Geoffrey's Legacy
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail - all rights and stuff belong to Hiro Mashima. If I was the one to start Fairy Tail, fan-service wouldn't be so prominent and there would be side-series' focused on Irene's ascension to a Queen, how the Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord guilds came to be, Makarov's rise to Guild Master and how Gildarts joined Fairy Tail and became Guild Ace. I only own self-made characters, magic and storylines (I don't).
"History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." - Winston S. Churchill
Chapter 1.
(19th June X779, Oak Town, Kingdom of Fiore)
Lorraine stared up at the Phantom Lord Building; said guild resting in the middle of Oak Town, with her gaze largely being drawn to the wide central tower. For a guild which had a master who arrogantly boasted non-stop about how powerful the guild was, the exterior was rather underwhelming and bland - like a birthday cake with no special dressing. There was no 'wow' or 'that looks amazing' factor, but Lorraine already knew that she had no appreciation for buildings which resembled castles or fortresses.
The building was surrounded by stone walls topped with railings, which ended on the front in the building's own entrance, flanked some meters away by a pair of flags secured to the walls, and had two smaller, detached buildings at its sides, connected to the central one by suspended stone bridges. The secondary buildings possessed an elongated façade facing the main building and shorter sides, their pitched roofs being composed of tiles, and they sported simple, square windows, appearing as nothing more than holes in the walls, and more elaborated, larger and arched ones.
The main building, built of stone and linked to the two minor buildings by the suspended bridges, had another central and arched bridge adorned by battlements, connecting a pair of pillar-like structures placed in front of it, and seemed to take the form of a massive tower. The most distinctive feature, however, was the entrance: acting as both the door to the main building and the only way to get past the walls, consisting of a cylindrical structure topped by a series of small, pitched tiled roofs pointing in several directions, piled up one on the other: right above the cylindrical part were three of such roofs, one pointing frontally like the structure itself, and the other two jutting out respectively to the left and to the right.
Below such roofs, topping the entrance was a large, arched sign reading "Phantom Lord" in light characters, possessing light edges and a pair of strange protrusions jutting upwards at its sides. The double wooden door below it, with the square pillars holding the sign up, sported a light, torn banner above it, almost split in two to house two distinct, dark Phantom Lord's symbols. Flanking the entrance, in front of a series of small windows similar to those found on the secondary buildings, were two lines of dark, massive spear-like ornaments, held in place, just below their heads, by brick supports.
Well, it's now or never, although I wonder if I should've gone to Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale or Fairy Tail." She thought, walking up to the double wooden doors and pushing them open. The interior was slightly better in appearance, being a large and tall room furnished like a club, possessing several occupied tables paired with benches. The floor was composed of wood, bearing a distinctive square pattern in which every square was composed by four planks, and the ceiling sported a complicate system of massive, horizontal and vertical wooden beams hanging from it on top of the hall, just below the passageway leading to the second floor, which was complete with a small mezzanine.
When the wooden doors swung shut with a loud groan, many mages stopped chatting with each other and turned to her, ready to size her up. Some, however, gave her perverse leers as they scanned her form, with their gazes lingering on her uncovered abdomen and sizeable chest, and Lorraine felt the urge to gouge their eyes out. She adjusted the straps of the rucksack on her back, guessing that the office for the Guild Master must be on the second floor as she flipped the bird to one of them, and walked over to a young man who turned his head to her as she approached.
"Well hello, Beautiful, can I help you with something, or did you come here just to ask me out?" He inquired lazily, his mouth stretching into a cocky smirk as he ran his hand through his two-tone hair.
Lorraine scoffed, returning the smirk. "Thanks for the compliment, but don't flatter yourself, although I will admit that you're not too bad looking yourself. I'm here to join Phantom Lord, so if you kindly lead me to your Guild Master, Jose Porla, that'd be helpful, Totomaru of the Conflagration."
