Cherry Heart: A Quest Based RP [Main Thread/IC/Starting/Currently Not Accepting/Co-hosted by Skaia]

[Maeriberii Haan]

OOC

 

 

“Ah, it’s this day already? Time sure flies...”

 

“Hey, stop spacing out and help me with the stand here. You can’t run a business if you live only on your dreamland, and the festival starting soon too.”

 

“Right, right! Pardon me for that, Flo.”
 

The morning broke, the sun creeping from its resting place over the horizon and up into the skies of Prunus. The town square, however, had been alive and bustling with activity even before the first light of dawn. People moving large quantities of boxes, props, signs and any assortment of goods was a clear indication of just what day it was. Celebrating its legendary founding thousands of years ago, the people of Prunus were finishing preparations for the grand festival that was to take place.  An annual tradition that never failed to attract visitors from all over Arbolia, it was a festival where any person was bound to find something of interest to them.

 

Of course, being a festival held in the legendary City of Adventures meant that a lot of promising new adventurers had been looking legends themselves. Wanting to join one of the many Magic Guilds, whether they had been long settled in the city, or fledgling ones just getting their start. Thus, on the festival’s first few days, during its week long run, the festival officials had set aside an area for the newer and smaller guilds to open their recruitment stands up, while the larger guilds, (having their own recruitment tests,) were directly integrated into the festival’s main attractions.

 

The two women who had been bantering earlier, Celica and Florentia, were two friends who had decided to revive an old guild from scratch. That guild being Cherry Heart. The dreamy-blue haired woman, Celica, had gone to help her stern-looking friend with finishing their stand. Having been scheduled to open their stand on the fourth day of the Prunalia Festival, the last day for the guild-promoting stands to be up, due to a mistake in registration by Florentia, the duo was in quite the rush to make sure their stand had been perfectly ready for any would be guild members. As their preparations had been finished, all that was left for them to wait for the incoming crowd of people and hope there were still those who would be interested.

 

 

“Come here, come here, we at Cherry Heart are still accepting new guild members!”

 

Celica’s voice rang amidst the crowd of people as she tirelessly promoted her stand. The festival had just started, but so far no one was approaching the stand. While it was not something that would deter either of the two women, it was not a promising sign either. As it seemed that for the time being no one was approaching them, Florentia told Celica to stop and rest for a moment. When she refused, the stern woman grabbed her by the back of her collar and dragged her to the back of their stand.
 

“Calm yourself down. You will not last the whole day that way.”
 

“...Ouch, okay…
 

Does this mean you’ll take over my position for now, Flo?”
 

“Are you kidding? I have no intentions to drive away anyone that might have any interest on our guild. Not like anyone did…” Florentia paused. Even after agreeing to assist Celica, she was still quite skeptical of her friend’s plan, but she stopped herself short of telling her what she thought to avoid demoralizing her, and shifted the conversation into another topic. “More importantly, reviewing the short interview for the aspiring guild members would be a good way to spend your resting time. I know you’re the one that wrote it in the first place, but it is my job to ensure that you won’t forget about it at this critical moment.”

 

“Right. So, the list of questions...hmmm

 

‘Why do you want to join this guild?’

‘Do you have any goals to achieve in this guild?’

‘What kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?’

And lastly…”

 

“Before you go there, remember that you need to ask their name too.”

 

“Ah, right, right! Ask them to give a short introduction first before all those questions. Something like…’Please introduce yourself. Tell us more about yourself.’
 

And lastly…’Are you willing to accept the guild’s terms and condition for a membership?’ That should be it, right?”
 

“I’m not sure what you put there, but yes. That should be it.”

 

“So after those questions they just sign their names into the record book, and Yggdrasil will be notified immediately, right?”
 

“Why are you asking me that? The administrative side of this business is not something I have any experiences on.”
 

“Oops, pardon me. Alright, this would mean that starting at the end of the festival, we could officially start our guild activity and start accepting quests. Of course, we need to finish the renovation to that building first so our guild members could stay there, but I happen to be an expert on it, so it’s not something to worry about.”
 

“...You always talk a lot. I think it’s best to return to your post now.”
 

“Heh, of course. We’ll sure be flooding with new members when I’m done with this!”
 

Florentia shook her head at the younger woman’s excitement as she followed her towards their stand again. Had it not for their friendship and what she said back then...she wouldn’t get dragged into this position. It could have been something to lament, but as she was doing this for Celica’s sake, it wasn’t as bad as it should be. Granted, Flo ended up having her gaze go around the festival to see what was going on, to distract her mind from thinking about the guild too much.
 

The makeshift open arena that lie across the square hadn’t seem to attract much people yet, but later on she expected it to be really active...and it would inevitably get ugly. Well, she’s a medic for a reason, so she could help there if anything happened. The other guilds’ stands stood around the main street, and to her chagrin they seemed to have longer lines than Cherry Heart’s for now. This was despite Celica’s brazen choice to use double the space for their stand to make it stand out more. The food stalls were on their north, not far from the square. The food there were free, as long as people mind their manner and eat reasonably. Flo considered to visit there to find something for Celica to eat or drink later, but at the moment it’s more important to watch over her and see her potential guild members...if anyone decided to sign up, of course.
 

Well, whatever would happen, Florentia chose to rest that case to fate as she continued to wait on Celica’s side.
 

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Alright, here we are, the beginning of the story!

 

First of all, this is the map of the nearby area (Credits to Hatsunetsumitcher's for the map!). The Cherry Heart booth is the one near the small park on the west side.
 

Right now, just sign up to the guild by answering the questions mentioned above and signing your name, mingle with other people, and enjoy the festival. If you want to do anything but unsure about things, just hit me up with a question, I’ll be always up to give directions and information to you.
 

[spoiler=List of Questions]

1. Please introduce yourself. Tell us more about yourself

2. Why do you want to join this guild?

3. Do you have any goals to achieve in this guild?

4. What kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?

5. Are you willing to accept the guild’s terms and conditions for a membership? (mostly standard stuffs such as willingness to act under the name of the guild, willingness to hand the gold reward from quest to the guild in exchange for biweekly pay, willingness to take responsibility of own injuries and fuckups, etc)

[Astolfo]

It was a brilliant and warm day, the sun creeping towards its full splendor ever so slowly, bright rays of light illuminating every vendor and market. Crowds of people of every height, shape, and species bustled about, filling the air with a pleasant, ambient noise. The food stalls garnished the air with scents of ripe fruit, hot and sweet pastries, smoking meat, and many more wonders.

 

But the best part of the grandiose festivities of this day weren't any of those. For that was dominated by the presence of hundreds of guilds establishing their names and fortunes or hopes to fortunes. Adventurers, both veterans and newbies alike, wandered the ways as guild recruiters and captains tried to entice them to join.

 

And then there was the odd, white haired youth with absolutely nothing on him except his clothes, and an absurdly tall mountain of various foods, snacks, and dishes that swung precariously as the boy nimbly avoided the crowd. Who could say no to free food? Even so, this was a bit farther than most people would go. Good for him though, Ro couldn't give less of a fig - he already ate all of his. Despite having lived over two thousand years and having tried all these dishes hundreds of times minimum, the joys of gorging oneself at a festival never got old. As he worked his way through the stacks of plates, skewers, cones, and trays, he just as deftly stacked them all in another hand in an interlocking pattern to save space until the next closest disposal place appeared.

 

Soon enough though, even Ro managed to sate himself. Licking his fingers clean and dumping the last of his trash, he let out a content whistle. Having walked down this path so many times sure did help, especially with navigating when he could barely see in front of him. Fortunately, this is one of the few things Ro could remember. He surveyed the view in front of him.

 

”So this is where all the newbie guilds are, eh? So many, sheesh. Well, when it's like this, any option’s as good as the rest!”

 

Ro spun on his feet until his hand pointed at one of the guilds. He started singing out loud in a strange, yet melodically reverberating language.

 

α μπε μπα μπλομ, του κι θε μπλομ, α μπε μπα μπλομ, του κι θε μπλομ, μπλιμ, μπλομ!

 

As his little tune ended, his index finger stretched out to one particular guild. Ro peered at it curiously. It had two tables, double the size of any other around it, but absolutely no people even glancing at it. He couldn't help but bust out laughing.

 

Ahaha, how pitiful! This should be funny.”

 

Ro skipped over to the desks, waving energetically. The two women there perked up, almost as if surprised anyone even bothered to check out their guild. The taller, olive-haired woman was obviously the senior, while the younger, blue-haired woman was the junior who probably got pushed into helping - Ro stifled another giggle. He tilted his head slightly in a mock bow.

 

”Hiya, I’m Ro. I'd like to try out for... He looked for the guild tag. ”Cherry Heart!” He beamed his million-watt grin.

 

After a momentary pause, the younger one seemed to realize an applicant had finally arrived. Upon a quick few hushed chatters, the younger woman coughed politely.

 

”Sure, but you'll have to answer some questions. At Ro’s exasperated look, she quickly added on, ”It’s just standard guild practice.

 

The woman went through a few quick gestures as if to remind herself of all the questions before facing Ro again.

 

”So, please introduce yourself! What's your name? Tell us something about yourself.

 

”You can call me Ro. I’m Ar-... I mean, human. Just a bit of weird lil’ magic’s screwed up my appearance, das’ all. I've traveled a lot.

 

At the slipup, Celica peered a bit curiously, but shrugged and moved on. ”Okay, next question. Why do you want to join this guild?”

 

Ro scratched his head a bit sheepishly. ”I uh… just felt like joining one of the new guilds because I'm not qualified for the bigger ones, and um… I used a nursery rhyme to pick out which guild I’d join, and it was, well… this one. Celica looked at him almost incredulously, as if mentally facepalming at their first potential recruit. Flo just stared at him with a stern, piercing gaze. Ro laughed a bit awkwardly.

 

”Well, uh, anywaaaaays… What are you hoping to achieve by joining Cherry Heart?”

 

Ro didn't even hesitate for a nanosecond. ”Fun! I wanna get my blood rushing like I’m alive and I know it! Adventures!”

 

”What abilities do you have that could help you on any quests then?”

 

”I'm not afraid to dive in headfirst into ANYTHING, and I can make pretty much any chemical I get ahold of and learn how it's built. Need someone to rush in? Poisons? Medicines? That's me! I can't do that much right now, but I can still do a pretty good bit! Oh right, and it's like, I’m really slippery and hard to kill, and I can live a super long time. Wanna guess how old I am? I’ll bet a gold you can't!

 

At this point, Celica seemed exasperated and resigned. Going through the motions, she finished off with the last question.

 

”Lastly, do you agree to accept any terms and conditions and rules for our guild?”

 

Ro looked at her with a slightly miffed expression, at the thought of the formalities and bureaucracies. ”Eeehh? Sure, that's fine with me. As long as we get to go on some quests that’ll get my blood rushin’!”

 

Celica slid over a document. ”Then sign here please.”

 

Taking the pen from here, he wrote an elegant symbol, sealing the document.

 

”So that it?”

 

When the two women nodded, Ro skipped off to go and get some more food. With guild sign ups done and out of the way, it was time for more festival food and partying!

