Tatsou Ryuo's Story

---

Ah...there goes Lilliana. Armin watched her run off rather quickly without saying much and he blinked in confusion. With his arrival were there just too many people around for her? Maybe she just didn't like sweet potatoes.

"Trying to fatten us up again Armin? I swear you always are concerned for the welfare of others. That's a rare sight these days." Veronica had said to him and he let himself focus on that rather than the reason why Lilly disappeared.

"I couldn't pass up sweet potatoes!" He said with his usual little smile, bringing the brown bag back against his chest. Veronica had begun to lecture Briar, who'd come down not long after Armin showed up, now about something that must've happened while Armin wasn't around since he couldn't really figure out what she was talking about, but he stood there quietly listening anyway, giggling a little when Veronica called Lilina a 'puppy'. Now that he thought about it the small girl did sort of act like one, especially with Briar. A pair of ears and a tail would probably fit her, to be honest.

As Veronica and Briar talked Armin let his eyes move across the guild hall. It didn't look like everyone was here, but quite a few of them had already showed up, including Saphira who, before even finishing whatever she was going to ask them, went off to stand by Jien and the other two guys. As he was about to turn back to Veronica he stopped when he spotted Tatou. That's right, he'd passed them by not too long ago and was now eating...rather vigorously by himself.

"In any case, who cares what I did last night? I'm more concerned for what I'm going to eat today!"

Armin moved his eyes back in Briar's direction, tensing up a little once he noticed how intently the man was staring at the sack of potatoes in his arms. "O-oh, well I-" He began with a sheepish smile, only to have his sentence cut off when he found himself being picked up without warning. He let out a small yelp in surprise, quickly holding the bag up so the potatoes wouldn't get mushed as he was slung over Briar's shoulder.

"C'mon, I'm starving!"

"B-Briar-san! I'd rather you not carry me like a child!" He said in a sort of helpless tone. It wouldn't be much longer until Armin turned 17, yet he could still be picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder so easily. Something about that made the blond boy feel kind of small... Of course he was small, but still...

Armin let his arms relax as he held tight to the bag in his fingers and let out a sigh.

Rayne squirmed in her bed as sunlight filtered in through her window. Her eyes fluttered open and were greeted with the bright orange glow that filled the room. Sliding out of bed, she walked over to the bathroom and took a shower. She let the hot water run down her body, relaxing her muscles. Hot showers always made her sleepy, though that was far from what she needed in the morning. There was steam curling around the room and the mirrors were fogged by the time she turned off the water and stepped out. She quickly got dressed, and ran a quick brush through her long hair.

She descended the stairs, and her eyes met the usual chaotic sight of the guild members. Even so early in the morning, the guild was never quiet. Though the hectic atmosphere that was permanently at the guild was annoying at times, it was probably the best part. No matter how many arguments people got in, or how bad things got, everyone was always together in the end. People were milling around and conversing, and a hefty crowd was gathered around the missions board. 'Hmm, I should look at that later, haven't done a mission in a few days.' She sauntered over to a relatively empty table and sat down. Tatsou was seated across from her, occupied by the food on his plate. "Hey," she greeted quietly with a smile. Tatsou was quite similar to her, they both didn't speak to people very often.

She tucked a few strands of her dark hair behind her ear and rubbed her eyes. She was still sleepy and quite drowsy; she needed to do something to wake herself up. Her stomach rumbled lightly, and she clutched it in embarrassment. She looked towards the kitchen, and saw Briar with Armin on his shoulder, dragging Veronica with him. "Looks like my stomach is talking to me, I should go get something to eat," she said, and excused herself. She quickly headed to the kitchen as hunger gnawed at her.

She heard the a laugh ring out near her, and she turned to see it belonged to Akio. He was with Ryden and Jien, who seemed to be helped by Sapphire. As she passed them, she sent them a friendly smile and wave.

---

"Are you okay? I don't think people mind when you bring in those delicious potatoes, but I doubt you like being carried around like a sack of one.~"

"Oh, no. I'm fine!" He said, giving Veronica a reassuring smile before letting out a small sigh, relieved to have his feet back on the floor of the guild hall once again. It's not as if he was too bothered by it, in fact Armin really enjoyed the liveliness of the guild in the mornings. It wasn't just Briar, but Lilina and Ryden and the others who seemed to fill the guild with such energy. It could become troublesome sometimes, like if Akio became to flirty with someone and got himself punched in the face or worse, but Armin had gotten used to the roughhousing of the other guild members. His aunt and uncle did tell him that he'd always have a place to come home to, but he couldn't imagine being anywhere but here.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when out of nowhere the body of another person, Lilliana to be precise, bumped into him quite roughly. If he hadn't of been holding onto the top of the sack of potatoes so tightly it probably would've fallen onto the floor.

"Ah, sorry!" He heard Lilina say. He'd barely had the time to notice that she'd fallen rump first onto the floor and was now picking herself up from where she'd landed. "I made a little oopsie, haha!"

Lilina messed up? That wasn't something that happened often. Either way it was an accident so he gave her a nod before she began to talk to Briar about going on a mission and he turned to face Lilliana.