"Of the Conflagration? An extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property... Well how about it, it looks like I'm pretty famous in Earthland." Sounding genuinely surprised, Totomaru rose from his reclining position on a chair made out of multi-coloured fire and began to lead Lorraine towards the dual-stairs which resided past the tables. One of the stairs pointed right, while the other pointed towards left, which seemed pointless because both led to the second floor.
After they'd ascended the left stairs, Lorraine got a good look at the second floor. It was smaller, more elegant room: at its sides were a pair of stone balustrades ending in ornately decorated pillars shaped like goblets; the stone ceiling, sustained by a multitude of square pillars protruding from the walls, bore a pattern consisting of many squares, and from it hanged a massive chandelier. In the central part of the room, was a carved stone table bearing the guild's symbol on it, on which sat a jar full of flowers and a set to play chess; to the left was a small, decorated sofa. The room was given access to by an arched, intricately decorated door, and in front of it, on the other edge of the room, was a throne, on which Jose Porla sat. Behind said throne was a dark banner with Phantom Lord's light symbol on it.
"So, you already know my name from who knows where. Mind giving me your name, or would that be me still flattering myself too much? You know, first-name basis?" Totomaru asked, wiggling his eyebrows as Lorraine turned her head, her green eyes expressing how unimpressed she was as she stared into his own black ones. She raised an eyebrow, "If that's your current pick-up line, then you really need to get another one. Anyways, thanks for showing me where your Guild Master is, I'll be able to handle myself from here. And call me Xanthine. Seems we're not on the first-name basis yet."
Lorraine tilted her head, gave him a mocking pout, then turned her head back to the front and advanced ahead, leaving Totomaru sputtering indignantly behind her. Jose was watching interestedly as she got closer, his eyes seemingly making her feel small, like prey cornered by its superior predator. Even though he wasn't standing, Jose still managed to emit an aura of superiority, power and command. He only stood once she was five paces away, standing over her with crossed arms and Lorraine was by no means short.
Jose was a tall, slim man with long, straight, dark red hair reaching down to his shoulders and a thin mustache. He has a long and sharp face, vaguely pointed ears, prominent eyelashes and dark-colored lips. He wore a flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a jagged mantle and jagged lower edges, as well as intricately decorated borders and inners, featuring two prominent wings similar to a bat's, with a witch-like hat bearing Phantom Lord's symbol, complete with an extremely long, bent top hanging down on Jose's left; a plain shirt which sported his Wizard Saint's medallion around the neck, with two light ribbons falling down from it, loose striped culottes paired with long socks, and a pair of pointed shoes. His left hand's fingers were adorned by a pair of rings, one of which sported a spherical gem.
"I see you've already met Totomaru. What brings you to Phantom Lord, the most prestigious guild in the Kingdom of Fiore? Are you here to join, or were you sent by the Magic Council?" Jose spoke, his voice deep, yet silky and seductively smooth. Lorraine had to take a deep breath as chills ran down her spine. She'd have no problem with someone with a voice like Jose's reading her a bedtime story. She wondered if feeding his ego would get her on his good side, "I'm here to join Phantom Lord, Master Jose. It's amazing how powerful this guild has become from when it was founded by your ancestor, Geoffrey, back in X686."
"Impressive. Not many people know about Phantom Lord's past and to choose my guild demonstrates to me that you have good taste. Tell me, my dear, what do you have, in terms of your magical skills, to offer for Phantom Lord." Jose questioned, practically purring with restrained excitement. Before Lorraine could even start to answer the question; he yelped, clicked his feet together and adopted the weirdest expression he could muster, acting as if there was some sort of angry animal running around in his pants.
'Well that was random.' Lorraine sweatdropped, seriously beginning to wonder if she should leave Phantom Lord right now. Apparently, Jose was as dramatic and silly as he was arrogant. Hoping he wouldn't start carrying out further over-dramatic acting spectacles, she said, "I'm a user of Requip, specifically The Archer branch of the magic, Arrow Magic which is self-explanatory and-"
"Self-explanatory? Bah, you must think I know everything. I've never even heard of Arrow Magic, I didn't even know it existed. I guess you learn something new every day. What's that saying? Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. A-And now, with you, I've j-just opened a-another part o-of that box." His interruption was rather abrupt, taking Lorraine aback.