[Mr. Hyde]

 

The day had just begun, as the warm rays of the sun graced the skies of Prunus.  It shown every nook and cranny of the city, almost exclaiming to the world that this was a day to be celebrated.  And Dmitri could not agree more!  It was a new chapter of his life, and the first sentence began here, in Prunus.  Dmitri couldn't help but glow, alongside the sun in the sky, as he marched through the lively festival.  In one hand, he held a book, wrapped in leather and tied together with a leather string.  In the other, Dmitri stared at his palm, which had conjured a small rotating triangular prism.  It almost entranced him, as he fell deep into his thoughts.  He was nervous...but he was also incredibly elated.  

 

Booths littered the streets, advertising a multitude of services and goods, but he wasn't looking to treat himself here.  No, he was looking to treat the people of Prunus with his...skills?  

 

"No...that sounds too cocky..."  He thought aloud.  During his travels here from his home village, Dmitri thought of many ways to go about expressing how invaluable he could be towards a guild, but he would be lucky if anyone would take a novice mage, let alone one with such a strange type of magic.  He would most likely have to apply towards an upstart guild, one desperate for anyone they could get their hands on.  But that was fine by Dmitri.  If he could be of any help to a guild, it would help him grow in more ways than just fine tuning his magic.  His eyes beamed at the factor that this would also help further his research into Prism Magic!  

 

As he walked across a square of sorts, he noticed many lines stretching farther back towards other parts of the festivals, full of antsy and eager mages of all sorts and species.  If he had to guess, this must have been where the guild sign-ups were taking place.  However, there was one stand in particular, one that seemed to stand out above all the rest.  Mostly for the fact that it took up much more space than the other booths did.  However, unlike the others, this particular booth had attracted very little attention.  Dmitri pushed his glasses up on his nose and smiled.  

 

"Peacock too hard, and they see your desperation!  Ah, but the desperate should hold no such opinions I suppose."  Dmitri laughed under his breath, as his triangular prism had flown away from his palm and soared into the sky, detonating like a small firecracker as it had reached a certain height.  The light that had constructed the prism had fluttered down, highlighted by the rays of the sun.  "Whoops..." Dmitri sighed as he cautiously approached the stand.

 

“Come here, come here, we at Cherry Heart are still accepting new guild members!”

 

Ah, so the guild of Cherry Heart would be his first choice?  The name was sweet, and rolled off the tongue rather well.  It was as if fate screamed at him to join.  A young figure pranced away from the stand, presumably they had just finished applying.  He approached the desk at last and smiled.  

 

"Well well, what do we have here?  Mind if I apply to this, 'Cherry Heart'?"  

 

”Sure, but you'll have to answer some questions.  It’s just standard guild practice."

 

Dmitri simply nodded his head.  

 

"Of course!"  

 

”So, please introduce yourself! What's your name? Tell us something about yourself."

 

"My name is Geo Dmitri Newton.  I go by my middle name, Dmitri."  He picked up his arm and crossed it over his chest, with book in tow.  "I am a school teacher from a small village at the base of the Valais Mountain range."  

 

”Okay, next question. Why do you want to join this guild?”

 

Dmitri scratched his chin.  Should he warm the hearts of the guild's recruiters, or would he tell the truth.  

 

"Well...I know not much of the world outside of my village.  But what I do know is that I want to pass on the fruits of my knowledge to the next generation, especially the school children back home.  To do this, I must refine my magic.  I wish to explore every aspect of it, so that I may write down the process of which by to control it."  That explanation would probably tug at a heart string or two.

 

"What are you hoping to achieve by joining Cherry Heart?”

 

"Well, I hope to publish a book, detailing the extents of my Prism magic.  I want to help as many people as possible with my unique magic, and hopefully pass it's uses on to the next wielders of magic!"  

 

‘What kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?’

 

"Clearly," Dmitri exclaimed, jutting his hand out, "My Prism Magic!"  A small octahedron appeared in the center of his palm, spinning in motion and reflecting the bright waves of the sun off of it's surfaces.  "It's a magic that I have found no prior research on.  It's a form of light manipulation that has many other uses than just being pretty!"  Dmitri didn't mean to toot his own horn, but it truly was the case that this magic only pertained to him...for now at least.  

 

"Are you willing to accept the guild’s terms and condition for a membership?"

 

Dmitri hesitated for just a moment, but then uttered a swift response

 

"Certainly!"  

 

”Then sign here please.”

 

Dmitri took a pen from his own pocket, and proceeded to write his signature just beneath a strange symbol.  That must have been the person that had just left the stand prior to him approaching.  After the last stroke of his name, Dmitri could feel the exhilaration bubbling up over the surface.  The octahedron in his hand suddenly began to spark.  When Dmitri noticed, he gripped it in his hand, as a small flash of light could be seen flashing from inside the folds of his hand.  Dmitri released his grip to let go of a cloud of grey smoke.  The inside of his hand had been slightly singed as well.  

 

"Whoops..." was all he could manage to say as he slunk away from the booth.  No take backs now though.  They were stuck with him!  

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Punching Bag Wizard-

 

-BGM-

 

The skies over Prunus were shaded perfectly with the rising sun's light. And what was more, the atmosphere and weather just seemed perfect...the type of requirements that were met for a festival! And from the looks of it...it was an amazing turn out for this festival. And from what Deku could see, there was PLENTY to do, what with all the different booths and the different people to mingle with.

 

Deku strolled around with his right hand in his pocket while his left hand held onto the strap on his bag slung across his shoulder. He was making different notes on what he needed to try and probably what he wanted to buy during the festival. Unfortunately...

 

"Yeah...you could buy things Deku...if you had a bit more money and didn't forget to take the rest of it before you left home." he muttered to himself. It was obvious he needed to get into that Magic Guild soon. The problem was...where was it even loca-

 

-BGM-

 

“Come here, come here, we at Cherry Heart are still accepting new guild members!”

 

Deku looked up and saw in the direction near the inn, a booth where the woman there was trying to advertise for Cherry Heart. A small smile appeared on Deku's face as he mumbled a "Thanks" to whatever deity heard his thoughts. But right now...it was in sight, the Magic Guild he would join and get enough money to send back home to pay for his mother's medical bills.

 

With excitement, Deku slowly began to pick up the pace towards the booth...that was until he was tripped up by a small dog and ended up falling flat on his face in front of the booth. Dangit...first impression ruined... Deku thought, beating himself up.

 

"Umm...are you alright?"

 

Deku slowly got up, rubbing his face a bit before dusting himself off and looking at the woman, Celica. "Y-Yeah...I'm fine. I'd actually like to join Cherry Heart."

 

This almost seemed to make the woman's day as she smiled. "Oh wonderful! Another applicant! Alrighty then, guess we'll start with these questions." she said with a smile. "It's guild procedure, so I hope you don't mind."

 

"Nah, its alright. So fire away!"

 

"First, introduce yourself. Tell us something about yourself!"

 

First question, not too hard. "Well, I'm Deku Shinobu. I'm actually from a small village near the base of the Valais Mountains...well not exactly near the base but at least a little ways away from them."

 

"Okay. Next question, why are you joining this guild?"

 

Deku looked at Celica, rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't expecting to be telling this reason right off the bat like this...but if it gained him allowance into the guild, best to just say it. "Well its because of my mom. A group of raiders came and attacked the village not too long ago and well my mom protected me with her magic and since she hadn't used it in a while....a long while in fact...she used up a lot of energy and fell unconscious. She's currently comatose..." he paused, before sighing. "I want to join because I want to take on missions..to use the abilities I have and help others...but also get enough money to send back home to help pay for my mom's medical bills."

 

A small nod came from Celica, before she continued on. "Guess that takes care of why your joining the guild AND what you hope to accomplish. Next question then! What kind of ability do you possess to help you achieve your goals?"

 

"Oh that would be my Martyr Magic." Deku said proudly. He looked and saw Celica's puzzled look, before chuckling a bit. "Its a magic that I happened to create...basically its a magic that if I happened to get beat up in a fight, it generates magical energy that I can use."

 

"Odd...but at the same time, sounds like you get hurt a lot." Celica said, before coming to the end of the questions. "Lastly, do you accept the guild's terms and conditions for membership?"

 

"Absolutely! Joining a magic guild is the only reason I came this way!"

 

"Then please sign here for me."

 

Deku nodded and immediately signed his name down on the paper before moving out of the way. He sighed heavily as he leaned up against one of the lampposts next to the Cherry Heart booth. He couldn't believe it...he was now an official guild member of a magic guild! Things were starting to look up now!

[JessicaMuddy]

Ah, Prunus. Eight months since Serena left this place to explore the world, and yet it felt like only yesterday she was patrolling the streets with friends and having a good time. She stepped eagerly into the city square, and scanned the area. "Just like old times. God, I used to love this festival." She walked down the main paved road, glancing from side to side with glee as a wave of nostalgia slapped her in the face. Continuously. But she didn't care. In fact, it felt great! Sure, seeing the new and extraordinary was cool, and Serena had experiences that she wouldn't have had otherwise was great, but nothing in the world feels like coming home.

 

She glanced to her right, and saw her first familiar face. Geoff, the barkeep at a local tavern. She stuck a hand up into the air and waved at him, calling his name. Geoff turned to her, and gave a sideways glance. Quickly realizing her mistake, Serena turned away and stuck her bright red face down, and power-walked among the crowd, eyes focused on the ground. She continued to walk this way for a few seconds, then raised her head and looked backwards, while still continuing to walk. Geoff was already back at work. Phew! When she turned her head back to finally see where she had ended up, she found her face pressed up against a lamp post. Bouncing backwards in response, Serena quickly grasped her nose and dropped to the ground.

 

Recovering from her injury, Serena sat up to find a guild application stall staring her in the face. A smile formed upon her face. "I said I was gonna join one of these... Time to bite the bullet!" A few other people had already signed up, and Serena was now next in line. Not that there was really much of a line to begin with. A blue-haired beauty stood at the large desk, and looked eager to have a new member apply.

 

"Hi there! Are you here to join Cherry Heart?" She asked with a jolly smile.

 

Serena gave an equal smile back. "You better believe it!"

 

"Great! All I need you to do is answer some questions. So we'll start with this one: What is you name, and what is something you want us to know about yourself?"

 

"I'm Perry-" Serena caught herself, and began again. "I'm Serena Ontone, and believe it or not, I lived here in Prunus for my whole live up until I went adventuring eight months ago."

 

"Nice to meet you then, Serena. I'm surprised I'd never seen you around here before."

 

"To be honest, my appearance has changed a LOT since my glory days. You wouldn't be able to tell past me and present me are the same person." Serena internally fist pumped. Sure, she had been putting on this persona for eight months, but every single identity-related question still gave Serena the smallest bit of panic.

 

"Alright then. Why did you decide to join this guild?"

 

"Well, first off, I told myself that I would join one when I came back home for the festival, and second, because you guys looked like you could use some numbers."

 

"Yeah, we've only got a few members so far. But the day is young! What goals do you have in relation to joining this guild?"

