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

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn
Several days have passed since the end of the dream. In the real world, Ierne was long dead. Auburn had come to terms with that but even so, he felt a tinge of emotion in his heart. The Dream Soul he received as compensation from Myrdain, he kept to himself but refrained from using it. The temptation to use it to see a dream where he could meet Ierne again was great, but he knew that would be no more than an illusory hull of herself, considering he didn't know her as well as Myrdain did. When he came to think that however, Auburn wondered. Just how did Myrdain survive so long? There were so many questions he wanted to ask the man. If only they could meet again. He would rather not work on another request by him though.
 
Ever since the quest, Auburn's disposition has changed considerably. He was still a spoiled little prince, but he found himself feeling angry or annoyed less often, with less sarcastic remarks coming out of his mouth whenever he spoke. He remembered bumping shoulders with someone from the guild yesterday, although he couldn't remember who. He had just smiled and nodded apologetically and walked away, which surprised him later upon introspection.
 
Whoever that was it wasn't Celica though, because she had been absent for a few days and he was quite curious as to why.
 

 

After Florentia finished her announcement, he like many of his guild members, stood up and approached her. There, Dmitri stood talking to her as well. Judging the contents of his rambling, Auburn could certainly sympathize. He joined in.

 

"I'll join you, Dmitri. I wouldn't mind joining the guild exam group, but I don't know whether potion making would be helpful there."  He had something he wanted to ask the light magician anyway. He also wanted to do something less combat-heavy than last time, and his prior experience with revamping the guild would likely be helpful. Although that one turned a little combat-heavy too with the slime back then. If he was small fry for taking the quest as the other guild member shouted out then so be it.

 

"And ...Guildmaster." His scowl he had on cleared as Auburn briefly remembered the little scene with her and Celica and himself. His cheeks turned slightly flustered but he pushed it down to speak properly. "Miss Secretary has been gone for a while, do you know when she would return?"

[Wind Rider]

It felt like it had been weeks since Mina had seen the guild hall, she collapsed into her bed to rest. Whether real or not, it was a difficult quest, and she wasn't quite sure the Dream Souls everyone got as a reward were items that were to be trusted, especially after recent events. Either way, the quest was finished and done with, and Mina could get some much needed rest along with her fellow guild members.

 

After Florentia's announcement, Mina walked over to the quest board to see what was up. She was curious as to where Celica was for the past few days, but then again she could be sick or something. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, Mina looked over the available quests and immediately had her attention taken by one quest.

 

"Guard an inventor's magnum opus? That sounds nice, It'll give me a chance to see another person's inventions. I might even be able to learn a thing or too..." she thought to herself.

[Alaina]

 

Fen grimaced a bit as Vincent began to recount his adventures, albeit seemingly strained. She had felt like she got off on the easy end of things, with the worst she had to deal with being a large bear creature. Wondering what could've happened with the undead and an evil lizard woman, the girl's thoughts were eventually broken as she perked up at the boy's question. "Oh, um, yes!" The girl seemed to suddenly be more excited as she pointed towards her, rather full, pack. "Um, I got something new from my quest today so, uh, well, I hope it isn't bad or anything." With that, the girl didn't seem to know how else to segue off of this, and then walked over to the kitchen area. 

 

While the kitchen station was very ill equipped, both in terms of equipment and other things to use alongside her newly acquired food, the egg bear meat was fundamentally similar to other bear meats. And, being no stranger to cooking bear, the girl was able to whip something up for the guild to enjoy using it. The finished dish itself didn't have much garnish with it, and there wasn't much to it besides the bear meat, which while she felt that it was somewhat atrocious, to everyone else it'd be at the very least decent.

 

---

 

The days that followed weren't any bit eventful. The guild had started to lose more and more people, and they weren't receiving much in way of high value requests. Most of their time was either spent helping furnish the part of the guild that they owned, or it was spent doing odd jobs. The girl had also spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to make the best of their food situation, as while the guild provided for them with food there was very little it could provide them with. However, after some amount of days had passed, the guild master had eventually called the guildmates in for a meeting. 

 

Hearing about the upcoming examination, the girl started to feel like it had far more weight to it than she was capable of dealing with. After all, it was probably the most important job they had to do yet, and she didn't really think she was the person for it. Looking to Dmitri and Auburn as they seemed to want to get back to restoring the guild, the girl figured that it was probably for the best if she did as well. However, as Vincent had stepped up, the girl felt more down on herself. She was indeed, a "small fry." However, that was the whole reason she had joined the guild in the first place. Not wanting to be a small fry any longer, the girl shot her hand up as she looked to the guild master saying,"I-I'll go on the exam too!" After declaring that, the girl looked around for a bit, looking down as her face went flush, embarrassed from her sudden statement. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"The Second Cherry Heart Restoration mission!  It's all mine!  OHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

 

"Let the small fries stay and clean up the joint if they want... Sign me up for The Exam."

 

"I'll join you, Dmitri. I wouldn't mind joining the guild exam group, but I don't know whether potion making would be helpful there."

 

"Guard an inventor's magnum opus? That sounds nice, It'll give me a chance to see another person's inventions. I might even be able to learn a thing or too..."

 

"I-I'll go on the exam too!"

 

A lot of the guildmembers had voiced their opinions on where would they participate next. There were still not enough members for any quest to start, but for the time being at least they had narrowed it down into three quests. Florentia was quite pleased. Even if their number had dwindled, the guildmembers had shown themselves to still be spirited enough to continue giving their all to the guild. Even the potentially problematic members had ended up performing quite well so far. Granted, that epithet applied to half or more of the currently available guildmembers anyway.

