Fandom Fairy Tail: Guilds of Pergrande IC

[Damafaud]

Faris Dwi Arima

King Felix Bridge
Determined
Interaction: Peregrine ( AtlannianSpy ), Summar ( AnthraxBurrito )
Mention: AllHailDago ​

The dark-skinned man gave him the opportunity. Faris nodded in appreciation. As he entered the obstacle course, two links of chains slithered out of the cover of his coat. The chain lacrima was his weapon. With a physical link attached to its end, controlling them was as natural as moving his own limbs. The chains stretched to the side. One chain rested on the grip of his right hand. Faris jumped in.

Pendulums were easy. With a thought, a metallic hook appeared at the end of one of the chains. The hook offset the period of the pendulum while Faris passed by. When he came in range with the second pendulum, the hook changed the trajectory of the second one. His advance was slow but steady. When Faris reached the slime, the hook chain smacked it flat. Then the extra waves started. Faris cracked his knuckles. Then he swung his right arm in a hook before releasing his grip on the chain.

Apart from relying on his control of magic, the force given through his swing was added to the speed of the chain. The second chain, remained unused until now, orbited around Faris like a satellite. Whenever he entered the territory of a red slime, it shot at him only to be destroyed by the rotating chain. The chain with a hook went on the ground like a snake, chasing after stray green slimes. It managed to splatter a few, but the rotating chain was more successful.

For the hinged platforms, Faris only hoped for the best and jumped from a platform to another. He could create a rope bridge to cross, but it would take too much time and burdened his ethernano reserve. When it came to the slime, he employed the same strategy. However, this time, he only focused on destroying all red slimes by entering their territories with two orbiting chains. His efficiency in killing the green slimes was pitiful.

If the pendulum bridge was no challenge, Faris was practically a fish in water during the third obstacle. Climbing and swinging over a gap was a standard protocol for his work. He repeated his method in the second obstacle for the third. The reason was acceptable.

Faris turned to the last task on his list; splattering the purple slime. He connected the two link of chains into one long whip. The chain rotated around him. It turned faster, faster, faster, to the limit of his control over it. New links appeared one by one at the end of the chains, each one heavier than the one before. The hook morphed into a sphere. Beads of sweat ran down his face. Faris bent his back backwards, aiding his control over the chain with muscle memory.

"Hrah!" With a shout, Faris swung his arms toward the slime. The chain shot off at a high speed, right toward the centre of the slime. The purple slime exploded. Despite his best effort, the explosion was limited to the course. His magic, after all, was not focused on destructive power. Faris fell to his knees. The metallic sphere and subsequent heavy chain-link dissipated. With an exhausted expression, Faris slowly winded his chain whip around his waist, and the second whip to hang around his neck.

Well, he did his best.

 

[simj26]

Lysandra von Freytag-Loringhoven"No arms, no legs, no ears. What manner of simple creature are you, slime?"

She was at a complete loss. She had heard of slimes, and even read of them, but she had never encountered one before. To learn about them now like this, and see them in real life was, honestly, quite exciting for her. She wanted to take one home and study it! She wondered if the owner would be willing to part with one. Or perhaps she could take a piece from one of the slimes on the course, and rear that piece as her own personal slime. She rubbed her chin in thought. She turned her attention towards the obstacle course. When it was revealed, her first reaction had been derision. What was this, some kind of circus? She was here to join a guild, not participate in games. But now that she had sufficient reason to participate, she began to study the course carefully. Pendulums, platforms, and a vertical climb. Hm. This was tough. She needed some willing participants to join firs--

Her thoughts barely finished when the first participant stepped up. For a moment, his face seemed familiar to her. She couldn’t remember where she had seen him-- faces were so difficult to store and keep. One never knew when they would ever appear again. She wanted to regard this face as discardable information, but just as she was about to scrap it, she made the connection. Wasn’t that Harper? The son of the Crawfords? She had heard that he was disowned from her brother, but that was all she could get out of him. Compared to the bright visage that she, admittedly, had some difficulty keeping her stoic composure around back when she visited his House with her brother, his face was now of one with no hope in the future. What happened to him? She’d pursue that question later. She had to observe the course to study it.

At first, it was purely for obtaining a slime for her own use, but as more participants came aboard, she slowly became more and more...agitated. Especially after the Berrilosi mage’s display. Gods, how she hated his smug look. She wanted to punch him into the water. Nevertheless, she was suddenly filled with the need to see this obstacle course through with the best performance she could muster. She found herself formulating equations and possibilities in her mind. See, learn, memorise, compartmentalise, lock. Watching Harper accomplish the obstacle course was enough, but utilising the other mages finish it solidified her mental image of the course. She built the course mentally within her mind, placed the constants in their places, and ran the variables through their various actions, namely the slimes. The blues remained in the same places, while the green and reds were more or less erratic, but had certain patterns to their behaviour. Given by their movement, they were most certainly the same kinds of slimes in each round- they had the same temperament and behaviour. Their appearances were mostly standardised as well. Though they were too quick for her to have studied them all in Harper’s run, she was thankful for the other mages to run the course for her again and again and again, for her to locate almost all of their spawn points. Yes, she would have been in trouble if she had attempted the course first, but the onus wasn’t on her to attempt this course first and foremost.

She stepped onto the platform and brushed her messy hair behind her shoulder. That Berrilosi mage was boisterous, she gave him that. There was no way he was going to show her up in style. That said, she wasn’t a show-off like he was. “My name,” she bowed before the guildmasters and the audience, one hand clasping onto the medallion of the Vassilican Church at her neck, “is Lysandra. I pray I am up to the task. May the Creator watch over me.” With that simple prayer, she drew her sword, testing its weight in her arms, and glanced down at the body of water underneath the platform, dirtied and muddied by the fall of one of the previous mages who had attempted it. The scruffy one, she expected. Did she carry a swamp’s worth of grime on her body? No matter, dirty water was the least of her worries. A hot bath would sort things out if she fell into the water. That was, ‘if’ she fell in. She turned her attention to the pendulums. She shouldn’t dally any further, she supposed. “Let’s begin the experiment,” she muttered under her breath. Without wasting any further time, she started forwards. Without breaking her stride, she moved through the pendulums unhalting. It was a simple thing. She had timed her advance with the gaps that appeared along the path as the pendulums swung. Their timing wasn’t standardised with each other, but with every few swings or so, they coincided, clearing a straight path towards her goal. She swiped at the slime at the center, slicing through it, stepped forwards from the pedestal that it was presented on, then swiftly swung around with her sword, splattering a green slime that tried to escape from behind her. At the same time, she summoned her Projection from herself. A ghostly arm came forth from her back, bearing a similar sword as the one she held in her hands, and immediately swung downwards behind her, cutting through a red slime that shot towards her like a bullet. Next was--

She didn’t have time to finish her thought process as a green slime barrelled through her right leg, sending her off balance, as it scurried (slid? bounced?) at top speed away from her. What-- she caught herself, just in time, as another red slime hurtled towards her, screeching. She gritted her teeth, and forced her sword arm to move as quickly as it did, smacking the red slime down onto the ground with the flat of her sword. It hit the ground, and uttered one more comical squeak before her boot crashed down on it, splattering it across the ground. That was close. Too close. Damn it. She could process the obstacle course quicker than any person here, she was confident of that, but her body just won’t move as fast as she wanted it to. Her perfect formula was ruined only because she wasn’t up to par with her own mental maneuvers. Discombobulated, she had lost track of the other slimes. Quickly, Lys! she told herself. Map out the potential paths that the other slimes could have taken, align it by the time that passed in your confusion! Locate them! The obstacle course’s reimagination formed in her mind for that split second, and the lines of projected movements of the slime targets painted themselves across the obstacle course. Four of them were crossed out, and that left…

She swung her sword once more to her side, smacking away yet another red slime that sought to slam its gelatinous body into her, batting it into one of the pendulums, where it splattered, leaving a gooey mark on its surface. That was the last one for this course. The rest had escaped. She cursed herself. She could have gotten more, if she weren’t that slow. Gnashing her teeth, she hurried on, slipping past the next few pendulums without issue. The platforms were no different. She could clearly see everything that was going to happen. She could envision the slimes’ every possible move, every move SHE had to use to dispatch of all of them, but at the same time, she could now see that she was unable to catch every single one of them. Practical experience gave so much more clarity to her capabilities than sitting aside and planning hypotheses. She thrust her sword into the blue slime, activating the other slimes. She had to adapt. She just had to plan for all the possibilities that she could achieve. Something inside her burst into flames, consuming her heart, as she swung her sword at the first red slime that shot out towards her, batting it away like the previous one, and sent it smacking into the pendulum obstacle. She leapt away from the platform, changing her position, then swung once more, knocking the next red slime into another platform. She ducked, and avoided the green slime that shot past her head, then leapt to the next platform. She thrust forwards, running through a stray green slime, then flung it towards another red slime that headed towards her. On collision, both splattered into a mix of green and red liquids. That was all she could manage. Every other possibility was locked out now. This was the optimal path. She leapt to the next platform, and then carried on to the last one.

Without stopping, she dashed towards the vertical wall. She had to use her momentum to carry herself forwards, just so she didn’t waste any more energy. She needed all she had to finish off that last slime. She leapt over the gap, and, planting her first foot onto the vertical wall, she took two running steps up the wall, then willed her Projection to appear above her. She reached her hand upwards. In theory, her Projection would catch her hand, and throw her upwards the rope, allowing her to climb the remaining height without wasting too much time.

In theory, anyway. Her Projection materialised a split second too late. Her hand slipped through its grip, and it could only look on as she plummetted into the water beneath her. Spluttering, she slapped her fist into the water ineffectually. The water did not so much as extinguish the roaring fire within her. Instead, it seemed to fuel it. Anger and determination, it seemed, ran through every fiber of her body as she stumbled back onto the platform. One more time. Compensate for the delay. She took another running leap, two steps up, then summoned her Projection before she jumped once more. This time, she caught its hand, and with a heft, it threw her up the rope. Her hands caught hold of the hemp, and she slid down slightly, her body still wet from the fall she took into the water. The hemp tore into her bare fingers, but the pain was dull. She wrapped her legs around the rope, and slowly lifted herself up, changing her grip as she went on. At the apex, she swung herself past the last obstacle. She readied herself for the oncoming flurry of extra slimes, taking on a steady stance in the center, and punched her hand through the blue slime. She rolled to one side, dodging a red slime, then swiped at the green one that rebounded off the platform and at her. Her arms were starting to feel like lead. She bit down on her own teeth, her face twisting into an ugly grimace. That Berrilosi mage was shouting on and on about it being not over. Well, neither was it for her, but she'd refrain from shouting. She swung, twice more, dispatching of a red and another green, and stumbled forwards, her sword dropping to the platform. That was all she could manage. She had the last slime to worry about. Gripping her sword, she moved on forwards to the finish line.

Her breath was jagged. Her sword felt heavy in her hands. She was dripping wet, and her clothes seemed to weigh twice its original weight. That, and she smelled like a wet dog. Nevertheless, she still clung on to her pride. She’ll finish this with style. She took a step forwards, then another, then broke into a run. Both hands clutching at her sword, she charged towards the purple slime. Go! Go! GO! Her own voice rang shrill in her own heart, as she closed in on the final slime. Exhilaration coursed through her entire body, adrenaline pushing her forwards, her eyes aglow with an unnatural fire as her sword sliced through the purple slime. Her sword’s descent slowed as it dug into the slime. Surprise flickered in her eyes, before it was consumed by the flames. No, not like this! I won’t just fail this final task like this! This is pathetic! “UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” With a loud cry, her Projection materialised beside her in a burst of mist, with its own sword raised towards the sky. As her savage cry rose into the air, the Projection brought its sword down onto the back of her own, bearing down on it with its own weight. There was a moment where the air seemed to freeze in anticipation. Then their swords sliced through the purple slime.


The purple slime released a small gurgle, then promptly exploded, covering the floor with purple goo. The explosive force sent Lysandra and her Projection backwards and onto the ground. Her Projection flickered and vanished with a blue glow. Lysandra, herself, hacked and coughed as she stuck her sword into the ground and staggered to her feet. Winded, she coughed and gasped for air, desperately trying to recover her lost breath. She gulped down her breath, and straightened up shakily, raising one hand to the sky. She dropped her hand to her chest, and bowed down before the spectators. Her body still shivered, the last of her adrenaline trying to disperse throughout her body. One thought lingered in her mind.


She had to get stronger. She had to get better. She must get better. She was still millions of miles away from where she needed to be. She had only realised how weak she was in this showcase. Was that that mage’s true intention? To show them the measure of their own abilities? Her gaze turned towards the Bright Hawk’s guildmaster. Unrefined, he says, but there was perhaps some thought behind his actions. Grimacing, she turned and stepped off the obstacle course. She needed a shower and a change of clothes. She would need those two if she were to appear in front of Harper again. She’d look for him later. Meanwhile, she had to celebrate her one achievement, and that was claim a sample of one of the slimes. She opened her left fist, the one that she had used to punch the third blue slime. In it, a section of the blue slime was already starting to return to its blob-like shape, resembling its larger parent. She just had to find something to store this specimen in.

Having kept her eyes on her hand the whole time, she neglected to notice yet another participant who had already cleared the trial, and collided into them. She staggered away from him, still trying to catch her breath, and accidentally squashed the slime in her hand as she regained her balance. Sweeping her wet hair from her face, she looked up to apologise. “My apologie-- oh!” she stopped short in surprise. It was Harper. Swiftly, in a practiced motion, she placed her hand over her chest, and bowed down to him in respect. Whether he was disowned or not was no matter. “Master Harper. My apologies.”

Lucem

mentioned AtlannianSpy GasMaskie The One Eyed Bandit

 

[cinnabuns]

Anaïs' eyes widened as the crow she'd been staring at grew in size as Adellon showed them all a demonstration of his magic. The crow beat its wings, and her hair flew behind her - it was so real. How exciting. Her excitement increased as the crow leaned down and ate at Adellon. She probably shouldn't have been so enamoured with this display of magic, but since it seemed quite similar to hers - at least she believed so, as she kept her eyes on the bottom half of Adellon, an ink-like substance bubbling from what remained of his waist - it intrigued her. It helped that when he began to reform, it started with greyscale, before he returned to his normal, colorful form.

It reminded her so much of her magic. The tattoos - well, tattoos were a strong word - against her skin were black, but once they formed into their respective animals, they were of realistic imagery, in color. She wondered if Adellon was made completely of ink for a moment, knowing the question would be helpful to her connection with her animals, before she was brought out of her thoughts by the shouts of the other Guildmaster.

"MY NAME IS PEREGRINE LACONIA, A RANK MAGE AND GUILDMASTER OF THE BRIGHT HAWKS! AND IT SEEMS A DEMONSTRATION OF MY COMMITMENT TO MAGIC IS IN ORDER,"

The bellowing of the Bright Hawks' Guildmaster - Peregrine - caused Anaïs to stiffen up. She had been near enough that it sounded much more loud than it should have. She shut her eyes closed as she tried her best to tune it out, but it was too late. It was grating, every word. Suddenly, his voice warped, warped into her voice at the end, and Anaïs trembled slightly. It wasn't the same, she tried to tell herself. Obviously the voices weren't the same. But the voice still shaped into hers, into the harsh words she'd received before yet another mistreatment. Anaïs wasn't in the present now; she'd been catapulted back into one of those moments.