 

She was optimistic. At least this guild had something going for it. Good leaders make good teams. It was a simple concept, but held true to Serena all of her life. "Well, for starters, I wanted to discover more of what this world has to offer, which is easier done in a guild rather than traveling alone, and second, for the money. Odd jobs here and there never hurt, but a stable job is a good job."

 

"Awesome. Well, tell us. What cool abilities do you have to help you fight for our guild?"

 

"First off, I am an above-average soldier. I fought in wars, you know." Serena felt quite god about this answer, but Celica looked at her strangely.

 

"Wars, plural? At your age? I don't think a major one has even occurred around her for a little while now."

 

"Ummm... I meant... I trained as a soldier while wars were going on. I was enlisted into the army a couple of years ago."

 

"Really? A short girl like you? Surely the'd be looking for-"

 

"My hair was short back then! Like a boy's! And they mistook me for a boy, haha! Crazy times... Anyway, back onto the topic at hand, I also have this sword." From out of a sheath on her back, Serena pulled out a black blade, standing half as tall as she was. Its obsidian gave what could only be described as a dark glow. A contradictory statement, yet here it was. "I'm not entirely sure what it does yet, but I would be expecting it to have some kind of magic in it. Or at least I'm hoping it does, because there better be some cool payoff for the amount I had to give up for it."

 

"Right. Well, I'm sure we'll be able to put it to good use in some way. Finally, do you accept our terms of service? Sorry, just legal stuff."

 

"Sure. As long as it doesn't mean a small task force of 10 of us will be put up against a front-line of 100 enemies!" Serena laughed and rubbed the back of her neck, but Celica only continued to look at her confused. "Sorry... Military joke."

 

Serena eagerly signed the form, first by beginning to write "Perry" but crossing it out and writing "SerenaO" next to it.

[Hälō]

Vincent let out a sigh as the sun beat down on the back of his neck. Groups of people cheerfully glided past him with large smiles on their faces, causing him to stand out as the only person who didn't seem to enjoying the festival. Taking a large bite from one of the free confections he had been offered immediately upon entering the festival grounds, the boy studied the sprawling lines that had formed from the many booths that represented guilds looking for applicants.

 

"Gross..." Vincent groaned at the large collection of energy signatures, as well as the cloud of contaminated magic particles that lingered in the air around the headache inducing amount of mages who all seemed to be showing off their magic. It was like being in a perfume tent, with hundreds of obnoxious musks and sprays being blasted into his face at ounce.

 

"Welp, you said you were gonna play guild with the mages, right?" He sighed to himself whilst looking around for the least populated stand. It didn't take long for his gaze to fall on the tables marked Cherry Heart, and as he watched the man with glasses slink away, Vincent's attention was soon caught by the two ladies that stood behind the stand. They were definitely stronger than they looked, with auras that stood out to him despite the fact that he was surrounded by other mages.

 

"Time to put your money where you mouth is, Vincey boy..." Cramming the last of his food into his mouth, Vincent tossed his trash to the side before approaching stand. Arriving just as a young lady around his age had finished signing up, Vincent waited for the her move to the side before speaking up. 

 

"Hi." He spoke flatly. 

 

"Hello there," The blue haired was quick to reply. 

 

"So do I sign here? or..." 

 

"Yes, but first you'll have to answer some questions for us."

 

"Fire away." Vincent sighed, eager to get the formalities over with.  

 

"Please start with a basic introduction. Tell us more about yourself."

 

"Vincent. The name's Vincent Cipher..." The boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I ummmmm," He paused for a moment, unsure if he should just outright reveal that he was a Xel'cie. "I'm from a tribe. We move around a lot, and generally make our living from hunting." 

 

"Alright, and why do you want to join the guild?" 

 

Vincent's gaze sharpened slightly. "A promise." He said without hesitation. "Someone I care about passed away before they ever got a chance to join a guild, so I guess you can say I'm doing this in their honor."

 

"Interesting..." The woman studied him for a moment. "Do you have any goals that you wish to achieve whilst in this guild? What kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?"

 

"Goals?" Never one to enjoy being questioned, Vincent was beginning to grow slightly irritated now."I'm not doing this for me. I'm gonna make this guild the best damn guild around for that person, and that's that."

 

"Fair enough. But how are you going to do that?" The woman shot back quicker than he expected.

 

"My tribe hunts... exotic game. I can hold my own in a fight, I know how to track, and if you put a bow in my hands I can put three arrows between your ribs before you could say abracadabra."

 

Sighing, Vincent moved to pluck up the pen from the table. "That it? Or do you want to know my favorite color too?"

 

"Just one more thing," The blue haired woman watched him with a look that he couldn't quite read. "Do you accept our terms of service?"

 

"Naturally..." Vincent replied as he signed his name on the paper. There was no turning back now, he had officially cast away his life as a Xel'cie.  

[Hakima]

“We’re almost there Péng,” Jīn assured the cloud construct, patting it on the side fondly. Péng heaved in protest, but it continued to chug through the sky, leaving a wispy trail of clouds behind it as it did. “Do you see it? That city in the distance? That’s Prunus! That’s where the festival’s being held!” Jīn reclined back on the cloud, smiling. “Think we’re gonna find a guild that’ll accept us? . . . . That was a really mean thing to say. Are you feeling alright?”

 

Péng pitched violently, almost throwing Jīn off and onto the ground thousands of feet below.

 

“O-Okay, point taken!” Jīn said, clutching on the cloud and chuckling nervously. “You’re right, you’ve been doing mos--,” the cloud swung precariously again, “ALL! ALL THE WORK!” the monk corrected hastily, voice cracking. Péng leveled out, seemingly content for the moment.  Jīn let out a breath that he hadn’t known he was holding, smartly adding, “I’ll make it up to you as soon as we get to Prunus! I’ll get you some cotton candy at the first shop I can!” Péng was oddly addicted to the cloud-like candy, which made it easy to bribe the cloud construct most of the time.

 

Jīn was able to relax for the rest of the ride to Prunus. When they made it to the main entrance to the city, Péng fell onto the ground as soon as Jīn hopped off, panting like it was a dehydrated dog. “Come on now, the cotton candy’s just a little bit further!” Jīn told it, and with an exaggerated sigh, Péng dragged itself back up into the air to hover at waist level with the monk. “It doesn’t look like they’re too busy yet, so we’ll get your cotton candy and check out the market first, sound good?”

 

Péng bobbed its approval, and off the pair went. They roamed the market for at least an hour, and Jīn was enraptured by the variety of races he saw (“what’s it like having horns? Do all minotaurs drink so much?”), the huge array of magic types (“You mean your magic is entirely dedicated to slaying dragons? Isn’t that a bit… specific?”), and the massive amount of stuff they had for sale (“You mean all I have to do is click this little button and the stick will cast a Light Magic spell? Whoa. . . ). By the time they left the marketplace, Jīn had blown through the small amount of spending money he had set aside and a bit more. He had purchased Péng’s cotton candy, a magic stick enchanted to shoot an illuminating beam of light out at the press of a button, a pair of enchanted rubber armbands that would magically stop him from drowning no matter how deep the water was, and a horned helmet that the salesman swore would imbue him with true Arbolian spirit.

 

Feeling proud of himself for managing the market so well, and hoping to impress a future guild with his array of enchantments, Jīn took the time to air-up his armbands and put on his horned helmet. He also kept the magic stick in his hand, a convenient place to showcase that he had a beam of light at his beck and call. “Well, how do I look?” he asked Péng, but the cloud construct was veritably vibrating in place from a sugar high, and not paying him much attention. Jīn shook his head but didn’t let that deter him. He didn’t need Péng’s approval, he was going to impress everyone with how he fit into the Arbolian culture so well.  Being broke was worth it if it upped his chances of impressing his future guild.

 

Jīn looked around at all of the recruiting guilds for a bit before he did anything else. Most of them had a lot of activity, and it was discouraging to know he would be competing with so many people for acceptance. He eventually discovered the Cherry Heart booth, an odd little guild recruitment booth that had pushed two tables together. There was a very pretty blue-haired, smiling young woman behind the desk, and she was talking to people as they passed by. She by far seemed the most laidback recruiter he had encountered thus far, and there didn’t seem to be much activity for the guild outside of a few passing souls.

 

Decision made, Jīn approached the booth cautiously. The blue-haired woman’s attention was immediately on him, one brow quirked curiously as she took in his appearance. Jīn self-consciously adjusted his magical flotation armbands, and made sure that his Arbolian hat was straight, then said, “Hello, my name is Jīn. You all are a recruiting guild, yes?” He tried to tone down his natural accent the best he could while introducing himself, but from the look on the woman’s face, he didn’t do very good.

 

The blue-haired woman smiled, but the action struck Jīn as rehearsed. “That’s right! We’re Cherry Heart! Are you looking into joining us?”

 

Jīn nodded, noticing for the first time that Péng had disappeared. He was alone. “Yes, I am. Could you tell me about it, please? I’m new to this continent, so I don’t really know much yet. They said that you used to be a guild before?”

 

"Huh...people still remember about the old Cherry Heart...? You can say that the old one ended up as a failure, and this iteration will be a completely separate thing from it outside of the name,” she told him. Jīn listened with rapt attention, his curiosity at an all time high. "They were a bit too ambitious...and collapsed due to its own weight thanks to bad management. The situation has made the name a bit infamous around here, so we're trying to separate ourselves from the old one right now as much as we can.”

 

What a knowledgeable woman. It was no wonder that she was in charge of a guild. “How do I apply?” was his next question, now that he was fully satisfied with what he knew about Cherry Heart. “And can I ask your name?”

 

“My name’s Celica. As for applying, well, you just have to answer a few questions. Where are you from?” she asked.

 

Jīn hesitated for a minute before answering. “I’m from Jianghu. It’s a place far across the sea, east of here. Have you heard of it?”

 

Celica nodded. “Only just, and everything I have heard has been good. I’d love to visit it someday.”

 

“It’s a beautiful place,” Jīn agreed wistfully. “There’s nothing quite like it here in Arbolia.”

 

“You sound like you miss it, so why not go home? Why do you want to join this guild instead?”

 

Jīn wondered what to tell Celica. He was in Arbolia because Zōngshī Wukong had asked him to travel back to the Westmost land, but that didn’t seem like something that was good to tell someone he didn’t know very well. “I’m here searching for some magic items, and I thought that a guild might be a good way to encounter people who might know about them. I’m unfamiliar with the culture of this land as well, and thought this might be a good way to interact and learn about it.”

 

“And what do you bring to the guild?” Celica asked, her gaze lingering on his magic flotation device and Light Magic stick.

 

Jīn started by explaining all his enchanted items. “Well, I managed to get this Light Magic stick from the marketplace. You press a button and it shoots out a beam of light!” He demonstrated a few times, to an unimpressed Celica. “I also have these enchanted flotation devices,” he poked the rubber bands around his arms to demonstrate.

 

Celica suddenly seemed skeptical. “And what about the hat?”