 

"And ...Guildmaster." Oh, there was one of those. At least, he used to be. After that D-rank quest he took, he had visibly changed. He's still fundamentally the same person, but Florentia could say that he might have progressed into someone better, even if slightly. Perhaps he really worked hard to disprove Florentia's past harsh words. "Miss Secretary has been gone for a while, do you know when she would return?"

"Celica's return is something beyond my knowledge." That was not a lie. Florentia hated liars. Even if her partner was the biggest liar she had ever known, she still hated this part of her. Celica had told her to tell excuses regarding her disappearance, but it's something that Flo was reluctant to fulfill. She would just tell the entire truth, but, at the same time she knew that this was important for Celica. In the end she settled with one answer. "She disappeared after your group handed her the report regarding your dream quest. Perhaps she was trying to fix her sleep problems with the help of that mage?"

 

That last part was purely a meaningless guess. Celica didn't have the money to buy something as luxurious as a Dream Soul, not even to employ the service of a high-class dream mage such as Myrdain. In the first place, her interest was not on Myrdain himself, and she didn't disappear to seek him out.

 

"Do you have any business to do with her? If so, I could relay your message to her later today."

 

---

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn
"Well, not quite..." Certainly not, Auburn had no need of her. He did not want to meet Celica. He had no such desire to. To say he had any intention of doing so is an exaggeration. Or rather, a total lie. An exaggeration would imply such a claim had a small basis in reality and even that is going too far. Without a doubt. That he asked in the first place was only due to simple curiosity. "Although, I do find that interesting. There were many questions I couldn't ask Myrdain last time we met. There's too many suspicious things about that man still. That he even knew Ierne so well, such that I feel jealous..."

 

When he realized he was talking to himself more than to Florentia, he stopped. "Ah, um, my bad. Anyway, Guildmaster, say nothing of me asking. It's perfectly fine. Although, that may sound a bit rude. No, do tell her to stay healthy, I guess. I am saying it out of common courtesy and nothing more, so read no further into it."

 

As he was about to walk away, he remembered something he actually had been curious about. "On the other hand I've been wondering about you instead. What kind of training do you give for your request? I see it up thrice now but I don't think anyone's taken it so far."

[Astolfo]

---

Ro

---

 

On the carriage ride back, Ro closed his eyes. While he didn’t necessarily feel the same urges for sleep as most other living creatures did, the last quest was still an arduous one. Everyone else appeared to be at similar levels of exhaustion as well. With little else to do, Ro figured he might as well join. Thankfully, Myrdain had tried to compensate for the unexpectedly difficult nature of the quest with some item he called a Dream Soul. It was supposed to be able to let the user control their own dreams, such as for seeing a particular world or person.

 

I wonder… if even something like I… perhaps could… see… him…

 

A sudden, unusual tightness grew in his chest. What an… unpleasant feeling… He hadn’t felt something of this sort in memorable history. It felt bitter and hot, just as it felt as if it sucked away at his very liveliness, an aching emptiness. Pulling his cloak tighter over himself, he drowned away the thoughts, letting his mind fade away once more to darkness.

 

 

Before he knew it, he and the others of Cherry Heart had arrived back at their familiar guild hall - one that looked a good deal cleaner than before. Sitting up too quickly, Ro clutched at his head, then suddenly paused. His wrist felt slightly damp. Immediately, his hands flickered back to his face.

 

“What… why…?” He murmured to himself. “Spending too much time with humans is making me sentimental again, bah.”

 

Quickly wiping his face dry before he hoped anyone else saw, he hurriedly jumped out of the carriage and ran back to his room, ignoring any other members’ curious looks or words. This was enough of a day already for him. A few hours and moonlight would serve better to clear his mind. Tossing and turning in his bed, eyes wide open, he rolled the item the dream-mage called a ‘Dream Stone’ over and over in his fingers. It was definitely a curious looking item that had a clear scent of magic to it. An earlier thought began to pop up again, but Ro immediately quashed the thought before he could think over it again.

 

“I shouldn’t get my hopes up. I barely even remember anything of him anyways, save for his words. Even most of his face is lost to time now…”

 

He couldn’t help but feel a little bitter. It felt as if this gift was better for the other members who had partaken in the quest than him, who might not even be able to use it. And it’s not like the quest was any easy job either. Getting off the bed with a disgruntled sigh, Ro opened up the windows. A sweet breeze wafted in, carrying birdsong and the scent of food with it. A small smile returned to his face.

 

“At least nature will always remain.”

 

Pulling out the desk-chair, he pushed it against the bookshelf adjacent to the window. Taking a deep breath, he sat down on it, making sure his cloak wouldn’t get caught under the chair legs. With a quick glance to make sure the door was locked, he reached into one of his most secure and well-insulated pockets. Tugging gently, his hand took out a crudely fashioned book with pages so yellowed and crackly that it seemed as if they might fall apart together any second. Ro brushed his fingers over the pages softly, breathing in the aged scent of the papers. Taking a small butterfly-shaped pin, he clipped his hair out of the way as he let the light shine onto the book.

 

Inside were faded words belonging to no recognizable language that others could understand, but for Ro, a saddened smile made its way onto his face instead. Scattered throughout were equally faded pictures, or rather, drawings. The drawings were simple and probably made of left-over tallow or some other oil or extract, rather than ink, which was an expensive luxury good. The content of the art, if one could call it that, contained various plants, animals, a tree that supposedly towered over the entire planet, some unrecognizable city landscapes with foreign architecture, and at the end, a nearly invisible, worn-away sketch of two people. One taller, one shorter. But other than that, not much was visible. Just a few more years and even the imprints seemed as if they might fade.

