange gelatins she had made. She was not actually angry, for tried to make her face look stern as she looked at the grinning boy, one of the younger members of Amaranth. After the boy had left the kitchen, Yuliana double-checked that he hadn't taken any of the gelatin, and then took them to another member who took care of chilling them.
She was about to start preparing another bowl of salad, when someone shouted that some dishes had to be taken to the tables, and quick. Yuliana sighed, and prepared a tray which she then loaded with the prepared dishes. Amaranth was still a new Guild, not yet well organized. Its members didn't have much experience in arranging events like these, and thus, the kitchen was in chaos. The other members probably had no idea how much work had to be done for the sake of their fun.

As soon as Yuliana stepped into the room with the dining tables, she was suddenly assaulted by a bubbly creature that did its best to crush Yuliana's ribs. She barely managed to get the food out of the way before Freya hugged her, driving the air out of her lungs. "Careful, Freya", she said with a very slightly reproachful tone, but the young S rank mage had already disappeared somewhere by the time she had recovered enough to say those words. Yuliana let out a fond sigh as she looked at the lively girl going around hugging people. Yuliana really liked Freya, even if she was a bit hard to handle at times. Or maybe she liked her because she was hard to handle. She was probably still feeling very proud about how she had 'helped' Yuliana cook.
Yuliana laid her load onto the table, where it was soon claimed by hungry mages. The feast hadn't even been formally started yet, but they couldn't restrain themselves. Well, as a cook, it made her a bit happy that they were so eager to eat what she and the other cooks had made. Though occasionally they were a bit too eager, as proven by a -very brief- fight over some pie. A pie that Yuliana had made, now that she looked at it closer. One side of the 'fight' was Freya -that was not particularly surprising- and the other one was the man named Gren. They had recently been arranged into the same team, so she had naturally spoken to him, but since she rarely went out for missions and was busy at the Guild, she wasn't quite as well acquainted with him as one might imagine from their relationship as teammates.
After leaving the dishes on the table, Yuliana turned around, intending to head back to the kitchen. She then finally noticed that a new person had entered the building. It was Issabella. So she had returned then. Yuliana thought for a moment about what she had started some time after Issabella had left for her latest job. She'd planted three different rumors about the nature of her mission, and left them to evolve on their own. When she had last checked their status, a week ago, according to them, Issabella had apparently been hunting dragons in some northern mountain range. It was interesting how rumors could evolve through the passing of time.
She also noticed Sarah, her other teammate, near Issabella. She hadn't spoken with her a lot either. She probably should do so after this party. Right now, she was far too busy to stop and have a decent conversation, so she headed back for the kitchen.
As she was about to enter the kitchen again, she happened to glance in the direction of the living area. The boy named Sidney was sitting there. Yuliana liked him. While he was a bit hard to approach, she had still spoken to him occasionally in the kitchens, when he came to bake something, and she had shown him her magic a couple times. He was rather colorful, in many ways. Yuliana thought for a moment of bringing him something to eat, but decided that she had no time for it. There was food to be made. She disappeared back into the kitchen.




The highly respected Guild Master of Amaranth was sitting on a couch in the living area of the Guild Hall. As always, his majestic figure radiated power and grace... not so much. His respectability may have been somewhat lowered by the fact that he had a glass of some obscure alcoholic beverage in one hand, and was had his other on the shoulder of a female member of the Guild sitting next to him. Not to mention his clothing. He was wearing a sleeveless linen shirt that was worn with age. While it did do a good job of showing his muscles, it seemed miraculous that it was still in one piece. Anyone could tell that it should tear apart any moment now. His loose, black trousers were not in a much better shape. In one word, he looked shabby. Almost like a beggar. Well, a beggar with large muscles and enough magical ability to intimidate almost anyone.
"...as I was saying, one should never attempt to dispel a barrier made of Scila Runes without first affirming the order of..." Gawain Harlen had three 'modes'. Intelligent, lazy, and lecherous. To someone looking, it would have definitely seemed that he was either in lazy or lecherous mode, clearly making a move on a woman young enough to be his daughter. However, as anyone who came close enough to listen would realize, he was actually in his intelligent mode, explaining to the fledgling mage the delicate process of undoing Runes. Well, in his intelligent and lecherous mode. His hand was slowly but surely sliding down from the young woman's shoulder towards her behind.
Mere moments before his hand reached its target, there was some commotion near the entrance, attracting both Gawain's and his companion's attention. While disappointed at the fact that the interesting new thing caused his companion to rise up and go see closer what was going on, Gawain was also a bit delighted when he saw what was going on himself.

Issabella, one of his two best achievements had returned. He had managed to recruit two women, both gorgeous, and both good enough to easily qualify for S rank, into his new Guild. If it weren't for them, he might've called it quits only a few weeks after the Guild was first established, order from the Council or not.
Gawain stood up from the couch and headed to the direction of the returnee, his mouth curving into a small smile. He had missed the warrior mage, for several reasons. One of them was, obviously, her delightful sense of fashion. Gawain gave her an approving nod as he looked her over while approaching. He couldn't understand why most women decided to cover themselves with so much unnecessary cloth when they were so much more beautiful without. That was one reason he liked her, but not the only. She was also a physically oriented mage, and Gawain enjoyed sparring with her.
He was about the greet her, while looking her up and down again now that he'd come close enough to fully appreciate her, but she suddenly decided to head somewhere -to the direction of the lounge. He intended to move after her in order to give her a friendly pat, but then he noticed the creatures of bone following her. Grimacing a bit, he stopped on his tracks. He'd tried to move for the S rank mage several times before, but those things were always in the way, watching her behind. He bore a little antagonism towards them. Well, he'd get his chance sooner or later. Still, even if it wasn't safe to lay his hands on her, he did actually have some official things to talk about with her as well. After clearing an S Rank mission, he'd need her to report to him.
Then he completely abandoned the idea of following Issabella, when he saw who she was talking to. The Creepy Kid. Not only was the boy himself creepy as hell, but when the Guild Master had once had to check his room in order to do some repairs for the building, he'd found a doll that was clearly possessed. He'd seen nightmares for several nights in a row after that, and avoided the boy like the plague afterwards.
Gawain turned about and nodded to the one standing near him -Sarah. There was something strange about her, but he couldn't quite place what it was. Maybe it was the fact that he had a little trouble remembering her name, even though he never forgot the name of any woman. Very odd.
As he shifted his weight on the floor, he noticed that there was a slight unevenness to it. He looked down, and noticed that the floor was burned in a small area. It did not take her long to add one and one -Issabella had been here a moment ago, and it had been very hard to not notice the Guild's very own Princess giving a brilliant argument on why she deserved to have pie.

If one S Rank mage was unavailable, one should go to the other one. A plan began to form within Gawain's mind. He had missed the wonderful opportunity of Freya's hugging round before, so he'd need to wait for a new chance. Or no. He would create a chance, not wait for one.
Hint number one: Pie.
Hint number two: Not required.
Gawain burst into action. He moved towards the kitchens. He positioned himself next to the doorway to the kitchen. He then moved his head so that he could see into the kitchen, just for the briefest moment. "Target located." He pulled his head back to hiding, having memorized the location of the target and the route to it. He concentrated. A tiny silvery portal appeared in front of him, and four small chains came out of it. Focusing his mind into this matter of utmost importance. Moving delicately, the chains entered the kitchen.
A moment later, angry shouts could be heard from inside. Gawain wrapped his hands around the chains and pulled with all his strength. The chains came flying back, with something additional in tow. As soon as the tray was in front of him, he grabbed it from the air, letting the chains wrapped around it vanish, and ran for his life. Figuratively. And he didn't actually run, since that would be plain suspicious. Instead, he moved with grace befitting a Guild Master. Though there was a certain amount of haste to his steps.
After some time, Gawain decided that he had shaken off his pursuers. Or maybe they had just decided that it was not worth it trying to chase him. Smiling, satisfied, he headed for the direction Freya had been in. It did not take long for him to find her -she was not exactly easy to miss.
Smiling, the respectable Guild Master bent over slightly next to Freya, one arm behind him, and another in front of Freya, holding a tray full of orange gelatin. "Some dessert, my dear?"

"Woah there, that pie is for me, and mine only." Gren said. The B-Class mage was muscled to say the least for he was humongous with long, shaggy hair. Many might've found him intimidating but not Freya, for her Danger Radar was quite faulty. The young lady dressed in frills pouted, her lower lip trembling as she stared at him with her signature Puppy Face. It worked every time. "But eh, I suddenly lost my appetite for it, here, tis' for you."

Bursting into a blinding smile, Freya snatched the warm pie from Gren's hands, clutching it tightly to her as if it were her baby. Well, it was her baby and she would now devour her child. Opening her mouth wide, Freya prepared to gobble down the lovely dessert but an angelic voice interrupted her, "Come on spoiled, I don't have all day." The powerful mage giggled like a young child as Izzy made funny faces at her. Freya crossed her eyes, reaching her small tongue up to try to touch her nose. "You sure you want to fatten up now?" Izzy teased. The blonde huffed, sticking up her nose to stare the scarcely clad mage down - a failed attempt, as Izzy was 6 feet tall and Freya could not have been more than 5'3".

"I most certainly will not fatten up," Freya said with exasperation. "Besides, you could eat a barn of cows and still be hungry."

"New plan, after the the feast, we destroy each other," said Izzy, her attention wandering over to Sidney and a new girl with short dark hair. Freya struggled to contain her excitement, A newbie! Turning around and whipping someone's face with her long, wavy hair in the process, Freya demanded, "Spoon."

Someone handed her a wooden ladle that one would normally use for soup - Freya shrugged, digging up a chunk of warm apple with with the ladle - close enough. Parting her lips, Freya stuffed the gigantic 'spoon' with its large portion of pie into her mouth, filling out her entire face like a balloon. It did not take long for Freya to finish the pie, her sweet tooth and large appetite contrasted with her small size, perhaps all of it went up to her chest and down to her hips.

"Some dessert, my dear?" asked a low, masculine voice.

A muscled, solid hand wrapped around Freya shoulders. The mage blinked, her gaze falling on beautiful, beautiful orange jelly. Her life was complete. Tilting her head to look up at warm eyes of clear grey, she widened her large baby blue eyes before her lips parted in a bright smile. Her teeth were so blindingly white, it was rumoured that they sparkled in the dark. "Gawain," she said with affection. He was indeed the best master she'd ever had, completely unlike the cruel Naciel Harlen. It was hard to believe they had the same last name for surely, they were not related. Oh poo, they have the same last name. Dipping her gaze down to look around frantically, Freya reasoned with herself. Harlen was not such an uncommon surname, was it? Surely many had such a name. The honest, kind and hard working Gawain surely was not related to the monster that was Naciel Harlen.

Picking up a cup of jelly and a small spoon, Freya licked her lips with Amaranth's master towering over her. "You're the best, master," she cooed, looking back up at him with trusting eyes, "You're the most honest person I've ever met - I hope I find someone like you one day. You work so hard all the time and you're so selfless. All men should be like you!" Standing on the tips of her toes, Freya pulled herself up by the guild's leader's shoulders - and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, close to his mouth. A slight blush painted her cheeks as Freya smiled, smelling of apples, cinnamon and sugar, "I really like you, master."