 

“It’s a symbol of Arbolian pride!” Jīn proclaimed, proud to demonstrate his knowledge. He glanced around, but didn’t see anyone else wearing a hat like his. That was strange. Maybe Arbolia wasn’t a proud nation? “I’ve also got this,” he continued, eager to get away from the topic of the hat now that he realized he might have stood out because of it. Without hesitation, he pulled a pin out of his ear, which quickly grew into a full-sized staff nearly as tall as he was. “It’s the Rúyì Jīngū Bàng, a staff that only those that are deemed worthy can wield. It can grow as tall as a tree, or I can shrink it down to the size of a pin!” The staff thrummed with power underneath his fingers, an ocean of magical might just waiting to be tapped. Jīn demonstrated by making it grow until it was taller than the booth itself, and then shrunk it back down to the size of a pin to store in his ear. He didn’t think mentioning Sun Wukong to them was a good idea yet, so he chose to move onto his Nimbus Magic.

 

“I’m also skilled in Nimbus Magic,” Jīn continued. He opened a palm to demonstrate, and there was a whirl of clouds. They slowly began to writhe and take shape, until he was holding a small cloud castle in the palm of his hand. “Anything that I can think, I can make with Nimbus Magic. Do you have anything you want me to try?”

 

Celica thought on it for a moment. “A cat would be fine, too.”

 

Jīn willed the castle in his hand to take the shape of a cat. It perfectly resembled barn cat, save for the tail, which looked more like a monkey’s tail than anything else. He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, that last part’s a bad habit. I used to just work on making monkeys, so it’s hard to quit.” Hoping to distract her from his mistake, Jīn blew into his hand, and the cloud cat came to life and jumped out of his hand onto the desk, where it began to toy with Celica’s pen.

 

Celica smiled at the cat, but brushed it away from her paper, and it dissolved harmlessly. “That should be good. The last thing is, do you accept our terms of agreement?”

 

Jīn grinned giddily. That meant he was in the guild! He froze suddenly. Wait, terms of agreement. The monks had always told him to make sure he knew what he was getting into before he leaped. “What are the terms of agreement?”

 

Celica handed him a document written in hard to read handwriting. It detailed that he would be paid biweekly, and be expected to uphold the interest of the guild and act as a good citizen. That wasn’t that hard. Without further adieu, he signed Jīn Chánzǐ on the line and stepped back. He was officially part of a guild now!

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

As Jin was finishing his registration, Florentia continued to watch him closely. The fact that he had bought so many oddities without any rhyme or reason was a clear indicator that the merchants here had played him like a fiddle, as typical on what usually happened to naive newcomers into a big city like this. She considered to approach him to tell him about that fact, but she relented at the last second mainly out of her concern on Celica, who had shown some signs of fatigue from her eager attempts to showcase the guild. She had been tirelessly promoting the guild to any passerby, and despite that most of them ended up not paying much attention to her, Celica's effort so far had been rewarded with how she managed to string six people in. That's six people more than what Florentia would expect the guild to have. Being the supposed guildmaster, Florentia attempted to recap on the people that had signed up so far.

 

The first one, the horned one that claimed to be a normal human boy was clearly quite a handful for Celica to handle, and that level of handfulness was something that Flo had to expect too later. A potential troublemaker, keeping him in line would be a challenge, although with how he was in for the thrill of adventure, it shouldn't be hard to get him occupied. The cheery academician was definitely far from being as problematic as the horned boy, on the other hand. Although...to tell the truth Flo didn't buy the fact that his Prism magic could do anything other than looking pretty and exploding at an unfortunate time, at least for now. The next boy...she considered to visit his mother sooner or later. She might not be able to perform spiritual surgery, something the boy's mother would definitely needed, but perhaps her healing magic could put some work...

 

And then what? Well, even if his mother recovered, Flo would still force him to stay on the guild. He needed a goal beyond that, and she would gladly provide it, whether he liked it or not. The young girl was definitely suspicious though. Hard to buy anything she said at face value. Celica seemed to realize the oddities surrounding her too, but attempted to retain her professional attitude despite of it. It was something worthy of being investigated. The unfriendly young man that came next...why was he being secretive, again? Yet another thing to be sorted out. Flo let out a sigh as the thought passed her. It was to be expected, but even then, dealing with a lot of different people like this was something she felt to be quite overwhelming. The last one, the naive boy from Jianghu with monkey obsession, was seemingly pleasant, at least. His appearance just made him look like a thug.

 

"Oi, Flo. Maybe it's best if you walk around, enjoy the festival a bit?" Florentia's thought was interrupted by Celica, who suddenly called out to her. She turned to look at her, staring with a mix of protest and worry. She was clearly drained from shouting a bit too much in her attempt to take the attention of the festival goers, though she was still smiling. She was still as optimistic and cheerful as this morning, quite a miracle just with how much their stand had been ignored so far. it was...impressive, to say the least. Pretty foolish, but impressive nevertheless. Since her appearance was getting a bit too worrying though, Flo went to the back of their stand, and went back with two big jugs of water. Without saying a word, she urged Celica to drink, while she massaged her and using her healing magic a little bit in the meantime.

 

"Thanks for that, but really, I'm fine. Just go around and enjoy the festivities, you'll notice it quickly anyway if any emergency happens."

 

"But-"

 

"Go talk with your new guild members. As the guildmaster, you ought to know them more. It'd just be silly if they think I'm the guildmaster just because you're just standing there, menacingly, without saying anything throughout this session."

 

"...Fine. But if you collapse, I won't carry you to the guild building. I figure that would be a good crawling practice for you."

 

"You're not my caretaker anyway, so I'm not expecting that in the first place. Now go, and have fun!"

 

Shaking her head, Flo went outside of the stand. Celica was a lot more persistent than her, and lately she felt that debating with her would just end up lasting hours if she didn't stop it early. Well...even outside, Flo convinced herself that she was still keeping an eye on the blue-haired woman. it put enough ease on her mind for Flo to start looking for any of the guild members that had registered. The first one that she stumbled upon was the Jianghu monkey boy. Reminded on her concern of his exploit-prone naivety, Flo immediately approached him, and tapped at his shoulder to try getting his attention.

 

"Hey...Jin, was it?" Remembering names was a hard task. "Stop buying things recklessly. Visitors like you, people that hadn't been really familiar with this land, are quite the target for shady and exploitative merchants that littered this festival. Everything here except the food are overpriced, so watch your spending closely. 

 

Also that helmet looks terrible on you. Consider asking for a refund to where you bought it."

 

---

[Wind Rider]

Prunus, the City of Adventures, sounded like a dream or paradise for the young figure who strode into the bustling city. Throwing the hood off her traveling cloak, Mina gazed in awe of the center of the city, stalls of food, jewelry, and other curios lined the streets while booths serving as sign ups for various guilds and factions stood at the very center. Mina grinned a fanged smile. ​"Well... Today's the day. Finally, I get to join a guild and make a name for myself... Ha, that's a stereotypical way of putting it... Ah well." ​With her Eagle Eye rifle slung on her shoulder, whip and her waist, and a bag of supplies on her back, Mina headed straight to the center where the booths were. The booths as mentioned, each represented a guild, but one booth caught her attention.

 

“Come here, come here, we at Cherry Heart are still accepting new guild members!”​ The call of the blue-haired woman at the booth could be heard through large crowd, with that much enthusiasm, Cherry Heart sounded like a great guild. Mina walked up to the booth where the blue-haired lady and her stern looking friend waited for any at all who would sign up. ​"Afternoon, I'm here to sign up."

 

​"Excellent, we just need you to answer a few simple questions." ​the blue-haired girl stated with a friendly smile. ​"Sounds easy enough, ask away."

 

​"Ok. First, tell us about yourself, what's your name?"

 

​"Mina Vale White, at your service. Daughter to Mr. Gregory White, an inventor in the city of Taxus." ​the two girls gave a subtle look to each other. ​"We have heard of Mr. White... We are sorry to hear that he's no longer with us..." ​the lady said in a sad tone. ​"It's ok... I'm carrying on for him." ​Mina said in a less peppy tone.

 

​"Alright... Next question, why do you wish to join this guild?"

 

​"I always dreamed of adventure. Epic quests, great warriors and mages, unimaginable treasure... I want to experience new things in my life and make a few friends along the way if possible, that's my reasoning." ​Mina explained.

 

​"A good answer... Ok, do you have any goals to achieve in this guild?"

 

​"Well... One of these days... I want to sail the skies on my own airship... Just me and my little sister back in Taxus. Might build one once I get the supplies and funds from working in this guild."

 

​"That does sound nice, a wonderful ride through the clouds, good luck on that." the lady responded happily. ​"Next question, what kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?"

 

​"Weeeell..." ​Mina brought out her Eagle Eye rifle. ​"Beautiful, isn't she? I kinda followed in my old man's footsteps... I have a knack for creating little gadgets here and there if I have the supplies, Plus, I have exceptional agility and senses compared to a normal person." ​she explained, smiling proudly. ​"Well... You have quite the gift. I hope you'll improve on your skills." ​the lady said with an approving smile.

 

"Last question, are you willing to accept the guild’s terms and conditions for a membership?"

 

​"Of course, rules are rules, right?"

 

​"Ok, you just need to sign here and you'll be good to go." ​the lady handed a paper that already had a few signatures on it. Mina wrote down her name in a fancy, cursive style just like her father taught her and handed it back to the lady. With a kind thank you it was done, Mina was finally apart of a guild. With tons of free time still available, she took off towards the stalls along the streets to have a little look around.

[Alaina]

 

With the sun hanging high in the sky and every booth set up, every attraction going and every person in the city of Prunus moving about in one big hustle and bustle, the white haired girl couldn't help but marvel at the sight. Her eyes glanced from booth to booth, wondering just what kind of things they were offering, but her vision of most things were obstructed by the festival goers moving about, either aimlessly meandering or going to check things out themselves. The girl couldn't help but feel a mix of both excitement yet unease as she continued to slowly move about the crowd. Busy settings weren't anything new to her, but being in a city that was foreign to her in an ever moving sea of people caused her to move with caution through it. 

 

Trying to refocus herself on what her task was, she knew that she had to look for some kind of guild, but didn't have much of an idea where to start. Having a bit of trouble navigating around, she decided that she would simply join the first one that caught her attention, which was swiftly captured as she saw a staff rise above the crowd. Wondering what it was, she made her way through the crowd, only to see a sight that gave her pause. A rather tough looking man, the kind that was likely to mug someone in an alleyway, wearing a helmet adorned with horns was making his way away from the table. A bit frightened by the sight, Fen wondered just what kind of other imposing people were in the guild and started to turn away, thinking it best to just look for another one. 

 

However, stopping herself, she shook her head as if to tell herself not to be stopped so easily, and turned back to face the guild's sign up table. Waiting as she saw a girl with cat like ears and tail walking away from it, Fen slowly approached the table, before asking the lady sitting there, "um, is this where the sign ups are?" 

 

"Yes, you're in the right place miss!" Celica was looking quite excited as another potential applicant went closer to her stand. "Are you interested in joining Cherry Heart? In that case, may we perform a short interview first? It will be quick, you don't need to worry too much about it."

 

Seeming to be slightly more at ease, Fen nodded saying, "oh um, sure, that'll be fine."

 

"First of all, can you tell me more about yourself? A short introduction should be sufficient."