'Did I break him? I think I broke him.' Lorraine nearly recoiled at sight of his trembling lower lip. She really hoped that Jose was just messing around with her. She'd only been talking to him for a few minutes and she already felt as like he was draining away her sanity with his silliness. He was like a six year old in the body of a fully grown man. However funny it may be, it was also incredibly disturbing, and if this was Jose's idea of screwing with her head, then it was definitely working.
"Oh, well, Arrow Magic is a Holder Magic involving-"
Jose suddenly snickered, cruel amusement in his eyes, "There's no need for you to explain. I know what Arrow Magic is, I was just messing around with you. Besides, you might just end up making someone tell the joke of 'I used to be a mage once, then I took an arrow to the knee'. Hehe, I do apologise, I believe you were going to mention a third form of magic before I so rudely interrupted." He commented, gesturing for her to continue speaking.
'Was that his idea of a joke? Either his brain was mashed up by a blender and the resulting smoothie was poured into his skull, or somebody dropped him, one too many times, on his head as a child. How does he bounce between complete silliness to being gentlemanly so easily. Maybe he has a terminal illness and is making the most of the rest of his days.' Lorraine thought. When it became clear that Jose wasn't about to start overacting simply because he could, she continued, "I also use Take Over, Mythic Soul. My current 'Soul' technique being that of a Phoenix."
From what she'd gathered about Jose so far, Lorraine expected some kind of overenthusiastic response from Phantom Lord's Guild Master, something that would blow her away and be along the lines of 'Take Over with a Phoenix? that's absolutely magnificent. Do you tell people to watch themselves or you'll peck them to death with your Fiery Beak of JUSTICE', but his actual response was much more subdued, mature, and something one would expect from Jose's position of power.
"Mythic Soul, and a Phoenix to boot? How peculiar, I've only ever heard of Satan Soul, Animal Soul and Beast Soul. The latter two aren't anything special, but Satan Soul is a thing of beauty - allowing the user to harness the destructive power of a demon." For a moment, Jose looked absolutely murderous and psychopathic. However, the facial expression vanished as quickly as it appeared, prompting Lorraine to dismiss it as a mere trick of the light or a figment of her imagination.
"Okay, well, Mythic Soul allows the caster to absorb mythical creatures, those which used to be told in stories about the famous heroes of the past or stories about themselves, and utilise their abilities in battle. I can only harness the power and form of a Phoenix, an example being the regenerative capabilities, but I might come across more mythical creatures in the future and add them to my Mythic Soul. Such examples being a Sphinx, a Catoblepas, a Basilisk or a Kraken." Lorraine told him, noticing that Jose was repeatedly scanning her up and down.
'Regenerative capabilities? Thank the grave of my ancestor that she didn't go to Fairy Tail, because Makarov, curse and damn that eighty-three year old fool's heart, would've snatched her up in an instant and then boasted about it at our next Guild Master assembly. I have an interesting one here, but there's one thing that's bothering me.' Jose was sporting a half-scowl, ceasing his scanning when he noticed that she'd stopped talking, "My dear, how old are you and what is your name? Also, are you really as tall as you appear, or is something wrong with my eyesight?"
Lorraine felt a little insulted. It wasn't her fault that she was taller than the average woman, and what was wrong with being tall? She huffed, "I assure you, nothing is wrong with your eyesight, although the muscles holding it might be the strongest part of you, depending on how many times you've rolled your eyes at people claiming Phantom Lord isn't the strongest guild in Fiore. Either that, or you strike them down and say that they never saw that coming because they were blinded by the illusion of guild stronger than Phantom Lord." If Jose was going to joke about, then she'd start too - no matter how cringe they were.