He was such a nice old man.

Tapping her way over to the kitchen, Freya peeped the top of her head into the doorway, waving madly at the young woman with crimson hair - Yuliana. "Yulia!" she grinned before acknowledging everyone else. She'd helped Yuliana with the strew earlier and her willingness to let Freya aid them in the kitchen made the blonde mage like her all the more. "Are we ready to begin the feast?" she asked, scooping jelly onto her tongue.

"I'm really hungry," she said after eating an entire pie meant for the whole guild and god knew how many bowls of orange bliss. "The appetisers were amazing. You're all such amazing cooks. You'll teach me some time, right?" she asked, glancing at Yulia. There were nervous chuckles at her suggestion and some half-hearted nods but Freya noticed none of this.

"I think we're all done with the food now. The feast can begin," said a nearby brunette.

"Great!" Freya replied before rushing for the stage and tripping on the steps. The mage accidentally yanked on the cord of the microphone as she fell, causing a deafening screech to fill the air, followed by an awkward silence. "Ow, ow, ow..." Freya moaned, rubbing her sore nose as she stood.

"Please stand for the national anthem of Fiore," she began, standing behind the microphone stand. Freya stood on her bare toes, gripping the mic as she struggled to reach the height of the stand. Moving her head away from the mic, Freya 'whispered' loudly at Sidney who was near by, "This is national day, right?" Collective 'No's' echoed throughout the large room.

"Oopsies," Freya covered her mouth before turning back to the microphone, "I grew half an inch, everyone," she announced in the painful silence. A lone "Yay!" was shouted amongst the roomful of mages, before someone began clapping. Rather awkwardly, others began to clap, too, until everyone was clapping - for Freya's growth of half an inch or something else entirely, no one was quite sure.

"So, this is a feast to celebrate... Stuff." Freya twirled a lock of her blonde hair rather nervously. It was a mystery to all and to Freya herself, why she was Amaranth's Mistress of Ceremonies when she never quite knew what was happening. Well, at least she was nice to look at.

"Food!"

Loud shouts and fists in the air erupted as everyone began to cheer - so that was why Freya was the MC.

"Before we begin the feast, I would like to dedicate a song to my bestest sister in the world - Izzy. She's so wonderful and powerful and we need a rematch because I will destroy you," Freya said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "I remember that time when we bathed together in the hot springs," Freya began, her watering eyes concentrated on Izzy as she retold the story of their nude session with meticulous detail, certainly enough to make anyone blush. "I love you, Izzy. Who loves Izzy, too?" Several whoops and hands shot up - all of which belonged to men.

Musicians appeared from seemingly nowhere as Freya sang into the mic - which was thankfully adjusted to her short height. Freya stared at her fellow S-Class mage the entire time, choosing the strangest song - Answer. Her voice was nothing like Issabella's flowing voice of rivers and oceans, Freya's voice was one of sugar and starlight. Half weeping, the young mage's sweetly melodic voice filled the room as several Freisa fans cried openly - most of which were men.

The song had nothing to do with anything but Freya was not the best at memorising lyrics and Answer was the only song she remembered how to sing. At the end of the last caramelised note, Freya tripped and fell off the stage.

The smile on his lips grew a centimeter when his wave was returned, a ratification of his existence. His eyes didn't return back to the stitching in the chair, instead it bounced throughout the scenes in front of him. The hall faced a burst of energy shortly after, his attention drifted between the members of the guild as they interacted with one another in a style similar to a domino effect. Each moment that passed between individuals spread the infection, a virus that brought symptoms of elation in it's victims. The serum pulsed throughout his body, moved within his veins until they touched his fingertips, his toes, his ears.

Freya brought the flavor of chaos to the event, even going out of her way to squeeze the life out of him before challenging Izzy - only to be distracted by a mere dessert. Sidney had to inhale his soul back into his body, he wasn't sure if she knew her own strength. On another note, how could such a short girl be able to pack away that much food? He hadn't seen anything like it before! Maybe she had a secret magic that allowed her to consume large quantities of food without getting full, or fat for that matter. His lips pressed together with the presentation of such a thought, it was possibility.

"Hey, I have yet to know your name, are you new here? So was I." The contemplation of hidden magic evaporated in his mind when words filled the space instead. Sidney's head turned towards the voice; it belonged to a girl he had only seen only a few times before, but knew nothing about. "The name is Erina, you can just call me Eri, what about you?" The air around her was kind, but solid, far from being paper thin. He got the impression that she was a strong individual, reliable, even. "Oh," He spoke, he voice holding a soft quality that often drew out syllables. "I'm Sidney Allen. What a pleasure." His smile returned as he turned to face the girl better, retaining an open body language.

Another presence joined them soon after, this one belonging to Isabella who also took a seat on one of the chairs. The scene before him drifted to the woman, and then to the space she once occupied by the bar. The guild master stood there with an ill expression crossing his face, which Sidney found to be a bit comical. He hadn't really spoken to Gawain much, but despite his age he figured that he must be a good man, even if he seem to avoid Sidney and was a known womanizer. He did let him join Amaranth, and allowed him to keep Stamps, and that was all that mattered. Besides, he looked back to Eri and Izzy, he made a good guild for everyone to enjoy.

His eyes seemed to sparkle at the addition of the skeletal creatures to their party. They seemed to be bickering with one another, and the boy was able to count fifteen sparks before they were put out. "How have you been? And how is Amaya treating you?" No longer looking at the magic creatures, but their creator, Sidney started to tug at his scarf at the additional attention that made him both sheepish and happy. "And what about Stamps?" Those were a lot of questions to answer, but he could manage them, being as simple as they were.

"Stamps and I have been super-excellent. Like," His eyes gazed downwards and to the right, his brain trying to recall a certain feeling. "Five by five." They returned back to looking at Izzy this time, but occasionally glanced over to Eri as well. "Amaya is..." Sidney hummed in thought. "She's, Amaya." He smiled at the statement. "She acts harsh but I know that she has a good heart, she treats me well." The boy decided. He wasn't very good with his team leader's biting remarks but he was starting to get used to them, Izzy need not to worry about it. Though, it was nice of her to ask.

Sidney would have spoken again, but Freya's take over of the microphone cut his words short. Something about a national anthem and a holiday, the words were distorted when she 'whispered' the question towards him. Lucky for him, other members answered the question for him, making Freya out to look quite silly. He watched, amused, and even clapped at her announcement of growing half an inch, even if that didn't look to be the case.

Primitively, he wouldn't have guessed that the blonde was a talented singer, and her melodious voice always brought some surprise to him. How interesting it was for someone that could destroy cities to be able to sing such a lovely, gentle tune. The more notes that escaped into the room the more relaxed Sidney started to feel, until his eyelids started to feel heavy, and blinded his sight. Soothing, it reminded him of far away memories, and he only opened his eyes again when the woman crashed onto the floor.



"I would call you a woman but your beards do not allow me to interpret you as such," A smile that could only be described as sly and snake-like crossed his face at the appearance of their guild master. She was most positively hellish, anyone deceived by her appearance wouldn't find themselves being so hunky-dory for long. "Where's that half woman friend of yours, Burns?" The woman spoke with antipathy lacing her tone, something he wasn't unaccustomed to. He brought his cup away from his lips, setting the porcelain on a similar plate.

Ravenna was dressed in clothing that showed off her many battle scars, reminding him of animals that engaged in similar behavior; using it to display their power and authority over others. She was not to be taken lightly though, many of those scars weren't there for nothing, she truly was a fearsome opponent. Even himself wouldn't want to fight against her in combat - at least not now, perhaps one day he would have the honor. "I regret to inform you that I'm not aware of his current location." His voice sweet, nearly overcoming the challenging, sour emotions behind them. "However, I'm sure he'll show up soon enough." Murmur said, watching K'Brak out of his peripheral vision. Like the younger man, he only nodded and spoke the others name in acknowledgement as he approached the black haired woman.

He was torn between hating and loving the woman that rested on the thrown. She wouldn't bend to his will easily, and that was ever so frustrating, things moved so much smoother when people weren't so stubborn. That was what he liked about her though, he did appreciate a good challenge. Every interaction between them was like a game to him, something that didn't constantly leave him being the victor. It'd make her happy if he left the guild, but the Crimson Blades was too much fun to be in, even if it came with consequences. Ravenna cutting him for use of her blood magic was one of them, seeing nauseating displays of loyalty between the woman and her right hand man could be considered another.

"Destroy Amaranth?" Amusement crossed his face, but a feeling of nervousness settled within him. That would happen all too soon; discord had to plague the country at a very precise time. If such a bedlam was to occur before he needed it to everything he had put into motion could be set back. It was better to wait for something that would work in a proper chain reaction. The words he used were chosen carefully and his face no longer displayed such lighthearted emotions. "Sounds like fun." He smiled. "Though, much of the guild will be gathered this month, given their festivities." The man said, sounding to consider the best course of action. His eyes met her own, no longer playing coy. "I would have thought you'd be presently more interested in the new slave trade mission we received. Oh, what was the guild called? 'Jyel'?" The smile he worse was positively venomous, fishing for something that could prove his suspicions to be true.

Feeling a new addition among them, Murmur turned his head to look at Vincent, who was silent as ever. That one was quite unsettling, he hardly had any information on the particular mage at all. The blue haired male had made a mental note to keep an eye on him, but he always seemed to slip away so conveniently. "What do you think about all of this, Vincent?" He questioned, dragging another person to walk on hot coals. Their guild master was so fickle, one had to be careful about what they said.

The downtown streets of Oshibana were teeming, as always, with shoppers either passing through on train or citizens out for whatever reasons. Store owners were taking advantage, sending out employees to bark advertisements into the crowd, and their loud yelling was causing a tomato haired girl to develop quite the migraine. She had raised from her dead-like slumber in a nearly empty bar, one that she knew the owner of thankfully, and he had let her sleep through the night after a rather intense drinking contest. Despite the fact Amaya could easily out drink ninety-nine percent of the people who challenged her, and couldn't get drunk, she still managed to develop pounding headaches the day after, and often passed out for long periods when her body simply couldn't take anymore ale, even if her mind was clear.

Which is why, on this feast day, she would probably be the last member of Amaranth to arrive the guild, having overslept in an over-drunk stupor in the familiar tavern. She was annoyed with the fact she had lost her final drinking contest, though, in all respects, she'd won about seven before the dreadful last, so other than the upset bidders whose bets had been misplaces, no one gave her hardships about it.
Of course, the contest didn't bother her as much as the fact that most of the good food and desserts were snatched up rather quickly at the guild. And she had really been looking forward to those desserts.
Her pace sped up, long legs weaving her confidently through the people, eager to get out of the downtown market area, where traffic was always heavier. Her bright purple eyes had narrowed and she was blinking faster, a tell tale sign of her annoyance.
She was dressed in her usual clothes, a tube-dress type get-up made of steel and leather, it's main means of staying up the steel cinch it came to around her collar, if not it's skin tight hold. Decorative fabric streamed off the bottom portion as well as one between her legs, falling to her black boot clad feet. She wore short hot-pants under, of course, as it was a pretty short dress.
Over all, though Amaya was comfortable in it, whether it be in battle of just walking around like this, she drew much unwanted attention.
And, well, Amaya was in a bit of a bad mood, worse than usual, and the multiple store owners hawking their wares, not to mention the snide 'compliments' from men were doing nothing to lighten it. Just stay calm I owe it to the guild to be in a better mood today.[/i]
However, some things she really couldn't ignore.