 

"Um, well, my name is Fen Yi and I'm from the city of Fraxinus. My family runs a restaurant there, the Yin Xin Yue."

 

"Ah, wait, you're the daughter of the owner? I really like the food there!"

 

Her face lit up a bit as she said, "oh you do? Mom and Dad will be really glad to hear that."

 

"Maybe we should consider having a joint- A-anyway, I'm sorry for getting distracted. On to the next question, can you tell me why do you want to join this guild?"

 

"Well, it's a tradition of my family's to go out and explore the world. We like to see new places and find new creatures to help better widen our expertise. So, I was thinking that a guild would be a good way to go about that."

 

"I see. Do you have any goals in mind, something specific you want to achieve or aim for in this guild?"

 

"Oh, um," seemingly taken off guard she began to think on it before saying, "I guess I hadn't thought of any specifics. I just uh, want to see what there is and cook new things."

 

"Hmm...it's fair to think about it like that for now. Do you have any skills, magic, or abilities that you can use to help the guild?"

 

"Well, I'm good at foraging plants and hunting, and while I'm not as good as my parents, I'm still fairly confident in my culinary skills. Oh, and uh," pulling the polearm off her back she says, "I'm still fairly new to it but I know how to fight with this. And I have a small amount of magical talent," holding out her hand, ice crystals began to form across the surface. "But it isn't really that useful."

 

"Refrigerating food...ah! Do not worry about not knowing how to fight, we will help you with it as long as you're willing." Celica then brought out the document she had shown several times to other people that day, and pushed it towards Fen's direction. "Lastly, are you willing to accept the terms and conditions for joining this guild?"

 

After briefly looking over the notes Fen's lights up a bit as she nodded, saying, "sure." After that she signs her name down she bows, saying, "thank you for having me."

 

"You're welcome, see you later once the festival week's over."

 

With that, the white haired girl had left the booth, letting out a deep sigh of relief. She had managed to get past the first hurtle of her journey, and it seemed that not everyone in the guild was as tough as the horned helmet man. Not really minding where she was walking, the girl aimlessly moved about with her eyes facing the ground until she accidentally knocked into something. Being pushed back by the sudden collision, falling to the ground with an, "owow," the girl picked herself back up only to notice that what she had knocked into was another person. Seeing the blond haired boy, somewhat taller than her, she noticed that he gave off quite a menacing aura himself and, panicking like a small lamb, she started to apologize. "Oh no, I'm sorry, sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?" 

[mitchermitcher]

Prunus City/Auburn

Auburn overslept. It was the final day of the city festival, which meant it was his last chance to find a guild that would accept him. Despite this he found himself awake long after the festival had already commenced. He spent most of yesterday, the first day he arrived in town, looking for a magic guild that would accept someone who couldn't perform magic and he failed. The constant rejections tired him out, more than he thought. Either way, he decided, not today. He was going to hide his disability this time. Still in bed, he grumbled to himself incomprehensibly, then got out of bed.

 

Fifteen minutes later he was properly dressed and rushed out from the inn he was resting in. On the way out he bumped into a tough-looking maid with a nasty frown on her face, and fearing some sort of uneven retribution he ran away from her. He found himself in the square with all the small guild tables rather quickly although he was left feeling out of breath. The two tables right next to him seemed to belong to some upstart guild, and as he recovered he glanced over at its name. Cherry Heart. They had already amassed a number of new recruits, it seemed, as strange as some of them looked.

 

"Tch. Too many people, not trying that one out." He quickly ignored it and walked around looking for a smaller and less rowdy group. 

 

X-X-X

 

His plan to hide his impotency did not go well. The next few guild stands he approached asked him about that rather quickly, and after a few unsatisfactory answers getting him rejected, Auburn became rowdy. He butted heads with a fair few guild recruiters and almost got chased out of the square. "Oi, the hell are you saying, shithead?! Just let me in already!"  And other such crude sayings were dropped that he never learned in the Peachfield household. He was well aware that acting so savage-like would not earn him any favors, but the feeling of uncertainty that he felt ever since he ran away from home a few weeks ago has yet to fade and it has began to take its toll on him. He felt restless. The rejections from yesterday and today were also weighing on his mind.

 

By now, a fair few residents in the area had their eyes on him. His appearance already stood out a fair bit but the small ruckuses he caused attracted a lot of negative attention, and it had been barely an hour since he arrived. "...should I give up?" He whimpered to himself, on the verge of tears.

 

He found himself standing near the guild stand for Cherry Heart again. In the time he ignored them and looked for other guilds, it seemed a few others had joined. They now totaled ten people.

 

Auburn hesitated, then walked towards the tables. The recruiter, an energetic yet tired blue haired woman, saw him and beamed a smile. "Would you like to join? We welcome anyone! Even if you look a little grumpy yourself..."

 

The color and tone of her hair had a strange calming effect on him. He ignored the other newcomers and looked at her, she was a fairly relaxing sight. Although he doubted her 'anyone', he felt too tired to talk back. "...Alright. If you'll have me."

 

And so began the usual questioning.

 

"So, tell us about yourself. What's your name?"

 

"My name is Auburn. Auburn Peachfield. I'm not a native here, I came from Kaktos. Not in the mood to say much else." Seeing her glare at him in an almost childish way for his standoffish response, he almost raised his voice. But he couldn't ruin yet another interview so he bit his tongue and moved on.

 

"Fine. Well, I don't know much about Kaktos but I can ask you about that later. Why do you want to join us?"

 

"To be honest, I didn't intend to join. You guys look more than a little weird. But I really need to join a magic guild. I'm not going to bother lying, pretending to be excited about your guild in particular, but I do want to join. I...want to become a better mage." Again, the upset look he got from the blue haired woman put him off. For the first time in his life he felt a strong sense of self-restraint, trying to be civil enough to not get rejected outright again. "...sorry. Now, next question." His arrogance still showed itself though.

 

"Mm...Well, since you also told us what you want to do, we'll skip the next question. What ability do you possess that you feel will be able to contribute to the guild?"

 

He dreaded this question the most. By now he wasn't in the mood to lie anymore. "I can't use magic." He dared not look at her face, so he turned away, but he continued to answer. "I'm fairly decent at making potions, however. Short of a master pharmacist I won't lose to anyone in that field. I...want to prove that someone who can't use magic can still excel in a magic-oriented field."

 

"Finally, do you accept the terms and conditions of our guild?" He waited for her reply to his answer, but surprisingly he was simply asked one last question where the woman elaborated on some standard rules and responsibilities. He dared not ask what she thought of his abilities or lack thereof, so he didn't inquire further and answered. "Of course, who do you take me for? I alone am responsible for my actions, and I've decided to join this guild. I fully accept it."

 

He finally found the guts to look at his interviewer, and he was greeted with an accepting smile. The woman, Celica, handed him a quill pen "Then, sign here."

 

He accepted it.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The city was full of life and excitement. It seemed that everyone was hustling and bustling and making a generally hectic atmosphere. To the rather unusual young girl, laying on a tree branch, hidden by leaves, in one of the trees in the north-western section of the city, it didn't make much of a difference.

 

She was looking up at the leaves, observing as they swayed in the breeze, listening as they made the music of nature. She tried to drown out the noise from the city and, for the most part, she succeeded. It was pretty easy to forget such unimportant things when watching such a display.

 

One particular leaf caught her attention. There was a slight tear across its surface and it was fluttering especially violently, as though trying to break free of the bindings of the branch, and every time the wind picked up it got a little closer to its goal.

To some it may seem a stupid goal. Trying to break free from that which nurtures you. But it's one Kasayee can understand. As much as there is physical nature there is also other kinds of nature. And there is not much more natural than a living being wanting to escape from their home to see the world outside. True life is longer if you stay in one place, but, was that truly life? Kasayee pondered this for a while, as the little leaf thrashed and fought to make its own path in life.

 

Was it not similar to what she was doing? She could certainly have a much easier life if she had remained on her island. And is that not what she wanted? A simple life? Perhaps...perhaps she, and the leaf, just wanted to experience things to better appreciate the life they left. After all she did believe it was in one's nature to want to experience more. Even if she didn't care for it much right now, if she suddenly got the urge to explore in her twilight years she wouldn't be able to physically do it. And then she'd end her life in regret.

 

A wispy smile graced her lips and she silently thanked the leaf for helping her come to this epiphany about her life.

 

Then, as if it knew it had finished helping her, it finally broke free from the branch and was taken by the wind. Kasayee flicked her eyes to follow its motion, not wanting to move her head, but, as it got just out of her vision she tilted her head to continue observing as it flipped and dove and, to her eyes, danced in celebration at its newfound freedom.

 

This change in perspective forced Kasayee to notice the people milling about, just under her, and it nearly distracted her from her watching the leaf.

There were so many people down there. Many more than the druid was used to. It was odd to her that this many would gather in one place. Grouping together was necessary for some species to survive but this was just excessive.
She tried to focus only on the leaf. Not the people eating much more than they needed. Nor the people tossing discarded items to the side. Such wastefulness irked the usually passive girl.

 

So she focused on the leaf as it made its way towards a booth. A booth with a blue haired girl talking to a young looking, horned, boy.

"Unnatural."

Kasayee sighed and tried to find the leaf again.

"Created through corrupt magic. Given life where it should not be. Mockery of nature itself."

Kasayee couldn't for the life of her figure out where that leaf went. Still she continued her hunt in an almost manic way.

"Cannot be allowed to continue unchecked."

She knew she wouldn't be able to ignore it for long. With a light groan she got to her feet, standing on the branch without disturbing the tree.

Kasayee transformed then, into a beautiful bird with bright plumage, and swooped down towards the booth. She realized that she had been able to put it off for longer than she thought as the boy was no longer there. Another boy had instead just finished up talking to the blue haired girl and seemed to be done with their business as Kasayee transformed back to her normal form in front of the booth.

 

"Oh goodness." The blue haired girl said, startled by the sudden newcomer. "Are you here to...oh my, your...miss, your clothing..."

Kasayee turned lazily towards her, and examined the girl and the booth. She seemed flustered for some reason but also expectant. "So this is a guild." Kasayee said finally. She remembered then that she had come to this city for this purpose. A guild would allow her to experience the most out of the world, from what she had been told in her journey so far. Pushing the nagging about the boy aside for now Kasayee focused more on the girl. "I want to join."

 

"Ah well that's wonderful! But...your...your clothing." The girl pressed, looking anywhere but directly at the lizard-girl.

 

Kasayee looked down at herself as if expecting to find something different. No, still her skin, still her scales, nothing out of the ordinary...Then it hit her. Humans and their obsession with covering up. "Are clothes necessary to join the guild?"

 

"Well..." The girl looked around, as if looking for someone, then, after remembering she was all on her own, responded. "I suppose...no, not as such, just..."

"So can I join?"

"...Right." the girl coughed and when she next spoke she sounded slightly more professional, though it was clear she was uncomfortable.

"First, an introduction, please tell us..me, more about yourself."

 

Kasayee tilted her head. Introduction, that meant...names. "I don't see the need for such but my name is Kasayee. I am a druid. Anything else?"