 

Looking through the pages once, then twice, then again, and again, he looked outside to realize several hours had passed. Night had fell, as he had wished.Tucking the book cautiously back into the inner pocket, he drew the cloak strings tighter around himself, before jumping out the window, nimbly making his way down. This would be a good time to get some food and drink, and alone, hopefully. At least from the sight of other guild members. And if he had time, perhaps even bathe.

As he walked towards town, he glanced into the nearby stream. A rippling, distorted face looked back at him. “I wonder if it’s a waste to consume food and drink others might enjoy, when I have no need for it. But at least… it feels comforting to remind myself I’m...” Pausing, he stopped himself. It was time for some hot food and drink. Although if he wasted himself away too much, the guildmaster or secretary would probably reprimand him, he remembered. Tucking that thought away in the back of his head, he walked through the doors of a local tavern, pulling the hood low over his head.

 

Through the next few hours, he finished his small portion, then simply sat to listen to the background drone of the talk and laughter, yet not joining in. Then just as unnoticeably later, he left, leaving the payment behind. A wash-over and an hour or so, and the other guild members would start to rise. The alcohol had appropriately dullened his mind of his earlier thoughts, and with no other concerns left to remember think about, the day would hopefully be a breeze.

 

“I just hope my next quest isn’t like the last...”

 

 

One of the first to appear for the guild assembly this time, he hung around in the corner, away from the others. As usual, Florentia gave a fairly standard talk. However, from her, the words of genuine praise was… appreciable to say at the least. Ro’s ears perked at the mention of a prized artifact. This was definitely something right down his alley of interest. Of course, Florentia herself would not participate, but the idea of getting to compete, or at least even see other guilds was arousing.

 

It seemed as if two others had taken interest in the quest as well though, and he sat back to take a look at them first. One of them seemed to be more or less an ordinary human male adult. Probably around 18-22 years old. A faint sense of magic radiated from him, but not enough to interest Ro. Most of the people here had some sort of gimmick or another anyways, and he was the last one to be talking anywho. Ro couldn’t help but snort at the jibe the kid put in though.

The second was a smaller, flustered girl who appeared a few years younger. Her features were still soft and unscathed by cynicism. It was almost precious in a way, except that just made it all the more regretful for the day it’d eventually disappear or be shattered. Her behaviorisms were passive and mild as her appearance, leading to her appearing almost even smaller than she really was.

 

Can someone like this really tough it out that long? But then again, there were easier options among the first two. Maybe that explains it.

 

Waiting a few seconds for any others to step up, Ro then walked up as well, raising a hand in a small wave towards Florentia’s general vicinity.

 

“I’ll be joining the rank-up quest as well.”

 

Turning to face the two who had shown interest in the quest as well, he wondered if he should say something. It seemed appropriate, but he wasn’t sure how to handle either of them. The male didn’t seem that open for talking unless it was self-bragging, and the female seemed like a jumpy nervous baby bird that might explode if he poked it too hard.

 

“Well. I suppose I’ll be working with you two this time. Both of your faces are new to me. What’s your name, kid?” He made a vague motion towards Vincent. “And yours, ?” He shrugged at Fen, then paused. “Hm. I forgot to say my name. It’s Ro.”

 

---

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Well, not quite..."

 

Auburn really was as bad of a liar as Celica. Florentia was somewhat irritated that Auburn seemed to hide something from her, but she prevented herself from admonishing him for it. Keeping secrets sometimes weren't all that bad, perhaps. Flo continued to what Auburn had to say, until he instead shifted the topic into something else.

 

"On the other hand I've been wondering about you instead. What kind of training do you give for your request? I see it up thrice now but I don't think anyone's taken it so far."

 

"Purely physical and mental fortitude training, nothing more and nothing less." The training plan that Flo had prepared involved a gauntlet of running, swimming, among several other physically straining activities before the proper main meat of a survival session on a place that she had specially prepared. "It is a gauntlet that aims to push the limitations of a human's body. A challenge that figuratively turns boys into men. Then at the end of it, we will have a sparring session. Doesn't that sound nice?"

 

She was flat throughout while describing her training. She didn't end up explaining each parts of the training itself, perhaps because even someone like Flo could appreciate surprises.

 

After a while, Flo went to count the tally of the quests that had been chosen so far. Three people had chosen to go into the Rank Up quest, but the rest hadn't reached a clear decision yet. And so, Florentia ended up called the rest that didn't choose the rank up quest, among them was Dmitri, Auburn, Kasayee, and Mina.

 

"Right now, we are not in a position to proceed, as the current tally for the quest outside of the rank up still had not reached a decisive point yet. Two for the restoration project quest, one for the steam engine quest, and one seemingly undecided, among others.

 

Please decide with each other about which quests would you take."

 

---

 

[spoiler=OOC]

Sorry, posted in a rush. Been really occupied the past few days, but the quests will 100% be up this weekend. For those that gets called by Flo, you can decide on IC or in the OOC.

 

Hopefully my next posts can be better than this.

 

 

 

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Kasayee tore herself from staring at the fly on the quest board as the guild...leader herself addressed her and several others. It seemed that Kasayee would have to join some group or another and that there was some sort of issue with who was going where.

 

It sounded as though if she wanted to go on a specific quest she'd have to convince others to go as well...That was too much a hassle for something that didn't really matter to her. She spoke directly to Flo. Not really sparing the others so much as a glance. "It doesn't mater really. As long as I don't have to help 'fix' this place I don't care." She spoke with entirely no enthusiasm. "Find me when you decide where I'll go." Upon saying this she walked out of the door and sat on a decently sized rock on the outside of the building. She looked up towards the sun, feeling its warmth envelop her.