"Anyways, my name is Lorraine Xanthine, I'm nineteen years old - I know that's late for someone starting their magical career, but who cares - and I'm 5'10ft tall. I guess I ended up with good genes from my mother and..." She trailed off, tightening one of her hands into a fist and Jose nodded, getting the hint that she despised her father, "So it seems. Do you ever wear jeans and walk up to people, telling them to 'look at my really nice genes'?"
'There he goes. I was wondering when he'd go ahead and make another joke.' Lorraine thought, exasperatedly running a hand through her strawberry blonde, crop cut hair, as Jose extracted a stamp-like device from his flamboyant clothing. For the former, it was about time. She didn't expect to still be talking to Jose, thinking she would've gotten her guild mark already and waltzed downstairs to make friends, although she did note, when passing through the first floor, that women seemed to be absent from the guild.
"Before I get my guild mark, are there any rules I should know about?" Lorraine inquired. A wide grin appeared on Jose's face, "Why of course there are rules, does this guild look like a dark guild to you? In all honesty, there aren't many rules. Respecting the Guild Master is an obvious one. Maintain Phantom Lord's status as a powerful guild, the most powerful in Fiore, although that isn't really a rule. A Phantom Lord mage killing another person isn't forbidden, but they will be excommunicated from this guild if the Magic Council comes knocking here after being able to deduce that they killed the individual. And obviously don't do anything that would get you labelled as a criminal or a dark mage. That's it really."
'Wow, there aren't many rules, but killing another person isn't forbidden? I can live with that, I'll be hunting the demons of my past sooner or later.' Lorraine thought, before focusing on Jose as he lightly shook the small device back and forth, seemingly pretending as if it were a hypnotic pendulum without a string.
Getting the hint of his unspoken question, she pointed at her abdomen and shifted her grey leggings, "I'd like my guild mark just bellow my bellybutton and stamped in white, please." The Guild Master raised an already raised eyebrow, but said nothing as he pressed the device onto the flesh below her bellybutton, and then pulled away after a few seconds, leaving a white Phantom Lord mark behind.
Lorraine then hitched her leggings back into their original position, leaving her guild mark half-covered, "Thank you for making me an official member of Phantom Lord, Master Jose, I guess I'll sort myself out now."
She turned around, hearing him chuckle as she did so, and ran towards the stairs. Instead of running down either side, she vaulted over the wooden barrier which acted like a partial balcony and nearly landed on top of an unsuspecting Totomaru.
The man tensed and was about to unsheath the katana at his side, only lowering his hand and relaxing when realised that it was only her. He gave her comically annoyed look, leading her over to an unoccupied table, "Xanthine, do you have a habit of trying to jump on people? I'm not a trampoline or a crash mat."
"Oh really, I must've missed the hint because your face looks like one. Lighten up a little, I'm now a mage of Phantom Lord." Lorraine commented, gesturing at her half-covered guild mark as she sat down, but Totomaru remained standing, his one of his eyebrows twitching at the jab. He gave her a haughty look, "Congratulations, I guess. Since you probably don't have many jewels, seeing as how you've just joined the guild, can I get you anything to eat or drink? Coffee and a sandwich or donut?"
"Aren't you a charmer, trying to get on a first-name basis with me." Lorraine commented, suppressing a smile when she saw a muscle in Totomaru's jaw flex, indicating that he was starting to get irritated. Resting her right arm on the table and supporting her tilted head with her head, she continued, "No, seriously though, thanks for the offer. I'll have a hot chocolate, and a ham and cheese sandwich, please, if that isn't too much for you to handle."
Totomaru's nostrils flared as she made a 'go on servant' gesture, but he went to get what she asked for, one side of his mouth twitching upwards as he walked away, towards the bar counter. Now that she was alone, Lorraine took a moment to look around the guild's interior, spotting at least eighty mages, all male, and three who stood out amongst them.