"You're going on a B rank mission, Lilly? That's a first! I bet you're going to do really good!" He said to her with an excited smile before bringing the index finger of his left hand up and lightly scratching his cheek "Speaking of which I was hoping to try one myself today, but I haven't got anyone to partner up with. Oh, that's right!" His eyes widened for a second in realization and he looked up a as if to ponder through his head. "If you'll excuse me, Lilly-chan." He said, looking back at her and bowing his head a little before turning around.

Tatsou was still sitting by himself, his food nearly gone now though. He really must've put a lot on his plate. Armin had thought about approaching him earlier to warn him that if he ate that much he might get a stomach ache, but with him getting thrown over Brair's shoulder an all...he got a little side-tracked and completely forgot that he was sitting by himself.

"Good morning, Tatsou!" He said cheerfully, sitting himself down next to him after setting the bag of potatoes on the table top behind them. He could probably just leave it there for now and let others help themselves. He couldn't go carrying it around with him after all, and he wasn't very hungry himself. Armin never really ate that much, which was probably why he wasn't very tall nor muscular. Maybe he should eat more...

"I heard earlier that Ryden is going on an A rank mission. Cool right? Are you planning on going on any missions today?" The blond asked curiously, resting his arms crossed over each other on the table and leaning forward slightly.

"Good morning, Tatsou!" Tatsou quickly swallowed his last bite of food as Armin sat down. 'Hopefully this time I'll get to talk before he goes rushing off.' "I heard earlier that Ryden is going on an A rank mission. Cool right? Are you planning on going on any missions today?"

Tatsou took a breath to settle his stomach before replying. "An 'A' rank mission? Those are supposed to be some of the most difficult almost always taken on by a team. I've only ever been able to clear 'C' rank missions on my own without getting into trouble. I don't have anyone to partner with yet either..." Tatsou looked towards the mission board. "But I do need to get another job if I want to keep my house..." Tatsou's face lit up as a thought hit him. "Armin. You wouldn't want to team up with me to take on a 'B' mission would you?" Tatsou tried his best to be friendly. After all this is the first person to come and sit with him for an actual conversation. Even more odd Tatsou found that he actually wanted him to agree to paring up. It'd make the job at least a bit more fun.

---

"An 'A' rank mission? Those are supposed to be some of the most difficult almost always taken on by a team. I've only ever been able to clear 'C' rank missions on my own without getting into trouble. I don't have anyone to partner with yet either..."

Armin's eyes widened just a little at Tatsou's answer. Not because there was something surprising or shocking about it, but because this was probably the first time Armin had heard the white-haired boy reply with such a long sentence. Usually he barely spoke whenever Armin tried to talk to him. The blond's somewhat surprised expression returned to his usual cheery one as he smiled and listened to Tatsou continue talking until he suddenly turned to him.

"Armin. You wouldn't want to team up with me to take on a 'B' mission would you?"

"Eh?" That seemed to be all he could manage right away as it took him a minute to go over what Tasou had just asked him. Did he really want to go on a mission with him?

After a couple seconds of silence Armin's face lit up as if he'd just heard the news that a parade of puppies was about to pass through Hisbiscus. "Y-yes I would!" He finally said, his eyes twinkling with excitement as he stood and then turned towards Tatsou. "To go on a mission with a real Dragon Slayer would be an honor!" He couldn't help but smile wildly. Though he probably looked a bit dramatic when he placed his hands on his knees and bowed in a perfect 90degree angle before returning to an upright position. Perhaps he was overreacting just a smidge, but he really was happy.

"I guess we should go take a look at the mission board then, before the good ones are taken." He calmed his composure some. "It'll be my first time going on a B mission though and I've only partnered with someone a few times, so I hope I won't slow you down. I've got rent at the end of the month to pay too, so this is a great opportunity!" He then spun around, ready to make his way to the mission board.

Rayne was suddenly bombarded by Akio, who started following her around like a puppy. Hello Rayne! Even sooooo early in the morning you still look stunning as always". At that she smiled, replying with a kind, "Good morning, Akio." she made sure not to get wrapped up in his compliments, which he doled out to all the girls daily. "You know what I have thought about? We have never really spend any time with each other, and I was thinking we should go on a job together. Just think about it with my light magic and your shadow magic we will be an unstoppable team!!!!" she paused to think about that for a moment. Their magic powers combined would be a very interesting combination. She was about to reply, when Sapphira somehow face planted right next to them.

Akio reached down before she could react, and helped her up. He had already forgotten about his quest to team up with Rayne for a job, and was now asking Sapphira. He was slathering compliments on her as well, and it seemed to be working. Oh well, at least Akio seemed to be a good person at heart. With an amused smile, she left the two to their conversation, and went to go get food. She piled her plate high and returned to the hall. As she passed by the mission board, her eyes quickly scanned over the available jobs. They were mostly C-class jobs, a few B-class, A-class, and S-class. Her gaze caught the flyer of two SS-class jobs, and she grinned. One day, she would get stronger and complete SS-class missions.

