Nymphaea City

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Pommel Grade

“Ugh, this day can’t get much worse. Can’t believe how lame this is…” Mumbling and grumbling to herself some more, Pommel gave a soft ‘Nyeh’ and pulled a silly face behind Keiji’s back as he mildly scolded her. Or at least, raised his disapproval of her actions by promising to bring it up later. Whatever, it wasn’t like she had a big problem with that. To be honest, she was mainly venting her annoyance that Dolores was missing from the meeting, as was Rin. I mean, Artemie was great and all, but she couldn’t carry the whole team on her back. Slick and Chen were almost too much for Dolores to help with. Almost. Well, it didn’t matter now, they were stuck with Keiji as leader. Hopefully it would work out even without Dolores or Mel or anyone truly special on the team.

Following behind Keiji, Pommel stood to the side as he gave the briefing, looking a little tired with it all. At least, she did until she noticed Rin make her way in. Visibly brightening, she mainly focused on the young wizard during the talk, ignoring the actual details of the mission; not that it really mattered to her anyway. Rin herself seemed mildly annoyed at being summoned, and the whole time she’d been giving Keiji a bit of a look. Well that made sense then! Just like her, Rin didn’t think Keiji was that special. Well, it was a relief that someone talented would be looking after the group at the very least. As Keiji made a last comment about packing and questions, Pommel raised her hand, smiling from ear to ear.

“If you need me to take care of any house maintenance or anything I’ll be happy to help Rin! I mean, who knows how long you’ll all be gone…” Pommel clapped her hands together in front of her before leaning them to the side to show her face. Rin, like a few others, didn’t live at the dorms. Naturally, she might have had some potted plants or mail or those sorts of things that needed catering too, and she was just the girl to do it. Blinking a bit, she realised she hadn’t revealed her gift to the group at all. “O-oh! I almost forgot, I’ve prepared food for all of you on the journey, so you don’t have to worry about packing something for that. Just leave it to me!” Flashing a proud smile and a thumb to her chest, Pommel’s day had considerably brightened now that she had a bit more confidence in the group.

---

Slick

Slick listened in mild interest to the spiel. Seemed like a pretty standard affair, if not for the danger level of the mission. The wizards of Laguna Fury would have to be quite something to earn that rank. Though he mildly agreed with Rin’s sentiments, it wasn’t like he had much better to do with his time, so it wasn’t that big a deal. It was kind of annoying to be under Keiji’s command, but as he’d said before, he was a reliable man. Packing wouldn’t take too long, especially if little Pommel was handling the food. Ah, hopefully she’d make one of those delicate desserts that he liked…

“I take it since you didn’t give any details about the wizards other than ‘they’re tough’ that we don’t know anything about what they’re actually capable of, right?” Slick asked Keiji, not bothering to raise his hand and simply waiting for an appropriate opening. Giving the man time to respond, he looked to Chen and Artemie making friends, along with Bard and Rin making small talk. Guess he missed the memo on bringing a date. Either that or Dolores caught wind and was already standing him up. Chuckling at the idea, he looked back to Keiji again. Wait, did that mean they were the last duo? A cringe worthy thought…

Artemie’s Dialogue Color: #AA00FF

Chen’s Dialogue Color: #C3834C

Despite his usual blithe demeanor to most things around him, he always showed a distinct interest in the current job he was participating in. The reward was his drinking money after-all. Besides, an opportunity to show off and earn some spending cash even warranted Cheneres’ attention.

As Keiji droned on about the details, he mentioned that Dolores wouldn’t be accompanying them. Although she was a lady, Cheneres knew deep down that his feats couldn’t compare to such a talented S-Class wizard. So he was a bit relieved to not have her hogging the spotlight. The rest of the details were rather simple, with Cheneres compressing the information into little snip-bits. Despite his fond passion for missions and such, the plan would be most likely forgotten due to the boring voice delivering the specifics.