Sat on at the table next to hers were two men. The one sat at the left side of the table was a slim man of average height with a tiny, pointy, mustache and green hair pointing upwards. His right eye was hidden by a monocle, attached to a slim chain; under it, the eye itself seems small and round, in contrast to his other, larger eye. He wore formal attire consisting of a brown suit with a ragged collar bearing six prominent protrusions jutting outwards - three on each side - over a white shirt paired with a red tie and simple shoes. He also donned what appears to be a short cape attached to both of his elbows, linking them.
She couldn't help but notice that the man kept adopted weird poses, changing them every twenty seconds, and mumbling in a language she didn't recognise. He said something to his friend who immediately burst into tears, despite the cloth wrapped around his head - obscuring his eyes - and yelled, "SAD! THAT'S... So... So... Sorrowful. Why so sorrowful?"
The blonde rolled her eyes. Much to her dismay, the guild apparently had three drama queens - one of which couldn't control his tearducts, while the other two seemingly had ADHD or something along those lines.
Mr. 'SAD' Drama Queen was an extremely tall and massive man with tanned skin. He appeared to have no visible hair, and possessed a rectangular, elongated face with prominent cheekbones, which has his rounded chin jut downwards, something that somehow negates the angular look his face would have otherwise. A thin, vertical dark line is present on his chin, crossing its whole length up to his lower lip, and his nose is flat. His eyes were hidden by the plain, white blindfold, and his hand were unnaturally large - almost as large as his own head.
His attire consisted of a large, loose green coat sporting white edges, closed around his neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but left open on the front below it, revealing a red, similarly loose and ruffled pale red shirt, with its high collar, split in three horizontal straps circling his neck, being held closed by an equal amount of buttons, one for each strap. Appearing from below such shirt is a similar robe, yellow in color, almost reaching down to his feet, revealing an extremely loose pair of pants with prominent hems and a pair of simple, dark shoes.
His attire sports a pair of distinctive elements: circling his neck is a large, orange-colored necklace composed of several crosses linked together by small beads, which on the front, right below his neck, bears a small skull, with its eyes obscured by a blindfold not unlike that covering the mages' eyes; passing over his shoulders and hanging on the front is instead a wide stole, purple and white in color, and covered in intricate motifs. A top hat, matching his coat in color, sat on his head.
"Here you go, Xanthine." Totomaru returned just as was about to turn her gaze to the third male, who sat on his own, munching on a piece of iron which had been molded to resembled a thick slice of steak. The former handed her the steaming cup of hot chocolate, and the ham and cheese sandwich - the latter item sitting on a ceramic plate. Lorraine held onto the cup by the handle and set the plate onto the table - feeling satisfied that she was able to con Totomaru into buying her a meal. She had more than enough jewels to buy a simple meal without needing to worry about attaining more.
"Thanks. By the way, Totomaru, are you in a team, or do you go on jobs by yourself?" Lorraine asked as he sat opposite her. The black and white haired male nodded, turning his head in the direction of the two men sitting on the table next to them, and said, "I usually solo whichever jobs I choose, but I'll sometimes go with those two. We're called the Element Three, and are currently waiting for another mage to join the guild, hopefully possessing Lightning or Water Magic, so we can form the Element Four. We were created on Jose's orders. I'm sure he'll fill you in eventually."
"The big, tearful guy is Aria, fellow S-Class Mage, also known as Aria of the Heavens, and user of Airspace Magic. The lanky guy who can't stop posing is Sol, another S-Class Mage, also known as Sol of the Earth, speaker of the 'Language of Love', and user of Earth and Sand Magic. If Sol says to you, Salut, Mademoiselle, don't think that he's insulting you. He's only saying 'Greetings, Miss', and he'll also ask you to address him as Monsieur Sol." Totomaru informed her as she sipped at her hot chocolate.