 

There was something soothing about letting the sun wash over her body and soon she found herself dozing off.

[spoiler=OOC]Kasayee will go to any quest that's decided. If everyone else (Dmitri, Auburn, Mina) does restoration then she'll join the level up quest if possible.

 

[Hälō]

"I-I'll go on the exam too!"

 

Hearing Fen's tiny voice say this caused Vincent's eyes to widen. Glancing back just in time to see her cheeks glow bright pink after making her declaration, Vincent found himself studying her features again for the first time since they had met. "Hm," The boy felt his cheeks grow slightly warmer as he watched the ice mage's gaze shyly dart down to the ground.

 

You'd have to be blind not notice how adorable it was...

 

"s***." Realizing that he was staring, Vincent coughed awkwardly before glancing around to be sure nobody had seen him. Fairly certain he had gone unnoticed, he casually strolled over to Fen with his hand's in his pockets. "Hey..." He called to the girl, flashing a small smirk.

 

"Look's like we're finally gonna be going on a qu-" He began, before being cut off by a new voice.

 

 “Well. I suppose I’ll be working with you two this time. Both of your faces are new to me. What’s your name, kid?”

 

This guy. Though even the term "guy" might have been a little generous... Vincent's eyes narrowed slightly as he shifted his gaze to thing in the corner. It's strange magic particles were always lingering around the place, but Vincent never saw the need to investigate.

 

"That aura just feels so... artificial." Vincent thought to himself. Almost as if this creature were some kind of summon that decided to never go back to it's dimension... "Like a mage scented candle that just didn't get the flavor right..."

 

In an instant his entire demeanor shifted from conversational to standoffish. "Vincent." He said his name stoically before turning to see what Flo was saying to the stragglers. 

[Astolfo]

---

Ro

---

 

Ro’s face immediately contorted into a sly grin. Poking his tongue out at Vincent, he started to giggle. He wasn’t really sure what he had done wrong, but after the brief introduction and greetings, one of the humans already was upset. The human boy’s facial expression and tone changed considerably, growing cold. His eyes flickered back and forth between Vincent and Fen, sparkling with amusement. Unfortunately for Vincent, Ro had noticed the entire earlier exchange, having been standing at the side of the room unobtrusively. Although it wasn’t typically in his behavior to be rude even as playfulness like now, something about what how Vincent was acting now irritated him. As he slowly stepped up to Vincent, the gap of air beneath Ro’s feet grew a few inches, creating an unpleasant whining buzz. Pushing his face uncomfortably close to Vincent’s, Ro’s tongue flickered out, almost like a snake’s.
 

”Little. Human. Boy.Child. I don’t know what I did to upset you, but aren’t you being a little bit rude? I’m your new teammate, you could at least be a little bit friendlier, no~?”

 

Ro made an overexaggerated, almost comically fake frown, even tugging on the sides of his lips with his fingers. Rolling his eyes up diagonally, he poked his tongue into the side of his cheek for a few seconds before he started to giggle again. His eyes flickered towards Fen’s face.
 

”I suppose I overestimated the primal, carnal desire of human males to procreate. Nyahahaha! Should I give you two some alone time~?”

 

He nimbly hopped backwards several steps, lowering back down to his normal level. Ro leaned forward, clasping his hands behind his back.
 

”Pleasure to be working with you~”

---

[Hälō]

Hearing the annoying buzzing, Vincent turned around already knowing Ro was feeling tough. That kind of sound either meant trouble or the thing needed to lay off the beans... there was no middle ground there.

”Little. Human. Boy.Child. I don’t know what I did to upset you, but aren’t you being a little bit rude? I’m your new teammate, you could at least be a little bit friendlier, no~?”

 

The boy's expression didn't shift an inch as the creature stepped up and began running it's mouth. What made matters worse was the fact that the thing was so caught up in trying to piss him off, that it didn't even notice Vincent slip his right hand out of his pocket.

 

Amateur...

Ro could have been in some very real danger if the guy he was poking his tongue at could say... create weapons from thing air. Oh wait...

 

Wait for it... Wait for it...

It took an enormous amount self control not flat out deck guy. But Vincent kept himself in check, instead choosing to extending his index finger and tuck the tip of his thumb into the ridge of his second finger like he was making finger gun. His eye twitching slightly at the imps antics, Vincent channeled the energy that could have been used beat Ro's face in, giving it form tangible form in the space in front of his thumb, in the shape of a sphere of red energy that had a dull glow to it.

 

”I suppose I overestimated the primal, carnal desire of human males to procreate. Nyahahaha! Should I give you two some alone time~?”

 

That was nail in the coffin! With his cheeks flushing slightly, Vincent flicked he arm upwards to place the tip of his index finger under Ro's chin. Though unfortunately in that same moment the freak pulled back, landing several steps away before clasping his hands behind his back cheekily despite having no way of knowing that he had just literally and figuratively dodged a bullet.

 

Bastard.

”Pleasure to be working with you~”

 

"Listen up, freak..." Vincent let his hand linger where Ro's chin would have been for a moment before for extending his arm towards the creature and aiming his index in towards the center of it's face.

 

With a flick of his thumb, the boy let his tiny projectile fly with surprising speed. Though it seemed he had shifted his aim to the side at last moment, because the sphere ended up colliding with a wall behind Ro, before blooming into a minaiture red explosion that left a small crater in the old stone. "I didn't have any issues with you other than the fact that your aura stinks... but now you've gone and got out of line!"