The time given to them to prepare was mostly wasted on Cheneres. He already doesn’t have to pack shirts due to his insistence on showing his masculine features to all females who walk the streets. He decided to just pack beer to drink after this whole little adventure was concluded. He stood up, turning towards the door. He was about to walk out before being stopped by peculiar violet haired woman. Actually, he almost didn’t notice - her voice was so quiet that it took him a moment to recognize that his own name had been spoken, even though she was right behind him.

”S-so, um… Mr. Cheneres… I don’t… really… have anything to prepare,” The bookish mage stammered. ”What about you?” ...Was she asking if he was free right now? He was pretty sure that something was seriously wrong with the world today. After all, normally he’d be the one asking that question, and the answer would always invariably be “No” - maybe with an expletive or two thrown in, just for good measure.

”Ah, almost didn’t see ‘ya there. Hm..” Cheneres thought for a moment. ”Women don’t usually ask me these kinds of questions, mostly they ask “are you right in the head?” or something. But I suppose you could accompany the great Cheneres on his packing conquest.” He sported a dramatic pose, both of his hands on his hips. He laughed to himself, similar to a small delusional child.

“‘Packing conquest…?’” Artemie parroted back, tilting her head to the side in bemusement. “Do you think your luggage is going to fight back?” She still sounded perfectly gentle and quiet, making it a little hard to tell whether or not this was meant to be a joke, or if she simply assumed her interpretation to be correct. She blinked, staring with increasing unease as the silence between them continued. Wait, was she expecting him to laugh? So it had been a joke, then? She must have just been a bit too self-conscious to speak up when delivering it… It seemed sarcasm really wasn’t her strong suit.

“Hmm..” He placed his hand on his chin. “Of course, when the luggage fights back, it should prove no threat to my might. Though..you must come if these strange luggage beasts prove too much for my power alone.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m counting on you for this one, alright?”

Well, if any words had an effect on her, those certainly did. When he finally responded in kind to what was evidently her attempt at a jest, a slight grin broke out on her face. And, when he asked for her help, she practically beamed and began nodding enthusiastically, evidently all too eager to be of service. “I’d… I’d be happy to help!” She exclaimed, seeming surprisingly excited about the whole prospect. Come to think of it, she’d jumped at the chance to cure his hangover, too… Well, whatever. She wanted to keep him company, it seemed, so it wasn’t as if he had anything to complain about.

“Alright.” He grinned goofily. “We should go now. Stopping the luggage beasts are first priority.” Cheneres turned towards the door, waving goodbye to no one in particular. He then set out. These monsters won’t live to see another day.

Glancing back over his shoulder, he half expected to see Artemie waving back at him as if to say, “I was just kidding, go have fun by yourself.” What he didn’t expect, though, was to see her following closely behind him, her eyes instantly meeting his from… eye level? Wait, hadn’t she been about two feet shorter just a minute ago? He could have sworn she only came up to his chest at the very most, so then why-

...Okay, that answered that question, but raised the entirely new question of “Why, exactly, is she floating?” The violet-haired magus bobbed lazily up and down in the air, hovering a few feet off the ground just a couple of paces behind him at all times. Come to think of it, she was shooting glances at his legs all of a sudden… And she seemed just a little bit out of breath… Oh, right, his stride was much longer than hers. He’d just strolled off without really thinking about it, but if you were going to walk with a woman who was significantly shorter than you were, then you needed to slow down just a little bit so as not to get ahead of her. But she hadn’t even said anything or asked him to slow down… Did that mean she’d been racing to keep up with him instead before he turned around? The mental image of the prim and proper young lady trotting along behind him like a puppy seeking attention, fanciful dress adorned with ribbons trailing around her, appeared before his mind unbidden.

Huh. ...He kind of wished he’d gotten the chance to see something that adorable. If only he’d turned around a few moments sooner! “Alrighty..we take a left here.” He pointed to a modest building. An cheap apartment complex, but Cheneres always liked smaller places like this. Besides, he gets kicked out of apartments on the daily, so he couldn’t exactly afford getting too invested. He led her up the stairs to a wooden door. Fumbling for the key, he opened the door slowly. “Sorry ‘bout it being a dump in here, I don’t exactly get much guests, especially fair maidens such as yourself.” As he turned back to the room ahead of him, he couldn’t help but notice in passing that suddenly Artemie looked significantly redder than she had before. She fluttered quite sharply down to the floor, stumbling a moment as if in a daze, and opened her mouth several times as if to say something, but each time cut herself off before she could even begin. Huh… maybe that was a bit of a bad way to phrase things. Although, it wasn’t as if he was lying… Off the top of his head, he couldn’t really think of any other time he’d had a lady over.