"So awful at your job, I can't believe your mother left us with you. She should have taught you better, this is pathetic!"

Oh godohgodohgodohgodstop--

Anaïs' eyes shot open when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Incredibly unexpected, but it did get her to stop shivering, only because she was back to freezing in place.

"So, Princess, what's going on here?"

Anaïs barely heard the words out of the woman's mouth as she leaned forward, putting some of her weight onto Anaïs herself. She had still been in the past, and now, with the touch, she was in yet another moment.

"Miss Anaïs, heh. Hello~. You've been doing such a great cleaning job, cooking too. I bet you're tired, yeah? You've been busy all day, working. Just let me...let me have a moment with you, huh, sweetheart? No one needs to know, right?"

Anaïs felt sick. In front of all these people, she felt her stomach churn.

The hand on her shoulder didn't even feel like his, and once again, the voice wasn't the same, she knew this, but she was already in too deep, and the memory was too strong. Of course, this was the first of many of those kinds of memories. It felt, with the woman's touch, that the memories overlapped, and played multiple times in her head. She was quite lost, replaying them in her mind, and then she heard it.

A soft growl, cutting through the fog the memories made in her brain. It grew louder, clearer, until it snapped her out of her past, and brought her back to the now, where a woman was still waiting on her response, and the growling was still happening, but now, now it sounded like it was in her ear.

From her ankle.

"Major, it's okay. I'm okay. Thank you." She said softly, glancing down at her right ankle, where her bear tattoo looked as if it were prying off her skin, attempting - something Anaïs knew well enough - a motion to attack what was threatening her. Major continued to growl, but realized the threat it had perceived was existing only within the confines of Anaïs' mind. It pressed back against the back of her ankle, where it belonged, the growl softening, Anaïs' mind going over what she had missed in her subconscious during her conscious absence.

Slimes. Slime golf. Obstacle course.

Blue slime, normal, must be hit to continue course. Green slime, cowardly, stretchy, will run quickly. Red slime, impulsive attacker, cannot get red slime on person. Purple slime, big, for final attack.

Thank goodness she'd been in this position before. Taking orders used to be so difficult when she'd be put in a state like that, but she got used to it. It took time, but she definitely got the hang of hearing reality even when her mind reverted to the past. It was the only reason Major had been able to pull her out of that moment.

"Hello my lady. This is a joint guild recruitment, for the Void Crows," Anaïs gestured at the crow with a smile, "and the Bright Hawks," she then gestured at the gleaming glass hawk. "Right now, we're testing our abilities in a custom game of slime golf. You stand in that circle before it starts to measure your ethernano. Then, you head through the obstacle course and attempt to destroy the slimes."

Some members of the crowd began to line up, going through the course to help prove Anaïs' words and to keep her own mind on track. She continued to explain it to the green-haired woman leaning against her, watching the successes and failures of the people who may be her future companions. As far as she was concerned, they were all pretty successful since they were making an effort and doing their best.

"The blue slimes are normal and you have to hit each of them at the obstacles to continue moving forward in the course. Then there are other slimes that appear when the blues get hit - green, red, and purple. Green will run away and is stretchy, red is impulsive and will attack but you can't get the slime on you, and last is the purple slime, that's for the final move. There's another circle you stand in before going after the purple slime. That's basically it, I think."

Bless compartmentalization. Anaïs found herself more comfortable with the hold the woman had on her due to the discussion of the course, and turned slightly to her. "I think I'm going to get in line now. You should join me! It looks quite fun."

With that, Anaïs moved forward, but before the young woman could fall over, she grabbed her hand, gently tugging her forward along and into the line behind the others. Since the woman had put her arm on Anaïs to steady herself, Anaïs had a feeling she didn't mind being touched. She did let go when they got into the line, however, and she continued to watch the next few go before her. Anaïs winced as one of the course goers was hit by a pendulum, falling into the water and making it murky. Had she not cleaned herself in a while? Quite unfortunate, but if it made her happy, she guessed it was alright. Before the purple slime could get on her, she moved out of the way with a smile. It was excellent work.

Next was a man using a chain and a whip in his run. He seemed to have an easier go of the course than the girl before him, but he fell to his knees after his final attack. He must have been quite exhausted, she noted. But he still had done a good job.

The next after him was another young girl, who had been muttering to herself as she observed her former course goers. She seemed very sure of herself, something Anaïs could learn from if given the chance. Her eyes followed the girl - who announced her name to be Lysandra - as she went through the course. It was interesting to see, honestly; she had a good hang of it, from her observations, but her magic didn't seem to catch up with her mind as she fell into the water like the girl who had gone before her. Oof.

Lysandra did an amazing job coming back from it, however, and her second attempt was much more successful. It seemed her anger was building, much like the other girl, and her magic, when she'd reached the purple slime, reacted from the ire she had felt, both her and her magic swinging to successfully end the purple slime. When she bowed, Anaïs gave her a small clap.

It was her turn, now.

Anaïs gave the slimes a few moments to reform before stepping up onto the platform with a hum. "Hello. I am Anaïs Natura." She greeted the audience, giving the slimes a little more time. For some reason, she cared a bit about these monsters. She was sure they didn't feel fatigue, and yet, she still felt something. Oh well. She had been requested to follow the rules, and the rules she would follow. Anaïs turned back to the pendulums, taking a deep breath in and out as she watched them move. She could do this.

Anaïs made her way through the first two pendulums, reaching out to touch the next as it passed her, causing it to float into place. After walking by it, she released it from its hold, continuing onwards. She pulled out a silver dagger out of her fanny pack, slashing at the blue slime waiting, before bringing her left wrist up to her mouth as the green slimes appeared, passing by the last pendulum.

"My Eyes and Ears. Please aid me."

From her wrist, the tattoo of a flock of crows raised off of her skin before forming into their proper size, immediately cawing and diving at the cowardly slimes, destroying them with scratches of their talons. One obstacle down, Anaïs mused to herself as she kept going. the crows finishing up their work before circling above her, awaiting their next instruction. Platforms. If she moved quickly with her power, she wouldn't drain too much of her reserves.

Anaïs triggered her gravity magic once more, making herself float as she walked over the hinged platforms, releasing it as she got to the last one and hurrying over, wincing as the platform fell behind her. Okay, good, good. "The slime, One Eye." She called out to one of the crows, one that was aptly named as it was missing its second eye, and it responded to her request, pecking at the blue slime and setting off the wave of red slimes. She couldn't let these hit her. The crows seemed to sense her worry and dove after the red slimes they could, Anaïs slashing at another as it went for her face. Some slime in her hair, she could deal with, she thought with resignation. As long as her body didn't have a lot of slime on it, after all.

Next was the rope obstacle. She might as well try it without magic, she thought, beginning the climb. This took her some time, but it was successful, and Anaïs gently smashed the blue slime under her boot, much like the bug boy from Berillo. She almost forgot about the next wave of slimes as she began the swing across, but the crows had her back, attacking the ones trying to get at her, and she let go of the rope and fell onto the platform, teetering at the end. It seemed clear from here, and she let out a sigh.

"Well, that wasn't so b--"

A red slime she couldn't see had made a last attempt dive at her, but before it could reach her, a snarl came from her ankle, the bear from her tattoo jumping from its place on her ankle to take the slime between its maw and falling into the water. Anaïs groaned slightly, feeling much more exhausted than she'd planned to due to the bear having a mind of its own. "Major, you always have my back, don't you." She spoke lovingly to the bear, who was enjoying the cool, although disgusting water on its fur. "Return to me, please. We're not done yet."

Major grunted, and then let out a whine. The water, the water! It seemed to tell her, and rolled in the pool as Anaïs let out a sigh. "Fine, then. I still need your help, so please continue on with me through the water, okay? And my Eyes and Ears," she held out her wrist, "Return to me, please. You listen better than your furry friend here."

The crows cawed a merry caw in response, flying down to sit on her shoulders, one returning to their space on her wrist at a time, One Eye pecking at the shiny crown on her head before following suit. Anaïs made her way to the last circle, waiting for the purple slime to form before her. She looked over, and was pleasantly surprised to see Major following after her, and she pointed at the slime.

"You can go back in the water after, sweet Major. You'll need the bath."

Major's eyes followed her gesture and growled at the slime, stepping out of the water. The purple slime, of course, had no response to this, seemingly oblivious to its impending doom. This seemed to anger the big bear further, as it foamed at the mouth and jumped into the slime, crushing it with its claws and weight. Once the slime was obliterated, Major began to calm itself, returning to the pool of water and rolling around again in the pool, causing Anaïs to laugh.

"Okay, okay. When the slimes reform you're gonna have to come back to me so someone else can go." She spoke, letting out a yawn. Major was a wonderful, protective animal. However, it took a good amount of her ethernano to keep it out. Good thing she was finished with the course, at least. Anaïs made her way back into the crowd, before thinking better of it and going to the side of the young woman who she had spoken to earlier.

"Do you want me to hold those for you?" Anaïs questioned, looking at her groceries and holding her arms out, just in case the woman said yes.

Major let out a similar yawn to hers earlier, moving from the water and shaking its fur before seemingly breaking down into its tattoo form, floating through the air until it returned to Anaïs' ankle.

"I don't mind at all."

[ AllHailDago , AtlannianSpy , izayoiix ; Mentions: The One Eyed Bandit , simj26 , Damafaud ]

 

[cinnabuns]

Kore watched as the purple-haired woman went through the course and went to help the green-haired one who was supposed to go after her. Since the latter hadn't decided whether she was going yet, Kore stepped past her, wanting to get the course over with due to a hidden excitement.

She had been watching from the back for a while, and some of the people who had went through the course had been...entertaining, to say the least. There was an obvious difference between the, uh...what did they call themselves to establish difference in power? Ranks? That made sense. Her family had their own levels of establishing excellence, and these people who considered themselves more civilized had theirs. It was easy to comprehend.

Annoying, but easy to get.

Kore put down her hood, running a hand through her hair, placing her field hockey stick between her knees before taking both hands to tie up the pink locks into a bun. It would be best if her hair stayed out of the way for this. She had thought about cutting it, especially when she'd left her compound, but it felt like the real thing that still connected her to her family, besides the marks on her thumbs and the crest on her jacket. Her family prided itself on their long hair. Her mother used to sing to her while brushing through it when she was younger. When she'd attempted to go at the long pink strands with some scissors on her journey here, something in her soul screamed at her to stop. Cutting the hair was out of the question, so this was the solution. A big messy mop.

Anyway, the course looked fun. It reminded her of the ones her father liked to set up, but these monsters were harmless. The worst the slimes could do was stain her clothing, from what she could see. Not almost take an eye out. A little less dangerous, but fun, nonetheless. She couldn't wait to give it a shot.

Kore waited for the line to dwindle a bit before she stepped up to the platform, the hockey stick in her right hand. Oh yeah, introductions. "The name's Kore." She offered to the still-lingering crowd before pulling out a dense white ball and placing it on the ground. She eyed the first blue slime, pausing for a moment to properly time the pendulums.

Kore rested her fingers on the leather necklace, pulling it up to reveal the dog whistle made of bone. She put it between her lips and blew into it; obviously, there was no sound to the untrained human ear. There were actually a few chuckles from the audience, but she ignored it as she dropped the whistle and let it hang from her neck. She knew better, after all. They didn't know and probably thought her stupid. A shame that they would already read her wrong.

Placing her left hand near her right on the stick, gripping it taut, she raised it up with an inhale. "Anu, fetch."

And with a sharp exhale and a loud crack, the ball was sent flying through the slime, the force turning it into jelly. Shortly after, a portal opened, a black jackal bounding its way through and after the ball as Kore made her way through the pendulums, timing her walk past the swings and looking for the first wave of slimes. The green ones, the scared ones. She had to hurry.

In that moment, the jackal threw the ball into the air towards Kore with a howl, heading after some of the green slimes. Good boy, she thought to herself, swinging to connect with the ball. Unfortunately the hit wasn't as clean, but it did make the same satisfying cracking sound as it spun towards two of the green slimes. Kore got lucky; one of the slimes was smashed by the ball, and the other was in the bounce range of the ball, popping at the contact. The jackal grabbed the ball, padding back towards Kore as she made it to the hinged platforms.

Now, getting by this wouldn't be as easy. Between the weighted platforms and the eventual red slimes, Kore had to watch herself, she thought, placing the ball in her jacket pocket. The jackal whined, and she clicked her tongue in response, grabbing the ball from his mouth. "Eliminate the slimes, get through the course. Easy enough, right?"

Anu barked, bounding across the platforms.

Yep. At least he made it look easy.

Kore ran across after the jackal, almost losing her footing on the last two platforms as she focused on swinging her hockey stick at the blue slime to start up the red ones. She cursed under her breath as she stumbled onto the last platform, looking up and raising her stick as a red slime flew directly at her. It splattered, some of the slime getting onto her jacket. Kore sucked her teeth, but didn't falter; she had to keep moving. Anu got to the next of the slimes heading her way, thankfully, as she fixed her footing and continued through the course.

"To me, Anu."

Anu pressed himself against the wall to give Kore a boost, and she put the grip of the stick between her teeth before grabbing the rope, jumping off the back of the jackal to fling herself upwards, using the momentum to scale the wall. When she made it to the top, she took the hockey stick from her mouth and reached downward. Anu's tail wagged as he bit the curved edge of the hockey stick and Kore grunted before swinging the jackal up. Anu disappeared into a portal as he was sent upwards, appearing at the bottom of the gap on the other side, his tail still wagging as Kore looked at him blankly.

"Could've just done that before I made the effort." She scowled, and he barked in response, turning in a circle. Fine. He couldn't say she hadn't tried.

Kore looked down at the blue slime by her feet, letting out a sigh as she smashed it with the bottom of her stick, dropping a ball and sending it off towards a mix of green and red slimes that appeared after the blue slime met its momentary fate. Some were hit by the mix of the velocity and strength, and the others were taken by surprise by the jackal bounding towards them while Kore swang her way over the gap, spotting the purple slime at the end of the course.

She managed to land in the last circle as Anu handled the last of the small slimes he could, studying the big slime while her ethernano reserves were measured. She didn't have a flashy big magic to use to destroy the thing; all she had was herself and Anu. Speaking on the jackal, he was by her side shortly after, tail wagging, ball in mouth. She made a noise of recognition; of course. This combined with her strength could possibly do the trick. Unless.

"Would you like to help me?"

Anu seemed to get excited at the question, letting out a howl. Fine, they'd do it together.