"Do I look like the type of girl who's going to buy a dress that looks like some tropical bird was just murdered brutally all over it!?" The young adult shot viscously, and sent one particularly persistent seamstress sulking off with a glare. She then rounded on a man who'd been at her shoulder for nearly a minute flowering her with annoying words.
"And you," She paused to take him in, lip curling in disgust. "You're old enough to be my father, though obviously we could never be related, as a face like mine could never come from an ugly mug like you."

Before his angry face could retaliate, Amaya sank into the ground as her Shadow Form, and traveled much faster this was then she ever could have by foot. Though it felt weird with all the people walking over her, it wasn't uncomfortable, and it was something she was used to.

She neared the guild in no time and emerged from the ground in front of the doors, slipping inside to hear the ending portion of Freya's song. Navigating silently into her home, no one noticed, with all eyes on the cute singing form on the stage. Amaya was glad, not liking attention in the slightest. She looked around and saw all the guild members faces stricken with joy as Freyas lovely voice. Though she might not always show it, Amaya was dearly fond of these people, most of which she harbored deep respect and liking for, though the only people she let it show to here the master, her team and Issabella and Freya, when they spoke. The later two were her role models, each extraordinarily powerful and easy to like and get along with too. The red eyed could really learn a thing or two about social skills from them.
She had a clear view of the stage from the corner she had leaned into and was about to begin clapping praise for Freya as she finished, when the girl tripped right off the stage. Hands already up and reflexes good, Amaya managed to raise a small patch of soft shadow above the floor with her Shadow-Make magic. Anyone not paying attention wouldn't have noticed it, though the red-head had no doubt Freya could tell the difference, for even though she still make a decidedly loud thud, the shadow was soft like a cloud.

"Whatta clutz." Amaya commented quietly, but a fond smile snuck onto her face as she gently lowered the shadow- and girl- to the floor.

Standing at the side of wall in the guild hall any bystander would consider it normal vision, maybe a boy who didn't know how to socialize or perhaps a cold guy who didn't enjoy the whole festive atmosphere that reigned throughout the building and was there just to make an act presence before leaving, but nothing was further from reality, a closer look would easily reveal the truth: He was sleeping, eyes open and standing but asleep after all.

A weird habit that some of the guild members were accustomed but in any case it was difficult to detect with the naked eye, the boy had like almost always a strange outfit which made him look pretty funny at times, he was wearing baggy red pants with some patchs of others color to cover the holes, a woman in the circus was good at mending but she couldn't distinguish colors so all her work ended like that, his long-sleeved jacket with blue and white stripes was pretty new he buy it one day I was cold without thinking at a long term and finally on his head a fancy wide brimmed hat adorned with plentiful black feathers and a guitar leaning against the wall.

A beautiful voice brought him back from dreamland and reminded him where he was , Browen hit his palm with his fist "Right, the feast", for some unknown reason was feeling a great pain in the ribcage and back, as if something had caught him strongly but the blue-haired boy couldn't remember such an event which made it quite mysterious, shrugged and walked toward the kitchen and there he saw Yuliana who was in charge of the cooking, one thing he learned growing up in the circus was to not messing with the cook, although they seem fragile can summon an almost unlimited power to defend their food of fools who try to steal it before the appointed time, of course he also learned a countermeasure: Gravity Magic, he tried to go unnoticed but his attire did not help much but anyway fixed his objective, a plate with meat and then whispered "Gravity Pull", the plate flew to his hands and he quicly fled to the hall at the same time that Freya, a S rank mage whose voice awoke him, fell down from the scenario.

Browen began eating his meat quietly thinking of nothing "She fell off the stage!" exclaimed alarmed and rushed to her aid still holding his plate of meat, someone was there when he arrive but still asked "Are you okay?", his blue eyes looked for any visible injuries, luckily there was no so he sighed relieved, then he began to eat in the same place for a few moments and said "Morning Amaya, How are you today?" his teammate was the person who came first, despite what others thought of the girl Browen knew that she was good and kind at heart, he looked at his piece of half-eaten meat and thought to share but on a second thought it wasn't very polite so continued eating.

Freya had just finished eating her pie when Gawain came to offer the spoils of culinary war he had recently gained possession of. It did not take long for the young woman to notice the gift he had brought. The Guild Master smiled back down at the member of his guild when she looked up and smiled to him. She was truly a delightful girl. She was lovely in more ways than one. Not only was she beautiful, but also had a great personality. And most importantly, she truly seemed to like him.
"You're the best, master. You're the most honest person I've ever met - I hope I find someone like you one day. You work so hard all the time and you're so selfless. All men should be like you!" Since she said that, with such trusting eyes, it was hard to imagine that she disliked him. There was, however, a small problem. While it was a good thing that she liked Gawain, it would have been better if the way she liked him had been a bit different. After all, when the young woman stood on her toes to kiss him, she did so on his cheek. Well, this was pleasant in its own way.
"I really like you, master", Freya said after returning down from the kiss on the cheek, blushing slightly. She was so pure. It almost made Gawain feel bad about giving her a small tap on the behind when she left. Almost.
'Mission success', the respectable Guild Master thought as she watched the S Rank mage disappear into the kitchen. Though the result had not been as good as he'd hoped, it was better than he'd expected.

After Freya had left for the kitchen, Gawain was left with not much to do. He glanced about, seeing if there were potential targets nearby. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was surrounded by males and females who had been rather adamant about his earlier attempts to befriend them. He would have to move more slowly with them. Now, however, was not the time.
Sighing, the Guild Master glanced at the direction of Issabella and the Creepy Kid, wondering if he should go talk to the other S Rank member despite the company she was in. However, he now noticed that there was a third person included in their conversation. A young woman. She was rather unfeminine, but he was not someone to mistake a woman for a man, even if they were tomboyish. It took him a moment to remember who she was. Erina Harlow. She joined rather recently. Considering how new she was and her tomboyish appearance, it made sense that he hadn't remembered her instantly.
Gawain didn't get the chance to think about it for much longer, as the by far hardest-to-ignore member of the Guild scrambled onto the stage. Even without the deafening sound that suddenly filled the air, he would've noticed Freya soon enough.

The respectable Guild Master thoroughly enjoyed the show. A small smile appeared on his face at the 'national anthem' thing, but the next thing she said was much more interesting. 'Half an inch? I need to update her file.' Gawain probably found it more interesting than most people in the hall. Then again, he was probably one of the few who misunderstood it. When he heard about a woman growing, he wasn't thinking about vertical growth, but rather, 'horizontal'. Which made it much more interesting.
Gawain kept listening to Freya attentively, and was soon rewarded for his attention, when the subject of her speech turned to Issabella, and a particular story involving her. As soon as he heard the first words of the most interesting story, his hand dived into a pocket, bringing out a notebook and a pen. He began to furiously write down every word he heard, right under what seemed to be a detailed report of the Guild's activities, addressed to a member of the Council. When the story ended and Freya asked her question "I love you, Izzy. Who loves Izzy, too?", Gawain's hand was among those that shot up.
Satisfied after having heard the fascinating story and having written it down, Gawain put the notebook back into the pocket it had been in. Freya began to sing not long afterwards, and he listened to it attentively for some time, before noticing something else interesting.

A small gravitational abnormality in the direction of the kitchen. Being a user of Gravity Magic himself, he had grown sensitive to such things, even if the abnormality did not affect him. The Guild Master turned his head to look at the direction he had sensed the abnormality from, wondering what the cause had been. Then he noticed the Music Boy, and his interest dissipated. He knew the boy could use Gravity Magic, so he was the prime suspect. He was, however, a he, and thus of little interest to him. Well, it might be interesting to do some research on Gravity Magic by training with him, but this was not the time for training.
Besides, something happened to a person who was of interest to Gawain. Freya had fallen off the stage -not that that was particularly surprising. The Guild Master was about to head over to her, but then he realized that she hadn't fallen particularly hard. In fact, her collision with the floor had seemed strangely soft. Gawain thought about it for a brief moment, but then shrugged. Someone had probably interfered. Freya was well-liked, and it wasn't like a room full of mages had no one who could soften someone's fall. Gawain could name several of them, and then there were males as well. He decided that Freya was fine. Even if the blow hadn't been softened, she was still an S Rank mage, and one of them wouldn't be seriously harmed by something like that.
Gawain turned his attention back to the Music Boy. He'd noticed something just before Freya had drawn his attention again. His eyes searched the boy's surroundings, and soon found what he'd thought was interesting. Amaya Tanaka. A promising B Rank mage. And more importantly, she was also rather attractive. She had a good sense of style as well. The respectable Guild Master approved of her. There was just the problem that she was a bit hard to approach, to put it mildly. She seemed to dislike attention. Still, he would eventually get to her. He nodded in greeting, just in case she happened to look in his direction.

"Now then..." Tearing his attention apart from his interests -that is, women- the Guild Master turned to his duties. This was a party, so he didn't have anything official to do. However, as a Guild Master, the representative of the Guild, he had to stay in top shape, both physically and mentally. And that could mean only one thing when in a situation like this.
Food.
He grabbed a plate and began to pile up food onto it. A very large amount of it. This was a feast, after all. But perhaps surprisingly for those who knew him, or thought they knew him, everything he gathered on his plate was actually healthy food. While the size of the meal was large, it was a very balanced one, giving him everything he needed. Building and maintaining muscles such as his did not come from exercise alone, but also from a healthy diet.
He began to eat, approving of the taste. Everything had been made by members of the Guild, and it tasted very good. His Guild had many great cooks in it. 'And they're beautiful as well', he thought while eating. Everything tasted better if it was made by a beautiful woman. Of course, it would taste even better if he was eating it in the company of one as well.




Not long after she had returned to the kitchen to finish up the last few dishes before the official start of the feast, Yuliana saw chains shooting into the kitchen and wrapping themselves around the gelatin that had just finished being chilled properly. She shouted out a warning to the other members in the kitchen, and they tried to grab the tray the gelatin was on, but the chains were pulled out swiftly. Yuliana recognized the magic that had been used. It was definitely the Guild Master's. Some of the other cooks were about to chase after the thief, but Yuliana stopped them. "Give it up. They'll be gone by the time we find him, and we can always chastise him later." Some seemed reluctant, but others nodded. It was no great mystery who was guilty of the theft. This was not the first time their master had done something like this with those chains of his. But Yuliana was determined to root out that bad habit of his. She had decided to make a decent Guild Master out of that old man not a week after she had joined Amaranth. It might take years, but she was determined.
Yuliana and the other cooks returned to what they had been doing before the small incident Yuliana herself turned to arrange some salad onto a plate in a beautiful, colorful pattern. She put a great amount of effort into small things such as this, even though she knew most people would not stop to appreciate it.