”I-it’s f-fine…” She sheepishly stammered out at last. “My room is a mess… too…” She cleared her throat audibly, and quickly moved past him and through the door. “A-anyway, sorry to intrude…”

The room had clothing sprawled around the floor. Oddly enough, the room didn’t spell too bad as Cheneres usually does his drinking outside. Exercise equipment took up most of the room while a small drawer and a bed were packed tightly in the corner. “Welcome to the dwelling of the great Cheneres!” He bellowed behind her. Artemie stopped just inside the threshold, glancing back and forth as if searching for a path that she could walk without stepping on anything. After a moment of evident silent contemplation, however, she was struck by an obvious solution, and, after muttering a few words under her breath, suddenly floated right back up into the air, hovering up a little closer to the ceiling this time and off to one side to allow Cheneres through the door.

“Umm… thanks… So… er… was there anything in particular you came to get?” She asked, peering down at him curiously from her vantage point in the air.

“Hmm..” He tried to recollect his thoughts. “I actually didn’t have anything I wanted to get, but the thought of slaying the luggage beasts got me caught in the moment.” He grinned. “Though..” He picked up a jacket. “I guess I’ll get this so I didn’t waste ‘ya time.” He slung the jacket over his shoulder. Artemie blinked again, once more seeming surprised.

“I didn’t think you owned anything like a shirt or a coat,” She observed innocently, this time seeming even more completely serious than she had been last time. But surely, it had to be a joke, didn’t it? ”Because you never wear one,” She added, as if this needed explaining. So she was actually serious then…?

“Observant, are we? This old thing was actually a gift from a buddy long back.” He patted the deteriorating fabric. “He got tired of seeing my bulging muscles all day..he must’ve been jealous.” Cheneres put the jacket on. The coat was similar to a trench coat in design, with black as it’s main color. It had pockets on the side and left pec. “I wear it unzipped though, so the ladies can still snag a peek.”

”Are you sure it wasn’t just because he thought you might not be comfortable?” Artemie asked innocently, floating gently down in front of him until she was just a fraction of an inch in front of the floor. Her own flowing gown kind of had a similar aesthetic to his coat, and Cheneres was sorely tempted to give some kind of cheesy one liner about how “we match now!” but decided to relent, since she’d probably either misinterpret or completely miss it.

“I mean,” She continued a bit awkwardly. “Seeing as you’re only ever half-dressed, I do worry sometimes… Doesn’t it get cold after a while?” As she spoke, her gaze slowly dropped away from his face, running over his chest before stopping. She was silent for a moment, placing her finger to her lips in what appeared to be intense contemplation.

“By the way…” She began after a moment of silence. “What, exactly, am I supposed to be peeking at? Is there something hidden inside your coat?”

Cheneres pointed to his abs, a stunning 8 pack, fruit from years of dedication and hard work. His greatest achievement. “The chicks love it..I think, they don't’ usually stay to talk to me, but I think that’s what they are thinking, you feel?

...Surprisingly, Artemie nodded without hesitation. “Well, yes, indeed. You are incredibly handsome,” She concurred bluntly. It was… a little bit odd, hearing those words coming from someone normally so shy, spoken with the same tone that one might announce that the sky was blue - as if it was obvious, and didn’t even need to be said. “Well… Umm… That is... I guess I can’t really speak for everyone… but… I… think so.” Oh. There it was. There was the blushing, bashful response he’d been looking for! She must have realized that most people didn’t view beauty as an objective thing, and decided to correct herself, only to realize that by doing so she was going to say something that sounded like flirting!