"With me, then." Kore tossed the ball high into the air as Anu went to the slime, running around the big purple mass until slowly, but surely, it seemed like the jackal was wrapping up the monster. Anu was incredibly fast with his task; mummifying wasn't anything new to him, and this was much simpler. All the slime needed was to be squeezed enough for Kore to make an effect. When the jackal felt he'd done enough, he let out a yap, and as the ball made its way down, Kore took the noise as a confirmation, swinging the ball with another loud crack into the purple slime.

First, it seemed like the ball had just reached the center of the slime, but the power behind the hit and the tautness of the bandages made it burst, the slime getting practically everywhere. Anu whined as his black fur was hit with the slime, and he grabbed Kore's ball before diving into the water nearby to clean himself off. Kore made her way over to the pool, trying not to slip on the purple goop, kneeling down as she looked at the jackal with a nod.

"You did well, my friend."

Anu's paws came onto the side of the pool as he dropped the ball by Kore's side, his tongue beginning to hang out. He tilted his head as Kore scratched behind his ear, his tail wagging feverishly in the water, almost hitting her with the murky liquid. This didn't faze her, however.

"Go home, now. Enjoy your rest."

Anu was quick to follow her command, heading through a portal back to his plane. Kore gingerly picked up the ball, placing it back into her pocket before heading out of the course. She was tired, but she wouldn't let that be known to anyone but the ones in charge, who had measured her skills. To them, she guessed, it must have been obvious. To the others, well.

She wouldn't let them think she was weak.

[ AllHailDago , AtlannianSpy ]​

 

[Ren Pengwen]

Plumeria Astarte
​

AllHailDago AtlannianSpy

Plumeria had risen with the sun. Its radiant, warm shine served as her alarm clock, stirring her from a deep slumber. She stretched out of the clump of grass she had pulled together into a makeshift bed for the previous night. Blades of green stuck to her smiling face as she strolled out of the welcoming embrace of nature, and back into an unwelcoming town. The earthy smells stuck to her skin as she navigated the world of bricks and money.
Door after door slammed in her face, once or twice she was physically pushed away, and all too often was she verbally threatened to leave at once. Her search for work was poor and unsuccessful. With no education, prior work experience, or proof of any viable skills and nothing to her name, she was easily turned away. The fact that she would rudely intrude into people's homes, businesses and shops casually asking for work didn't help her case along either. At this rate, she was hopeless. Fortunately, she kept her hopes high as she strolled through Twinbrooks, a relaxed smile etched onto her face. Her situation may be quite dire but she trusted that her fate would find her.

Not long after her fifteenth failed attempt did she find herself swept among a tide of people, excitedly crowding towards a magical spectacle. "How delightful!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she observed the striking contrast between the two guilds. The fluid, dark crow balanced the bright, rigid hawk. She playfully thought of them as Yin and Yang, and wished to see them in flight together. Such sights always pleased her and her deep need for balance. From the murmurs among the crowd, she deduced that they were recruiting. William had told her of guilds as a child and she thought it would be a good compromise to her situation. After all, all she had was magic. Her interest piqued as she observed the polar opposite styles and personalities of the owners, the Bright Hawks being loud and flashy while the Void Crows were rather edgy and cool (even the guild names names reflected as such). She did not flinch among the chaos of the demonstrations nor at the boom of Peregrine's voice. The ink horror show and burning flames only entertained her childlike wonder. The magical birds' beating wings pushed her back with the force, her long pink hair flowing behind air along with her cheerful laughter. She was overjoyed. Having been roped into the performance, she stayed tuned for the announcement of the slime golf. With light, flighty steps she managed to break through to the front of the crowd to watch the game play out. The air smelled a little fresher wherever she went, a pleasant occurrence for any passerby.

Each contestant that passed by she watched them closely and even cheered them on, further fueling her own excitement. Oh, how she would jump for joy when slime landed on her. The texture amused her, being more fluid than she managed it would be. None of the contestants particularly stood out to her and she had no intention of analyzing the competition or the course. She simply enjoyed the free show. Her smokey grey eyes seemed to sparkle as she observed the different characters, each bursting with their own unique flavour. Well now... I don't wanna miss out on all the fun! She playfully thought as she ran down to the first platform, eager to participate.

Plume stood, steady as a rock and light as a feather, as she briefly introduced herself with a gentle bow of the head. "I am Plumeria Astarte. I hope everyone's enjoying the show!" Her voice carried her excitement through audibly. The crowd seemed to share her enthusiasm as they cheered in the distance. She stepped lightly upon the ethernano panel, letting it gauge her before stepping off and taking a deep breath.

First up, the pendulums. They were almost hypnotic in their sway. Plume quickly picked up on their rhythm, her feet thumping to the tempo. With that, she could easily tackle the situation at hand. With one confident leap, she passed through the first gap and simply danced her way through, using the rhythm of each pendulum as a guide. With another graceful leap, she emerged at the other end of the first challenge. Feeling energetic and playful, she ran to the first blue slime with a youthful eagerness, kicking it across the floor. Her laughter rang out like music. She was having so much fun for the first time in weeks, and it showed. The course was nothing but a game to her, and one that could hopefully land her a job too! Before she green slimes appeared, she quickly pulled a glass vial out from her pocket. I wonder if slimes can even smell? She carelessly thought as she pulled the cap off, spreading a floral scent into the arena. A small amount had escaped before she capped it again, after all she was simply testing her aroma on the creatures. Strangely enough, the rapid bouncing green balls seemed to absorb her soothing aroma and they slowly relaxed, opting to bounce on the spot. Their colour also shifted slightly to a warmer yellow hue. "Wow!" She exclaimed, her curiosity satisfied. However, she had to move quickly before the magic wore off. Most of the slimes managed to escape and hand't even been reached by her magic, but she had easy pickings in front of her. Running from slime to slime, she joyfully stomped and kicked them into oblivion. By the time she got to the last two, the magic wore off and they slowly regained their speed, bouncing away from the amused woman. Plume simply waved goodbye to them as she trotted along to the next phase of the course.

The platforms appeared slippery with watery. Not that it would be a problem for this particular wild child. Having grown up in nature meant she knew how to traverse all sorts of terrains with relative ease. Hoping between the platforms, like boulders on a beach, she quickly closed in on the blue slime. To her surprise, she dashed ahead in her excitement and slipped. Luckily the slime broke her fall, crushing it with the force. The air was knocked out of her. A goofy grin spread across her face as she popped open her vial once again, taking advantage of a quick breeze to spread her aroma. Plume quickly capped her vial as she hopped to her feet. She spun around on the spot to be met with the sight of red blurs racing towards her. Majority of them quickly softened, turning into hopping pink balls. One of the still raging slimes charging towards her quickly collided into her side, causing her to squint in slight pain. Bending her body unpredictably, she managed to dodge the remaining red slimes. "Ha! I got this!" Plume charged ahead, proceeding to destroy the soothed slimes along the way. After getting through about half of them, she took advantage of the last remaining seconds of peaceful monsters to quickly dash past them like the wind. After successfully reaching the third part of the course she released her breath, not realising she was holding it in - habits of an aroma user mage.

Adrenaline shooting through her now, she walked back to gain momentum. From a running start, she leaped into the air with a cheer. Her hand naturally reached out and clutched firmly onto the dangling rope, which she imagined to be a thick leafy vine in the emerald green jungle. Climbing was easy enough, she barely had any strain. A fair way up, Plume could risk a jump. She rocked the rope, swinging her slender form back and forth until she had enough speed to release. "Whoo!" came her voice, clear as a bell. She landed squarely on the slime, rolling upon instinct out of habit. As she straightened, Plume took another deep breath. She decided against using her magic any further, opting to dodge the next wave of slimes instead. Winding up, she launched herself forward into a sprint, attempting to dodge the incoming barrage of fiery red and mint green. Without the best speed to match her observations, her reaction time was off and about a third of her became dotted with splotches of red.

Her speed slowed as she arrived at the ethernano panel with an abrupt stop. She rocked between her toes and heels, allowing time to catch her breath and for the panel to get a reading. Eyeing the purple gelatinous mass ahead of her, Plume wondered how she could possibly elicit an explosion from it. She had no flashy nor offensive magic at her disposal. There were some needles in her possession, but they wouldn't do much damage and they'd likely be scattered by the explosion (which she considered to be quite hazardous). The best she could do was to simply attack with her bare fists. The ending finally was as lackluster as expected from a mage of her kind. She clutched the needles between her knuckles and used them like claws to dig into the giant purple slime, slashing it apart. It was feral and fun, but the impact caused a minimal explosion. It didn't even reach the walls of the arena. Plume didn't mind though. She was satisfied with how much fun she had and the content curve of her lips showed that. Forgetting that she was even auditioning in the first place, she simply strolled off the course grounds without gauging any sort of reaction from the guild masters. The fragrant witch hummed a jolly tune as she made her exit and rejoined the growing crowd.

 

[AnthraxBurrito]

As the participants began to step up for their respective runs in slime golf course, Summar's attention was turned elsewhere. Though he wanted to watch everyone else, he needed to find some source material to use. Looking around King Felix Bridge, Summar scanned the surrounding marketplace for something he could use. With his gaze landing on a stand opposite to the small arena, Summar made his way through the crowd approaching the merchant in charge. Scanning the merchandise, he looked for the largest possible purchase, as to give him the most material to work with.


"How much for the big one there in the back?" Summar spoke, while reaching into the small pouch hanging from his hip.

"For you, the low price of 4 eagles." Replied the merchant in a condescending tone, assuming it was too high of a price for the modestly dressed man before him. With his hand emerging from the pouch, Summar held a small marble in his hand, transmuting it to gold, before molding its shape into that of a standard coin. "Now we both know that price is beyond outrageous. But I'm kind of in a rush, so I'll tell you what; because I'm so kind I'll give you 1 eagle, which we both know is double what that cheaply made product is worth." Summar explained, still smiling despite his stern tone. The merchant, unable to think of a quick quip, and seeking some kind of sale to start the day, agreed. Throwing his purchase over his shoulder, Summar turned back towards the Slime golf course, now ready to take his turn. After putting a good amount of distance between him and the stall, Summar only snapped his fingers. In an instant, the previously exchanged coin broke down into gold dust, before returning back to Summar's pouch, taking the shape of the original marble once more.


Stepping up to the starting platform, Summar took in his surroundings, examining the course before him carefully. His attention was first drawn to the murky rancid water below, giving off almost visual stink lines. He couldn't help but wonder if the guild masters had put in the sewage as a way to discourage participants from making mistakes. Next, he mentally noted the locations of the blue slimes, as well as the massive purple slime at the far end of the course. He also kept in mind that his ethernano was being monitored, so he wanted to be minimal and effective. With a plan now formulated, Summar finally unfurled the large rug draped over his shoulder.


In one quick motion, he threw the rug into the air while also transmuting it into gold, causing it to lose all structure, morphing into a floating blob of liquid gold. Next, the shoes on Summar's feet also began to transmute into gold. With his last bit of set up, Summar separated the floating blob of gold into several smaller blobs, before each of them began taking more solid, permanent shapes. Finally, floating before him were half a dozen, hollow cannon balls. It only took a slight gesture from Summar, for each of the balls to then submerge themselves. Allowing each ball to fill with water would give the necessary weight he would need, without having to use more gold per ball to add density. This would not only help in using a minimal amount of ethernano, but would also make for a much more effective slime smashing. After his minute of prep was complete, he was finally ready to begin.


Stepping off the starting platform, Summar's feet did not touch the first obstacle. In fact, none of him did. Thanks to his new golden kicks, Summar now stood, levitating over the swinging pendulums. He already knew he did not have the speed nor the coordination to make it through such an obstacle while also avoiding the oncoming slimes. During his childhood, his magic tutor often used self levitation as a means to improve Summar's ability focus his magic in a single point as well as magical stamina training. Nowadays, a simple technique like this required almost no effort or magical power on Summar's behalf. As he made his way over the course, so did the cannon balls, maintaining proximity as if Summar had his own orbit. The first wave of slimes came after smashing the first blue slime. Jumping after Summar the slimes all failed to reach him above the course, while also making it easy for the levitating mage to smash through them all. Moving his hands in an orchestra conductor like series of movements, the first wave of slimes stood no chance, each of them splattering under the weight of the oncoming cannonballs.


After smashing through the first wave of slimes, and levitating over the second obstacle, Summar readied for the next wave of slimes. With the second slime splattered, the next wave started coming at him from multiple directions. As the slimes all jumped after Summar he took quick evasive aerial maneuvers as to make sure as to not hurt his score. Having missed the opportunity to smash the second wave of bonus slimes, he prepared for the final obstacle. Landing atop the wall meant to slow him down, Summar only stop so he could focus on trying to wipe out the entire wave of bonus slimes this time around. After smashing the third blue slime. The next wave of bonus slimes launched at him immediately, this time faster than before. Evasion would not an option. Bringing in his cannon balls close, Sumar began having them all spin rapidly around him, forming a small golden whirlwind as the balls increased in speed. As each of the slimes jumped towards Summar, they only splattered upon getting too close to the now velocity cannonballs. Lifting off the ground once more, Summar quickly made his way to the ethernano panel.


Standing before the massive purple slime, Summar had already figured how he would splatter the final slime. Releasing the water within each of the cannonballs, Summar envisioned in his mind the new shape in which his gold would take. All at once Summar's creations began melding together again into a floating blob of liquid gold, before taking their shape of a massive golden hand. Again, Summar submerged the hollowed out hand, filling it with the dirty water below as to add weight, before sending it flying into the air miles above the city with only a flick of his wrist. Bringing his hand down swiftly, the golden fist came crashing down with tremendous speed, sending bits of the purple slime everywhere.


"I wonder if I can still make the big fight over in the Mudsticks?" Summar thought to himself, wiping away bits of purple slime. First he would need to get rid of the gold he had used for the golf course. As he walked back into the crowd, awaiting the end of the event, he came up with a solution. The golden fist took off once more from the platform where Summar just was, this time flying down below king felix bridge, diving deep into the canal below. Once at the bottom of the river, Summar released his magic, breaking the golden fist down into golden dust. "Once this is over, I've got to find out where that fight is at." He thought to himself, completely forgetting about the golden shoes he still wore.

 

[Lucem]

Harper Layne
​

Waiting for his shoes to dry, Harper watched as the other recruits took their turns. A few of the attempts were a lot more intense than he expected from something like this. Looking at how exhausted and determined some of the wizards were, it was like they were fighting for their lives in a war. It was just an obstacle course, right?

Aside from how passionate the participants were, he also noticed how dirty the water had become. In a short time, the pool had gone from clear blue to murky brown, adding a little extra incentive for people to keep their balance. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about accidentally taking a dive. He was used to dirt, but getting drenched in someone else's filth probably wouldn't improve his mood.

A few moments later, Harper's viewing was interrupted when someone bumped into him. Turning his attention away from the course, he saw a soaking, stumbling Lysandra behind him. The young woman was quick to correct herself, greeting him with a bow. He didn't expect her to remember him, but it seemed as though he made enough of an impression to stay in her memory.