Right after she had finished with the salad, someone familiar entered the kitchen, calling Yuliana by the name she preferred to be called. She turned around to smile to Freya brightly, and kept the smile even after she noticed what the younger but much more powerful girl was doing. 'I guess it's no great mystery why the old man took them', Yuliana thought to herself as she looked at Freya eating the last bits of the orange gelatin she had made. Considering the Guild Master's personality and Freya's, it wasn't too hard to imagine what had happened. The question was, how far had the old man gone? It was unlikely that he had done too much -even he couldn't be that forward with someone like Amaranth's Princess.
"I'm really hungry. The appetisers were amazing. You're all such amazing cooks. You'll teach me some time, right?" Yuliana smiled noncommittally to Freya. She had no qualms towards teaching the girl cooking, but she was a bit doubtful about whether she could actually learn. She had shown the people in the kitchen her 'talent' quite well earlier.
Yuliana nodded to the brunette who said that they were ready. There wasn't much else left to do. All the food was ready, and they'd only need to bring in more food as the trays that were already on the tables were emptied. Only a couple people needed to stay behind to watch the food.
Freya left after it was affirmed that the feast was ready to begin. Yuliana turned to the others. "I'll take the first watch", she told them. They were all hungry, even though they'd done some tasting themselves to make sure that the food they'd made was actually good enough to bring into the tables. Thankful, the others nodded and left the kitchen. They'd come back when it was their turn to watch over the food or when the tables were starting to run out of food.

Yuliana let out a sigh of relief and sat down onto a chair in the kitchen after the chore of cooking had finally finished. She did enjoy cooking, but it was a lot of work, cooking for so many.
While she had indeed volunteered for the first watch, she really wanted to join the feast soon herself. She really enjoyed festivities, and had done a lot of preparation. Despite being in a kitchen, she was wearing a fancy dress of a brilliant red -V306-S501-Y479-W320-L029-B731-6, a color close to the color of her hair- decorated with pure white patterns. Of course, she was wearing an apron over it, but it was nothing shabby either. It was made of fine material and had intricate floral patterns on it.
Using the free time she had now, Yuliana began to braid her hair. She'd tied it into a simple ponytail while cooking, but that was not quite enough for a party. A feast required something more ornate, something that a complex braided hairstyle can provide. Hearing Freya's lovely voice singing outside, she hummed herself while working on her hair
Unfortunately, the braiding took both her hands, and when another thief appeared in the kitchen, pulling away a plate of meat without any physical contact, she couldn't grab the food in time. She did, however, identify the thief before he fled. He made a mental note to chastise him later as well. At this pace, he'd have to spend the entire next day scolding people. Unless they fled using the excuse of doing a mission first, of course.
She sighed, and returned to braiding her hair. Some time after the singing had stopped, she finally finished, standing up. She brushed her dress with a hand, making sure it was in good order, before going to stand by the kitchen door. Soon, a replacement arrived to take her turn watching, and she was free to join the feast herself. She entered the main area, looking for a spot to sit in.

A gentle cloud grasped Freya's back and gently lowered her to the ground. Freya landed with a soft thud as she turned around to smile at a slim woman with flaming red hair with an air of strength of all sorts about her. Freya pressed her fingers to her lips and blew Amaya a kiss. Despite Amaya being a Darkness Magic user, she was far from those tainted dark mages. She had a sarcastic sense of humour than Freya appreciated, not to mention she was amazing at hair braiding.

"Are you okay?" asked Browen. A lock of his blue hair fell into his equally blue eyes and Freya brushed it away as she smiled.

"I'm as good as ever, Owy-owy!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around the back of his neck as she squeezed him in a hug with perhaps too much enthusiasm.

Rushing to the feast, Freya wondered where H'mong was. Why wasn't he at the festival? Well, why did she care? Right, because they were meant to go on that mission at Mailman Trade together. Although Freya wasn't particularly money hungry, 30,000,000 Jewels was a lot of Jewels. The pretty dresses and candies she'd be able to buy with all that money! She'd give most of what she earned to the community, though. There was this orphanage near by that she contributed towards every month. Her kids would be so happy to see so much gold. They'd be able to buy new books, toys, clothes, food - she'd plan them a great feast! They'd even have money to visit all the fun stalls at Halloween.

Brushing H'mong from her thoughts, Freya began piling her plates with all sorts of desserts, completely ignoring the main meal for the mountain of Eclairs a goddess had made. Freya devoured half of the desserts and all of the 950 eclairs. Spooning creme brûlée into her mouth - oh god how she loved creme brûlée. Freya moaned as she swirled the delicate cream in her mouth. It was a wonder how she never grew any 'bigger' despite her ridiculous love for sugar. Yes, it most certainly all went to her chest.

"Where was my invite?!" a voice squeaked. Freya jumped before raising her head to find herself staring at a very angry flying teddy bear. Lele the Lion glared at his master with beady little eyes like two sequins on his face.

"Lele!" Freya squealed, grabbing the small thing and rubbing him against her face. "Lele!" she repeated.

"There, there, princess," Lele pushed against Freya's cheek, trying to struggle out of her deadly grasp. "Don't get too excited now. I'm just here for the sweets!"

"No," Freya said solemnly, suddenly letting go and causing the small celestial spirit to fly into the head of another mage.

"What do you mean no?!" the little teddy bear lion asked.

"No," Freya said again. "It's for me."

"Uh, it's for the whole guild..." mumbled a nearby mage.

Freya huffed and stuck up her nose before crossing her arms protectively over her entire table of desserts. "No!" she growled like an angry kitten. "Mine!" Tears tickled the corner of her eyes as her lips pouted in an adorable frown.

"I challenge you to a chocolate truffle eating contest..." Lele said, flying down to float nose to nose with Freya. A small smirk picked up the corners of her lips. "You think you can win, teddy bear?" she asked and as if Lele'd received a slap to the face, he bounced back and held his cheek with a small paw. "How dare you!" he gasped. Lele hated being called a stuffed animal.

"One," Freya counted slowly as she dragged the entire 6 large trays of chocolate truffles to them - she was being kind in leaving 3 trays for the others. "Two, three. Go!"

And off they went.



Familiar metal cuffs crushed the bones in Ravenna's wrists, a needle was embedded into her flesh, meant to lull her senses and rock her into oblivion. Ravenna didn't have the pleasure of half consciousness for she was immune to such poisons. It was meant to make her slower and weaker but it didn't have to. Just having her wrists bound in such familiar restraints weakened her. She would not be afraid.

Reaching with her mind, Ravenna felt nobody else of her guild. Her heart wrenched itself from its socket and slapped against her ribcage. Ravenna clenched her fists. No, they were there. Perhaps the minds of the slaves and Jyel's clients and traders merely shielded their bright flames. Yes, that was it. The fire within the slaves were so weak, so small and some - some had minds so broken, she could read nothing but ashes.

Ravenna was afraid.

It was a sickening though, an abnormal emotion for Death. I am Death, she repeated to herself. A mantra to keep her mind from drifting into a past that was long gone. From returning to the helpless girl she once was. I am Death.

Ravenna focused on her body to drag herself from her mind. She was chained to a wall. Tugging at her ankles, she could not move them and her heels were gone. A slither of panic returned as she wondered what else of what she was wearing was gone. Slowing her breath, she felt the tight leather dress pressing against her skin, her legs hanging like that lifted up her already minuscule skirt by more than what she would've liked, however. Clenching her teeth together, she reminded herself she was a dark mage now. The master of one of the greatest Dark Guilds of all time - Crimson Blade. A blindfold was gripped tightly over her eyes.

A sluggish black flame of dirtied oil creeped up toward her. Of course, she always got the worst of the 'clients,' the sickest of the sick.

A whip slapped against the bare skin of her legs. Ravenna flinched but otherwise did not react. In fact, she welcomed the pain for perhaps - the agony in her body might overwhelm the hell in her mind.

"Not a screamer, I see?" a voice croaked - the man was at least 50. She could take care of him with her bare hands. "What a pity. I guess I'll have to try harder, eh?" The coiled wires of steel wrapped tightly together to form a vicious instrument of torture sliced through her flesh. "Must be because you're a cutter, huh?" the man asked, running callused fingers over the naked scars on Ravenna's arms. "Was life so bad to you?"

Yes.

Ravenna tuned the man out and pulled her mind away from her 'shell.' Dimly, she was aware of a scream that erupted from her body's lips - pathetic. She reached out with her mind, barely touching any of the dirtied flames as she searched for Murmur's blue and red light and Kiev's silver glow. She knew she shouldn't have trusted them enough to take them on this mission - never mind, she'd complete it on her own. A pink, shivering flame pulsed and she tangled her consciousness with it - 'Rosie,' she whispered.

'Who is it?!' a frightened voice of a child's mind replied.

'You'll be okay,' Ravenna said as calmly as possible. 'I'm a friend of your father's. I've come to take you home. Have they done anything to you, Rosie?' Despite herself, Ravenna couldn't help but feel a gentle pressing of empathy. She didn't want the child to be hurt, at least, not by these men.

'No but I can't see anything. Where am I?' Rosie spoke in her mind.

'Good question, Rosie.' Then, she saw what Rosie could not see with her eyes. Her subconscious knew where she was from the sounds, even if Rosie herself didn't. 10 doors down, turn right, down 2 flights of stairs, 2nd door to the right. 'Try to stay where you are, Rosie. I'm coming.'

Ravenna's consciousness was snapped back into her body. A wet tongue pressed against her inner thigh. Repulsion shoved against her spine as Crimson Blade's master shoved her fears away.

"Master?" she said pitifully, her voice shaking. Play weak. The stickiness lifted from her skin to press into her lips. Repulsion filled her as she struggled not to jerk her head away. "What the he-" the man croaked before tumbling to the slick tiles. Poisoned lips could do wonders. Ravenna's hands and ankled slipped from their chains - of course she'd have a pin embedded her flesh - how stupid did her kidnappers think she was?

Fixing what she could of her dress and scraping her nails viciously against the skin the disgusting man had touched, Ravenna opened the unlocked door - idiots. Elbowing the throat of the guard next to her, she smacked the side of her hand into the neck of the other guard on her left. This was strangely too easy. Even the slices on her thighs had healed from the magic in her blood.

Following the pink flame, she disarmed a few more guards on her way. She reached the 2nd door to the right, down the stairs - the corridor was surprisingly unguarded. Sniffing for the fire of life, she smelled nothing except those of fresh slaves. Taking a deadly poisoned pin from her hair, Ravenna fiddled with the lock until she heard a click.

"Who's-"

'Shh,' she cooed in the young girl's mind. The small child was bound in chains similar to hers. Ravenna was surprised she hadn't yet passed out from the drug they had flooding through her veins. It made her respect the small, curly haired ten year old a lot more. Her pink, frilly dress - obviously expensive - was dirtied from their manhandling and the ugly floors.

Ravenna bent down, fiddling with the locks on Rosie's chains. Where are you? she thought. She could not ask the question out loud using telepathy for she could not lock onto Murmur and Kiev to do so and she most certainly could not shout it out loud in the minds of everyone. The first cuff clicked open and Ravenna moved on to the next.

Then, she found them. The burning flames of her Crimson Blades - 'You suck at following.'

"What do you think you're doing?"