Huh. ...Now that he knew what to look for, suddenly, she wasn’t so hard to read after all. Or… was she? Wait, so did that mean she was attracted to him? Or just that she was agreeing with him and then realized that what she was saying should have been embarrassing? Crap, even if he knew her thought process, that still didn’t tell him anything!

He stood there, in shock at the compliment. After a long moment of silence, Cheneres attempted to change the subject. “Thank you for the..uhm, compliment. We should ..probably go now, right?” He turned towards the door.

Artemie nodded wordlessly, her face still very red. When she followed him out, she did so by floating once again, seeming suddenly very conscious of the fact that she’d just said something like that to a man who’d just invited her to his room.

“S-so, umm... I don’t mean to be rude, or presumptuous, but… I don’t… really know many people on this team very well,” Artemie began after a few moments taken to re-compose herself, seeming equally inclined to change the subject after the earlier awkwardness between them. “I’m also somewhat inexperienced, so I’m not sure how useful I’ll be… but… umm… if there’s anything I can do to help you, I’d be happy to offer my assistance!” She looked away, seeming all but unwilling to continue - and yet, continue she did, albeit very softly, as if speaking only with great reluctance. “S-so…. In exchange… would it be alright if I asked… um… that is…” Then, all at once, her real thoughts spilled out.

“I’m scared. I’ve never fought real mages in a serious fight before,” Artemie confessed at last. ”I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t ask something like this of you, but… could you please protect me during our mission, Mr. Cheneres?” She lowered her gaze to the floorboards, almost like she was afraid of seeing the look on his face. What did she expect, exactly? That he’d laugh at her? To be sure, Cheneres was an unintentional master of upsetting or otherwise angering women. But, even he knew the right answer in a situation like this.

“Hm? I thought teammates always had each other’s backs.” He glanced over his shoulder. “How about I protect you and in exchange, you protect me?” He smiled, looking her straight in the eye.

“If that’s what you want…” She nodded, but still seemed a bit uncertain. Nevertheless, she forced a smile. “I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.”

“That’s the spirit!” He patted her on the back, albeit a bit too forcefully for her small frame. He opened the door for her. “Let’s go, we kept them waiting for too long.” Righting herself after being nearly bowled over by her new protector’s rather overzealous encouragement, Artemie nodded seriously, and followed closely behind him.

“R-right.”

And so it was that a very unlikely partnership quite suddenly began.

---

Keiji glanced around as everyone seemed to have their own reaction to the entire thing. Bard cracked his cup with more than a little melodrama at the entire ordeal. Keiji agreed that people like this were of the worst humanity had to offer simply because they didn’t even bother with a challenge, they took from those who couldn’t fight back. No respect was given and he shared Bard’s opinion of them even if he didn’t outwardly show it as much. Naturally Rin complained about the purpose of the meeting, but Keiji had already braced himself knowing she would find something to complain about it even if it wasn’t about the message. Again, he more or less agreed that this kind of information could have been sent in the magical paper airplane that had summoned them, but this was still a good chance to see everyone who would be going to the mission together in one room.

Artemie and Chen didn’t seem to have a reaction to the description, or at the very least kept it to themselves. Something he hadn’t expected of the Sand God Slayer but seemed very much in character with the Holder Mage. Slick was the only one to actually ask a question, which upon hearing it Keiji looked back down at the paper making sure he didn’t miss something. ”There’s no mention of specifics, numbers or talent wise. We’ll just have to go with the assumption that I stated.” Keiji answered Slick as best he could with what little he had. He gave a nod to the man to signify that was all he could tell him, and watched as everyone got up to go pack their things. That was the end of the meeting it would seem, he hadn't dismissed them but at this point he was just glad they had showed up (for the most part). He waited until the rest of his team had left before he himself exited the guild hall, making sure that if anyone was wanting to ask him something in private or perhaps complain to him that he would be around for such a thing. Luckily, or unluckily no one did. So with the briefing done and everyone gone, Keiji made to get his stuff ready as well.