 

 

"Trust me, the only carnal desire I feel right now is the one that's telling me to put you out of your misery." Vincent's crimson gaze was cold as lowered his hand back down to his pocket. "But I'll be the bigger man, and let you off with that warning shot..." His temper was flaring. He knew it. But could do nothing about... "Next time you step me to like that, they'll have to put up a quest just to scrape you off the walls. That friendly enough for ya?"

[Alaina]

 

Fen sat herself back down for a bit, trying to collect herself after she declared that she was going to go on the quest. While taking in breaths, she was eventually approached by her blond haired fellow guild member. As Vincent began to speak, the girl felt a bit less anxious, and was about to nod at his statement, before someone else had walked over. She knew who Ro was, but she hadn't actually talked much with him before. From what little she knew though, he was...weird. This thought was only perpetuated as the boy began to speak to them, causing Fen only to grow confused and a bit nervous. Vincent took it less than well. 

 

As the two began to have a back and forth, one increasing in animosity and one increasing in...well Fen wasn't quite sure how to describe what it was Ro was doing. All the same, the girl became increasingly more flustered and unsure what to do, seeming to panic a bit and stammer a bit as the two continued their back and forth. As the end of it was punctuated by a small explosion of mana by Vincent the girl yelped a bit, before beginning to twiddle her fingers a bit. "U-um, uh, I'm Fen. It'll be um, nice? - um, uh, working with you." She briefly glanced to the other of her guild mates saying, "um, y-you too Vincent." Continuing to twiddle her fingers a bit more, the girl eventually clapped her hands together saying, "o-oh, well um, we should, um, should probably get ready to go, right? Yeah. I'll go uh, go do that." With that, the girl awkwardly shuffled away from the current confrontation to go prepare...how, she wasn't really sure. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"That is settled, then."

 

After Kasayee voiced her desire to join the Rank Up quest, only Mina, Dmitri, and Auburn were left. A moment of discussion later, and Mina ended up agreeing to go with the other two to refurbish the guild building. Once she made the assignment official, Florentia ended up overhearing the little discussion that Ro, Vincent, and Fen had with each other. Actually, it was less a discussion and closer to the start of a brawl. However, it ended on a more peaceful note, somewhat, after Vincent chose to not pursue the matter further and once Fen started to speak. There was no need for Florentia to interfere, but she couldn't help but wonder whether it would negatively affect their teamwork for their upcoming important quest.

 

Once she finished with the administrative processing for the quests and securing a ride for the four that would go to the rank up quest, Flo would approach the trio of Dmitri, Mina, and Auburn once more, and addressed them in a formal tone.

 

"Follow me."

 

---

 

"First of all for today, I would like to see this building painted in a new color."

 

Florentia had taken the three guildmembers outside to look at the front of the building. While it was not as pitiful as it was once before, the building's weathered look still gave it a disrepaired vibe. Its white coating was barely recognizable after years of weather and moss growths.

 

"A fresh new color for a fresh new guild, or something to that effect. I have brought the materials here. Whichever the color you pick is entirely up to you, but it is advisable to not try something outrageous unless you have a very good reason for it."

 

Not far away from them were piles of barrels and metallic buckets filled with strange liquids. Mass-produced coating paint for buildings was a relatively recent product to hit the markets in Fraxinus, and Florentia admitted that she lacked the understanding on how they worked. She simply bought the recommended full set from a passing merchant without knowing what those things were. At the very least the tools to actually paint the building was there, as well as a freshly bought set of ladders.

 

As the trio would start doing their task, Florentia ended up addressing them in the meantime.

 

"It is quite a coincidence that you three were part of one of the last big quests that we took, one that surely you still remembered well. I have skimmed over your report regarding what happened during that quest, however with the report's disappearance, I am left in the dark about some of the events happening during said quest."

 

None of that was a lie. There were things that Florentia had never gotten to read yet from it, and those things would be the reason why Celica went for her extended leave.

 

"I would like to listen your experiences then, as a story just for my pleasure to listen to. I doubt there is anything truly concerning that I missed, so I am now simply sating my own curiosity on what actually happened."

 

---

[Wind Rider]

It seemed that Mina was the only one who was interested with the Steam Engine quest, so she had to join with the others on a different quest, the Restoration quest to be exact. Kasayee didn't seem interested and left for the Rank Up quest, leaving Mina with Auburn and Dmitri to fix up the guild building.

 

---

Florentia lead them outside and turned their attention to the building itself. "First of all for today, I would like to see this building painted in a new color. A fresh new color for a fresh new guild, or something to that effect. I have brought the materials here. Whichever the color you pick is entirely up to you, but it is advisable to not try something outrageous unless you have a very good reason for it."

 

Mina looked a few feet away to see some barrels and buckets that were filled with some kind of paint for the building. "Ok, sounds simple enough. More simple than finding hidden tunnels under the building anyway." Mina said as she got to work with the others.

 

---

As they worked, Florentia addressed the three guild members about their last quest. "It is quite a coincidence that you three were part of one of the last big quests that we took, one that surely you still remembered well. I have skimmed over your report regarding what happened during that quest, however with the report's disappearance, I am left in the dark about some of the events happening during said quest." Wait... The report vanished?

 

"I would like to listen your experiences then, as a story just for my pleasure to listen to. I doubt there is anything truly concerning that I missed, so I am now simply sating my own curiosity on what actually happened."

 

Mina thought for a moment as she painted the building before turning to Florentia. "Well... The fact that we were trapped in that dream world before we ever even made it to the mansion surprised me... That dream witch must've put us to sleep in a way that we wouldn't notice anything strange at first... Ugh... All I know is that I'm not going anywhere near anything related to dream magic again, might as well give someone that dream soul thing I got as a reward..." Mina explained.