Amaya Tanaka

As soon as Amaya had temporarily used her magic to catch Freya- though honestly the girl would just be falling over again in a minute, so Amaya didn't know why she bothered- she was back to leaning casually against a pillar. She accepted Freya's blown kiss with a playful pretense to catch it and pat it to her cheek, just to humor the childish mage before said girl went running off towards the table of food.
Food! To anyone else she might have looked bored leaning back with narrowed eyes as she did, but she was attentively scoping out the food table. Luckily, there was a decent portion of the chocolate truffles left. Sitting there oh so innocently just waiting for someone to snatch them up.Better yet, Yuliana had just switched shifts, and it was always somehow easier to get away with taking food when the other redhead wasn't there, She was a brilliant cook, much too brilliant, as were other cooks in Amaranth's kitchens. It would be an insult if nobody tried to steal the food! Amaya was just debating how to go about her robbery when her teammate Browen appeared in front of her, dressed like a circus clown, like always. Amaya rather liked Browen. His sense of style always provided amusement to her, and his slow paced way of action kept him from making snappy remarks back at her. Her fellow B rank was also rather powerful with his different magic. Amaya guess he could aim for a much higher rank if he had the motivation.

"Morning Amaya, How are you today?"

"Have quite headache, not made any better by your bright ensemble."
She reached out with left hand , momentarily distracted by one of the feather on his hat, prodding it interestingly before returning her hands to her side. Browen had casually begun eating his plate of meat again. Amaya's eyes twitched up, flickering around the room for a moment, making quick eye contact with the guild master, who nodded in greeting. She didn't bother nodding back, continuing her scope of the room. She saw the table of food- Oh for the love of.... Of course the Princess Freya was devouring those truffles she'd seen earlier. Oh the sadness, that many gone to waste being shoveled into the mouths of the hyper girl and.... a teddy bear. Amaya groaned, deciding to head over and snatch one of the trays for herself while Freya was distracted. She finished her oservations of the room, noting Sidney, Issabella and a new girl, sitting in the lounge area. Ah, Sidney. He was newer to the guild, assigned to Amaya's team, and though she treated him like everybody else she harbored a worry for his slim cat loving form. Actually, she harbored a worry for Browen as well, with his delayed reflexes. She expected him to get hit by a throwing blade or a quick magic any day now.
It was obviously notable that she was much nicer to Browen and Sidney, her other team member, than to anyone else. Browen, because she thought of him as a friend, perhaps, and Sidney, well, because Sidney looked like a breath of wind would knock him into a million pieces.

The red head turned her attention back to her team member.
"Okay circus freak, here's what were gonna do. We're going over there and taking at least one tray of those chocolate truffles first of all. And then you, Sidney and I are picking a job. We really need to start picking them together." Amaya shuddered at the multiple times they had each separately signed the team up for jobs that only suited the one who'd picked it, and often coincidentally exploited the other's weakness. Even Sidney had once signed them up for breaking a cat possession charm, worth little money, simply because he'd seen the word cat. that had actually been a rather scary event. Cat possessions were not a joke.
"We need to pick better jobs, that we can get the full money for. I'm short on rent and drinking money."

She looped an arm around Browens shoulders not giving him time to agree or disagree with anything she'd just said, too intent on getting those truffles before Freya could. And team bonding of course. But mostly the truffles. She'd have to steal them, sneakily maybe. Or perhaps the harpy looking brunette would send them over, not wanting all the food to be wasted on Freya. Hm.

Amaya navigated Browen stealthily around Freya and made a gesture at the brunette, signaling she was taking the truffles. She just threw her hands up, exasperated and shot, "Go right on ahead, because obviously no one else will be able to get any!"

She snatched up the tray gleefully, letting go of Browen as she strut away. "Come on then Lord of the Color Blind, bring your mismatched little but on over here!"

With that she navigated easily into the sitting area Sidney Issabella and an unfamiliar face were sitting.
"Good day my dear frail Sidney, Madame Reaper, unfamiliar he-she I don't know." She perched onto the love seat that faced the chairs the three were seated in, balancing her tray of eclairs on her gloved fingers. She tilted it towards the unfamiliar tomboy looking girl, in a way to make up for her comment, knowing some people didn't now quite how rude/frank she was. "I'm Amaya. Chocolate Truffle? I saved some from Freya."
She moved her eyes to Issabella, taking in the warriors scantily dressed elegant figure. Back from a difficult mission and looking like she'd just emerged from a photo shoot with sorcerer weekly. Truly a role model!
"You should really keep an eye on your princess, " Amaya chuckled slightly. "She'll eat the entire feast."
After the appropriate amount of time had passed for the unfamiliar girl to take an truffle, she moved the tray out to Issabella and Sidney. She narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Eat one, I can nearly see your bones through your clothes. You need to build up for our next mission."

(OOC: Sorry I went crazy with dialogue, wanted to get some stuff started as I might be absent tomorrow, depending. Sorry I'm posting it here, I'm expected to leave for something in like, two minutes, just letting you know. I'll edit this out next time I can get online!)

Izzy heard Freya's voice echo throughout the guild - but not before she told the story of them both at the hot springs. Freya never did have any shame, and it seemed she took great pleasure in embarrassing those around her. Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw the headmaster writing something down. Likely that it was the very story in which Freya was telling, it was like that perverted man to do so. Turning her attention back to Sidney, she noticed the singing seemed to soothe him. It seemed like he was almost on the verge of drifting off to sleep. She smiled at the boy with adoration in her eyes, never had she envied Freya so much. Was it her voice in particular that soothed him? Or perhaps it was the song in general - she couldn't be sure. Freya once mused about her voice, but she wasn't about to hop onto the stage which Freya stood - or didn't stand, as she had just fallen from the stage. This was probably one of those moments people would do that odd face palm thing which Izzy never understood. Freya was a clumsy thing, she could probably trip over her feet multiple times a day. Luckily Amaya caught her using her shadow magic, and Browen approached them as well checking up on her well being.

"Stop that." Izzy scolded, though rather calmly. "That's enough for today, take it easy darlings. Mommy loves you." And with that, the bickering little creatures disappeared. Izzy had created the creatures to be fully functioning beings that learned like every other creature, with emotions, and the ability to retain memory after being returned from their summon. Izzy noticed Sidney's eyes opened again when Freya stopped singing. She wondered what he had been thinking of during the soothing tune. What kind of things went on in Sidney's mind? "Good day my dear frail Sidney, Madame Reaper, unfamiliar he-she I don't know." came a familiar voice. It was Amaya, one of the wizards in which Sidney was teamed with, while she didn't come off as the friendliest of people Izzy deemed her a decent person with a rough exterior. She also had great potential as a wizard, however at the moment she was sitting at rank B. Frail. This was actually not so much a smart sarcastic comment as it was true. Sidney looked so delicate and fragile, like the slightest touch could hurt him, and he was so thin. Izzy wasn't sure why that was exactly, another thing she could add to her list of reasons to worry about Sidney.

Izzy looked up at the truffles in front of her, chocolate, she quite liked chocolate. "Thank you." she said, grabbing one. The fact she was able to rescue them from the garbage disposal that was Freya was a feat in itself. "You should really keep an eye on your princess, " Amaya chuckled slightly. "She'll eat the entire feast." Izzy turned to Freya, who seemed to be having some kind of eating contest with one of her spirits. "Let the princess have her fun." she said, mentally betting on Freya over the spirit. She was a bottomless pit, but then again, perhaps the spirit inherited the traits of its master. "Eat one, I can nearly see your bones through your clothes. You need to build up for our next mission." Her attention wandered from Amaya to Sidney again. "Truffles is hardly a meal, though." she stated, now concerned about Sidney's well being. "What might your next mission be?"

As Yuliana was looking for an empty spot around the dinner tables, she couldn't help but notice a certain someone hogging the desserts for herself. She smiled wryly as she saw Freya eating eclairs, creme brûlées, chocolate truffles, and many, many other sweet things, one after another. They had anticipated that the S Rank mage would do that, and had prepared twice more of everything sweet than one would have normally done for a group of this size. But they had underestimated Freya's abilities. A triple, no, a quintuple portion would have been closer to what they should have made. Well, at least the other members of the Guild would eat a bit more healthily with less sweet things available. She didn't want to ruin her guildmates' health by having them eat too much of the wrong kind of food. This was a feast, so a certain amount of extravagance was required, in food as well, but she'd have to compensate for it by making a bit lighter food for the next few weeks.
Turning her gaze away from Freya, Yuliana returned to searching for a spot to sit in. Soon she spotted a few empty seats near the end of a table. Most likely that part was empty because most of the desserts and other food that was popular in this particular Guild had already been taken away from there, leaving only the more simple types of food there. Well, Yuliana preferred it that way. While she enjoyed eating something sweet every now and then, she had a taste for simple food.
She took an empty plate and started to gather food onto it. Soon it was filled with colorful vegetables, arranged into a nice pattern. She always took care with things like this. Even though she was going to eat it in a moment, thus breaking the pattern apart, it was important to first prepare a feast for the eyes before providing one for the tongue. After enjoying the colorful view for a moment, Yuliana pierced one of the vegetables with a fork, and began to eat.

A moment afterwards, Yuliana heard someone's voice next to her. "Greetings", Sidney said to her. Do you want to sit with me? Of course, you don't have to. This end of the table is short a peg, rather unconventional that is."
"Hello, Sidney", Yuliana said in response, smiling to the boy. "I would like that." She noticed that Sidney had some soup and bread. She was glad to see him eating, though a bit more couldn't hurt. Unlike many people in the Guild, the boy next to him needed to eat more instead of less. She had tried to slowly make him eat more through the time he'd been in the Guild, and it seemed like there had been some progress.
Yuliana's hand put the fork down, and went to gather a small plate of various things, arranging them into patterns the way she usually did. She made sure that nothing was spicy -she had already learned that Sidney did not like spicy food. Then she brought the small plate in front of the boy. There was only a little, at least on the scale of some people. "I think you would like these, Sidney. I made them myself." That was the truth, actually. In Amaranth's kitchens, the people who cooked tended to prefer putting their food on specific types of trays. Anything Yuliana had made was on a tray with floral patterns, so it was easy to recognize her work. Yuliana took her fork into her hand again and resumed eating, filling her plate with different things after finishing what was on it.

After some time, when she casually shifted her weight, she felt something slightly uncomfortable. She suddenly remembered something, and took out a small notepad from a pocket in her dress.. She gestured a nearby guildmate, who seemed to be have finished eating. "Could you take this to the Master, please?" She handed her the notepad. The other mage nodded, and headed over to the Guild Master, who seemed to have risen up to the stage where Freya had been earlier.
Parties, festivals and such were a nice thing. However, they all had one thing in common.
They cost a lot. Especially if you have a person who can consume nine hundred and fifty éclairs by herself, and still have room for more.





The Guild Master finished his massive yet healthy meal. It had been excellent as always. Well, even better than usual. The members who did the cooking had really given their all for this feast. He should go thank them later. Personally. In private. The food had indeed been delicious, but there had been the problem of missing good company.
He sat there for a moment, thinking about what he should do. Looking around, he could see that most women were in somebody else's company, having formed their own little cliques. It would make a bad impression if he interrupted their conversation. There's a good time for a friendly pat on a woman's behind, and there's a... better time for a friendly pat on a woman's behind. He should wait for a better time.
In the meanwhile, he might as well take care of his duties. As much as he disliked doing the Guild Master's job, it was something that should be done. He could give some jobs to others -like giving Freya the position of giving entertaining speeches, but he sometimes had to do something himself as well. At least one speech per event.