Keiji entered his dorm room, a single 2 room apartment that looked more akin to a hotel than an actual living space. His bed and everything else he needed was in the main area while a door lead to the bathroom where all his maintenance amenities were. What people wouldn’t normally expect from the S class wizard was the fact that there were so many different things in his room, pinned up or shuffled off to the side, meant to be viewed and not touched. Trophies of varying size were pinned to the walls, along with pictures and contracts. There were a couple of teeth the size of someone’s arm held on the wall, along with a couple pictures of Keiji looking stoic while a number of people smiled around him, usually with massive destruction in the background. Aside from his bed, there was a very small kitchen that normally didn’t come standard in the dorm room and instead had been bought by Keiji so he could cook his own food when it came down to it. In a corner were some blacksmithing tools that were well maintained and meticulously placed so as not to create a mess. His bed was made, his room was dusted, and the entire room looked spotless. He enjoyed a clean sleeping area, to him it was a mark of pride to sleep in an area you worked hard to maintain.

He walked inside, opening the closet to reveal an array of cheap clothing that wasn’t the worst one would find anywhere, but it was obvious they were not made of high class materials. On the floor was a rather large backpack, which Keiji grabbed, opening it and slipping in an extra set of clothes. He closed the closet and wandered over to his makeshift kitchen, opening the small icebox and pulling out a prepared lunch for himself. Pommel had stated that she had made something for them all, but first of all Keiji hadn’t been aware of that when he had made this the other day, and he didn’t trust her to not do something to it that would make him regret relying on her cooking skills. He slipped the lunch into his bag as well, closing the ice box and making his way to the bathroom. There he opened the cabinet and pulled out a first aid kit, slipping it into his backpack as well. Those were the bare essentials according to Keiji, but he had more than enough time to think of anything else. For now, he placed the bag next to his door and wandered out. He could still get in a little training before the ride to fight town would take place.

---

Keiji had arrived at the train station half an hour ahead of schedule for a couple of reasons. The first one being the most obvious, he wanted to be the first one there. A strong showing of leadership, even if no one wanted to look at him that way. The other reason, being less obvious, was that he had nothing better to do. He trained for a couple of hours, double checked all his stuff, and eventually settled on just waiting at the station. He would be the first to admit that he didn’t really have a social life, but it was only during times like these where he really felt its absence. For the time being, he had been sitting at one of the benches along the rails, staring up at the sky and enjoying the last of his alone time for what seemed like the foreseeable future. Train whistles sounded and people boarded different trains going to different places. Keiji glanced backwards at the clock, noticing the time and realizing it was getting close to zero hour. He hadn’t noticed anyone show up yet, or at the very least, they hadn’t approached him, maybe wanting the train to show up first. The more he thought about this, the more he didn’t like it, so instead of wallowing in his own pessimistic attitude, he focused on the task at hand.

It was a dark guild, meaning a fair number of enemy combatants in a village of unknown size just a short distance away from the city they would be spending the night. He had never been one for strategy, preferring the method of going in there and essentially exploding until everyone stayed down, but he couldn’t necessarily rely on that this time around, not with so many of his fellow guild mates surrounding him. He would have to think of something, even as his entire being coiled at the thought of holding back. There was another whistle from a train, and Keiji looked up, recognizing the numbers on the side of the train as their lift. He stood up, grabbing his backpack and stretching. He gave a slight yawn, looking around as the train pulled into the station.

Were the others here?

Slick

Slick hadn’t taken too long to get ready for the mission. He always tended to travel light and source what he needed on the fly, but given the oppression present in the target town, he’d likely need to bring some basic necessities. As such, he was simply equipped with a travel briefcase containing some water, food, and light reading for the train ride. Striding into the train station shortly before the arrival time, Slick briefly looked around to see if the team had succeeded in the first step of the plan and turned up on time. Settling his eyes on Keiji, he slowly began striding over, giving a short salute wave as he set his case down next to him, checking his watch. “Well this looks promising.” Slick commented with a small smirk, turning to face the train. “I take it whoever doesn’t turn up gets left behind, right?”