"A druid, well, that's unique." The girl seemed a bit excited by the revelation. She seemed to be growing more confident. Though Kasayee noticed she was adamantly staring anywhere but at her. "Why do you want to join this guild."

 

Why? She had no reason to choose this specific one, except to find that boy. But if she had to give one... "I want to experience more things while I still can...And the spirits wish me to investigate something."
"Investigate, spirits? Is there a...problem with the guild?"
"No." Kasayee said. The girl seemed to expect more but, when Kasayee didn't speak up, continued on.

"Well, that seems...that's fine I suppose. Er,  Do you have any goals you wish to achieve in this guild?"
"No."
"Ah....What kind of ability...right, I...suppose you already showed that one. Well the lack of goals is...but, you seem to have useful ability." The girl laughed awkwardly. "Are you willing to accept the guild's terms and conditions for a membership?"

Kasayee shrugged. "Sure....If this is about currency, you can keep it all."
"Oh my. Well, just sign this, please."

Kasayee looked down at the paper, noticing names and...symbols. What a strange thing to ask her to do. Kasayee knew how to write, sure, but she never had to do such. It seemed she was supposed to put her name down. The problem with that was she wasn't entirely sure how her name was actually spelled. Kasayee made a cut across her finger, drawing blood, and went to press it against the page. Surely that would be....

 

The girl pulled it back in a panic. "Please don't ruin the book!" She said hastily, giving Kasayee pause. "Use this." Kasayee was handed a writing utencil, which she gripped awkwardly.

 

Staring at the book, Kasayee scrawled across it in shaky lettering a simple "K" and left it at that.

 
Without any further ado, Kasayee turned and walked away. Leaving Celica wondering just what she got herself into.

"Over there."
Kasayee sighed again and headed for where the horned abnormally from before had gone. She strode up to him confidently and moved in front of him. Looking into his eyes, she could feel something amiss. Being this close she could tell what the spirits had been worried about, to some extent. She spoke after a moment, a simple question, without any inflection to it at all. "Why do you exist?"

[Hälō]

Having successfully joined a guild, Vincent decided to continue wander around the festival in search of free food. As a runaway, the boy didn't exactly have a surplus of funds on him, and couldn't afford to miss a chance to bum a bite to eat. "I should probably figure out where I'm going to stay tonight before it get's dark... How much does an inn cost?" He mumbled to himself as he stared at the massive ice-cream cone that he had been awarded at the last stand he passed. A loud grumble escaped from his stomach as childlike grin plastered itself on his face. He was broke. He was a runway. But that didn't matter in this particular instance! He was the mayor of ice-cream town now...

 

"Oh?" Vincent's ears suddenly twitched as he sensed a massive source of energy moving up above the crowd. Glancing over his shoulder, he could just barely see what seemed to be the head of a staff as it extended up from where the Cherry Heart guild sign ups had been. "Feels... alive." He observed the staff's aura for a moment as he continued to walk, only to have his attention stolen by a sudden impact against his chest that caused him to drop his ice cream. 

 

Unfazed by the collision, Vincent's eyes shot down to the ground where his ice cream laid in a pile at his feet. There were contaminated magic particles lingering in the air now, cold and light like snow flurries. "Frost mage..." He said aloud without thinking, registering the girl's magic before even realizing she was there as he mourned his loss.  

 

"Oh no, I'm sorry, sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you alright?" A soft feminine voice was what finally made him realize that the magic he was sensing actually belonged to tangible person. 

 

"I was gonna eat that..." Vincent said in his usually tone as met the gaze of the white haired girl that stood before him. He noticed immediately that she was easy on the eyes, with long flowing white that was ornamented with a stripped bow, as well as a lamb like expression that did nothing to hide her embarrassment. The contaminated particles were coming from the weapon she had on her back, though upon getting a good look at the girl, he tell that she wasn't very proficient in magic like some of the other mages walking around. Perhaps that's why her magical presence wasn't as... obnoxious as most. 

 

Unable to bring himself to bark at her as intended, Vincent sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm fine. You don't exactly pack a lot of stopping power..." He inspected her for a moment. "How about you?" The boy enquired before kicking his cone under a nearby stand. "Oh, and the ice cream guy is over there whenever you're ready to get me new one..." Though his tone was slightly less standoffish, he was only half kidding. 

[Hakima]

Jīn was on Cloud Nine as he walked away from the Cherry Heart booth. They had accepted him! He had heard tales of how hard it was to get into a guild since arriving at Arbolia, but that hadn’t seemed too difficult. Could it be due to the fact that he had impressed them with his arsenal of weapons? Jīn smiled. They had been good purchases, he decided. Easily worth the small fortune he had paid for them.

 

Someone tapped him on the shoulder before he got much further. "Hey...Jin, was it?" Jīn recognized the woman as the older of the two from the Cherry Heart booth. She didn’t seem very happy about something.  "Stop buying things recklessly. Visitors like you, people that aren’t really familiar with this land, are easy targets for shady and exploitative merchants that litter this festival. Everything here except the food is overpriced, so watch your spending closely,” she warned him.

 

Jīn slowly deflated the more she talked. So his items weren’t enchanted. That must have been why Celica had looked at him oddly before. He had been conned… again. 

 

”Also, that helmet looks terrible on you. Consider asking for a refund to where you bought it,” Florentia said, eyeing his helmet with disdain. 

 

Jīn nodded mechanically, pulling the helmet off his head. “Thank you for telling me,” he said to her, tucking it under his arm. Had they really lied to him about the helmet too? He had thought he looked good in it, but Florentia had no reason to lie to him about it. “I’ll try to be more cautious about what I buy from now on,” he mumbled, disheartened. “Is that all you needed to talk about. . . ?”

[Yui]

---

"I doubt that sincerely," Lily retorted, just outside the festival grounds. The tall stone golem was crouched down in front of a daisy, paying no mind to any odd looks she may have been receiving from passerby. Not every day you see a seven-foot rock talking to a flower, after all. Gently poking one of the flower's petals with her finger, Lily said "The trees outside of town told me that the Cherry Heart guild was barely even a guild at this time. How can a guild like that have legendary heroes, and who are these heroes to begin with?"

 

"W-Well, that's..."

 

"It is a sunny day today. Please get some sunlight; your petals feel brittle. Goodbye." With that, Lily got up to her feet, leaving the flower to its own devices. Hopefully it would listen to her. Some types of flowers just didn't know how to act right. The festival grounds were unlike anything the golem had seen to date, once she got onto the grounds proper. It was festive and colorful. Full of life, but not in the same way as a grove filled with animals or a field rife with flowers. This was human life. Structured in ways plants and animals simply didn't bother with, but the need for order that came with civilization was able to show its charms just right here. Even the local plants seemed excited, few in number though they were. All that was left was the task of finding--

 

"Come here, come here, we at Cherry Heart are still accepting new guild members!"

 

...That was convenient. Her destination now having announced its location, Lily made her way to the table to apply for Cherry Heart, as a...lizard? Lily could have sworn it was a lizard, but it looked more like a human. She would have to ask about her sometime, but for now, she had bigger matters to attend to. Once at the table, the golem said "I would like to join Cherry Heart."

 

"Another new member? Alright, I need you to answer some question. It's just part of the procedure is all. First, please introduce yourself. Tell us more about yourself."

 

"My name is Lily. I am a golem, and heard from a patch of moss a moderate distance from Prunus that your guild was looking for membership. It suggested I join, and so I am giving it a shot."

 

"I...see." Lily was no expert, but did the young woman look confused about the moss bit? If she was, she didn't seem that way for long, before seemingly dismissing it and moving on to the next question. "Why do you want to join this guild?"

 

"I wish to become an adventurer. I have attempted to join numerous other guilds, but none have accepted me."

 

"Do you have any goals to achieve in this guild?"

 

"At present, my only goal is to join and become an adventurer. I would like to improve the reputation of this guild over time, but it would be best to take such goals one step at a time."

 

"I see. What kind of ability do you possess that might help you attain that goal?"

 

Lily glanced around in search of a nearby plant, but this place was too urbanized. If all those "show, don't tell" plants could see her now, they'd be disappointed. Like venus fly traps. However, if there wasn't a choice, there wasn't a choice. "I am able to stimulate the growth and death of plant life, as well as to reverse any changes I have made to said plant life."

 

"Interesting. With that, we're on the last question. Are you willing to accept the guild’s terms and condition for a membership?"

 

"Of course."

 

"Wonderful! Sign here, please."

 

"..." Picking up the pen with her big rock fingers wasn't an easy task. Signing her name on the sheet of paper was relatively easy, but Lily's handwriting was notably crude and sloppy. At least it was legible, right?

---

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Keep the flashlight, by the way. It is a very useful tool, although you should've gotten it for cheaper later. The floats won't help someone like you too much, I will get you something more fitting later. And thinking about it, better keep that hat with you. Ugly as it is, it is a reminder of how you need to be careful in a foreign land. And I don't know, perhaps you can feel your own pride from it."

 

What else would she say...Florentia paused for a moment. He didn't seem to be as thuggish as his appearance would suggest, and no thugs would be as...endearingly naive as him. A vagrant like him would have blew most of his travel fund by buying these unnecessary trinkles. It thus would be too much for him to survive through the remaining four days of the festival on his own. Thankfully, the current guild building also double as a lodging house for traveler while it's not active as a guild building to cover its operational cost. Florentia decided to pay for his staying on the next few days, even if Celica wouldn't be too happy about it.

 

"You need a place to stay. Come to the large building by the cliffside just at the northern outskirts of this city by this afternoon. I will arrange it for you, as your future guildmaster. Even if it's not the best place, it is better for you and your health than sleeping on the streets."

 

Alright, that was said and done. Before checking on whether he decided to agree or not, Flo left him, deciding to check on Celica first to see how she's doing. She noticed that a tall stonelike humanoid had registered too, and after the golem went away, Celica didn't seem to be slowing down. Flo went towards her and took a look at the registration book to find eleven signs on it...among a small drip of blood here and there. That was odd, but more importantly, after being aware on how much people Celica had gathered so far, Flo put up the closed sign and put it in front of Cherry Heart's stand, much to Celica's surprise and protest.

 

"Go get some rest. Eleven is already quite a lot for us to handle at our current state. I will handle this stand's conversion later, so you should not worry about it. I would rather not have my secretary killing herself with fatigue several days before the guild officially reopened, after all."

 

She was not in a mood to argue, and her words was said in a commanding tone. Flo was worried about whether Celica would continue the argument and made this longer than necessary, but thankfully the points Flo said went across her well, and she finally relented. That would be another problem solved. One less thing to worry about. After making sure that Celica did rest and not restart the recruitment all over again when she's away, Flo went around to look at the festivities to try looking for a good replacement for Jin's silly float. However, before she was able to find it, she met Serena on her way. It was convenient. Without paying much attention to the girl's surrounding, Flo went towards her and started to speak. The girl was very suspicious, and whatever secret she had, she was bad at hiding it.

 

"Glory days? Military? Wars? A soldier? Do not speak words that are out of your reach for the time being. Although, if you are merely a kid, everything would be a lot simpler, but you do not even speak like one.