Sighing, Gawain rose up from his seat and worked his way to the stage Amaranth's Princess had occupied earlier. Using his Gravity Magic to give himself a lift up onto it, he arrived in front of the microphone. He adjusted it first, bringing it up from Freya's level to his own, which was no small difference. He was a large man. Physically, too. He coughed a few times to clear his voice. He turned on the microphone, and spoke.
"Ladies! Issabella, Freya..." He started to list the names of the female members of Amaranth, starting with the two S rank members. He used the first name for all of them, using a very familiar tone of voice. "...and Sarah Yondala", he added last. It was a bit strange how he always seemed to have problems remembering her name, even though he remembered everyone else. Oh well.
Then, it was the time to list the male members of the Guild: "...And the rest", he said simply. "Moving on..."
He was about to continue his speech, which he had planned earlier, when one of the female guild members walked up to the stage, holding a note of some kind to him. "Thank you, Viola", Gawain thanked the young woman, and took the notepad. He gave it a brief glance at first. Then, when his mind registered what he had seen, he freezed for a moment.
He read the first page of the notepad again. And again. He turned a page, and read it. Then the next one. He went through each page carefully. It did not, however, take very long, as he was very fast at reading. Finally, he turned to the first page again, staring at it for a while. His face had grown serious.

He cleared his voice again, and turned to the microphone. "Could I have your attention, everyone. I have a serious announcement." His face reflected his seriousness.
"This feast is a fabulous one. I would like to thank the members who prepared all this delicious food for us again. I suggest you all do the same. Appreciate all the effort they put into what you've eaten or are about to eat. Let's give them an applause." He clapped his hands together for a moment.
"We've had events like this often during the short time this Guild has existed. We're a merry bunch, wouldn't you all say? Not a day is boring."
"As a result, however, we tend to spend less time doing the jobs people request of us. Some jobs stay there for a while until they're pulled out. Simply put, we miss out a lot of money."
The respectable Guild Master pulled out the notepad and extended his hand, showing the contents to the people in the hall, even though most were much too far away to make out even the title, which was in much larger text than the actual content. "This notepad details the costs that went into making all this delicious food you've eaten, to all the decorations around us, and to all the other miscellaneous expenses involved in a feast like this. In addition, it also has information on how much money the Guild's treasury holds. After substracting today's expenses from what he had before, do you know what we have?" A brief pause.
"Absolutely nothing.". This came out with a very serious tone.
Then Gawain shook his head. "No, even less than that. We are in debt. A very large amount of food was made. A certain person in this room here has, alone, eaten 478 210 Jewels' worth of expensive sweets. I won't go out calling names, but if you feel your conscience telling you anything, come to me later tonight to apologize personally." Although his tone was still serious, there was a certain glint in his eye when he said this.
"Simply put, we're broke. Completely. What I'm trying to say, is..."
He swung out his hand, pointing straight at the mission board. "GO OUT THERE AND EARN THE GUILD SOME MONEY!" He was stern. He had a great posture. His muscular hand pointed at the mission board unwaveringly. "Understood?" he then asked with a low voice.

Slowly, the man lowered his hand and left the stage, his face still serious. After he had left it, he paused for a moment.
"All that shouting made me hungry", the respectable Guild Master said and took some chocolate truffles from a nearby tray, eating them impressively quickly.

The feast continued normally, Amaya was in good spirits and Freya wasn't injured actually she was devouring an amount of food worthy of the Imperial feast of an Eastern country especially known for lasting days although it seemed that she was eating mostly sweets and Amaya had her eyes fixed in one of the elements that the S rank mage was eating, Browen felt a pain in the neck and a small flashback revealed the cause: the over-enthusiastic hug of the girl who now reveled with the feast.

"Okay circus freak, here's what were gonna do. We're going over there and taking at least one tray of those chocolate truffles first of all. And then you, Sidney and I are picking a job. We really need to start picking them together."
"We need to pick better jobs, that we can get the full money for. I'm short on rent and drinking money."

Indeed she was right, the last job that Browen chose involved entertainment at a children's party, he had to admit that Amaya wasn't made for that kind of missions and better not to talk about the cat possession charm, Browen decided to confine all his memories about that mission in the realm of fantasy and never think about it again, for the sake of his mental health was the right decision, when he returned to focus on the present he realized his surroundings had changed and before he knew it was close to Freya with her multiple trays, Amaya recovered one left saying something.

"Come on then Lord of the Color Blind, bring your mismatched little but on over here!"

He stood eating for a while, someone bumped into him and his hat fell to the ground but the boy continued eating, his brain procesed too late that Amaya went to where his other teammate to talk about missions, Sidney, that boy's mind was a mystery and his body looked as if made of crystal, pure and fragile crystal, Browen walked towards Amaya at the time when Sydney left that place, "Let's choose a mission, I still don't pay this month rent" spoke when he get together with the Amaya's group, the tray was still in his hand so he kept eating his meat.

"Nice to see Issabella" he failed to notice that the other S rank mage was present, Browen didn't get along very well with her, she was a perfectionist and he was the opposite but even so he respect her a bit, scratched his head, "My name Browen" he introduced himself noticing an unknown girl, a new face in the guild, after a couple of seconds he continued eating while the leader was giving a speech that ended with the phrase.

"GO OUT THERE AND EARN THE GUILD SOME MONEY!"

That was when he realized the tragedy that had come suddenly, Browen didn't understand how he could have failed to notice that something so serious was going on "Amaya I lost my hat and my guitar!" he exclamed in despair while tried to remember that time had lost both elements, especially the hat the instrument for him were something almost disposables.

"Freya..."

A small blonde head popped up from the chaos of a mountain of truffles and the even bigger mountain of empty trays. Watching her guild master with large blue eyes, Freya's small tongue darted out to lick a smudge of chocolate on the corner of my lips. She was surprisingly clean despite the amount of sweets she'd devoured.

The toy-like Celestial Spirit Lele laid exhausted in a chocolate smudged tray, defeated nearly half an hour ago. A faint light emitted from the stuffed animal lookalike and Lele dissolved into sparkling fragments before dissolving back to the Spirit world.

"This feast is a fabulous one. I would like to thank the members who prepared all this delicious food for us again. I suggest you all do the same. Appreciate all the effort they put into what you've eaten or are about to eat. Let's give them an applause." The petite mage clapped her frail hands, looking like a small child despite being in her late teenage years.

"We've had events like this often during the short time this Guild has existed. We're a merry bunch, wouldn't you all say? Not a day is boring. As a result, however, we tend to spend less time doing the jobs people request of us. Some jobs stay there for a while until they're pulled out. Simply put, we miss out a lot of money."

"After substracting today's expenses from what he had before, do you know what we have? Absolutely nothing." Puzzled, Freya glanced around the guild to find everyone watching their master. She quickly turned her head to Gawain, despite not understanding a word he was saying.

"We are in debt. A very large amount of food was made. A certain person in this room here has, alone, eaten 478 210 Jewels' worth of expensive sweets. I won't go out calling names, but if you feel your conscience telling you anything, come to me later tonight to apologize personally."

There was no proof of Freya's large feast of desserts - she was impossibly dainty yet she could eat as much as a hundred men double, no, triple her size. A soft blush painted the small girl's cheeks as she nibbled on her lower lip. Uh oh.

"GO OUT THERE AND EARN THE GUILD SOME MONEY!"

Jumping to her feet, Freya brushed her frilly white and blue dress, avoiding the eyes of her guild members. Did she truly eat that much? She only had a few dozen trays of desserts, after all! It was barely a meal. The guild's princess pitter pattered over to Gawain after the dispersal of the other members. Staring down at her clean Mary-Janes, Freya reached into her pocket and pulled out a massive pouch of Jewels.

"I'm really sorry, Master Gawain," she mumbled as she dropped the large pouch filled with much more than what she owed into the large man's hand. Freya truly did not understand the value of money, except that it bought her a lot of beautiful clothes and lots of yummy tummy sweets. "I won't do it agai-" Freya pursed her lips, knowing she would. "I know that isn't enough," she whispered, indicating the heavy bag of millions of precious Jewels, "But I'll complete the Mailman Trade mission and give you more. Soon. I promise." 300,000,000 Jewels was the reward. Surely that would be enough to cover what she ate? She hoped it would.

"Please forgive me, master," she said with a bob of her head, bowing into a low curtsy before rushing towards the basement. She needed to find that book on Charm spells - how else was she to win back Amaranth's master's love? She hoped he wouldn't stay angry for too long.

Flicking on the dim lights of the basement, she settled her beating heart. Why in the Heavens were the lights so very dim? Surely if it were up to her, the sun would shine in all corners, all hours of the day. The darkness and being trapped were her greatest fears and the basement seemed so utterly terrifying with its quiet disuse. She'd only been down here once and Freya was quite certain she was the only one to ever venture down here. She wondered who owned all the things in the basement when Amaranth hadn't been around for long.

Pressing her palms to her chest, Freya exhaled and went down the steps that led to the basement. You can do this, Freya. You can do this. Deep breaths. You've been here before. You'll be okay. There is nothing down here.

She was in the basement.

Glancing over the shelves, she shuffled over to the section filled with floor to ceiling books. A thick, pink book sat on the top shelf, a red ribbon binding it shut. "Charming Spells for Charmed Mages" was written in a bubbly cursive scrawl. Freya eyed the old ladder that rested against the tall bookshelves wearily. Was it not dangerous? Shrugging, Freya smiled, blinking her innocent eyes upwards as she climbed the ladder. Surely nothing could go wrong. Freya grasped the book - she'd never read it before, only seen it alongside the many old books. Her slim fingers gripped the worn cover of pink and tugged.

Freya fell.

With a high-pitched yelp, the mage fell backwards into empty air. There was a thud and before she knew it, she was on the ground. Or, well, she wasn't on the ground. What in the Heavens? Her breath knocked out of her, Freya gasped soundlessly, wishing she had the power of Telepathy like Izzy did. I don't want to die in a stinky old room. Slowly, her limbs regained their strength and Freya inhaled sharply, hungrily panting for air. Slowly turning around -

Freya screamed.

A young man sat beneath her, his blonde hair tangled in his face as it fell over his shoulders. Dust covered every inch of the corpse and Freya scrambled backwards, all too eager to get herself far, far away from the dead body. Her heart ripped itself from its socket to smack viciously against her rib cage. The young blonde mage's body trembled as her hand covered her mouth. Tears tickled her eyes as Freya's voice shook, wheezing.

"Help," she whimpered, her voice quieter than the softest of whispers. Her frightened sky-blue eyes couldn't tear away from the still man on the basement floor. Her wheezing wasn't allowing her to breathe properly and her head began to sway. The world was moving, tilting back and forth and Freya felt as if she would faint. Yes, fainting would have been wonderful.

SERAFINA!