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn

After everything was dealt with, Auburn and the other two followed Florentia. They were lead to the front of the building, where they could all see its less-than-graceful state. They were told to paint the building in a new color, and the choice of color, as well as the materials, were left to them. MIna walked up and grabbed some tools to begin working. Upon hearing her comment, Auburn couldn't help but agree, although he wouldn't admit that. "Hmph, bet you miss the slimes down there."

 

As for the color of the building... "As long as it's not gold or yellow, I won't complain." Auburn offhandedly mentioned as he played with his hair. Yellow reminded him of home and that brought his mood down. He looked to the  side and saw a container filled with vibrant red that resembled his eyes. He didn't like that either. "How about light blue?"

 

"Also, I want to keep some of these for my own experimentation, you don't mind, do you Guildmaster?"  Auburn dipped his finger into the black paint bucket and swirled it weakly. There was something about the viscosity that felt satisfying. He was greatly interested in seeing what kind of chemical reaction he could cause with these. "I've never seen this kind of paint before in my life, it's quite fascinating."

 

 

"You want to hear about what happened, Guiklmaster? Uh... It won't be very enjoyable or lengthy, but very well."

 

"We, as in me and the rest, arrived at the mansion, and talked to the questgiver Myrdain, who we didn't know was possessed yet. After briefing us in, Myrdain led us to a bedchamber where we willingly fell asleep so we could rescue the little girl, but again, since Myrdain was actually possessed by the witch, this was where things began to turn awry."

 

"A lot of weird, small things happened in the dream that I don't remember much of, but we all separated at some point. It was then that I found myself in a library, where I met one of the figures from the actual Myrdain's memory. Someone called Ierne. We... talked for a bit. Then, after that I was able to walk forward, away from that dream and ended up in some flaming castle. There, I reunited with the other three and we defeated the dragon boss and woke up."

 

"I don't remember much of what happened after that. The real Myrdain gave us a reward, and we left before we could find out the answers. On that note, I have a feeling Myrdain is some supernatural creature, since we're on that topic. He had memories of civilizations past that I've barely seen in ancient textbooks today."

 

"That is all.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"First of all for today, I would like to see this building painted in a new color. A fresh new color for a fresh new guild, or something to that effect. I have brought the materials here. Whichever the color you pick is entirely up to you, but it is advisable to not try something outrageous unless you have a very good reason for it."

 

As most of the other teams left the guild to participate in various other quests, Dmitri and some of his mates from the last quest would repaint the Guild Hall.  It was quite the change of pace for him, but it was a nice one at that.  Now came the task of figuring out which colors to use.  

 

"How about light blue?"

 

Dmitri flashed his glasses, shaking his head with discontent. 

 

"This is Cherry Heart, Auburn!  Not Seaside Siren!  If it were to be any color, a nice rosy pink might do the trick!"  Dmitri chuckled a bit, as he thought of the color schemes.  "But...I suppose we could use a lighter shade of blue for the seeds of a cherry blossom!"  Dmitri began to dig his paintbrush into the strange paint, and began to go to town on the hall's walls.  As they all went on, the Guildmaster spoke up, startling him a bit.

 

"I would like to listen your experiences then, as a story just for my pleasure to listen to. I doubt there is anything truly concerning that I missed, so I am now simply sating my own curiosity on what actually happened."

 

Mina gave her thoughts on the experience, while Auburn gave her the rundown of how the events went.  Dmitri thought back to Ierne.  Even though he was with her for such a short amount of time, he felt like he missed her dearly.  

 

"Well...we all had different experiences with the girl we encountered in that world.  Ierne...she was so innocent when I met her...I wish things would've turned out better for her.  She deserved better.  But...seeing how things went...it all seemed so rushed and wild.  Not to mention, guildmaster, that the quest was way too hard for novices!  Even the old man concluded the same thing!  You really should get more details on a quest...before sending us out there, y'know?"  

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Ugh... All I know is that I'm not going anywhere near anything related to dream magic again, might as well give someone that dream soul thing I got as a reward..."

 

"You want to hear about what happened, Guiklmaster? Uh... It won't be very enjoyable or lengthy, but very well."

 

"But...seeing how things went...it all seemed so rushed and wild."

 

"Thank you for the information, it explained why you ended up taking a day longer with the quest. I will forward your issues to this city's branch of Yggdrasil for future consideration." Flo paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about something before continuing. "And thank you for still finishing the quest after that unpleasant experience."

 

Flo listened to each of the three guildmembers' stories one by one, trying to piece for herself what actually happened in that quest. Mina mentioned a witch, which seemed to be the primary culprit here, although Flo herself didn't have any inkling on who might the witch be. Auburn gave the most complete account, though it only made things more confusing. How was a dragon ended up being involved with all of this? There was also this Ierne, who seemed to be the vocal point of the quest. Never heard of that name, and Florentia had a hard time actually figuring out what sort of role did she serve in the quest. Going off Dmitri's words, maybe she ended up being the witch? That would make sense, but this wouldn't explain why Celica would be so interested with the quest outside of meeting with Myrdain himself.

 

"Hm, rosy pink for the outside, and clear sky blue for indoors, how would that sound? I figure that it might give a pleasant feeling for the inside." Flo offered a suggestion for the debate on which color should the guild have as the guildmembers continued to prepare the pain and work on the front side of the building. Flo herself was busy tending to what seemed to be a budding flower garden right in front of the guild that didn't seem to be there yesterday in the meantime. Picking up the weeds and placing them somewhere else while deliberately planning the growth plan of the flowers. She could just use her ability to induce growth right here to make them all bloom, but it would only serve to be a temporary joy. The flowers should fully bloom as the guild also blossomed further.