It had been a while since anyone addressed him like that. He never cared for titles, but it was better than being called trash or whatever the others preferred to use instead of the name their patriarch had so graciously given him. It was better, but he hadn't been a 'master' in quite some time, so hearing it now from an actual noble didn't feel right.

Pocketing his hands, he tried to get the girl to raise her head before people started staring. "You don't have to be so formal, Lysandra. You heard, right? I'm not a Crawford anymore." Even though he was still associated with the family due to Arnold's efforts, his status was like that of a live-in servant. Although, since he had been sent away from the manor for a time, he was probably lower than those who actually got to stay, even if his former father tried to assure him that he still had an important role to play in the family.

Retrieving a handkerchief from his coat, Harper offered it to the girl. "It's not much, but it's better than nothing." It wouldn't help get rid of the smell, but it'd do something about the grime until she took a shower. A mix of slime and dirty water probably didn't feel too great on the skin.

"You don't have to concern yourself with me if you don't want to. If you're worried about your family's relationship with the Crawfords, then it's fine." His tone matched the tired-looking expression on his face, lacking energy as he treated the issue as something that couldn't be helped. No matter what he did, the situation would never change for the better. All he could do was focus on other things, trying to do whatever was in his best interest as he went along. "I'm nobody now."

Looking back to the arena, he watched as the next mage stepped up to the podium. The woman herself didn't catch his eye, but her magic was a different matter. Several black birds appeared from the tattoo on her arm, attacking the slimes with their sharp talons. Seriously, what was with all the crows today?

simj26

 

[Hanarei]

Jade Evergarden
​

jade had watched several people take the test, keeping notes of where the slimes were located. It really didn't seem like a very fair test at all to her. There were many variables to your score that could help to ease it... but even with that in mind and not knowing how points are judged it seemed very unlikely there was a way to make a very fair test out of it. As much as she loved to show her skill and talent, it felt almost wrong how easy it would be for her to do so well with said test. It almost felt like she would be cheating when you had others whose type of magic would require a lot more effort to accomplish the same thing as her. The fact she was able to observe the test only further trivialized it... though perhaps in a way that was also part of their intention? Truthfully she wasn't quite willing to accept either of the two guild master's were crafty enough to think of things in that matter given what they had displayed of themselves. Then again their right-hand women seemed more level headed and could of suggested such a thing as well.

The confidence green haired woman stepped forward making her way onto the coarse stepping into the magic circle to have her reserves measured. Jade knew the number would likely be on the higher. She pulled out her satchel not seemingly in any extreme rush extracting several seeds out at once. She took a step forward moving out of the magic circle ensuring not to disrupt it creating a little distance. A circle formed very briefly under her as her shoes sunk very slightly into the ground as the ground around her softened. She dropped the seeds into the ground as quickly as she did the ground itself causing grass and flowers to grow around her feet. She seemed rather relaxed mentally recalling in her mind all the parts of the test in her mind from watching several people do the coarse.

A thick vine like plant shot out from the ground, a large bud resting at the tip as it flew out towards the first coarse. It came into the ground, suddenly opening up as more floral ground spread from the spot it landed. From there more vines shot out similar in shape from the first though a little less thick as it started a chain reaction. The vines spread around reaching further along the coarse each springing forth more floral ground and more vines creating a network of vines... each time the vines getting little by little thinner until they reached the end. From each of the new smaller circles of plant life sprang new vines, lacking the bud from before appearing slightly different in appearance from the original vine plants she used. The tip of the vines were partially pointed, not terribly sharp though a bit thinner at the very end in a dull ended cone. The first of the vines stopped just short of the first slime standing ready but not yet striking.

"As talented as I am... this test really isn't very fair. I really do hope you are using other factors then what you said in your judgement. As much as I love showing how amazing I am... I do feel a little dirty being able to have a test so well suited to magic like this... not to mention the targets being one of the few things I have little mercy for." She spoke with a certain degree of smugness about it while seemingly nipping a little at the two guild masters and their testing methodology for the sake of others taking the test. Perhaps... not the smartest thing... but Jade wasn't one who tended to hold back when it came to her opinion particularly if she saw some fault to it that might effect others negatively. She lifted her hand up as suddenly the vines came striking in a chain reaction. As soon as the first vine struck the others reacted in order taking advantage of her early observations to catch the green and red slimes as they came out after crushing the blue slime that triggered them. Jade's finesse was great when it came to her magic... and knowing exactly where and when the slimes would come out made it very easy for her. As the chain reaction was still going off she stepped out of the circle walking forward in no incredible rush to reach the ending magic circle, stopping along the way where the final vine had stopped, a bud having raised up from the ground opening up slightly before Jade arrived revealing several seeds inside which Jade quickly grabbed, tossing them into her satchel.

Jade stepped into the final circle to have her readings taken again. She didn't expect her numbers to drop very much. Having a test she knew what exactly to expect added with her precise control over her magic made it easy for her to not be wasteful with the resources she had. After her reading was taken She stepped out from the last ethernano reading circle creating a small space before another circle formed under her feet creating yet again soft ground under her. She dropped some seeds floral appearing around her once more as several vines appeared much like the ones she used to squish the other slimes before rising up and spreading out around the last purple slime. She kept her hands clasped together as if in prayer as another plant shot out, large leaves cascading out acting as a makeshift cover over Jade in order to keep her from getting slime on her and ruing her clothing. Suddenly the vines shot out striking from various slides hitting the purple slime causing it it. While it was far from the most pitiful attempt against it, it wasn't extremely messy all things considered doing just enough to splatter it. It was likely one of the least impressive displays out of the other more talented mages.

"Spending all your energy off is a waste. If I were to waste all of my efforts on one final attack when I can do just enough to finish off the foe, then I would only be dooming myself should another threat appear... not to mention it would leave me with nothing to help my allies or others out should they get hurt or need help" Jade spoke as if to scold the two Guild masters of their final test as she released her hands allowing the plants she created to ease up, quickly withering away as she bent down to grab some of the seeds left behind on the ground, slipping them into her satchel. She stepped to the side walking off from the coarse electing to watch a bit more out of curiosity for the others. She had to admit was pleasantly surprised to see there were more mages there that actually were talented then she expected... even if not were all very.... elegant. Even some of the lesser skilled mages she could see a certain degree of ambition for them that she admired. She wanted to see what Elissa could do as well with such a test she made no qualms about judging as being rather unfair openly about.



AtlannianSpy AllHailDago QuirkyAngel

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Elissa Holsten
​

A hand shaking her shoulder startled Elissa out of her dream. Or, rather, Mr. Watson’s dream. Blinking, Elissa looked up to see strawberry blonde hair and a pair of amused cerulean eyes gazing down at her. It was one of the guild auditioners she’d let cut her in line. “Your turn’s coming up.”

Glancing behind her showed the number of recruits was noticeably smaller. A peek to the front and she could see Jade was finishing up the course. When did that happen? Nonetheless, Elissa was pleased to see the plant mage give slime golf a try…even if she didn’t seem to like the final obstacle very much. “Thank you.”

“Sure,” His gaze followed hers to Jade. “Awfully snippy over a simple game, isn’t she?”

“I think it’s charmingly forthright.” Elissa defended her friend. Though she and Jade had only spoken briefly, she hadn’t disliked the other girl’s company. People with strong opinions were always interesting to listen to.

Much to her surprise, the man just laughed. “That’s certainly one way to look at it. Charmingly forthright. I like it. Anyway, break a leg.”

During the time they talked, the slime course had repaired itself. Elissa took a deep breath, then exhaled, before stepping up to the start circle. She wasn’t especially nervous. She’d run the course 50 times in her dreams after all. It was all still fresh in her memory. Her best runs. Her worst runs. The timings and movements she would need to complete the course to the best of her abilities. Since her mind had already experienced it all, there wasn’t much to fear. The only left was to do was to give it her best and hope it passed whatever standards the guild masters had.

Elissa didn’t use an ounce of magic. Nonetheless, her run through the obstacle was relatively smooth. It was just like in her dreams. Counting in her head, Elissa weaved her way through the pendulums, across the dropping platforms, and over the wall in a steady yet steadfast pace, stomping on blue slimes along the way. Similar to the man who used chain magic, Elissa didn’t aim for points. In all her dream runs, she fell in the water when she did. Instead, Elissa focused on avoiding the slimes, only shooting the ones that went after her with tranquilizer darts to slow them down. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Reload. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Reload. The pattern had become familiar to her and while the slime movements were erratic, they weren’t entirely unpredictable.

Elissa did splatter a couple of slimes that were conveniently in her path, swiped some that got too close with a wide swing her handbag, but otherwise points weren’t a priority for her. Completing the course in a timely manner was. Along with not falling and not losing points. By the time Elissa made it to the end, her breathing was a bit uneven, she’d lost her hairclip, and a bit of red had gotten in her hair, but otherwise there was no red on her. Her handbag, on the other hand, looked to have gotten a paint job. It was her best run yet and she took pride in that, even if her performance wasn’t as stellar or magical as some others.

Elissa took a moment to recuperate before facing her most difficult challenge: Big purple. Splattering him always took an unnecessarily long time in her dream runs. Jumping on him didn’t work as she wasn’t heavy enough—just bounced right off— and kicking took multiple tries. Her best bet was to focus her energy into a solid punches, just like her self-defense instructor taught her. It was the quickest method. Elissa put away her tranquilizer pistol and stepped to her side, raising her fists just like she’d remembered she'd been taught. She’d just have to give it her best shot. It was the only thing she could do. Her instructor’s advice, when she first learned how to fight, came back to her.

Think of the opponent as the enemy. The worst scumbag on earth. Someone I'd really wanted to deck.

Suddenly the image of her ex-boyfriend overlapped the large purple slime and Elissa’s fist clenched. Everything she kept bottled up inside came pouring out all at once “I. REALLY.”

She threw it forward, her body twisting with the action. “HATE. YOU!!!”

The slime wiggled when her fist landed. At first nothing else seemed to happen. Then it popped. Explode probably wasn’t the right word since the splatter didn’t really go very far. It wasn't even anything Elissa really needed to block. The slime just sort of deflated. Nonetheless, Elissa flipped her hair and walked off the course with a satisfied smile on her face. She was done.

(mentioned: Hanarei )

 

[GasMaskie]

"...Aaaaaand, that takes care of that!" With a self-satisfied grin plasted on his face, the brunette finished wringing out his capelet of the slimy residue that remained after his run. After recovering from the course, the orphan had stepped off to the side to clean off his clothing. He really had to hand it to his sister - the hood really did come in handy. Whether it was splattered slimes or the cold rains that swept the land, the red cloth had proved to be a robust choice of clothing. The young man sneezed and glanced around, for a moment, he thought he had heard someone say his name.

He looked up from the upturned crate he had been sitting on just a short distance away from the course. All sorts of magic were on display - spectral images and creatures from tattoos, another set of chains, and it looked like something with weapons? Today seemed like the first time he had ever gotten the chance to see all these different magics on display. Naturally, seeing others run the course left him with a sense of awe. But, it also left him feeling smaller than before - everyone else had far more flashy rounds. And they all seemed pretty well-versed with their spells. Results were one thing, but putting on a show was surely the other half of deciding who was good enough to cut it for these guilds, right?

One hopeful's run had caught his attention in particular though - a young woman who had run the course with a dart-shooting gun and... her handbag? He folded his capelet and kept his eyes on the woman, tilting his head slightly. It seemed like she had been spacing out just before her run, and as she let out her shout, he couldn't help but smile. She certainly had guts, especially running through the course without any use of her magic, if she had any in the first place. Though, perhaps her magic wasn't the sort that functioned in combat? The possibilities made his head spin as he stood up and clamped the folded garb underneath an arm.

As he moved towards the obstacle course once more, he stopped mid-step as he noticed something on the ground. Salt picked the object up, holding it up to the light. A hairclip? Come to think of it, the girl's hair looked a little different after her run. And with how fast she flew through the course, maybe...? He carefully wiped it off with a clean handkerchief - a plain, gray cloth. Maybe some of the other mages who hailed from noble bloodlines had ones with embroidered patterns and gold embossing... The young man blinked as he finished wiping it clean enough to glisten in the light.

"Ah, excuse me. Is this yours? There were a couple of other women who ran through the course but...?" The young man cleared his throat as he approached the woman leaving the slime golf course. Come to think of it, this really was the first time he had actually spoken to a girl his age outside of his family. He could feel a slight flutter in his stomach. Talking with others really wasn't hard, but thinking about it now? Maybe the nerves were all in his head. Just because people in fictional novels got all nervous didn't mean he had to. This was reality, after all. He held out the hairclip in one hand.

"Anyways, I was watching your run too. No magic, and that all that yelling about how you hated someone at the end was really inspiring, y'know? In case, you didn't catch it before, I'm Salt Servein. I'm really curious now - what sort of magic do you know?" The faint redness in his cheeks vanished as his eyes were filled with a curious sparkle - a genuine desire to know more.

( QuirkyAngel )

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Elissa Holsten
​

"Thank you," Elissa replied, blushing slightly as she took the black hairclip from his hands. She'd known she'd made a spectacle of herself, especially during the last obstacle, but she didn't expect for it to be pointed out so flagrantly, let alone complimented for it. Her anger towards her ex, the ones she kept bottled when she saw his dream last night, were hardly anything to be proud of after all. Hating someone rarely was. Especially since she knew she had no right to be--in her head, at least. Elissa clipped the accessory back on her hair before returning her attention to the bright eyed boy. His smile was infectious. "I'm Elissa Holsten. I use dreamweaver magic to sense and manipulate the dreams of those who are sleeping. Nice to meet you, Salt."

The boy looked to be around her age. A good 3 inches taller than her though. "Your run was very inspiring as well."

If she remembered correctly, he was the one who wanted to be a Super-mage. The ones whose 'magic' was never giving up. Truly much more inspiring in her mind, given how difficult the slime golf course might've been for some. Her included. After all, she'd only started practicing dream magic, she wasn't a fighter, and the only magic she knew wasn't even very suited for the game. Even if she practiced in the dream world, reality was a whole other beast. Besides, she'd given up on points in order to complete the challenge in a timely manner. Inspiring? She simply chose the option she believed would give her the most optimal outcome. Whether was enough to get into the guild was another matter.

"Any guild worth joining could see that."

Optimism was far better than pessimism in most situations.

Elissa checked her watch. The tryouts were whittling their way to end. Just a couple more contestants to go. She'd given the slime golf course a go on a whim. She still didn't know anything about the two new guilds (beyond their name). What they stood for. What their goals were. She wasn't close friends with any of the guildmembers. Therefore, she'd be disappointed if she didn't pass, but not terribly heartbroken. Finding the right guild was like finding a good boyfriend. Difficult...but worth it. Probably.

GasMaskie

 

[Refaulted]

Basil Webster

Basil stood at the beginning of the obstacle course, having impatiently waited his turn. He had watched the other mages go before him, each one showing off their different abilities and what made them special. The only thing that had kept Basil still while they had all gone through the gauntlet was watching each person complete the course. All the different kinds of magic and strategies made his heart race. He wanted to learn all of it, even if he didn't have a fantastic grasp on his own magic. Seeing it all in action had made him excited to show off his own prowess, and show he was worthy of becoming a mage under one of the Guilds.