The fierce voice of Ravenna slammed against Serafina's mind, Whaattt? Serafina asked with a roll of her eyes. The Take Over Spirit was powerful, that was certain but what she was not, was observant. She did not feel the powerful magic rippling towards her nor hear the sounds of talking behind, not until it was too late. Ravenna shoved the Spirit within her body out of the way, causing Serafina to glow red hot, but the Spirit held on.

Until 3 claws embedded themselves into her side.

Serafina's eyes widened, just as they began to turn amethyst, ocean blue and finally the clear river aqua of Ravenna's eyes. Raven black flowed through her red hair until she was Ravenna again. You idiot, Ravenna thought dimly. Brutally ripping herself from the claws, Ravenna whirled around, watching her attacker wearily. She took the short time to study every inch of the woman's armour, her stance from the way she bent their shoulders and the manic look in her eyes. She felt like rocking hum of the poisonous claws - she would be fine - at least, fine for long enough to destroy this idiot. It was an unusual poison but Ravenna would get over it - at most it would make her sleepy. The claws were another thing for her Blood Healing did not allow for such immediate repairs of deep and possibly fatal wounds.

"You are tiresome," she told the Seven Virtues mage. Shoving her consciousness briefly into the blonde's yellow flame, Ravenna found her name was Chastity. How ironic, Ravenna thought, 'Chastity' wore very little. Then again, so did she.

'Keep her busy,' she told Murmur as she slashed a line across her wrist. The pin made a deep cut along her flesh and fresh, crimson blood began to pour from her wound to land on the debris. The Demons would not take unintended blood as a sacrifice, much less blood made from the claws of Ravenna's enemies.

"Hell, open. Death is calling." Her blood glowed faintly and as if sucked into thin air, it began to evaporate into glowing particles of crimson light.

'Wee yea ra ene foul enrer,' a voice only Ravenna could hear whispered. What is your wish, my loveliest?

"Wee yea ra ene hymme syec mea. Was yea ra hymme mea ks maya gyen," the master replied. The Sword of Saber and the Sword of Malius. Armour laced with power.

'You ask for much. That is not enough,' the voice echoed, a wind nudging the wound on her wrist. Taking the pin, she slashed a dozen more wounds on her arm, unflinching as the sting brought upon a mess of blood. Just to be sure, she slashed a dozen more. 'Granted.'

There was an unnatural silence in which all was still and a ringing so sharp, it was agonising. Ravenna wore a little less than what appeared to be 'armour'but clothes from Hell were powerful, whatever form they came with. Twin swords appeared in her hands, their sharp points glinting deviously in the moonlight.

Just then, two doors came charging at the group, followed by a large, grotesque beast. Ravenna hissed, jumping out of the way. She was not armed for combat against dinosaurs. 'Take it,' she told her Crimson Blades.

Turning to face Chastity of Seven Virtues, she wielded the twin swords deftly, her black gloves were made to be fitted to the weapons and her limbs were familiar with such weapons. She slashed at the blonde mage, criss-crossing her slashes with blinding speed, pushing forward. Flipping her two swords, she slammed the butts of her handles against the mage's temple. Her side stung with the wound, her movements aggravating them wider so her entire left side was soaked through with blood.

Slipping the swords around and around in her fingers, she swivelled her blades to create two deadly fans that she used against Chastity. Her mind barely registered her quickly depleting supply of blood, the wounds on her side and her arm dripping endlessly as she pummelled the member of Seven Virtues, her sword taking small chunks out of the woman's claws.

Tedious.

The poison - it's effects although not as effective on Crimson Blade's master, still apparent - combined with the severe blood loss made Ravenna woozy but she held her ground. Her movements were not as lightning sharp, however, and those who knew her could see she was faltering, if ever so slightly. Grinding her teeth, Ravenna forced the dizziness away and dashed toward Chastity, with her two swords, crossed, she pulled them viciously apart, to slice open her opponent's throat.



"Your fault! This is your fault!"

Freya yelped in horror as a small creature of a girl, about fifteen centimeters tall, tugged on a lock of her blonde hair. Waving her hands frantically, she tried to slap the winged being from her persistent pulling on her soft golden locks. Her legs were tangled in the complicated frills and layers of her skirts.

"Help!" she squealed a little louder as she scrambled away from the small thing, thumping her hip on a piece of abandoned furniture.

To make things worse - as if she were not already in the worst horror film of all time - she noticed the corpse had moved. Moved. Pressing her palm over her mouth, Freya bit back a scream as her frightened blue eyes met those of deep blue. The zombie was staring right at her. A small smile painted the blonde thing's lips. His eyes drifted over Freya's bodily lazily to meet her eyes. She had a feeling he wasn't truly looking at her, however.

She wished she would disappear.

"Wow, Liricia... That looks tasty... Mind if I have a bite?"

Shocked, Freya could only stare at the zombie creature and allow the miniature girl to pull at her hair. Tasty? Freya was tasty? Sniffing the air gingerly, she realised she smelled strongly of apples, cinnamon and sugar, with a hint of dark chocolate. Well, she did smell tasty.

But still, she was sitting with the dead come alive and a midget girl or a giant fairy.

"P-please don't kill me," Freya mumbled, burying her face in her knees as she clutched her legs to her chest. The powerful mage tried to make herself as small as possible. What good were her powers against the dead? She was most certainly going to die.

The blazing red heart of a deep blue flame floated closer but Ravenna was too worn from the night's events to lift her head and ask that Murmur leave. Her body felt dangerously numb but she couldn't bring herself to care. As she had many times before, she found herself cursing her late master - Naciel Harlen. Why in hell did he have to die and leave his guild in her hands? Still, she owed him as much.

"I'm not asking for you to trust me, but I won't let you wallow and die."

"I will do as I please and die when I feel like it," she huffed, dropping her legs from her chest to settle them on the floor. Ravenna turned her heavy head towards Murmur and the bundle of medical equipment surrounding him. A tiny spark of irritation fluttered in her chest; she needed no help from anyone. Reaching for the ember of irritation, she clutched it around her like an iron shield. Irritation, rage, frustration, that she could cope with. Never ending sadness she could not. So the dark mage clutched the small spark and snapped, "You were dismissed."

He did not listen but instead pressed a wet cloth to her wounds - Ravenna flinched slightly at the contact. He tended to her injuries with a gentleness she very much despised and yet, there was a sick feeling in her chest that felt strangely warm and comforting, yet agonising in its greatness. Ravenna turned her head from Murmur, aware of how close he was. She was injured, spent of her magical power and alone with a man. Pressing her forehead to the edge of her soft mattress, Ravenna did her best to hide the pathetic slither of fear in her eyes. Death clutched her hands tightly together to still their barely noticeable shake; she did not like the closeness of their bodies, much less the artificial tenderness he showed.

Murmur's warmth nudged against her shivering skin and his weight crushed her small frame. A small whimper escaped her lips as a large hand clamped down on her wrists and sticky lips marked her skin. There was a sharp ringing of pain, persistent as it filled her with its agony. She pressed her eyelids tightly shut, hoping to make it all disappear. Her young body could not take the torment and she feared she would shatter and she wished she would. She wanted to disappear and fade into oblivion but life was not kind; blissful death was a mercy she would never be given. The man crushed her bones beneath him, crushed her spirit, crushed it all.

Ravenna’s eyes pale snapped into focus and she found herself panting in cold sweat – was the poison causing her to hallucinate? Lifting her now freshly scarred wrist, she ran her fingers through her long hair as she watched Murmur with eyes she hoped were not wide with fear. Did he notice? She only prayed she did not whimper and humiliate herself before him. She was guild master and such displays of weakness would only dampen her fragile hold on them and give the S-class mage power over her.

Shoving her brief moment of self-pity from her mind, she spoke with purposeful monotony, “You will not speak of this.” Pausing, she continued in a quiet tone of voice, "You may leave." A part of her did not wish for him to go, for his flame was as good as the sun in such absolute darkness. Not that that was not familiar, of course. Brushing her thoughts away, she chastised herself for being so easily moved by such small displays of kindness. Right, kindness. Murmur was nearly as heartless as her. The blue haired man was selfish, cold and conniving. She knew better than to see him for anything less than what he was - a very skilled liar.

The woman who barely looked 25 stood and strolled over to her cello - whom she'd named 'Sora' - that sat by a frame of large windows. The dark wood of the instrument leaned against a plain stand, waiting to be touched. Ravenna lifted the bow from a small table and sat on a stool that rested by the glass, settling the instrument between her legs. Leaning her cello against herself, Ravenna gripped the slim bow – and began to play.

The notes sang through the air as her fingers trembled against the taut strings to create an eerie vibrato within the melancholy sounds. With her head bowed over the instrument, she played a a familiar melody of sweet sadness.

Her wounds rippled beneath the movements of her arms but she felt none of it. Ravenna was far gone, in a place where she could breathe underwater, rather than drown. With Sora, it was as if she no longer became Death and the aura of power and cruelty that plagued the air in which she lived faded, however temporarily. Watching her create such music, it was possible for one to believe she were a mere girl with a sad past and nothing more.

Dark eyelashes brushed against her cheeks as she filled the guild with her haunting melodies. Unusually, she did not care if anyone heard - Ravenna was tired. Her long hair cascaded over the used wood of her cello, curling over the bends and hollows of the now living thing. If she was not consumed in responsibility, Ravenna would play her cello for an eternity without pause. Her memories washed against her mind like tides brushing against a shore, but they did not hurt as much as they did before.

Ravenna breathed with along with the instrument, holding her breath in the long drawn notes, exhaling as she pushed the bow fluidly over the strings. It was Naciel Harlen who taught her to play so beautifully, the brute man was only ever gentle with his violin. He wished for the company of another and felt the cello suited Ravenna. It was a great gift, considering how little gentleness the late master ever gave. He was the sort to crush his pupil's fingers to teach them a lesson on how to inflict pain on others, not one to sit patiently by a young girl and teach her how to caress a cello. Yet he did and that was all it took to make Ravenna do his bidding. He was the first and only to treat Ravenna with such genuine kindness.

The poison pulsed in her veins, her blood doing its best to push the taint from her system. It was not fatal and Ravenna would be fine in the morning but right then, she was merely alive. Her fingers stilled on the cello and her bow slipped from her fingers to clatter on the ground. Ravenna's eyelids fluttered and in the silence of her chambers, she finally let herself go - letting the darkness consume her as she fell forwards.



"You smell nice. Sweet. Like food."

Zombies ate? Freya watched the fairy - who'd left her hair for the blonde corpse-demon-zombie-creep's. Standing clumsily, bright stars balanced on the tips of her fingers. Freya walked backwards, facing the blonde creature. "You want food?" she asked, her voice more high pitched than usual with her fear. "Follow me."

She walked backwards, unlocking the basement door as she walked up the stairs, nearly tripping for her eyes were too deeply buried in the undead creature to observe where she was walking. Reaching her hand behind her back, she opened the final door that would lead her to the safety of her guild. She considered locking the creepy man down here but her conscience got the better of her and she thought surely even the dead would fear a lonely basement such as this.

"Come, boy. There's a good boy. Gooood boy," she cooed, slipping into the blissful lights of the guild. When the undead corpse crossed the border and stood within the ground level of the guild - Freya shouted none too quietly.