Turning back towards Keiji and stretching his neck a bit, Slick used his free hand to give it a rub, sighing. “Well, I suppose I’ll remain optimistic for now that they’ll turn up. Artemie’s reliable at the least. Maybe she’s busy dragging Chen out of bed…” Attempting to make some light-hearted small talk, Slick was willing to give this stuff a chance. He’d never really associated with Keiji, but he’d studied him enough to have some idea of the kind of man he was. Antisocial as he could be, he wasn’t unreasonable. And if he was going to be leading this thing, they’d have to at least break the ice on some level and learn to work together. Dark guilds weren’t a joke. Slick knew he could count on himself to have Keiji’s back if things got rough, and although Slick wasn’t calling the man’s dedication to the guild into question, he’d rather understand the man completely in order to coordinate on the best possible level.

Pommel Grade

“Ugh… Now he’s there too…” Pommel mumbled from her position behind a trash can at the station. Though she was getting some mildly strange looks from the people on her side of the square bin, for Keiji and Slick, she was mostly hidden. She had no intention of walking up when it was JUST those two. Where was Rin? Where was Artemie?! Where was… Well, Dolores and Mel weren’t going to be there, and she certainly wasn’t waiting on Chen or Bard to arrive. The rest of them were going to be late at this rate, and although there was a bit of time before it departed, if Pommel didn’t head over now she might not even get to speak to them before they got on board!

Sucking up her breath and energy, Pommel sat up from where she was behind the garbage, pulling on her backpack and striding over towards Slick and Keiji. It was time to show some spirit, since that was what she was here for. She was representing all of Tidal Serpent as the team’s manager, and not only that, she was in charge of their send off. Whatever misgivings she had about Slick and Keiji, she had an obligation to show them the dreams and wishes of the guild. “Slick, Keiji!” Pommel greeted the two somewhat forcefully as she took a step forward, a somewhat intense expression on her face. It softened soon enough however, slinging her backpack off her shoulder to flip open the satchel compartment. “I came to see you off on behalf of the guild. Remember, you’re representing all of us out there, but just do your best, and we’ll be proud of you all!” Fumbling about her satchel, Pommel retrieved the wrapped lunches, all neatly tied off in a bow, and seemingly wrapped in a blanket. “This is for all of you, they’re marked and named, so please enjoy.” Handing the knapsack to Slick, Pommel took a step back, nodding in affirmation.

“After you all get on board I’ll be waiting at the end of the line to wave you off, so make sure to look, alright?” Smiling cheerily, Pommel was eager to reveal her final plan for the send-off. Of course, she couldn’t really set it up while they were here, but she hoped they’d appreciate the effort she went to for them. “So um… Where’s Rin? And Artemie?” Pommel decided to ask, having a bit of a look around. She really hoped they’d have walked up around the time she did, but so far, they were nowhere to be seen…

"Make it make it make it!!!" Bardulf was rushing down the street to the train station scolding himself. He was absorbed in making sure everything was packed accordingly, ensuring Robyn was able to take care of Dio on the way and ensuring he didn't tear the apartment apart, that he almost thought he'd miss the train and everyone would leave without him.

Thus, internally, he was freaking out, worried that he might not make it. However, he eventually made it to the station and got his ticket all squared away.

"Whew! That was close! I was worried about getting here too late or something! Score one for Bardulf Sherwood!" he shouted in celebration. He then walked towards the area where's the train was and spotted at least some of his teammates. He walked over and waved, making note of who's here.

"Slick, Keiji, and.. Pommel? Did Oceana send you to make sure all the team was arriving? Although, I do admit..." Bardulf began scratching the back of his head. "I am kinda cutting it close. I blame my dog for my tardiness." he chuckled nervously at that front.

Though seeing only Slick and Keiji did make him worry about the others up and coming. Especially Rin. He hoped she, along with Artemie and Chen, make it in time. This was a big deal for the guild, for crying out loud! Oceana would be furious if only a fraction of the group showed up for the mission. Even his own uncle would shake his head in disappointment if he wasn't retired from being a Tidal Serpent Wizard.

He mentally sighed in his worry and began to look at the train, to the group as it is, and the clock. "Come on guys, what the heck is taking you?" was all he could think.