He flexed his hand, gripping his wrist with his other hand as he looked at the first obstacle in front of him. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he looked into the secret little space that only he could access, and used his magic power to pull his key to success out. A flash of blue light flashed over his hand, flashing only for a moment before it was gone, and he was now wearing a glove made of black cloth. On the backs of the fingers were thin sewing needles. As he released the breath he didn't know he was holding, he smiled with satisfaction. He hadn't used his magic in front of such a large group of people before, and that no problems had occurred made the tightness in his chest loosen a little bit. He spun his pointer finger in a circular motion and four thin threads moved from the hem of his shirt and tied themselves to the needles, the string floating aimlessly to his side.

His excitement was growing. He only wished Emilia was here to watch him crush this course. But he couldn't have asked her to be here. She had given him the chance to get started on his dreams, and he wouldn't let her down. He started to walk towards the first obstacle, confidence seemingly brimming off of him like a bright light. He waved his fingers, the threads attached to it moving like rolling waves. So far so good. Everything would work out fine! He would finish the course, Adellon would see his worth, and he would be on his way to going on amazing adventures with different and exciting people. He could see it now...

But he was too busy to see the first pendulum that was swinging towards him. He hadn't realized how close he had gotten to the first part of the course while he was caught up in his own thoughts. He snapped himself out of his day dreams as the first pendulum swung towards him. Basil tried to step backwards to avoid it, but it slammed into his shoulder as he tried to move back. He spun once, losing his balance and began to tilt off the edge of the narrow bridge. Basil threw his free hand out towards the bridge, and waved his gloved hand quickly. His shirt seemed to fall apart over his body, flowing over his arm before forming again and wrapping around the bridge on the other side, the sleeve tight around his wrist to keep him steady. He was still, the only thing preventing him from falling into the water now being his shirt. He took a moment to calm down, then pulled himself back up onto the bridge. He looked towards the onlookers and gave a nervous-looking smile. "Oopsie~?" He waved his glove again, and the shirt detached from the bridge and formed back over his upper body.

Well, he was glad Emilia wasn't here to see that. He patted his cheeks a couple of times, telling himself to focus under his breath. He stood on the bridge and watched each pendulum swing. They weren't moving too fast, and they weren't heavy enough to really hurt aside from maybe disorient him a little bit. But still, he doubted his weapon could stop it at the moment. So the next best option was to just try and maneuver through it. He stood in front of the first pendulum, and waited for it to swing by before stepping through, and proceeded to do this for each pendulum afterwards, only almost getting struck by the second to last pendulum. Once he was through, he took a deep breath, grinning from ear to ear. He had done it! He pumped his fists up in the air in celebration, but paused when he realized he had forgotten something. He turned back to look at the slime what was between the pendulums, but only saw some small piles of blue gel there. He tilted his head in confusion, then picked up his foot and looked at the bottom of his shoe, peeling off the remainder of the small creature. "Sorry, cutie, I was a little too focused! Please don't hate me." He dropped the slime, which began to crawl back to the remainder of itself.

Basil watched it and almost didn't realize the green slime appear. It flew past his face, then proceeded to bounce around him. Basil lunged for it, but missed it by a hair before it flew back into the hole it had appeared from. He swore under his breath as he stood up. He heard a screech and ducked down, a red slime flying past him and splattering against the far wall. He sat up, frowning. "They're so cute! Why do I need to splatter them?! It's unfair!" He stood up, pouting still as he moved onto the next part of course. This part was rather easy for him compared to the pendulum. He looked at the blue slime at the end of the section, and began to jump from platform to platform. It reminded him of jumping from rock to rock in the brook back in the woods near Bell Port when he was younger. It also helped that he was very light, and he made it to the end without a problem. He looked around and saw a small piece of red sitting in a small hole away from him. He slowly moved forward, wanting to bait it out, but was distracted when a green blue buzzed around him. He swung his gloved hand out, striking the slime with his needles and tearing a portion of it off. He winced a little bit as he did, which was enough for the red slime to shoot out it's hiding place and strike him in the back of the head. Red slime exploded into his peripheral vision, and he stumbled forward a couple steps. He reached behind him and heard the high-pitched growl of the red slime as he pulled it off of him, holding it in his hand as it tried to wiggle free. He held a finger up to the creature, a stern look on his face as he spoke. "That was rude! You're cute, but you're pretty awful, aren't you?" He tossed the slime away, reaching behind him and pulling gel from his hair as he approached the final obstacle. He sighed, but it quickly turned back into a smile. "Gods, this is fun."

The last obstacle was rather difficult. At least for him. His upper body strength wasn't very great, so pulling himself up with the rope had him huffing and puffing all the way up. If not for putting some of his thread into the rope to help pull him up, he would be in way worse condition. At the top, he looked across the long gap, and he felt the same thrill he would when he was younger, and he wrapped his body around the rope as he swung across the gap. He once again saw the red slime, and it flew towards him. This time, though, he was ready. He waved his glove and his shirt fell apart again, forming back into a cape-like form, and he held it in front of him as the slime collided with him, falling off almost immediately after. As he made it to the other side, he held his shirt-cape in his hands as he saw the green slime fly out as well. It bounced off the wall next to him, and with a quick swipe of his hand, he just barely managed to cut into it with his needles. It splattered against the next wall, and Basil reformed his shirt while the slime reformed...well, it's body. Basil picked up the blue slime, and with pain in his heart, squeezed it with his hand. Really, it felt like there was no humane way to do the deed.

Basil put aside the pain in his heart, and looked at the giant purple slime in front of him. He rubbed his chin as he looked at it. He pulled back his arm and very gently simulated a punch towards it, doing this a few times before shaking his head. He did the same for a kick, a chop, a tackle, and a headbutt, but each one he would just shake his head and look at it thoughtfully again. He finally threw up his arms in frustration. "Gods, why did it have to be the one sport where I have to pop these little cuties?! Why can't I just pet them and have a good day like that!" He knelt down, looking at the slime, and then gestured at it. "God, I just want to cuddle with it. It seems so comfy to lay on..." Basil stopped, then smiled a bit as he took a few steps back. Once he was back a couple paces, he ran forward, jumping into the air and landing on top of the slime. It heaved under his weight a bit before it exploded underneath him. Basil laid down in the purple gel, rolling over as it began to reform next to him. Purple gel covered his torso and face, but he was laughing like he was having the time of his life. He sat up, wiping a tear from his eye, then stood up and exited the course. "Okay, maybe that was a little fun~."

 

[izayoiix]

Alyssa was as pleased as she could manage in such a situation to realize that she'd been right the whole time. A join recruitment drive? What kind of bullshit was that? She sighed as she was gently led to the line by the woman she'd snuck up on moments ago. The explanation she'd received about the game was stupid, and there were plenty of things the green-haired woman could think of that she'd rather be doing. If she were being honest with herself, she'd rather be cleaning the diner during rush hour than stand in this large crowd and parade her magic around.

Although, as the girl who she'd been with, Anais, took her turn, Alyssa was interested to see her magic at play. She'd seen the tattoo on her forhead and based on the way her crows and the bear had appeared, she couldn't help but notice the similarities to her own magic. So maybe getting dragged to this part of the bridge wasn't a complete waste of time, but she would still rather be back home. With a small huff at her own thoughts she went back to staring blankly at the course.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Anais returned to her side, asking if she wanted her to hold the groceries she was carrying. Alyssa blinked in an almost sleepy manner before opening her mouth to tell her that no, she was quite alright holding her groceries seeing as she had no intentions of joining in on this silly little game. Before she could however, her groceries were ripped away from her by a familiar jacket clad arm and lifted above her head.

Instantly she became enraged, turning on her heels in a sharp motion, eyes bright with something close to rivalry as she glared up at her first spirit, Ventus. "Ventus!" she growled. "What are you-?!"

Before she could finish, the tall man quickly handed the bag to Anais and in the next second, grabbed Alyssa by the shoulders, spun her around and shoved her into the beginning of the course. "Have fuuuuun~" he chirped, completely unbothered by Alyssa's scream of rage from where she stood in the circle at the beginning of the course. He turned to Anais and gave her a bright smile, his eyes sparkling with joy at the annoyance he'd caused the green-haired woman. "Hello there~"

"Ventus you fucking piece of shit!" she snapped, glaring at him from behind the weak wall of wind he'd put up to block her way out.

"Enjoy yourself, Alyssa! Try not to get completely covered in slime!"

She growled to herself, knowing she was stuck seeing as the game was already measuring her reserves. "Fucking prick..." she hissed to herself, turning around to start the game. Might as well get this over with.

Once the course started, Alyssa stepped forward, her fingers twitched, activating the spell connected to her knives, sending one of them flying into her hand. With her other hand, she brushed her fingers against the holder on her belt, flicking through the seven keys until she brushed against a certain one. She unlatched it from the ring holding it in place and quickly muttered the incantation under breath.

In a burst of smoke in shades of blue and purple, two wolves appeared right as the first set of slimes attacked. The white wolf, Artemis, emerged from the smoke first, her coat shining brightly as she jumped forward, landing on some slimes and tearing into another one, having snatched it up in her mouth. The black wolf, Diana, emerged as the smoke started to fade, her black fur seeming to ripple as she moved at a slower pace, almost lazily, as she trailed after her sister, swiping at any slime she spotted. The two worked in perfect harmony, catching the slime they spotted in seconds, while Alyssa threw her knife at any from a higher placement and summoned it back to her hand.

She continued forward, pulling a disgusted face as the two spirits began to make even more of a mess as bits of slime flew everywhere, including her hair. When one had been flying towards her face, she ducked, but unfortunately, her hair wasn't fast enough. A scowl was etched permanently on her face after that.

When she finally finished the course, she was completely pissed and felt disgusting. She stormed over to Ventus and Anais, Artemis and Diana fading back to the Spirit World behind her with amusement dancing in their eyes. Alyssa could tell that the two were proud of the mess they made of her hair and her clothes.

"I hate you, you sanctimonious asshole." she snarled in response to the spirit's pleased grin.
cinnabuns AllHailDago AtlannianSpy

 

[soggyparadise]

Venrie had found himself a spot from which to watch the rest of the applicants run the course- though it wasn't exactly easy. Since the flashy demonstration from each of the guild masters a crowd had begun to build up bit by bit with each passing person who ran the course, much to the insect mage's embarrassment. He'd been so focused on the wizard who went prior to him and his own impending turn that he hadn't noticed the amount of people slowly building up around them, clogging nearly half of the bridge like cholesterol in an artery. The sea of pedestrians looked somewhat hazardous and Venrie was suddenly thankful he didn't intend to go anywhere anytime soon- he had to find out if he passed after all.

But back to the vantage point he'd found for himself. After exiting the course he had immediately found himself with no place to go- and being the somewhat vertically challenged male he was taller onlookers blocked his view on nearly all sides and as far as he was concerned he needed to see the rest of the hopefuls run the gauntlet! This was his first real chance to see talented mages in action after all. Sure he'd seen the wandering wizard here an there on his journey but none like this- so with no verbal word spoken his insects got the message and a few scouts flew from his collar, sussing out the area before returning with their reports. The most promising place he was pointed to was a stack of crates lining the space between the slim golf course and a neighboring business. The blunette managed to wiggle and squirm his way over to the base of the boxes, a few people even telling him he did a good job on his run of the course much to his surprise as well as delight. When he finally emerged on the other side of the crowd he began scaling the crates which were even taller than himself, using the slanted support board to hoist himself up and give him a foot hold and within another minute or two he had a nice vantage point to watch, managing to just catch the tail end of the run after him.

It was a green haired girl- the same whom had been talking to the guild masters when he showed up, from the looks of the course he could see she had plant based magic, an ability he himself was a bit envious of. It definitely seemed quite useful and with the way she showed it off he was sure she'd get into a guild no problem. Following her was a conventionally attractive man who seemed to just roll a die and suddenly be granted an ability- it was certainly intriguing and Venrie was curious to know how it worked. The next hopefuls passed one after another, a scruffy seeming girl with a scabbard, A man with similar chain magic to the one before, though each was unique in their own right, and another female who seemed to be the direct contrast to the one from before. This one, whom announced herself to be Lysandra, seemed put together with a sense of honor about her like a knight.

All of these people seemed so greatly talented, each with a unique gift, and in all honesty it made the Berrilosi self conscious his own performance was exactly to par. Still his heart felt light with hope that one of the guild masters would see something in him and take him on so he could learn more- especially the one named Peregrine, Venrie was still astounded by his display from earlier and he had so many questions to ask.
As he was lost in thought he saw another girl go, surprised when she summoned an entire bear from her ankle, as was the crowd who gasped in response. Was this bear real or an illusion? If it was real he assumed it must be a spirit of some kind- as he couldn't even fathom what it would take to turn a real bear into a tattoo at will. . .in addition he wondered if it was friendly- feeling the overwhelming urge to go ask to pet it, to which his hive yelled back with a resounding no. After all, they cared for Venrie and wanted to keep their host safe even if they couldn't really sway his thirst for things which often turned out to be dangerous. But at least for now on this day they managed to convince him as he didn't move from his seat.

Which was mostly because he was much too interested in the next participant because she had a dog. Well at least not until she blew the whistle- he couldn't help but wince at the sound, his ears finely tuned to the frequency of his insect's chirps and buzzes. The summoning of the dog was worth the discomfort however because Venrie loved dogs, and this one wasn't just any canine but a magic one at that. Oh how he wished to study the beautiful little black beast- and this was a perfect opening to his notes! He quickly pulled out his journal, fumbling with a pen before he began his observation, noting the way it appeared through a portal and how well trained it seemed to be. But nothing could've prepared him for this ace of trick the jackal preformed. Bandages seemed to appear from thin air- tautly wrapping the mass of slime before his master was able to burst it with a single ball. He had so many questions and above all else he just wanted to pet the happy looking canine!

Moving before thinking Venrie stood up and leapt from the stack of crates, momentarily free falling before his hive cause their dumbass host, floating him down to right where the course let out where he waited excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Surely she wouldn't mind just a few questions right? She'd sent her little buddy home but maybe if he was lucky she'd even offer to bring him back out! Venrie clasped his hands together, his usual faint buzzing seeming almost a tad more excited with his energy. As the pink haired girl exited the course he smiled brightly, amber eyes sparkling. "Hello! I'm really sorry to bug you miss! but you were so amazing on the course- I've never seen magic like that before, how does it work? Where does the portal go to? What's your little guy's name? Aaa could I maybe meet him sometime?" He asked, accent a little thicker than usual with his enthusiasm as he bombarded the mage with questions.

 

[cinnabuns]

Kore had put her field hockey stick away, snug against her back, and was working on putting her hair down, when she was interrupted from her routine by an excitable boy with a thick accent. She recognized him as the one with the bugs from an earlier run - and sure enough, when she focused, she could hear a soft buzz from the hive he had under his clothes. An interesting mechanic, she thought to herself as she combed her hands through her hair.