"IT'S A DEMON!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" she ran at the nearest person - Amaya, Browen, Izzy and the new girl in this case and tackled Izzy to the floor. "I-i-it corpse alive fairy MINIATURE PEOPLE!" Grabbing Browen's shirt, she pulled the taller boy down to her eye level, widening her impossibly large blue eyes. "Do you know what this means, Browy-boo...? Vampires," she choked. "Vampires are real."

Waving frantically at the dust-covered man who was just dead before and now appeared to be the walking dead, Freya gushed. "He tried to eat me. Eeeeaaattt meee." Pausing, she shoved her finger between Browen's lips and teeth. "I'M A CUPCAKE!"

Issabella Esther Carrington (Izzy)

Izzy finished off the last of her truffles, making a mental note to have some more to eat before all the food was devoured by her royal spoiledness. When she looked up she noticed Sidney had made his way over to Yuliana, and the two were conversing. She had always thought the two to be alike in a lot of ways, however if ever put in some kind of dangerous scenario together, the two would certainly meet their demise. She watched them for a moment and noticed Yuliana was able to get Sidney to eat, she was perhaps the only one thus far that had been able to do so. Somewhere inside, she envied her. Izzy's thoughts were interrupted however, by the headmaster whom started talking about the funds of the guild. He now had her undivided attention, as she considered guild funds extremely important as they took care of all the members of the guild - to an extent. She had always worked really hard to get money for the guild, most of the money she earned she donated directly to the guild, as she didn't really think she needed it for anything. She had lived with much less for most of her life, there was no reason she needed to spoil herself with unnecessary things. She did however, surprise Freya with a gift or two every now and again after big missions. When the headmaster said they were broke, she was in disbelief. It was true they had many more members to take care of, and this feast would have cost a lot in itself, but where did the rest of the money go? What had her money been used for? And now the headmaster wanted them to all go out and earn money. A wave of guilt washed over her as she had taken no money back from her month long mission, she didn't need or want any, but apparently the guild did.

Amaya then started speaking to her about their next mission. The fact they hadn't picked anything yet didn't surprise her, but she was happy to hear that Amaya wanted them to collectively pick one. She doubted that that's what would happen though. Her comment of real money and real action made her think of herself, or not so much the real money part. Money was never something, that was important to her, at least, not until now. As an S rank wizard she felt obligated to bring in a good chunk of the money, and she should do so now. The fact she didn't have anyone she had to split money with would work to her advantage yet again. Browen then approached them with the matter of his missing hat and guitar, while Amaya was clearly irritated by something she must have thought trivial, Izzy thought it was something precious to him and gave Amaya a nod as she left looking down at the plate of truffles which had been plopped into her lap. It was typical of Amaya, but she didn't think much of it, she gently placed the plate in front of the new member and smiled at her. "All for you then." she said.

"Meat!" Izzy turned to the direction of the loud booming voice which seemed to echo through the whole guild. Her eyes met an unknown male, who seemed entranced by the food in front of him. He proceeded towards a table of food and stuffed his face with it like he hadn't eaten in centuries. She was slightly curious about the individual, and continued to watch him until he stopped and looked around, as if he just processed what he did. "Um....I'm here...to join?" She smiled, slightly. It almost wasn't noticeable, but it was there for a second. Or maybe it wasn't. "Did you enjoy yourself?" she asked him using telepathy. She then stood up and casually walked up to the boy, who seemed nervous or perhaps embarrassed. There was also a look of horror in his eyes the second he saw the others. "Don't worry, this food was for all the members, and if you intend to join, that you had every right to it as we do." this time she spoke directly. Her voice was soft and sweet but it lacked enough emotion to distinguish her mood - as usual. Immediately, she noticed his eyes, they were red. Not just red, but a beautiful, dark shade of red. Her head tilted slightly and she looked at him with curious eyes. "The headmaster is just there if you would like to speak to him about joining." she motioned towards the stage. She wasn't sure if now was the best time, but then, waiting probably wouldn't be good either. "Try to relax, alright?" she added telepathically. She paused for a moment and looked him over again. "You have beautiful eyes."

"IT'S A DEMON!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Izzy started to turn towards what she knew to be Freya's voice, but she didn't get the chance. The next thing she felt, was herself hitting the floor. Her head hit a nearby chair, but the furniture had spared the rest of her. "What?" she asked, sitting up looking at Freya who was rambling on top of her. She then got up and spazzing at Browen. Zombies and vampires and miniature people. Things were going to eat her. Izzy stood up and pushed Freya out of the way, knocking her forwards into Browen. She looked towards the direction in which Freya came, to find a pale blond haired individual standing in front of her. Accompanied by what fictional stories might have called a fairy or pixie. "Is this your zombie, your vampire, and whatever nonsense you were spewing?" She sighed. "He's not the undead, but by the looks of it, he might be joining them soon." He was covered in dust, and looked a little frail, appeared either tired or starving. "Where did you find him? And calm down, he's not any of those things Freya." The telepathy again. "What is your name? Any why are you here? Why is it Freya thinks you wanted to eat her? If you threatened her in any way -" No, this wasn't right. Something was really wrong with this person. Like they hadn't seen the light of day in quite a very long time. She thought this person was going to eat her...then perhaps... Izzy walked towards a nearby table with what was left of the meat from the meat boys minute long feast. She quickly made a plate while keeping her eye on the individual, then walked towards him with it. "This is for you, but first you answer my questions. Don't try anything funny, this is your warning - now explain yourself." She bit her bottom lip and considered something. "Are you alright? You don't look so well." She then directed her attention at the little individual that accompanied him. "Hello, My name is Issabella, who might you be?."

"Freya, what happened exactly, calm down a moment and be rational will you please?" Even thought she was sure Freya was fine, she was precious to her and felt an explanation was needed. "Freya, did you know the guild was broke? The headmaster just announced it, and asked as to go earn the guild some money." she continued telepathically. After this was all sorted, Izzy needed to go on a mission - a big one.

Yuliana ate her food slowly while watching Sidney. She was glad that he ate a bit more. She was even gladder because of the way he ate it. Unlike most people, Sidney actually appreciated the way she arranged the food on the plate, the colors that made the meal pleasing to the eye as well, not only the tongue and nose. The fact that there was at least one such person made it all worth it.
Her attention turned away from her food and her company when the Guild Master acted the way she had anticipated he would act when he received the information. He had become serious. The speech he had intended to give had probably been something frivolous. Likely about 'all the lovely ladies of Amaranth', or something. Well, it wasn't impossible that he would have been serious even without the topic of money. Yuliana spent much more time in the Guild Hall than most others, and thus she naturally spent a lot of time in the Guild Master's company as well. She couldn't help but grasp a bit of the old man's personality after a certain amount of interaction with him. He had a serious side to him as well, even though most women usually only saw the most obvious thing -his perversity.

Then again, there were exceptions who didn't seem to notice that side to him at all -one of them approaching the Guild Master soon after he had finished his speech. Freya seemed down when she spoke to Gawain -she had probably overestimated just how much of an impact her eating habits had had on the Guild's treasury. Granted, it wasn't small. The black hole within Freya's stomach swallowed an incredible amount of Jewels every time she came to the Guild, particularly during events like this feast. But she was not exactly the only big eater in the Guild. Or the only big drinker, for that matter. And the Guild did make a fair amount of money. Though Amaranth only took ten percent of the pay for the missions its members did, there were some members who did some very lucrative missions, and many members also donated more than just that ten percent to the Guild.
However, the Guild always went overboard with its festivities. Every time, the people arranging them seemed to be dead set on using up all the money that had been gathered after the last event, and this time, not only had they reached that 'goal', they had gone over it into actual debt. They hadn't settled for simple sweets to use as sacrifices to the Bottomless Pit, and had instead used expensive ingredients. They hadn't bought meat of just fine quality, but meat of the best quality available this time of the year. And instead of the usual beer, they had found rare beverages that would've brought kings to their knees from delight.
In other words, whenever there was a more expensive option available, they would choose it. And when there wasn't, they would create one. It was utterly ridiculous to spend to much on one feast.

But then again, Yuliana didn't mind in the least.
These were festivities, after all.

She was smiling from this thought when Sidney's words brought her attention back to her company. "Missions... Has your team picked anything out yet?"
Yuliana shook her head to this. "No, nothing at the moment. I've been busy with the preparations for this feast, and when we were finally done... They're both nowhere to be seen." She looked around, searching for her teammates' faces in the crowd. "I'm sure I saw both of them earlier, but now they've both gone off somewhere. Our group never seems to actually get a chance to talk with each other."
They were really a bit of an odd team. Sarah never seemed to be there when Yuliana had something to talk to her about, and Yuliana herself was completely unfit for going out on most missions, instead opting to stay and do the Guild's chores. She occasionally wondered if Gren felt held down by his two teammates.

She was about to ask Sidney's team's situation, when she suddenly heard a yell coming from the Guild's entrance. "MEAT!!" A bit startled by the sudden sound, her head reflexively turned so that she could locate the source of the disruption. But no sooner had her gaze landed on the figure standing near the doorway than that figure suddenly moved. Her eyes were a bit slow in following it as it dashed past her and leaped onto a part of the tables that still actually had some food left on it. Only after the creature had begun to devour what was in front of it could Yuliana get a good look at it.
It was a young man -probably Yuliana's age, but she had a habit of thinking of people as 'young' even if they were a couple years older than her. Though there was a fair bit of distance between them, Yuliana could still easily distinguish details on his features, thanks to her good eyesight. As the young man turned his head, looking behind himself, she also noticed his eyes -they were of a nice red, V230-S499-Y449-W220-L039-B723-7.
The newcomer's entrance had quieted the hall down for a moment, and thus Yuliana could hear his nervous words from even where she was sitting. "Um....I'm here...to join?"
Upon hearing these words, Yuliana quickly finished what was left of her meal and turned to Sidney. "Sorry, Sidney, but I have to go. Guild work, thanks to the habits of our Master." She smiled a bit apologetically as she said this. "I hope you'll find a mission you'll like." After that, she rose up, heading out of the main area of the Guild. She went through a door on the side of the hall, entering a small corridor, and went through it into a small office -Gawain's office, officially speaking. Yuliana was a more common visitor, however. Not only did she come here regularly to clean it, but she also had to do what she was doing right now quite often.
Going straight to desk, she pulled out a certain drawer. From within, she pulled out the forms she needed. They would be the official records of the would-be Guild member. Since the newcomer was male, the Guild Master would probably not show much interest in him. After confirming that yes, he could use magic, he'd push the formalities onto someone else. Yuliana took initiative, as she had many times before, bringing the forms herself before anyone else got set into the task.

Forms in hand, Yuliana headed back for the main hall, and arrived just in time to hear Freya announce to the world that she was a cupcake. This sudden news caused a bit of confusion in Yuliana's mind.
Freya had always seemed more like a madeleine than a cupcake to her. But that was just her opinion.
Putting that aside, she also noticed two other new people in the hall, both at different entrances. One was standing near the door leading to the old basement -the Guild Master had renovated most of the place before the Guild had been established, but the basement had been left as-is. It was a person who seemed to be covered in dust. Yuliana did not recognize him. And the other person was H'Mong, standing near the entrance to the building itself. So he had finally arrived. Most of the food was already gone, though, so he was more than a bit late.