 

"If you move out to work on the guild's indoor, it would be best to start with the empty wing of the building first. Unless any of you had any tricks to make the paint dry faster, I am concerned about the mess that might happen."

Once again, Florentia had not much experience with paint so she simply went off the assumption that the paint would take hours to properly dry. It was up for the guildmembers to decide the approach for doing this.

 

---

 

@Mr. Hyde @ @@Wind Rider

 

[spoiler=OOC]

We're still in comfy painting mode, so this round will mostly be interaction. Decide upon yourselves which color should the building have, and whether any incidents would happen for the time being.

 

Don't worry, there will be no combat in this quest, though I'd say that it won't be as boring as watching paint dry too, hopefully.

 

 

 

---

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn

"That should be fine. Light blue for the interior, that sounds pleasant. Since I suggested it, I'll head in and work inside. There's something I want to test." Auburn grabbed the light blue paint bucket by the handle and went back inside. It was sizable and filled to the brim, so he was careful to slowly walk away as to not spill anything on himself. With his weak magician arms that took a while. He found an empty room and put down the bucket by the door. A small amount of paint spilled onto his shoe and he wasn't happy about that, but more importantly he drew out a flask and a small container of materials. Obviously, manually painting an entire room, much less the entire building, was going to be exhausting. And ever since seeing the paint, Auburn was juggling a few ideas as to what he could do.

 

"A bit of slime oil, maybe a very small amount of gunpowder, lots of water..." He wished he had access to higher quality slime oil, but those are only extracted from very strong ones. He had to settle for the ones he found in the basement at the guild building. Gunpowder wasn't rare, and in this case he would rather it be poorer in quality, which the market in town sold in excess.

 

When he was done, the flask he was holding suddenly began to rapidly emit an intense amount of blue-hued smoke. "This seems strong, woah."

 

Auburn rushed into the middle of the room and placed the flask carefully. He saw an open window and quickly closed it, then ran outside, shutting the door tightly. "A bit of smoke'll leak out from the door but it should be fine. If I did it right, the smoke should fill up the entire room and color everything. It doesn't take long to dissipate afterwards and the paint should remain. "

 

If it works, at least.

[Wind Rider]

"Hm, rosy pink for the outside, and clear sky blue for indoors, how would that sound? I figure that it might give a pleasant feeling for the inside."

 

Mina tilted her head at Flo's suggestion, but before she could speak her mind, Auburn spoke up.

 

"That should be fine. Light blue for the interior, that sounds pleasant. Since I suggested it, I'll head in and work inside. There's something I want to test." Oh no... That didn't sound good to Mina.

 

Auburn went towards an empty room and started mixing up a strange liquid that he had used the paint for. It started making a smoke and he ran into the room and back out. "A bit of smoke'll leak out from the door but it should be fine. If I did it right, the smoke should fill up the entire room and color everything. It doesn't take long to dissipate afterwards and the paint should remain. "

 

Mina was a bit confused but shook her head. "And if it works? You don't plan on using that everywhere inside, do you? I'm pretty sure that paint smoke will get on more than just walls..." It sounded like criticism, but this honestly was a smart idea. The problem was that the paint smoke would be extremely messy unless they moved any at all furniture from the room they used the smoke in.

 

"*sigh* If it works, it works, I guess..." she shrugged.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Wait, Auburn. What are you planning to-"

 

Florentia felt a bad premonition when Auburn entered the building, so she ended up following a concerned Mina while Dmitri decided to continue working on his part outside. When she arrived in the room Auburn was in, Florentia noticed that he was already mixing several different things with the paint and that it started to form smokes.

 

"A bit of smoke'll leak out from the door but it should be fine. If I did it right, the smoke should fill up the entire room and color everything. It doesn't take long to dissipate afterwards and the paint should remain. "

 

"And if it works? You don't plan on using that everywhere inside, do you? I'm pretty sure that paint smoke will get on more than just walls..." Mina voiced the same concern that went on inside of Florentia's mind, and she end up sounding defeated as the blue smoke rose up to the ceiling. "*sigh* If it works, it works, I guess..."

 

"I assume that it is too late for you to end whatever your plan here is." Florentia sighed as she left the room, gesturing to Mina to follow her. "If anything went wrong with this, you will personally take responsibility for it at the end of the day. Am I clear?"

 

Even as she went as far away as possible from the ground zero, Florentia thought that maybe the plan wasn't really all that concerning and was a nice breakthrough. Of course, that was if it'd work.

 

---

 

After being left for a while, Auburn's alchemical concoction managed to show its work on the interior. As the smokes cleared and a while of opening the doors and windows to let out the asphyxiating air out, everything inside of the room had been coated with a layer of sky-blue paint. The ceiling, the floors, the fabrics covering the furnitures, the door, the windows and its glasses, the gaslight lanterns, everything. Everything was so uniformly coated with the same shade that the boundary of what's the wall and the ceiling started to become confusing - it was unclear where one started and the other begin.

 

Even Flo was starting to get headaches for looking at the room for long. It's hard to say whether it was a good or a bad thing, or how bad it really was, but it clearly was not pleasant.

 

"Maybe sky blue was bad after all..." Perhaps the interior should be rosy pink instead?

 

"Auburn, Mina, this is starting to make my head hurt." Florentia addressed the two as she walked outside to check on Dmitri, clutching her head in the meantime. "Can you at least clean the paint from the glass surface of the lanterns and from the windows somehow? We'll talk about it more once my head didn't hurt as much."