He spoke quite fast, so it took her a moment to distinguish what he’d been asking her, but once Kore figured out what he’d wanted, her eyes narrowed in slight disappointment. He was asking about Anu like he was just some sort of pet, and not an extension of her own magic. He seemed excited, however, so she decided to let him down easy as she undid the knot of her own pale rose-colored strands, letting her hair fall down her back to its full length.

“No. My ‘dog’”, she spoke in her own thickish accent, proving that she wasn’t from Twinbrooks at all, “is not a party trick for you to marvel at—“

And, of course, the moment she said that, without the usual need of her whistle, a portal appeared beside her, and Anu’s head stuck out of it, his tongue lolling out of his mouth with a pant.

The two stared at each other for a long, long moment, canine to human, in complete silence. Kore’s eyes filled with a mix of rage and disbelief.

“Are you serious? You don’t even need the whistle?” Kore finally said in exasperation. It was quite obvious she was learning more about her relationship with the dog god as she went along. She knew that gods were finicky, but to see it in action was always different than the stories she was used to hearing at night.

Anu licked her hand instead of responding with the usual bark, trying to calm her irritation. She let out an annoyed noise, removing her hand with a slight scowl and a “gross, Anu,” as she wiped her hand off on his back, and then looked at the boy who had asked.

“He still needs training, obviously.”

To that, she did receive a bark as Anu fully walked out of the portal, tail wagging furiously as he stood in between Kore and the boy.

“But he says hello.”

Kore’s eyes glanced over the boy as Anu sat at attention, his tail still wagging as he waited for the boy to pet his fur. Pale skin, bright eyes. Yet it seemed his accent was much different than the people she’d passed on her way here. Was he also from far away? It didn’t hurt to ask; she was returning a question for a question.

“Where are you from, again?”

She’d noticed someone going after her who had a unique magic. The girl - with pink hair also, but darker than hers - had introduced herself as Plumeria to the crowd before she had started her run in the course. Kore was intrigued by her use of...aroma magic? It seemed to affect the slimes well enough. Such a magic reminded her a little of someone she knew, someone she was looking for.

It was that memory that led her to speaking with the girl.

“How long have you been in tune with your magic?” Kore asked her, putting her hood up. There was so much one could do with a magic like that. Instead of the usual jealousy that spread through her when she saw someone using their magic with ease, she just grew curious. She was curious about the boy’s magic, as well, so she looked to him.

“You, too. How long?”

Might as well be civil.

[ soggyparadise , Ren Pengwen ]​

 

[Ren Pengwen]

Plumeria Astarte
​

cinnabuns soggyparadise

The young witch gasped when her eyes met with the beautiful stranger. Her beauty seemed to shine from the inside out. Plume grinned ear to ear and clasped the girl's hands in her own enthusiastically, not paying any mind to the shifting focus of said stranger. Plume, having been a passive audience of the slime golf, was somewhat surprised that this woman spoke to her so directly. Sure, a few people paid her compliments on her run and her use of magic, but she was merely doing what her instincts told her to. She was delighted nonetheless! The sparkle in her eyes showed as much.

"Oh my, you are absolutely stunning! I bet you have a strong spirit." Her voice was clear but she had adapted her new friend's accent quickly although sloppily, a habit of hers. She gently squeezed the girl's hands, feeling the tough callouses from rigorous training, before letting them go and answering her question. "I was just a little sapling when I first found my match," she gestured to her glistening glass vials, "Although, it feels like I've known them forever. Don't you feel the same such connection? Something so deep rooted withing your being that it must have been there all along~" Plume was eager to carry on the conversation, but in typical fashion she was distracted by the visibly excited canine. His tail wagged so hard she thought it might shoot right off.

"Puppy!" She squealed in her own home accent, throwing her arms around the great dog as she pet him lovingly. The fuzzy fur felt soothing and warm, almost enough to make her completely forget everything. She nearly melted in the embrace. It was like hugging a cloud. "He's such a good boy. I can sense how proud he is to serve you. He must recognize the connection between you two." Plume observed, staring deep into his eyes. She adores animals and feels that they are quite spiritual and serve as a unique intermediate bond between nature and man. Although his owner smelled of the wild too, she noted. It makes sense that they would be a strong pair. "You two had quite a fun run on the course. I hope you are scored favourably and that we'll see more of each other. Oh! My name is Plumeria, by the way. So silly of me to forget to introduce myself. My name is not important, though. I would be very happy if you could just remember me as I am now." Within seconds, Plume was casually seated on 'the floor, one hand buried into the canine's coat and her legs crossed over each other. She smiled so comfortably relaxed that anyone would think she was speaking to a lifelong friend.

Still, she was enthralled by the beauty who strolled up to her so casually. Her forms was sculpted, which Plume appreciated because it showed good physical health. Her hair was shining a pure pastel pink, even the few strands that would peak out of her cloak. The contrast against her dark skin was striking and Plume wished she could capture a mental picture of her aesthetic. By comparison, Plume thought she looked unkempt and fairly bland. In her observations, she caught her bright eyes and followed the gaze that would shift to her other eager companion. Plume mentally laughed at the realisation that she took up so much of her new friend's attention and time that she starved this poor boy.

"I believe it's your turn now, stranger." She addressed him with a wink. Plume proceeded to lay her head against the dog's own, staring on with interest but simultaneously feeling pulled deeper into the magical comfort of the warmth of an animal. She remembered the boy, too. The memory was less vivid and fresh than the one of the dog's owner but she could still recall the use of bugs and that innocent face of his that conformed so easily to the situation, unlike the cool stony-face of the beauty in front of her. The idea of him being the great habitat housing many mystical creatures that synergized with him was a rather intriguing concept and she was genuinely curious and interested in his companionship, too.

"I wish you good fortune, as well. All of you."

 

[soggyparadise]

Venrie looked up at Kore with glimmering hope in his amber eyes, his hands clasped together as he awaited her verdict. Almost immediately his expression fell when in accent foreign to him she responded with a 'No' and on top of that she'd thought he'd taken her magic for some silly party trick! In reality it was quite the opposite, the young mage was beyond impressed with the other's skills. Not only was she a cracking summoner, but the trust and mutual respect she already seemed to share with her partner was incredible! Venrie opened his mouth to respond, seeking to apologize for the misunderstanding but was simply left staring with his jaw dropped as a portal opened out of thin air and a canine's head popped out.


Not as well trained as he first thought- but hey, even magical dog beings had a mind of their own. After a moment of watch their little stare down Venrie couldn't help but crack up, his laugh broken up but slight snorting here and there. It was obvious by how genuine it sounded that he wasn't trying to hide it, possibly because it'd never been pointed out when he was younger and thus he'd never tried to correct it to a more normal laugh. By the time Anu jumped out of the portal, the young man had already sunken to his knees with both arms outstretched to welcome the jackal into a big embrace. "And I say hello to him too!" He chirped, grinning up at Kore, his fingers combing through the dog's glossy black fur. For such a hard worker this little guy certainly was soft- it almost reminded him of the soft smooth fur of the cashmere goats they had back in his village, but if anything it was even better! Not as many pieces of hay that needed to be combed out-

"Really he needs more training? You two worked so well on the course! it's like you didn't even need to talk!" Venrie complimented, gently squishing the pup's cheeks, as Anu smiled. It was obvious this dog was in a world of bliss, after all even magic dogs needed affection, he was sure of it. "If he pops out of a portal now and then that just means he's always ready to help! Doesn't it boy?" The blue haired boy cooed at the dog, earning a few eager licks on his cheek which only made him giggle even more. At this point he'd completely forgotten that he'd actually asked any questions to begin with, much too distracted at the moment, which was a bad habit of his.

In fact the insect mage didn't even look up from his current objective of fluffing the jackal up to the max to realize that another person had joined the conversation until he opened his mouth to speak only to hear another woman's voice answer. His gaze shifted upwards just in time to see a pink haired female come in for a puppy hug and he sat back a bit to give her the space to do so, after all why should he get to hog all the dog petting wealth. And besides that, something about this girl was just so comforting. He couldn't quite place a finger on it- perhaps all the compliments she shared or the way she talked like they were old acquaintances but suddenly he found himself a bit more relaxed, and in turn his bug's buzzing settled as well into a low hum.


It wasn't until she prompted him for his turn to speak that he realized that she had finished, having been caught up in the calm feeling as well as the smoothness of the jackal's fur. Venrie sat up a bit straighter, but the pleasant smile remained on his features "O-oh! Yes right my turn, Well my name is Venrie, i'm from Berillo- Mount Kirnola to be specific, and I became a host when I was seven if that's what your asking? But I started feeding them when I was five, though back then it was just the queen a couple dozen soldiers." He explained, hoping it would make sense, his brand of magic wasn't exactly common, nor one many people liked to study so he hoped the two would be weirded out. Carefully he held out one hand and from his sleeve three little black insects crawled to the tip of his index finger as if the demonstrate, and as the sun caught their shell an almost oil slick like color variation could be seen. "Magicae Comedenti is the species. . . " He paused, looking back up to the two females, catching their eyes for a moment before he looked down at the canine once more, seeming a little flustered as he lowered his hand. "Anyways- What about you? Tell us you guy's names" He asked, referring to the dog and it's owner.

 

[AtlannianSpy]

Peregrine Laconia, Adellon Thrace, Aurelia Chekhov, Viridian Lannerly
From her position off to the side of the course Viridian Lannerly rolled her eyes as the two guild masters showed off their magic. Really a straightforward explanation of the rules and criteria would surely have sufficed. Speaking of those criteria a sudden thought occurred to Viridian and she tugged on Adellon’s sleeve and whispered to him. “Have you given any thought towards how to score all this by the way?”

Adellon half turned his head to address Viridian without looking away from the course as the first tryouts started lining up. "To be quite frank, as such a new guild we aren't likely to be able to be too choosy. If they show any sign of magical prowess and desire to join, and their name doesn't come back with substantiated criminal charges I would accept anyone. The course scores members anyhow ...but I suppose you have something more ...concrete in mind. I trust your judgement when it comes to the technical scoring, so feel free to do as you so choose."

Adellon turned back to find a rather tall young man facing him. He seemed...tired perhaps? No, not quite tired. More ...apathetic to much of what went on around him. Yet he had walked right up and was the first to formally ask to join either guild. Adellon nearly turned to Peregrine to cast a smug smile. Another notch in the tree for Adellon. "I'd be glad to get you signed up. However, I'd like to see you participate in this audition of sorts anyway to gauge your talents. Please, do feel free to take your turn whenever!"

The young man seemed to take this as a cue to go immediately first, to Adellon's surprise. Perhaps he misread the apathy earlier. Adellon watched in fascination at what appeared to be chain magic of some sort. The run was rather clean outside of the young man's….unique circumvention of the obstacles. As it ended another, smaller young man approached Adellon in a far more excitable rush. He was familiar, however it took Adellon a few moments to put a name to the face of his tailor's son.

Thankfully, the young man seemed to have his mouthful at first so Adellon had ample time to recognize him. As the young man breathily rushed through his request Adellon gave him a warm smile. He hadn't known Basil had begun learning magic, so perhaps it had been unknown even to his parents? Or perhaps he was one of the rare talents to just develop it naturally from nowhere. Adellon had read Arieta of the Saints had been one such youth. Granted that happened in her infancy according to her autobiography.

"I'd be glad to have you Basil! However, you have to do the course first like everyone else. Go on, give it a shot!" Adellon leaned back on his heels somewhat as the youth ran off to join the line. The event had already begun and he had two potential recruits right off the bat. He eyed Viridian expectantly, only to find her intently watching the proceedings while writing on a clipboard. Where….where did she get that? When did she get that?! Blinking in surprise and confusion, he turned back to watch the remaining runs by potential recruits. He had a good feeling about this.

“It’s plastic, I made it,” Viridian said in response to Adellon’s quizzical expression, then added with a hint of self satisfaction “You’re not the only one who can do magic,” as she got to work replicating her feat by producing a table and a pair of chairs. “Now then,” she said, settling down and opening up her clipboard to some paper she began drawing up a table in. “Aurelia would you care to join me? I’m sure our applicants would appreciate the greater accuracy a larger sample size of scores would produce,”


Aurelia eyed the green haired young woman offering her a seat. Aurelia did not particularly care which recruits did or did not join their guild, so long as there was enough to make Peregrine happy. Then again, the more that joined the happier he'd be. Not that she imagined he'd scream any quieter for one person than a dozen… Aurelia took the seat next to Adellon's second in command.

Glancing over the criteria Viridian had written down for scoring, Aurelia approved. It was minimalist enough for her to be pleased. She still remembered the absolutely insane number of elements the military looked at during her inspections, and how she always found it unpleasant. Thankfully, Aurelia had already been paying attention to most of the criteria as she watched the recruits make their attempts at the course. Taking a pen from Viridian and beginning to fill in scores, she gave a simple nod and a curt, "Thanks."

Viridian simply nodded quietly and focused her vision on the recruits running through the course, jotting down numbers as they competed. The course wasn’t very long and under the watchful eye of Adellon and Peregrine there didn’t seem to be any confusion about lining up or who was going when. By the time two hours had gone by all the serious applicants had taken a run through and the course had instead been taken over by local children tweaking the slimes and squealing as they fell from the various obstacles, eliciting sighs from nearby parents, who seemed concerned at the striking, brown murk that had dyed the water ever since that one particularly scruffy applicant had fallen in. Viridian and Aurelia meanwhile had two neat pages full of scores.

Aurelia​

	Slimes Splat	Ethn Used	Time	Penalties	Purple Splat	Total
Harper	0	9	6	0	6	21
Salt	7	10	7	6	7	37
Venrie	5	10	8	8	7	38
Alistair	8	6	4	10	9	37
Charles	6	7	4	4	8	29
Faris	7	6	7	8	3	31
Lysandra	7	5	6	5	8	31
Anais	7	6	7	9	7	36
Kore	6	4	6	6	8	30
Plumeria	4	8	6	3	4	25
Summar	6	4	10	10	10	40
Jade	10	8	10	10	1	39
Elissa	3	10	10	9	1	33
Basil	6	8	7	4	1	26
Alyssa	8	8	8	6	5	35

Viridian​

	Slimes Splat	Ethn Used	Time	Penalties	Purple Splat	Total
Harper	0	9	7	0	4	20
Salt	8	10	7	7	5	37
Venrie	5	6	6	10	6	33
Alistair	9	7	5	10	9	40
Charles	6	8	5	6	8	33
Faris	7	7	8	9	7	38
Lysandra	7	6	7	6	7	33
Anais	6	4	8	9	8	35
Kore	6	4	7	6	8	37
Plumeria	5	8	6	4	3	26
Summar	6	3	9	10	10	38
Jade	10	7	8	10	6	41
Elissa	3	10	8	9	2	32
Basil	6	8	7	5	2	28
Alyssa	8	8	8	6	5	35

Totals​

	Aurelia /50	Viridian /50	Total /100
Harper	21	20	41
Salt	37	37	74
Venrie	38	33	71
Alistair	37	40	77
Charles	29	33	62
Faris	31	38	69
Lysandra	31	33	64
Anais	36	35	71
Kore	30	37	67
Plumeria	25	26	51
Summar	40	38	78
Jade	39	41	80
Elissa	33	32	65
Basil	26	28	54
Alyssa	35	35	70

Virdian let out soft, satisfied sigh at the sight of the neat rows filled out with precise figures, now this was how you judged something, with cold hard data!