 

Listen, I am not a fan of someone that is terrible at hiding that they have a secret. And when that secret poses a risk to my guild, I can't let it stay covered. So tell me, what exactly are you?"

 

---

[JessicaMuddy]

Glory days? Military? Wars? A soldier? Do not speak words that are out of your reach for the time being. Although, if you are merely a kid, everything would be a lot simpler, but you do not even speak like one. Listen, I am not a fan of someone that is terrible at hiding that they have a secret. And when that secret poses a risk to my guild, I can't let it stay covered. So tell me, what exactly are you?"

 

A woman came up to Serena, and began speaking. At first, Serena was shocked by the sudden disdainful attitude, then immersed herself into the conversation after the woman said she was in charge of the guild. It seemed as if she already knew something was up with Serena too.

 

"Wow, am I really that bad at covering it up?" The silence that followed seemed to be a resounding "Yes". "Well uh, let's find somewhere where everybody can't hear us loud and clear."

 

The pair moved aside to an empty corner of the festival square, and when they got there, Serena pulled out her light-defying sword. "Well... this is going to sound stupid, so I suppose I'll just say it... I'm a guy. This sword turned me into a little girl." Serena paused for a moment to let it to sink in. "I took it off a witch who was actually and old man affected by its magic. It seems to have magical powers, but I can't access any of them yet."

 

"Oh! And by the way, my real name is Perry. Mind telling me yours?"

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"I happen to be an expert of radically body-altering surgeries, so if you want to take the risk of an operation, perhaps I can help with mitigating the effects of the witch blade's spell, Perry."

 

Florentia's tone was deadpan as she continued to stare at Perry before her, tucked in a corner of the festival as they talked about some private matter. An operation to change her body back into a male would be something she could do, although it would take almost a whole day to finish, and the aftereffects could be felt for weeks. His original essence would still be there, so getting his old appearance back wouldn't be an issue. Hormones, muscle growth, skeletal growth to return him to his original size if necessary, proportion change, organ removal and growth...though, the biggest concern would be, what would happen to him if the curse was lifted while he's on the body that Flo had cultivated for him? It was the biggest risk, and if Perry's spiritual core had been altered by the sword turning him into a girl...things could get messy when that happened.

 

"However, I suppose a full on operation would be too risky right now. You can contact me, Florentia Philomel, if you want your manhood back for the time being though. But that aside...I happen to also be an expert on how girls on your apparent age acts. If you wish to fully accept this identity for the time being, I could drill that knowledge into your mind to prevent further slips."

 

Flo was trying her best to sound like she was trying to help him, but it came off as a bit forceful and threatening. She realized it not long after she spoke though, and paused for a moment to let Perry handle her offer before talking again.

 

"It would be best for you to explain your condition and the nature of that sword to Celica, that bluehead you talked to earlier, on your own before our guild properly start next week. I am not entirely sure yet on what to think about you, but for now I will believe what you said, and my offers to you will still remain. Free of charge. It is an insult to take payment when it's not necessary."

 

Having said what she wanted to say, Florentia walked out of the corner and back into the festival. The talk about the operation reminded her of someone else...yet another guildmember that she felt like she could offer some help with. Brown...or was it rustic blond? Perhaps the latter for his hair color, and he was wearing a jacket with shirt underneath. A somewhat down to earth appearance for a festival filled with adventurers, mages, and various supposed interesting people, so that would make him somewhat more noticeable compared to other youths. After walking for a while, Florentia noticed him somewhere on the festival. Deku Shinobu. That young man that really liked to get hurt. That reminded her of how that magic, Martyr Magic as he said it, made her felt uncomfortable. A self-destructive magic like that...on one hand was something admirable, yet Florentia found its very nature to be detestable. But that should not have any pertaining to their current conversation.

 

"You, Deku, I want to talk to you for a moment. To set aside any suspicions, I am Florentia, your future guildmaster. You mentioned that your mother currently being comatose earlier during your registration. Tell me more about her condition. While I am not skilled in spiritual surgery to help your mother recover from the backlash of her used-up energy, I would try my best to figure out a way to help her recover.

 

One of these days, I am planning to pay her a visit."

 

---

[Astolfo]

Ro was mid-bite through a fluffy confectionery that the shop owner called ‘sugar clouds’ when someone’s presence approached. He ignored it and hoped they would leave, continuing to eat the airy treat. When the voice of that someone was directed towards him though, he sighed, reluctantly tilting his head slightly to face them.

 

”Why do you exist?”

 

That was a fairly strange question to just walk up and ask someone randomly. Ro turned to face the girl fully. She was entirely in the nude, but had green sigils denoting one of being a druid across her body, with a silvery-white lizard tail to attest to that as well. That explained it.

 

”Why not ask your spirits that? Or are they perhaps too young to tell you that? You don’t seem particularly interested in the answer though. Why spare time or effort for an uninterested audience?”

 

Ro started walking back towards where the Cherry Heart signup booth was. ”You signed up for the same guild as I have, I saw.” A few more bites of the candy, then he threw it into a garbage container in disgust as the sugariness became cloying. ”Did I interest you that much? Or does a druid such as yourself have anything else to seek from an inexperienced, amateurish guild?” He floated down to the ground until his feet touched the ground again, crouching so he could look at her squarely in the eyes. ”But to start it off, asking a question like that without even sharing our names is a little cold, even if you don’t care about names, don’tcha think?” Ro’s mouth turned upwards in a cheerful grin, but his eyes bored through Kasayee.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Punching Bag Wizard-

 

"You, Deku, I want to talk to you for a moment."

 

Deku looked up for a moment, seeing a woman standing near him. She had pink hair...or was it light brown? A pinkish brown? Eh, the color of the hair was probably irrelevant for the moment. Nevertheless, Deku nodded and was about to respond, when he heard her speak once more.

 

"To set aside any suspicions, I am Florentia, your future guild master."

 

That shut Deku up real fast, keeping him from saying anything stupid. She was the guild master of Cherry Heart? Quickly standing upright, Deku cleared his throat and nodded. "Oh, c-certainly guild master." he said, with a small smile. "What can I do for you?"

 

"You mentioned that your mother currently being comatose earlier during your registration. Tell me more about her condition."

 

Deku nodded, sighing as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, Like I told your helper at the registration, Ms. Florentia, my village at the base of the Valais Mountains was attacked back raiders. Mind you, this waaaaaaas the day I actually found out I had magical abilities. Meaning I couldn't do anything. They attacked, drug us on the street from our home and planned to either kill or enslave us. My mom...she hadn't used her Aegis Magic in a long time...not since my dad died when I was born." he sighed before slipping his hands into his pockets. "She literally used her Aegis Magic to protect me...the docs say it was because she hadn't exercised her magic in years that it caused a build up...and she fell unconscious. Right now shes comatose, as I mentioned earlier."

 

He sighed once more, before looking at Florentia with a small smile. "But yeah. That's...that's pretty much it. So why did you want to know?"

 

"While I am not skilled in spiritual surgery to help your mother recover from the backlash of her used-up energy, I would try my best to figure out a way to help her recover. One of these days, I am planning to pay her a visit."

 

Silence fell on Deku for a moment, before his face began to light up some. "R-Really? You'd do that?" he asked, rubbing his left eye some, feeling some "dust" get in his eyes...when in actuality, he was making sure the tears of joy didn't just start falling right now. "T-That...that would be amazing if you did that."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Kasayee simply wanted an answer. It was a very simple question in the grand scheme of things. Yet what she got instead....

”Why not ask your spirits that? Or are they perhaps too young to tell you that? You don’t seem particularly interested in the answer though. Why spare time or effort for an uninterested audience?”

The response seemed like a lot of effort in of itself. Yet the thing continued more.

”You signed up for the same guild as I have, I saw.”

Still it did not answer her question.

”Did I interest you that much? Or does a druid such as yourself have anything else to seek from an inexperienced, amateurish guild?”

That most certainly wasn't an answer either. Kasayee began to contemplate how the sun felt against her skin. Her eyes started to become unfocused as the thing in front of her droned on. Warmth was better appreciated without the barrier of clothing many species insisted upon. It was sad, in a way, that they denied this simple but wonderful feeling.

"Listen."

Kasayee refocused on the thing with reluctance as they finished their lecture.

”But to start it off, asking a question like that without even sharing our names is a little cold, even if you don’t care about names, don’tcha think?”

Again with the names? Kasayee watched the thing as the thing watched her. It seemed to be expecting something from her. Which was odd as Kasayee was the one who had asked a question. A question, which, the thing hadn't answered yet.

 

"You talk too much and say so little." Kasayee said at last.

 

A pause.

"It's trying to distract. It cannot be allowed to continue."

"I think they want me to kill you. But I don't feel like it."
With that statement Kasayee turned from the thing and walked away aimlessly.

[Maeriberii Haan]

 

“I would be too busy in the upcoming month since my position as the guildmaster of an upstart Magic Guild would occupy most of my time, however once I could spare the time for a break, I will visit your mother and see how much I can help her. That is my promise.”

 

The extent of the operation, at the very least, would not be as risky or in-depth as it would be necessary for the operation to restore Serena to his actual body. Florentia was confident that at least she would be able to make Deku’s mother mostly functional as a human being again, even if her soul would still be unrepaired from the backlash she suffered. With Flo having said what she needed to say to Deku, she withdrew from the scene and disappeared into the crowds, letting the young man to think more about her offer.

 

And so, without it being noticeable, time had flown in a blink of an eye. Suddenly, it was already afternoon at the festival, and everyone had either packed up or prepared for the night attractions. Florentia, who had ended up getting carried away with talking with her new guild members as well as trying her best in enjoying the festival itself, returned to Cherry Heart’s stand to find it already closed, earlier than it should, with Celica inside. She had apparently passed out due to fatigue, something that Flo could only shake her head at.

 

“I told you not to overexert yourself, didn’t I? At least you sold out those trinkets you brought here before you passed out. It’s a wonder nobody robbed you, though.”

 

Taking a deep breath, Flo went inside from the back entrance of the stand, and used her magic to give a jolt of consciousness back to her friend. Thankfully, it seemed to work immediately as the younger woman had opened her eyes, though it seemed that she was still quite disoriented from the sudden surge of energy. Without waiting for Celica to properly address her presence, Flo moved to carry her on her back, and after putting all the necessary objects on the stand into her bag, she silently left the festival. Going to the opposite direction from the spectacles that had just started as night fell around Prunus, Flo focused herself on her destination, towards the outskirts of the seaside city.

 

“U...uh?” Along the way, Celica had seemingly awakened from her fatigue-induced daze.

 

“No questions now, please. We still have much work to do for the night.” Flo sighed. Her friend was really quite a lot of effort to deal with. Had it not for-

 

“Don’t worry about the stand, the next in line to rent it would tidy it up for us. Once we get to the guild building and do the daily overview, I believe you should try fixing the roofs and ceiling this time.

 

The complaints about leaks are starting to get annoying as of late.”

 

 

Days passed, and the Prunalia festival came into a close. The city streets were significantly quieter, now that there were no parades going on, and the seasonal merchants and travelers had mostly left the city, leaving behind the adventurers who had chosen to stay there.