As she went over to a table, she caught sight of Veronica and Jien, wondering what the two were up to. Her thoughts were interrupted as she sat down once more with Tatsou, and saw that Armin was there was well. "Ah, good morning Armin," she greeted with a smile. She began eating, enjoying the food on her plate. "So, what are you two up to this morning?

Tatsou actually smiled at Armin's response. He seemed really excited that Tatsou wanted to team up with him. After a slight pause Armin suggested that that they go over and get a mission before all of the good missions were taken. Before Tatsou had much of a chance to reply he was again joined by Rayne. It seemed that she'd gotten her food. As she sat she happily greeted Armin and asked what he and Tatsou were up to this morning.

Tatsou tried to smile again and actually greet Rayne this time. "Good morning Rayne. Armin and I were going to team up to take on a 'B' class mission today. Would you be interested in teaming up with us?" He smiled again thinking in the back of his head. 'I can't believe how excited Armin was to team up with me. Now if I'm lucky I'll have two partners. I'm finally starting to make some friends! Adalinda would be so proud of me if she could see me!'

Golem

A young child walked slowly, boots hitting the floor with a scuffing the cobblestoned road. No one noticed the child go about her business seeing as she made sure not to bring attention to herself. The sounds of wheels clacking every time it went over one of the many stones that made up the road made a steady rhythm to walk by.

She had been walking for over an hour now and surprisingly enough not many people wondered why she was traveling along and without her parents. Not that she had any and the closest person se could call family had passed away a few weeks ago. She wasn’t really sad about it nor could she really express it with words. It wasn’t a physical thing that she could see so she didn’t believe one could actually feel sad or even feel the emotion if it didn’t exist.

Blinking once or twice, her bright orange eyes disappeared with each blink. Taking in everything that she saw, Golem wasn’t used to all this hustle and bustle. When she was with Nana they usually didn’t venture past the white fence Nana had built a long time ago. So she really didn’t know much about the world beyond that white little fence. Golem did however know of the Azure Knights, ever since she was little she had dreamed of being part of Ebels greatest guild and become the best mage she could be.

With Nana’s approval of course otherwise she would still be living in the small cottage. Though it was lonely without her; not having someone to interact with. The steady rhythm of the wheels on her suitcase made her quite sleepy but she was determined to get to the guild before she let herself go to sleep.

Unfortunately that resolve didn’t last very long as in a couple more steps Golem’s eyes were closed. Thankfully she had been walking in the right direction of the guild so when she got to the doors she walked right inside. All one would hear were the sounds of boots hitting the floor in an almost shuffling manner. Golem continued to walk until she finally hit the bar counter. With a thud she fell on her bum, her eyes snapped open glancing around.

With a sleepy look Golem rubbed her head pouting a bit at having walked right into the counter. She got up rubbing her bottom as she picked up the handle of her suitcase. With her jacket being large and all most people thought her a boy at first sight and these fellows were no exception to this unless they were sharp enough to realize that she was indeed a girl.

Golem looked around her pouted turned into a yawn and she walked over to the nearest seat and plopped herself right on down. Not caring if the table was occupied or not. Her face rested flat on the table, her arms dangling at her sides as she went right back to sleep. A small snot bubble formed at the end of her nose which grew bigger then smaller with each intake of air and release of air from her lungs.

---

"Ah, good morning Armin."

Before Tatsou had replied to Armin's suggestion to go to the mission board, Rayne had found a place to sit down across from them with a plate of food and greeted him with a smile before helping herself to her breakfast.

"Good morning, Rayne."

"Good morning!" Armin said with his usual smile, turning back around to face the dark-haired girl.

"So, what are you two up to this morning?"

Armin sat down next to Tatsou again and placed his hands in his lap, smiling politely as the Dragon Slayer explained what the two of them were planning to do. It was when Tatsou questioned if Rayne would be interested in joining them that his expression turned into a curious one. As far as Armin could tell from the time he's been at the guild, Tatsou's never really been the kind to ask anyone to go on a mission with him. But now he's asked not only Armin but Rayne as well? It was nice really. Perhaps Armins's assumption that maybe Tatsou was just shy was correct after all.

The blonde smiled and stood up, placing his hands on the table in front of him and leaning towards Rayne slightly. "What do you say Rayne? You don't have an official team yet either, right?" He paused a moment before shaking his head a couple of times, "N-not that I'm saying that we could be a team or anything! Nothing like that! But it wouldn't hurt to all go on a mission together just once, yeah? What do you think, Rayne, Tatsou?" He said, his face moving from Rayne and then to Tatsou as he said their names.

Suddenly there was a small thump sound behind him and he turned his neck, noticing that a small child had somehow strolled in and bumped right into the bar counter before landing on his rump. Armin blinked curiously, trying to recall if he'd seen this child at the guild before. No, he'd made sure to introduce himself to everyone in the guild when first coming here, so he'd remember if this child was a member or not. He continued to watch him, guessing that he was probably a boy, as he sat herself down a couple tables away from them and instantly fell asleep.

"Uhm...is that child...a customer maybe? I've never seen him in here before." Armin kept his head turned and eyes on the child for a few seconds before turning his head to look at Tatsou and Rayne.