"I'll keep that in mind, Salt and Pepper." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, tapping her nails against the cup, as Totomaru gulped down half of his tropical juice and rolled his eyes at the nickname, "Really, Salt and Pepper? I'm not even going to ask if that's something I'm going to have to get used to, I already know the answer to that question. Besides, given the colour of my hair, it's actually not too bad. Anyways, what's with the crop cut hair? I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I'm just curious."
The nineteen year old wrapped a few strands of her hair around her index finger, after downing her hot chocolate, "I'm comfortable with it, and it doesn't provide an opportunity when in a fight. With long hair, someone could easily grab it and I'd be in an unfortunate and disadvantaged position if I didn't have something to cut off my hair in that moment. Also, it feels like longer hair takes up more time to wash out and maintain." She explained, and Totomaru nodded, finding her points valid.
"Makes sense, one should never give their opponent an advantage or opportunity in a fight, no matter how small it is. Anyways, tell me about yourself, Xanthine. What were you up to, before you came to Phantom Lord?" Totomaru questioned, and Lorraine scowled, twisting her face into a grimace, "Despite the best efforts of my mother, Cynthia Xanthine, who gave birth to me in X760, my life was a complete sack of shit, up until I fled to Habanera Town in January X773 - after that jackass of a father killed my mother. I wasn't well educated, due to his...own issues, so I had to go to school and be educated on multiple areas. I was able to persuade someone to give me a job when I was thirteen - allowing me to accumulate jewels and live in my own property from fourteen, all the while learning my various forms of magic."
"I made many friends while living and learning in Habanera Town; some adults, and others being girls my own age. With the forms of magic that I had learned, I also took jobs which would normally be reserved for mages belonging to guilds, and then became a professional hunter in mid-X777 - hunting animals and even dangerous monsters just for the thrill. I left to join a guild, an obvious point since I'm currently standing inside Phantom Lord, a few weeks ago. My other choices had been Mermaid Heel, Fairy Tail, and Lamia Scale." Lorraine told him, earning a snort from Totomaru.
At her inquisitive look, he elaborated, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with Lamia Scale, or Fairy Tail - except for the fact that Jose holds a massive grudge towards the guy running the latter, Makarov Dreyar, who is the Third Master of Fairy Tail. On the other hand, Mermaid Heel is literally an all-female guild full of nobodies. Nobody, not even the Magic Council, knows whether they have a good enough candidate for Guild Master, they don't have any S-Class Mages, and they don't even have a Guild Ace. In fact, its in such a poor state that it's a wonder how the guild hasn't been dissolved yet. Read newspapers and the Sorcerer Magazine, you'll see what I mean." He explained and Lorraine looked relieved that she'd decided not to join Mermaid Heel.
"Wow, thank goodness I didn't join them. I'd hate to join a guild, and then have it suddenly collapse because of multiple issues. They really need to up their game." Lorraine took a bite out of her sandwich, noticing how more mages in the guild were giving her curious looks - also receiving a smirk from the one she'd flipped the bird at. What was their problem, had they never seen a woman before? Ignoring them, she glanced at the lone male who was still munching on his biscuit-shaped piece of iron. Totomaru followed her gaze, obscuring a smile, "Oh, I wouldn't try talking to him. He's only fourteen, six years younger than I am, but it's like talking to a wall reinforced with steel."
'Challenge accepted.' Quickly finishing her sandwich and placing the cup on the plate, Lorraine winked at Totomaru, and then walked over to the loner - his thing apparently being the colour black - who didn't even look up to acknowledge her. Standing over him, Lorraine watched with morbid fascination as he took another bite out of his iron biscuit, chewed it for a few seconds and then swallowed it as casually as one would do with ordinary, edible food.
"Sooooooo, is that normal for you, eating iron? I mean, it doesn't look particularly tasty or kind to the stomach." She commented, but he simply ignored her as he scratched his long, spiky black hair. However, Lorraine was determined to prove Totomaru wrong and get a response out of the fourteen year old, "Do you always ignore people trying to make conversation with you? Do you even have any friends, although I think that's a stupid question, nobody's sitting with you, so I believe that answers the question for me."