 

---

[mitchermitcher]

Guildhouse/Auburn

"Well, yes, we'll have to remove the furniture from each room before bombi- coloring them, that was the plan Mina White. Although, the windows turning blue as well.... was an unforeseen oversight. But worry not, it is a very minor one." For good or for worse, the brew worked perfectly. And it was just a simple matter to make it explode paint instead of spreading it, just by adding less water and more slime oil. Both of these could be useful in the future, so Auburn made a mental note to add them to his repertoire once he had the chance to. He decided to call them the Smoke Grenade and the Paint Bomb respectively.

 

"At least, if we decide to keep the walls blue, we just have to paint the ground with another color. That's less work if you ask me." He quickly decided on a faded brown hue, that resembled both wood and mud, and began to paint. The color looked natural enough on the floor. "We might have to repaint the ceiling though... It bugs my eyes. White maybe."

 

Once he was done with the room entirely he went to the guild master again. "For the time being, if we cover the windows and the floor and perhaps the door with some tarp, we can easily make all the rooms blue. If we must choose a color I still insist on blue. No, we must."

[Wind Rider]

"Well, yes, we'll have to remove the furniture from each room before bombi- coloring them, that was the plan Mina White. Although, the windows turning blue as well.... was an unforeseen oversight. But worry not, it is a very minor one."

 

Mina sighed deeply, she was never gonna understand how this man's mind worked. Shaking her head, she helped him fix the room up to where it wasn't a completely blue mess. After that was said and done, she wiped her forehead and picked up a paint bucket. "Let's at least do these other rooms by hand... Paint bombs seem a bit too... Messy to me..." she said as she went on to start painting another room. "Hopefully by the end of this, the guildhall will look amazing..." she said with a slight smile.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Florentia decided to not return tending the flower garden as long as Auburn and Mina was busy repainting the mess caused by Auburn's invention. It was surprisingly more efficient than expected, but the misfires were still considerable enough that Florentia was still feeling wary about it. In the end, the room was finished being painted. Sky blue on the walls, and the ceiling was painted with pure white, just like the clouds. The floor was fittingly brown, a lighter shade that Florentia felt Celica would like. It looked to be quite nice, however it seemed that for other rooms, the two guildmembers ended up having a disagreement on what method to use.

 

"For the time being, if we cover the windows and the floor and perhaps the door with some tarp, we can easily make all the rooms blue. If we must choose a color I still insist on blue. No, we must."

 

"Let's at least do these other rooms by hand... Paint bombs seem a bit too... Messy to me..."

 

Florentia chose to merely watch for the time being, but in the end it seemed that the two decided to work separately now. Mina went into the right wing of the guild where the bedroom was located, while Auburn ended up going towards the primary hall itself, already preparing for the next of his paint bombs.

 

It was close to mid-day and thus the lunch break by then, and Florentia decided to check out on Mina for the time being. As worrying as Auburn's paint bombs were, it would be easier to just punish him should he screw up rather than filling her mind with too much worry about what might happen with his actions.

 

"Mina, I heard that you are an inventor or an engineer, am I correct here?" Florentia sat on the side of one of the beds as she watched Mina paint the wall around them. "Do you perhaps have any ideas regarding something that could perhaps ease the effort needed to paint this entire building?

I heard that automation is all the rage on the Capital. You're from there, right?"

 

It had been a while since she started a conversation with someone. She still was really stiff and cared more about the result of the conversation, though she did wish that Mina would respond in kind. For the guild to be successful, she would need to be able to utilize the potential of each members to the maximum. And that would only happen if she was able to personally knew where each person truly excel in, and drew their potential on that field.

 

Or so what Celica said. Florentia wouldn't have done so otherwise.

 

---

[Wind Rider]

Mina continued to paint her part of the guildhall, leaving Auburn to his own devices. She ended up in the right wing of the hall and started to paint the bedroom walls. She had wrapped her tail around her waist, so that it wouldn't get in the way or get in the paint, she didn't trust that this paint was easy to wash out of fur.

 

As she painted, Florentia made herself known to her, Mina was so focused on the job that she hadn't noticed the guildmaster until she spoke up. "Mina, I heard that you are an inventor or an engineer, am I correct here?" Florentia sat on the side of one of the beds as she watched Mina paint the wall around them. "Do you perhaps have any ideas regarding something that could perhaps ease the effort needed to paint this entire building?

 

I heard that automation is all the rage on the Capital. You're from there, right?"

 

Mina continued to paint as she spoke. "Well... Yes I come from the Capital... And while making a little automaton to help with this paint job, I've run out of materials to make one... At least one that could help paint... Come to think of it, I could make a little device with the little amount of scrap I have... But what kind of device... Hmm... Ha! Great... Now you've got me thinking... You wouldn't happen to have any scrap metal or mechanical parts around here would you?" she asked looking away from the wall she was painting.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"You wouldn't happen to have any scrap metal or mechanical parts around here would you?"

 

"Oh? What sort of scrap metal or mechanical parts do you happen to need? Wait here for a moment."

 

Flo left the room for a moment after what Mina said, and returned around a quarter hour later with three dusty boxes. Mina would be able that those were filled with broken scraps of metals, gears, and pieces of many sort of things as well as miscellaneous scraps of metal.

 

"There are a lot of such scraps littering the underground floor of the guild when I and miss Celica first entered it, and these were what we had cleaned from there so far. We were going to sell them off or dispose of them somehow, but it might be better if you use them."

 

Engineering was never one of Flo's expertise, and suffice to say that it was something that she somewhat disliked too. While she always loved her firearms, outside of that she always felt disdain for unnatural mechanical contraptions, something that she felt was moving too far from nature. Even so, it's not enough of a dislike to actively avoid or forbid it. She simply would just never consider using one if she could help it.

"Should you perhaps require some tools to help with this?"

 

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