“Ah! Are those the scores? Well done! Excellent work!”

Viridian flinched slightly as Adellon’s rival leaned over the table to pick up the score sheets, failing to modulate his voice to account for their closeness. Really, she wondered how Aurelia got along with him, especially when she was normally so quiet. Meanwhile Peregrine had scooped up the sheets, keen to read them before Adellon could get his dirty mitts on them. The hand on his chin might have indicated that Peregrine was deep in thought but his eyes sparkled with giddy excitement. Such Enthusiasm! Such determination! Such POTENTIAL! Peregrine idly considered whether some kind of scheme might allow him to snatch the lot of them up from underneath Adellon. Maybe he could make up something about having seen a rare book on the other side of town…


Adellon was not particularly interested in to see the scores himself, as he had made the judgement of who he would and wouldn't care for in his guild already. However, he didn't find Peregrine snatching up the scores and yelling in his Vice's ear very amusing. So he decided to mess with him. With a small wave of his hand, and a whisper of magic, all the ink on the page faded into invisibility before his eyes. Adellon would return the scores upon their posting, but no sooner. "So Viridian. Shall we post these and consult those who are interested? We have two sure recruits already. Let us see how many more are interested, hm?"

“Tch you’ve played this trick too many times before Adellon,” Peregrine said, narrowing his eyes to stare at the paper determinedly. “If you think I haven’t learned to simply read the creases left behind by the pen then you’re a fool!” Peregrine paused again to stare hard at the paper. “Blarglstarr Nortenbart and his score of triangle smileyface will be mine!”


“...I’m putting the scores up now,” Viridian said to Adellon, deciding to ignore Peregrine’s antics. Viridian’s hands lit up with magic and suddenly a large, plastic sign rose up in front of the group of applicants, displaying their scores in bold text. As the applicants crowded around to review their performance Viridan kept her seat, preferring to let Adellon do the approaching himself; consequently she was well placed to observe that the sign she had put up was swaying back and forth in a curious manner. Viridian frowned. At first she assumed the sign was simply being jostled by the people crowding up to read it but then she noticed that the slime golf course was shaking too. In fact the bridge itself upon which they were all standing was itself shaking, which was the root cause of the tremors and a distant, booming sound was steadily becoming more audible.


Peregrine frowned, cocking his ear to listen to the distant sound with a suddenly grave expression. “Whatever that is it’s coming from Newtown. Aurelia can you make it out from here? Maybe from the top of the course?”


Aurelia did not answer, instead leaping into immediate action. Sprinting up to the edge of the course she leapt at a pendulum, catching it as it passed. At the apex of its swing she leapt again and caught ahold of the metal framework that had supported the tent that was originally over the course. Swinging her legs up and around, she stopped in a sitting position atop the arch's peak. She was thankful that the owner was at least not cutting costs on support beams, cheap as he was. Extending a hand to the air, she used her magic to pull her sniper rifle from her Armory. Settling it safely in her shoulder, she peered through the scope in the direction of Newtown. Scanning the horizon, she found several plumes of smoke. She followed them to their source to find what, if she was remembering correctly, was a bank. There seemed to be fires coming from several windows on both floors of the building, and after a moment an entire section of the front wall exploded outwards. The dust and debris hid whoever caused it, but it was clear that the source of the tremors was from there. She returned her sniper to her Armory.

Leaping from her perch, Aurelia landed in the water below with a mildly painful splash. She did not seem to note the murkiness that she had deliberately fallen into. Returning to Peregrine she stood straight and reported, "Fire and smoke from the Newtown Bank. Something big I couldn't see from here."


“Well then,” Peregrine said grimly, bending down to retrieve the sword he had stashed by Aurelia’s seat. “We don’t have much time,” he said, turning to face the crowds.

“It seems we’ll be having to cut this event short,” he boomed, his voice as loud as ever but without its usual jocularity. “Members of the public I recommend you return briskly to your homes and stay there until you hear the all clear. As for you,” Peregrine turned to address the guild applicants. “As far as I’m concerned you all have the potential to be excellent mages. If you want to call yourself a Brighthawk then follow me! The kind of guild I want to build won’t stand by while people need help!”


Adellon had not picked up on the danger with the same speed as the other three, having struck up a small chat with two applicants that had decided not to join either guild. However, as things escalated he honed in on it quickly, and began directing people away from the tent towards their homes before addressing the applicants as Peregrine had. "If you wish to be a Void Crow, follow myself and Viridian. We won't stand idly by as criminals attack the helpless. Knowledge and power mean nothing without purpose!"


“I figured you’d say something like that,” Viridian said from behind the two guildmasters. While they were addressing the applicants she had been busy working her magic, materializing gears, bolts and other parts made of heavy iron or plastic that rapidly assembled themselves. By the time Viridian was done a large, sturdy looking bus stood proudly in the middle of the crowd. It’s bare metal and blocky form were hardly going to win any beauty awards but it looked functional.

“Alright everybody who's coming along get in,” Viridian said curtly, sighing from exertion and rubbing her forehead with a baggy sleeve. “If both guilds are going then it would be inefficient not to travel together as this is an emergency,”

AllHailDago GasMaskie Hanarei Lucem QuirkyAngel Damafaud izayoiix AnthraxBurrito Refaulted The One Eyed Bandit simj26 cinnabuns Ren Pengwen soggyparadise

 

[cinnabuns]

Anaïs was surprised to watch the green-haired woman's magic work against her.

Her eyes followed as a man appeared behind her and took her bag of groceries, and was amused when the woman turned to the man and was irritated at him; they must have known each other for him to be so comfortable with doing such a thing. Although Anaïs did know of men who would do so even when they weren't comfortable, but...the woman knew his name. From their interactions, she thought as she took the woman's groceries in her arms from the spirit - named Ventus, it seemed - Anaïs could assume they had a sibling-like relationship.

"Ventus you fucking piece of shit!"

"Enjoy yourself, Alyssa! Try not to get completely covered in slime!"

Especially from that exchange.

Anaïs smiled at Ventus as she fixed the groceries in her arms.

"So her name's Alyssa, then. Nice to meet you both, Ventus!" She chirped, turning to watch Alyssa go through the course.

Anaïs winced as the next of Alyssa's spirits, two wolves, helped her complete it, but...covered her in slime. Alyssa did an amazing job but she was certain the woman was peeved as she came back over to Anaïs.

"Well, let me help you with that if I can...."

Anaïs reached a hand out to touch the slime on Alyssa's skin, and slowly but surely, the slime began to peel off and float upwards instead of continuing to stick to her. Anaïs watched as the slime proceeded to float, and she touched Alyssa's hair to make sure the slime got out of that, as well. When she was certain she'd gotten a good amount of slime off of Alyssa and into the air, she gently pulled Alyssa away from the floating mass of slime so she could release her magic slowly, the slime ending up on the floor instead of back on Alyssa.

"There. I hope that helps."

Anaïs didn't wait for a response, instead turning back to the course to watch the others who were attempting it, still holding onto Alyssa's groceries. A few stragglers and children went after Alyssa had gone, and then it was just a lot of waiting while the guildmasters' vices scored them. Anaïs watched patiently as she saw the vices using clipboards to keep score, something that was also quite amusing to see.

The guildmasters were spending more of their time enjoying the show...it was obvious the vices were more in charge, logistically. She appreciated that. Anaïs' eyes went over the green-haired vice - Viridian, aptly named - and the brown-haired vice - Aurelia. Both sported glasses. Both seemed like the right balance between their guildmasters.

How interesting.

When they were finished scoring, Viridian brought up the scores on a board. What a cool power, Anaïs thought to herself as she looked for her name on the scoring lists. It seemed like...the board was moving, however? She spotted her name and zeroed in on the scores the two vices gave her - a 36 and a 35, how lucky! She hadn't failed, at least. It wasn't something she was worried about, after all; in the moment, she was more worried about why exactly the board was wobbling like that. Then, she began to hear the booming noise.

"Well, that's not concerning in the slightest...." Anaïs mumbled as she watched Aurelia spring into action. Her eyes followed the vice as she practically flew in the air, finally ending on the arch of the tent, and her eyes widened as Aurelia pulled out a complex gun from what seemed like thin air.

"Wow."

It was safe to say she was impressed, with both the rifle and the vice. All of the vices and guildmasters were quite amazing to her.

As Aurelia returned to Peregrine, Anaïs could hear Major growling in her ear at the apparent danger, thankfully also preparing her for Peregrine's next shout.

“It seems we’ll be having to cut this event short. Members of the public I recommend you return briskly to your homes and stay there until you hear the all clear. As for you,”

Peregrine turned to those in the crowd who had ran the course with purpose.

“As far as I’m concerned you all have the potential to be excellent mages. If you want to call yourself a Brighthawk then follow me! The kind of guild I want to build won’t stand by while people need help!”

Next, Adellon spoke up. "If you wish to be a Void Crow, follow myself and Viridian. We won't stand idly by as criminals attack the helpless. Knowledge and power mean nothing without purpose!"

Anaïs let out a nervous smile as she watched the two guildmasters. Wouldn't it make more sense if they all just left and worked together to fix whatever the problem was?

Thankfully, it seemed like Viridian had already thought of that, and Anaïs let out an audible "ooh!" as the vice conjured up a bus for them all to travel in.

“Alright, everybody who's coming along get in. If both guilds are going then it would be inefficient not to travel together as this is an emergency."

Anaïs hadn't realized she was still holding onto Alyssa's groceries, but she was already walking towards the bus. She lifted her wrist and One-Eye popped his head out of his tattoo, cawing softly as he turned his head towards the smoke.

"You wanna do a little looking out for me, One-Eye?" She asked with a smile, and One-Eye practically flew out of her wrist, flying around her head and pecking once more at the jewel on her crown. One-Eye loved flying, much like the other two...but she and One-Eye had a different bond. And it was less ethernano for her to expend with just him.

"Okay, okay. Please help me, help us." Anaïs giggled, and One-Eye began flying ahead in the direction of the fire. Anaïs continued forward onto the bus, turning just to look at Alyssa and Ventus.

"Come on, Alyssa, Ventus! We've gotta help!"

[ AllHailDago , AtlannianSpy , izayoiix ]​

 

[Hanarei]

Jade Evergarden
​

Jade had kept back even as the scores went out. She seemed to be defiant in reading it as to match up her earlier point finding the test was rather poor holding doubt it was really thought through. She still was leery on the two guild leaders being really talented, their show just proving they weren't just some pushovers at the very least that they could pull off such effects in their demonstrations. At least C-Ranks with a decent amount of skill to put on the illusion of an impressive show. It didn't change the fact though Jade suspected she scored highly, her more narcissistic side was quite convinced she would be near the top of the charts even if there were others she witnessed that she had gained some respect for with their strength.

The quaking had risen alarms for Jade as she stood seeming rather uneasy able to tell quickly something was wrong. Sure enough it seemed that her intuition was on point. The fact it seemed to be at least centered on the bank did make it seem like it might be just a robbery... granted the rumble itself was rather intense. There was a possibility it was more happenstance and something more serious could be going on then a bank robbery. Even if it was just a robbery the fact the force could be felt from here meant there was a good chance people could be in harms way or hurt if so little care was being taken.

Jade's attention shifted as Viridian created a bus using her magic, albeit rather... lackluster... in its design. Machinery did have an innate disadvantage in terms of managing to look good in the first place. It was something she couldn't really be picky about given she hand't the slightest clue about the situation. While she could head there on her own, it could end up wasting a lot of her energy to do so which could be trouble if it turned out there were many people hurt. She turned looking to the others while having seen a display of their skills she really hadn't seen much to get completely familiar with any of them. She looked to the two guild leaders seeming to show a noticeable bit of hesitation clear she didn't hold much trust in either of them yet, although she had to admit even if belligerently Peregrine's words did seem to put her at slight ease.

"We could use more information about what is going on... though most of all its important we take care of those injured or who might be in danger. Given the intensity of whatever it was being felt here, its possible the structural integrity of the building could be compromised... something I'm sure the fire doesn't help much with on top of the dangers that has to those who might be there. Any people around should be moved to safety, particularly those who might be injured who can't move of their own accord or might struggle to do so. I can start working to treat the hurt once they are somewhere safe." She spoke up having very little to go off of though wanting to emphasize the need to help out those who are injured. As nice as it would be to stop a potential perpetrator and receive such glory for it herself, helping those who were hurt and saving lives was a far greater priority for Jade, even more so then her own pride. She stepped up to get onto the bus ready to act.

AllHailDago AtlannianSpy

 

[Refaulted]

Basil Webster

Basil sat back on the railing of the bridge, across from the obstacle course that was now being used by passing civilians who had watched most of the mages participating. Basil watched them all, quickly moving a needle through his shirt that he had taken off. Whenever he used his Sewer's Stitchers, if he wasn't careful, he would occasionally mess up when he was putting whatever he took apart back together. He didn't have enough practice with putting things back together to always get it right on the first try, but he was working on it, as he had practiced it while he had tried to make his way to Twinbrooks. His own two hands were still more reliable, though, and he didn't even have to look at his shirt as he wove a needle and thread through it, stitching up a few open cuts.

He was just finishing the last mistake when a giant sign arose in front of the group of mages. He hastily threw his shirt back over his shoulders, buttoning it up and jumping down as he walked towards it to find his score. He scanned over it, amazed at the scores some people got, and tried to place names to some of the faces, with almost no luck in the end. When he finally reached his own score, and was amazed that he scored as high as he did, not that it was high at all. He had expected to be penalized more for the amount of times he had gotten hit by the slimes, and he agreed on the fact that his attempt to hit the purple slime wasn't very admirable, but his other scores were relatively high. He was glad he hadn't tried to show off his magic, as it saved his score by a huge margin.

He stepped away as other mages walked up the sign to find their scores, a wide grin on his face as he walked to where his belongings were, throwing his tools into his bag and tying it closed before slinging it over his shoulder. While his score was passable, compared to the other participants, he had a lot to work on. He had only just recently became a mage, so of course he wouldn't be able to stand at the same spot as others who had been practicing their magic for years. But Basil knew he had time, and there was no rush to get strong. He would focus instead on understanding and practicing with his magic more, which would hopefully put him at the same point as Emilia. And his parents would be proud of his passion, too.