 

It was the first morning after the end of the festival, throughout the city, people had already been moving past the yearly celebrations to continue their daily life with renewed vigor. That same spirit was shown at the outskirts of the city with the Cherry Heart building, old-looking as it was, had been adorned with bright red banners and flags on its inside and outside, signifying its rebirth. Florentia stood in the middle of the main hall with a solemn expression on her face, her eleven guild members before her.

 

“My name, for those that I hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce myself to, would be Florentia Philomel, your guildmaster from today onwards. Today marks the first day of Cherry Heart being active again as a guild. Some of you might be quite disappointed by the state of the guild now, however, it is not the essence of what being a Magic Guild is. Whether it’s for glory and adventure or your respective dreams that lie beyond that, the state of the guild now has nothing to do with what we want to achieve.

 

To continue with short introduction to this place, you should be able to see the quest board over there on your left side. Directly connected with Yggdrasil’s network, it will be constantly updated as time passes. In choosing a quest, keep in mind to not choose something beyond your own capability to handle. You are immediately able to choose a quest once this orientation is over, but outside of smaller quests, a minimum of 3 of you are needed before the quest can be taken.

 

Following that corridor over there to the left wing of the building, there would be the primary dormitory for you to stay with while in this guild. Due to its current condition, it is not mandatory for you to stay there, but we promise that we will get everything sorted out in a reasonable time period. Dinner and breakfast would be included if you chose to stay on the dormitory. The right-side dormitory is off-limits in the meantime, please do not go there. Also we had some issues on plumbing recently, so for the time being bathing would need to be done outside, near that river you would see when you come here.

 

With the talk of facilities done…”

 

Florentia paused for a moment. Making a long speech was harder than she thought.

 

“I would not enforce a lot of rules here, but unnecessary conflict between guild members and with people outside of the guild would be something that would not be tolerated. After all-”

 

“We’re supposedly the most Cheery-Hearted guild in Arbolia for a reason!”

 

“...Yeah, what she said.”

 

With Celica’s sudden appearance, the morning briefing came into an end. As a closing note, Flo urged the guild members to start checking out the quests and discuss with each other about which quests should they take. She also mentioned that due to the guild starting at the bottom rank, it would be best not to have too many expectations regarding the available quests, though she also stressed the importance of staying careful in spite of that. Once that was said, the guild members were then left to their own device in their new base of operation, while Flo withdrew from the scene in the meantime.

 

There were a lot of things to prepare, and little time for downtime. Once the guild members had made their choice, transport would be immediately arranged for them to reach their quest location. It was the first day of the guild’s operation, but there’s no time to just laze around if any of them wanted to succeed.

 

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Alright, so we’re finally on the guild! Right now, it would be a short intermission round that your characters could use to interact with anyone, including to Flo or Celica, or just investigate around the area in the meantime. Not posting this time is fine, we’ll immediately get moving once the quests are up and running (of course, more posts would be niiice).

 

It is also the time for you (the players) to choose which quests would your character take. Details on it would be posted in the OOC. It is up to you whether to mention the characters reading the quests and making their choice in the IC or not.

 

Also, just for flavor, somewhere around your character’s body there would be a membership tattoo with the symbol of the guild in it one day after they registered. It’s also what guides your character to find the guild building if they had no idea about where it was.

If you want to do any sort of wrap up to your characters’ activities on the festival, it’s fine to do it at the beginning of your posts.

[JessicaMuddy]

"I happen to be an expert of radically body-altering surgeries, so if you want to take the risk of an operation, perhaps I can help with mitigating the effects of the witch blade's spell, Perry."

 

REALLY?!

 

REALLY?!

 

Perry had to give up his whole life and start anew as a little girl, as this person could just fix it like that?! On the inside Perry was fuming at the possibility for such a simple answer, but on the outside, Serena remained calm, and with a happy demeanor. He listened to more of what the woman had to say, where she stated that although the operation is possible, it would be highly risky and have side effects. Then, once more in that near emotionless voice of hers, the guildmaster mentioned she could help Serena with acting like a girl. An interesting offer coming from someone like her.

 

"It would be best for you to explain your condition and the nature of that sword to Celica, that bluehead you talked to earlier, on your own before our guild properly start next week. I am not entirely sure yet on what to think about you, but for now I will believe what you said, and my offers to you will still remain. Free of charge. It is an insult to take payment when it's not necessary."

 

Wow. Say what you will about her harsh tone, the guildmaster had some good values. Free, completely body-altering operations? Healthcare must've improved in the eight months Serena was gone. As for telling the blue-haired Celica, Serena decided she would the next time they had a moment to talk in private. Just like with Flo knowing of Perry, Serena didn't want anyone but Celica knowing.

 

 

After several days of re-immersion into Perry's hometown, Serena was well and good to start questing for the Cherry Heart Guild. The leader had called a meeting, and when Serena turned up, she be gan to see just who else had signed up for this guild she had too. It was gonna be a hell of a ride.The guildmaster introduced herself as Florentia, she gave a short speech regarding the state of the guild hall at the moment, as well as pointing out the quest board and dormitories. Free bedding was one of the perks Serena missed so much from when she was Perry. Time to take it back.

 

After the speech was over, Serena finally took a good hard look at each member of the guild individually. Some looked crazier than others, but the one that caught her attention was a gray stone-like humanoid. She approached the figure with confidence. "Hey there. I'm Serena, one of the other members in this guild." A smile grew on Serena's face. "I was going to make a joke to get this boulder rolling, but I didn't want us to possibly get off to a rocky start." She gave a wink, then continued. "And who might you be?"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

-The Punching Bag Wizard-

 

“I would be too busy in the upcoming month since my position as the guildmaster of an upstart Magic Guild would occupy most of my time, however once I could spare the time for a break, I will visit your mother and see how much I can help her. That is my promise.”

 

Deku gave off a small smile, nodding at Florentia as she turned to walk away. "Thank you guildmaster..." he said, bowing slightly in respect. To be honest, now he definitely needed to stay in the guild, if only to repay the kindness that Florentia presented him with.

 

He knew now that this was going to be a wild ride...

 

 

Days passed and the festival drew to a close, and although Deku was sad to see such a beautiful festival end, he was psyched up beyond all compare for when it was time to officially join the Cherry Heart magic guild. And it was official the moment he received the Guild Mark...or tattoo...or whatever it was called.

 

While standing the little first day orientation or assembly was going on, Deku lowered his jacket's left side some, just to look and admire the guild mark on his left shoulder. Man...this is awesome! he thought, nodding before returning his attention back to Florentia's speech.

 

"You are immediately able to choose a quest once this orientation is over, but outside of smaller quests, a minimum of 3 of you are needed before the quest can be taken."

 

Deku smirked as he adjusted his jacket. They could immediately choose a quest after the orientation, that was awesome. Oh man...I can't wait! This is going to be amazing! he thought, throwing his hands behind his head.

 

Once the orientation ended, Deku made his way over towards the quest board and began to look at the list of quests. They were all Rank D and E, though it wasn't surprising to him. These were just new people in this guild and Florentia did say they'd be starting at the lowest rank possible. Though right now the problem was more like...what would possibly work for him? Looking through the quests, he saw one at the top...a D Rank: The Last Wyvern Hunt. Blinking a bit, Deku shook his head slightly.

 

"I'm looking for a mission...not a chance to kill myself." he sighed. "Wonder why they would even have that mission out in the open like that." Deku rubbed the back of his neck as another mission caught his eyes: Punish Steve, E Rank. Deku looked closely at this one, sighing heavily again. "Really? Beating up someone over cookies? Sheesh...that's just wrong. And to be honest, I don't think the person who would take this mission would be looked on in a good light afterwards."

 

Deku's eyes dragged along the board, until seeing a good one. An E Rank quest: Night at the Library. "Burglary...catching thieves? Plus at the same time benefiting and helping the community out?" he muttered to himself, before nodding. "Sounds like a good one to me! Looks like I'm going to the library tonight!"

[Wind Rider]

The following days of the festival were a bit of a haze for Mina, the last thing she remembers was hanging out with some other festival goers, now she found herself in her room at a local inn, with her clothes all roughed up and drool coming from her mouth. She felt really tired and just wanted sleep in a bit more, but it was the end of the festival, so she had to find that guild, Cherry Heart was it? She dragged herself out of bed and stretched.

 

"Ugh... What happened last night?" As she stretched, she noticed something new on the back of her hand, a tattoo. It looked a bit like the symbol of the guild she signed up for, but that didn't click with her at first. "What... Did I do last night?"

 

Putting the past few nights behind her, Mina gathered up her things, straightened her clothes, and headed out the inn. "Ok! First day as a guild member, time to head out! Wait... They didn't tell me where the HQ was... Did they tell me?" Mina was truly confused, until the tattoo on her hand started to glow. She looked at it curiously and noticed a small, compass like needle of light was pointing from the tattoo in a random direction. "Huh... Neat." She followed the "compass" and soon found herself before a large, worn down building, but from the large banners strewn around with the same symbol of the tattoo on them, Mina knew this had to be the place.

 

She headed into the hall of the building where a large group of people were already waiting. Mina squeezed her way into the group and looked on as the guildmaster made herself known.

 

“My name, for those that I hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce myself to, would be Florentia Philomel, your guildmaster from today onwards. Today marks the first day of Cherry Heart being active again as a guild. Some of you might be quite disappointed by the state of the guild now, however, it is not the essence of what being a Magic Guild is. Whether it’s for glory and adventure or your respective dreams that lie beyond that, the state of the guild now has nothing to do with what we want to achieve.

 

To continue with short introduction to this place, you should be able to see the quest board over there on your left side. Directly connected with Yggdrasil’s network, it will be constantly updated as time passes. In choosing a quest, keep in mind to not choose something beyond your own capability to handle. You are immediately able to choose a quest once this orientation is over, but outside of smaller quests, a minimum of 3 of you are needed before the quest can be taken.

 

Following that corridor over there to the left wing of the building, there would be the primary dormitory for you to stay with while in this guild. Due to its current condition, it is not mandatory for you to stay there, but we promise that we will get everything sorted out in a reasonable time period. Dinner and breakfast would be included if you chose to stay on the dormitory. The right-side dormitory is off-limits in the meantime, please do not go there. Also we had some issues on plumbing recently, so for the time being bathing would need to be done outside, near that river you would see when you come here."

 

Mina listened carefully to everything Florentia spoke about, she was beaming with excitement, she couldn't wait to start.

 

“I would not enforce a lot of rules here, but unnecessary conflict between guild members and with people outside of the guild would be something that would not be tolerated. After all-”

 

“We’re supposedly the most Cheery-Hearted guild in Arbolia for a reason!” the blue haired lady from earlier summed it up in a simple way for the guildmaster.

 

“...Yeah, what she said.”

 

With that said, the guildmaster and her attendant left the guild members to themselves. Mina immediately darted towards the quest board to see what was available. Small and large scale quests filled the board, a few caught her eye, but the one she wanted to do was the Restoration Project. "This place could use a good fixer upper... Seems like a good a quest as any to start with." Mina was used to heavy lifting and if it meant fixing the guild hall up, then she was all the more happier to help.