He still chose to ignore her. Lorraine leaned past his left side to get a good look at his face, quickly retreating when one of his eyes flickered aside to meet hers. From what she could gather from her short observation, the teen had lightly pale skin, no eyebrows, more than a dozen piercings - some in a line where his eyebrows should be - and menacingly red eyes. "What's with the piercings, lack of eyebrows, overgrown black hair, and ripped, black, sleeveless shirt. Living life as a gothic punk, or punk with a side order of goth?"
She noticed that he was munching on his iron biscuit with more intensity than he had been before, loudly grinding the iron in his mouth with his pre-molars and molars - assuming consuming iron hadn't already destroyed those teeth and he didn't just have replacement metallic ones. Lorraine turned to Totomaru, mouthed, 'looks like I'm making progress', and then turned back to the raven haired teen. "Are you going to give me the silent treatment all day, because I can work with that, I'll just keep talking until I get a reaction. And since you won't give me your name, I'm going to call you, Hedgehog."
'Hedgehog' clenched his fist, but did nothing more, and then Lorraine noticed how quiet the guild had become. Everyone, or nearly everyone, was watching her one-sided interaction with 'Hedgehog' who Lorraine figured must be quite a notorious figure in Phantom Lord, given how a lot of people were watching them. She daringly poked at his hair a few times, even mustering the arrogance to actually poke at his scalp, "You know what? Instead of 'Hedgehog', I think I'll call you 'Punk the Porcupine with a side order of Goth'."
That was the final straw. Growling, the teen slammed one fist into the table to express his anger, splintering it, and swung his other arm, intending to introduce his knuckles into the face of the person annoying him. Lorraine quickly moved her head away, but didn't expect the teen to continue moving his arm until his fist was in line with her face, nor did she expect his arm to transform into a iron rod which suddenly extended towards her.
If she'd been any slower in lunging towards the table to avoid the attack, Lorraine had no doubt that her jaw would've been broken, and most of her teeth would've been knocked out. She watched as the rod extended until it harshly bashed an unsuspecting mage in the face, the flat end of the rod being wide enough to knock out several of his teeth, bust open his upper lip, break his nose, and presumably severely fracture part of his cheekbone.
"For fucks sake, leave me alone, or I'll make sure to hit you next time!" The teenager snarled, ignoring his victim's cries of pain as the rod shifted back and transformed back into his forearm. Lorraine sat down next to him, dismissing his threat as an empty one, and opposed his fierce glare with her own unwavering stare, "Jeez, there's no need to be such a violent prick about it. If you didn't want me bothering you, then you should've told me the first time. Now then, since I have your attention, whats your name? Mine's Lorraine Xanthine."
At Totomaru's comically outraged yell of 'Oh, so he can be on a first-name basis with you? I see how it is, Lorraine Xanthine', the teenager crossed his arms and scoffed, "The fuck are you waiting for, you expect me to give you my name?"
"Well yeah, it's common courtesy to give your name in return." Lorraine retorted, starting to feel a little unnerved by the teen's unshakeable red eyes. The fourteen year old rolled his eyes disinterestedly, crossing his toned arms over his torso, "Yeah, whatever. I'm Gajeel Redfox. Happy, are you gonna get lost now?"
"No, I want to get to know you. Maybe even become friends with you. Tell me something about your past." Lorraine told him, and Gajeel grunted, "Fuck off, I ain't telling you shit about me, and I don't need friends. Friends are for pansies."
"Fine, if you don't like the word 'friend', then I'll be your associate. Now, take me on a job. We can talk about ourselves for however long it lasts, although I doubt you'll say much about yourself. After that, I promise I'll leave you alone." She offered.
Gajeel appeared thoughtful, but the expression quickly dropped off his face and he said, "Whatever, sure. But go back on your promise and I swear, I'll knock your teeth out."
A/N: If you have any questions or queries, please PM me. Reviews are a joy to behold, even constructive criticism.