His eyes were closed as he imagined all his close friends and family applauding him when he became a famous mage, but was interrupted when he heard a boom, and the ground shook slightly under his feet. He somewhat lost his balance, but he caught himself on the bridge's railing as he looked around, seeing the other equally confused faces of people look towards the source of the booms. He followed their eyes to the smoke beginning to billow up from another part of the town, and Basil's mouth opened in awe. He had no idea what it was, but he saw one of the Guild Mages, a woman with brown hair, run up the obstacle course's tent and sat on top, summoning a gun of some sort to look at what was the cause of the commotion. Basil walked a little closer when she jumped down to talk to a man who he vaguely remembered was a Guild Master of the other Guild that was recruiting people. She mentioned something about a bank and fire, and Basil looked up at the smoke.

'Seems about right.'

The Guild mages were all quick to jump to action, and Basil watched with starry eyes as the green-haired girl constructed a large bus, something he vaguely remembered from seeing in the large cities he visited when he was little. Since he had moved to Bell Port, he hadn't seen one, so it was exciting to finally ride one again after so many years. He was amazed she was able to craft something like it, and he ran up to it, running his hands over it, then turned to the girl. "It's real iron! And plastic! That's so cool, if you ever need something you can just make it out of iron, right?! Like a...like a...a big bowl or something like that! I don't know, but that's so fu-freaking cool~!"

Basil examined the outside of the bus some people began to get on. He couldn't help it anymore and pushed ahead of a couple people and tried to jump onto the bus. As he did so, however, he tripped over his feet, falling face first onto the hard metal floor. He laid on the floor for a moment, groaning, but then quickly pushed himself back up and turned back to the creator of the bus, a trickle of blood coming down from his nose, though he didn't seem to care. "It's so sturdy, too! Awesome~!" He jumped up and brushed himself off, then felt his nose as he felt some blood trickle down his lip. He quickly ripped off some cloth by the hem of his shirt and held it against his nose, stopping the bleeding for now. He looked at another green-haired girl who had gotten on the bus, and smiled at her around the cloth stuck up his nose. "Isn't this exciting? The first step to becoming a full fledged Guild Mage! It's so awesome, I feel like..." Basil stumbled slightly, righting himself before continuing. "...like I might pass out~!" He laughed as he sat down in an empty seat, looking around at the interior of the bus in wonder. His eyes fell on another girl, and his eyes got stuck on the crown hat sat atop her head. He leaned towards her, curiosity getting the better of him. "That's such a pretty crown! It's so shiny. I've never met anyone who is royalty before!"

Spoiler: Mentions/Interactions

Interactions: AtlannianSpy Viridian, Hanarei Jade, cinnabuns Anaïs
Mentions: AllHailDago Aurelia + Adellon, AtlannianSpy Peregrine

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Elissa Holsten
​

Elissa’s eyes scanned the board held up by magic, looking for her name first before skimming through all the others. 65 of 100. Translated to roughly a D by regular grading scales, but she hadn’t expected to get very high in the first place so overall the young dream mage wasn’t displeased by her score. It came out like she thought it would. She’d given up on scoring high in some sectors to score high in others.

At least she wasn’t last, though she still didn’t know what the cutoff point was.

Both guild vices rated her roughly the same, Bright Hawk’s vice leader being a point more generous. Did that hold any meaning? She doubted it. Choosing a guild because they rated her performance a bit higher hardly seemed like the best way to go about choosing a guild. In fact, Elissa preferred honesty when it came to these things. A game that wasn’t impartial was pointless, after all.

Jade did well. Despite claiming Slime Golf to not be a very fair test of practical skill and potential as a mage, she’d gotten the highest score of all the recruits. Elissa peeked over to the green haired plant mage, mildly curious of the other girl’s reaction. Upon catching Jade’s eyes, Elisa smiled to offer her congratulations. Whether Jade wanted to join either of the guilds or not, she was likely a shoo-in for a spot.

Salt did well too. Despite, not using an ounce of magic in the run, he was the 4th highest Slime Golf scorer.

“Told you so.” Elissa said playfully to the boy that returned her hairpin.

Salt had a certain energy about him when he asked about her magic, with suggested a strong love for the subject. If he got into either one of the guilds, she could see him doing well. Elissa couldn’t say her feelings were nearly as strong. “Wh--,”

The board shook. The ground shook. Even the Obstacle course trembled from the sudden tremor that struck as suddenly as a bolt of lightning. Elissa barely managed to steady herself as the sounds of booming echoed from the distance. Only by quickly grasping onto the nearest steady, structure did she manage to remain on her feet. Fortunately, the guild leaders and their vice leaders seemed completely on top of the situation. Aurelia scouted the location of the problem. Peregrine calmed the masses. Viridian created a form of transportation with her magic. The declaration that they were all good enough to join the guilds seemed smaller in comparison.

“Well,” Elissa straightened, dusting her dress a bit. “This is a bit more excitement than I was expecting.”

She had expected to do a bit of shopping that morning— maybe buy some wares—to forget about her problems from the night before . Not get recruited into a newly formed mage guild and assist against some sort of bank robbery. What could she even do to help in that sort of situation? She learned some fighting, but she wasn’t a battle mage by any stretch of the imagination. Nor was she a healer like Jade seemed to be. The practical thing to do was to leave it to the experienced mages. Were all of them really needed?

Still.

The call from Adellon had struck a chord. Knowledge and power meant nothing without a purpose. Hadn’t her mother served a greater purpose? Was that what she would have to do to become a strong dream mage? Elissa didn’t have a strong sense of justice. But she did have a sense of responsibility—to her parents, the people she cared for, and any friends she made along the way. Besides, the offer to become a Void Crow member did sound appealing.

Elissa shared a glance with Salt. “Shall we?”

Whether or not Salt went with her, Elissa would climb on the contraption created by Viridian in time to hear Jade’s suggestion. “I can help with that. Moving people to safety, I mean.”

Something she could do, at least.

GasMaskie Hanarei AtlannianSpy AllHailDago

 

[cinnabuns]

Kore attempted to ignore the boy as he tried to stifle his laughter when she and Anu had their stare down. It probably was funny, from the outside looking in, but it had truly seemed like Anu could only be called by the whistle. She stayed slightly frustrated until she heard the gasp from Plumeria,

"Oh my, you are absolutely stunning! I bet you have a strong spirit."

Kore's eyebrows lifted as the girl's sparkling eyes met hers, and as Plumeria took her hands into her own, giving her hands a squeeze. Her hands were...surprisingly a little rough, but mostly soft. Wait, had she called her stunning? Kore had...never thought of herself that way. Maybe she was trying to trick her into letting her guard down?

She continued to listen to Plume's words, a bit wary, but not letting the emotion show on her features. The mention of roots, of having magic feel like it was there all along...it reminded her of her family. It reminded her of what she truly wanted, and that made her heart ache terribly. Even with her roots, she still hadn't gotten that kind of feeling. Plume's words should have given her something to think about positively, but it only brought back the memories of trying, over and over again, to get her magic to work, with her family's slightly teasing words in the back of her head, and her failing, every time.

Kore was thankful when Plume was distracted by Anu, and she was thankful she didn't have to answer that question.

She realized the boy - Venrie - had been speaking to her about Anu and her relationship, and Plumeria seemed to agree that they worked well together. That was...nice to hear, she had to admit. They'd only had a month or so together, and it seemed like Anu was used to working with a partner, actually. It was like he missed it.

Kore didn't know why exactly that was, but it was nice to have someone that worked with her and didn't make fun of her, even if they thought it was all fun and games. Kore bet that her family had thought it was just a joke, at least in the moment. But after years and years of her attempts, they should have realized it wasn't funny at all to her, anymore. It just fueled her to try harder, and even then it wasn't successful.

“What interesting stories. And...it's all him. He works hard and I'm thankful for it.“

Anu's tail wagged even faster at the recognition from Kore, and when she looked down, seeing how happy he made Venrie and Plumeria...it helped her relax a bit. Reminded her for a second that there was something more than just fighting.

And then, of course, the ground began to rumble, removing her from those thoughts and back to an eternal state of wariness.

Kore pulled her field hockey stick from her back as she turned towards the noise, her eyes narrowing as she followed the movements of the vices and guildmasters. She watched as the Bright Hawks' vice made her way to a better vantage point to scope out the source of the problem. Kore cleared her throat, and Anu looked up at her.

“Anu. Home, for now.”

Anu whined at the idea of having to head back just now, but when Kore looked down at him again, he stopped whining, instead giving Venrie another lick and Plumeria one before moving out of their grasp. He could understand that she needed to save her ethernano. He also could tell that she wasn't angry with him. He'd be back, of course, once the action truly began, when he was needed more. It was something he knew well.

Anu rubbed his nose against Kore's leg before heading through a portal, and she let out a tired sigh.

“Let's get on with it.” Kore spoke to the two still on the ground, heading towards the bus and on, after the boy who had smashed his face on the floor. She stepped over him and onto the bus, not giving it a second thought. She was right not to; he immediately jumped up a moment later and continued talking in his excitement.

Yes, he'd be just fine.

[ soggyparadise , Ren Pengwen , Mentions: Refaulted ]​

 

[simj26]

Lysandra von Freytag-Loringhoven“I-- thank you, Master Harper,” she muttered softly as she accepted the handkerchief. She couldn’t shake the habit. Even more so, even if he was indeed abandoned by the Crawford family, she wasn’t a noble herself. The knights served the people, not the other way around. An honorific like ‘Master’ wasn’t too rare in his presence, was it? She made a face. Besides, even in terms of succession, she wasn’t really a noble either. At best, she’d end up a personal knight of some sort. It wasn’t a future that most would envision themselves in. Unless they were like her. She glanced up at the scoreboards that were now featured above their heads. She didn’t do too well. She made a scowling expression, but the feeling of the squirming slime in her hand managed to lift her spirits somewhat.

“I’ll be as formal as I want, thank you. I’m no more of a noble than you are. You understand where second children belong, don’t you, in families like mine?” She clutched onto the handkerchief, and thought to wipe her face, but restrained herself. How could she dirty another’s belongings? That was way too much. As much as the smell of a dog who had just crawled out of a river was disturbing her, especially when that smell was coming from her, she could not bear using another’s belongings like this. “I have no future as a noble, myself. Anything I do cannot, and should not, besmirch my family’s name. It is merely my own reputation that I put on the line, and it is not a shining one. At this point of time, I’m just a wandering knight-in-training. As much as my reputation is supposed to bother me at any rate,” she added under her breath. She shook her head. “Nonetheless, it is at least pleasing to see you well, Master--” she coughed. “It’s good to see you well, Harper.” She wanted to ask him about his tired visage, about how he had changed, and why. But she already knew the why, and asking the how would not be considered very polite. “I--” she started, then trailed off. “Harper, if you need it, the Elites are always looking for--”

She was interrupted by the sudden tremors, and the sound of a gunshot. Out of reflex, her hand flew to her sword’s grip, but did not draw it. “What on earth--” She moved to take a better look at the proceedings. What was happening? The scoreboard flickered and went out as the guildmasters and their partners started a call to arms. She turned to her entourage at the other end of the square. They had not bothered to take part of the festivities, and just merely milled about until the sudden rush of activity. The squad leader caught her eyes, and merely nodded.

The purple-clad knights nodded to each other, and without any further conversation, they moved off. “They’re not going to do anything,” she muttered to no one in particular. This was not their jurisdiction, Lysandra understood, and they were going to merely oversee what the guilds would do. The Elites did not tend to overextend their influence. For the most part, the Freytag-Loringhoven military tried to distance themselves from guild duties, only acting upon an event that even the guilds couldn’t handle. She bit her lower lip. Should she go? Her hand unconsciously moved to her sword and clutched at it. Would she be able to contribute at all? She grimaced, then turned around to Harper.

“Harper! Let’s go. You heard the guildmasters. No time like the present, no?” Without waiting for a response from him, she took his hand and pulled him along towards the strange vehicle the vice-guildmaster had created. This was for his own good, she told herself. His eyes were devoid of reason, and she wanted to give him one. Yes, she was helping him. That was a reason as good as any other.

 

[The One Eyed Bandit]

What a sham. They'd scored her less than what, some prissy noble baby who had her magic do all the heavy lifting for her? Some kid with a bug fetish? Hell, they'd even gone and given a tree hugger the highest score. Aha, this charade was just as slimy as the obstacle course. She'd half a mind to turn around and head home, wherever that was going to be for the night, but then the ground begun to tremble.

A plume of smoke shot up into the air.

Panic started to vibrate throughout the streets.

Charles wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it was obvious that it was nothing good. The guild leadership was quick to drop their games and set themselves into action, scrambling to both gather information and their prospective members up as fast as possible. As they assembled a plan, Charles kept her lips sealed.

Honestly, under normal circumstances she would be making her way in the opposite direction of all this commotion. It wasn't like this city had ever done anything for her anyway. Well, it hadn't done anything good for her, at least. Why should she go running off over the horizon to help a bunch of, what, overstuffed bankers? Mentally, she guffawed. Whatever was coming to them, they deserved it. Maybe if they hadn't gorged themselves so fat on the hard work of people like her, they'd have been able to stand up for themselves.

However. Today, she was in a mood a touch bothered. First, there'd been that incident with the sign. Then, she'd had to watch a bunch for prissy good for nothings throw sparkles around and get praised for it. Now they were going to run off, play hero for a bunch of villains, and pat themselves on the back for it.

Ah, lord, there was a troublesome emotion rising up in Charles's chest. She wanted to show them up. She wanted to make them look like the clowns they were, to make them cry until their precious masks of makeup ran as mixed and muddied as the waters below.

There was a couple of the other prospective members, quite literally it seemed, that especially set her fury ablaze. She could smell it on them, in the way they walked, talked and wrapped themselves up in their own self-important little worlds. Lysandra, if she recalled correctly, and a man who'd not yet given his name. They seemed familiar with each other, as well as the silver spoon that marked all of the nobility. Just looking at the two of them made her stomach turn. She was sure that they'd go running off to the bank, sit back and do next to nothing, only to rub shoulders with whatever gold-laden pigs they managed to save from the crisis. It was pathetic. However, at the thought, Charles grinned.

The only reason she'd wanted into a guild in the first place was to get stronger. Even if she didn't like the cut of either of the guildmasters' jib, watching their shows of power was enough to prove that they were strong, if nothing else. Not only that, but their floozies seemed to have good enough muscles on their shoulders too. As much as Charles hated to admit it, sticking around them would probably be a surefire path towards making something of herself, so...

Nobody could blame her some having some fun while she was at it, right?

With a sudden, newfound spring in her step, Charles popped from her far off section of the bridge and made for the Void-Vice's bizarre excuse for transportation. As she passed her prospective victims by, she eyed them lightly, but didn't say a word. There would be better times for her to get one over on them, so for now, she just made way onto the bus. It was an uncomfortable experience, to say the least. Charles went most her weeks without setting foot inside even a grocery store, so a tube as tight and narrow as this... She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something didn't feel right about it. Still, it wasn't like she could turn tail and head there herself. Backing out while those two were lingering around was not an option. So with a look of more apparent discomfort than she thought she was allowing to show, Charles settled into a seat near the front of the vehicle, twiddled her thumb, and waited.