"I can't help but find this land to be... Boring." A sigh escaped the lips of the man sitting atop the large earthen shaped mole golem. "Even after being awake for a few years and finding employ with the King I am bored..." Being above the crowd he knew no one would hear him say that and it was blessing in & of itself. Too many people relied heavily on mages to do things for them when they could be done with their own two hands. He did concede things like dealing with monsters or Dark Mages did warrant the need for guild mages, even large scale bandit camps being brought to justice for crimes against a town with a force not large enough to defend itself qualified but just barely, however the inudation of menial jobs that people tried to pawn off to mages because they had the Jewel to do so was appalling. If people heard he was a mage employed by the King of Fiore that would be a giant can of worms he didn't want to deal with. Mages employed by the King were often inundated with countless protection jobs from Nobles, Lords and Ladies that adding commonfolk menial task was something to avoid at all costs. Not that he thought himself above a working stiff but he already had enough on his plate with his current assignment from the King.
"Hey! Get back here! Thief!"
The man turned his head and saw a rather rough looking man running his way with a womans purse in hand. "Not the excitement I was looking for but it works I guess." As he hopped off his golem he made the necessary calculations in his head before sticking his foot out. As he predicted the guy tried to stop but didn't have enough time to making him trip and land face first against the ground. Idly he thought he heard the sound of teeth breaking as he brought his elbow down in a sharp decisive movement to make sure the guy stayed down. The cry of pain, and bloody spittle that erupted from the mans mouth he noticed with a scowl, told him he might have done more damage than intended. Crouching down he poked at the injured and whimpering man tallying the injuries mentally. 'Broken or knocked out teeth, some blood loss and... Four breaks. Not my hardest dealt blow but effective nonetheless' he thought to himself ignoring the crowd around him.
Whispering and pointing people looked between the injured thief & the man who put him down. With blonde somewhere between a shade of gold and sunshine, blue eyes like the ocean though adorned with a sheen of boredom & curiously pointed ears like a fox or dog the man was a mystery to them. Mages were common in Magnolia Town, they housed the Fairy Tail guild base for crying out loud, but foreign mages were relatively uncommon to pass through unless business was being conducted with Fairy Tail. The mystery surrounding the man was only made thicker considering he came into town on a golem of all things and the number of mages who practiced magic to make or use golems was practiced in very small circles.
The man was broken from his thoughts as the young woman whose purse, he assumed it was hers anyway given her out of breath shape, appeared at the edge of the crowd short of breath & looking mildly irritated. Between the snow white hair, blue eyes and pale skin he knew right away who she was. It kind of amused him actually considering she was a model for Sorcerer Weekly and supposedly a S-Class mage. "Mirajane Straus, surprise surprise" he said with a slow drawl. Standing up he arched his back popping his stiff joints. "Your thief, do what you want with him. I would get him to a healing mage first though before you consider prosecution."
Mirajane was confused for a moment about why the man was saying the thief would need a healing mage as she snatched her purse back. Seeing his shape upon closer inspection she scowled deeply. She despised a criminal as much as the next person but petty crime was not an excuse to hurt someone this badly. "How badly did you hurt him?" she asked as her scowl deepened.
"Tripped him up and brought an elbow down his leg to keep him down. That fractured the bone in four places. Oh, he did smash face first into the ground. Wouldn't be surprise if after today hes short a few teeth permanently" he said shrugging his shoulder. "I don't really care. Criminals are all trash and scum in my book."
"Mira!"
Mirajane turned her head away for a moment to where she heard her name being called and saw a small herd of her guild mates running toward her. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Juvia and Erza were running a dead sprint from what appeared to be a completely sloshed Cana. The white haired beauty groaned and palmed her face. 'One day of simple would be nice!' she cursed inwardly. Looking back to the thief she was surprised to see the mage who stopped him was gone. Where did the guy go? She hadn't looked away for more than two seconds and he had mysteriously gotten away silently. With a huge golem no less!
"Mira! SAVE US!"
It was that exact moment the towns non-mage law enforcement appeared. Dealing with her guild mates was one thing. Dealing with Cana when she was actually drunk was another. Dealing with her guild mates AND a drunk Cana, as much she was entertained by stern unshakeable Erza wS running with the others from Cana, while she tried to explain she wasn't the one to injure the thief that badly was annoying. Exceedingly annoying if she was being perfectly honest. The only thing that really helped was that there were so many witness to say another mage, the man she saw, was responsible for stopping and hurting the thief that badly after Mirajane had been yelling out for the thief to stop. Even with the number of witnesses it was obvious that the law enforcement guys looked to her suspiciously while one of them went to grab a healing mage to fix the guys leg.
Up on a nearby rooftop hidden by shadows cast by a chimney the source of Mirajanes frustrations chuckled and smirked lightly to himself, one hand tossing and catching a polished black stone. "This mission became a hundred times more interesting bun bun. Mirajane 'The Demon' Strauss being mugged is just the in I needed to begin phase one of the job." From his duster a fluffy white rabbit head popped up from an interior pocket and looked up making a series of squeaks. "I don't care if you like her. Business is business and pleasure is pleasure. Mixing the two is a big no no. Plus its bad business sense."
The bunny glared and squeaked angrily waving a paw at him.
"Call me asexual or closeted all you want but it doesn't make it true. I concede Mirajane Strauss has a charm but we differ greatly on what that charm is" he said with a raised eyebrow. "You are biased and have a thing for big boobs so don't even argue with me." The lack of a response and the waving of a paw like it was trying to flip him off before ducking into his duster again made him smirk. "I thought so fluffy."
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By the time Mirajane got back to the guild hall later that night, the moon was beginning to arc in the sky she noted with barely a thought, the white haired woman was at her wits end. All alone in the guild hall she took a bottle from their top shelf quality stuff and sat down at the bar with a shot glass. Two shots were downed as quick as she poured them, a cough escaping her as the burn faded to a warm feeling sliding down her throat.
"Long day Mira? Must've been quite stressful to make the 'Guild Mom' drink."
Mirajane scowled slightly knocking back a third shot before turning her head to look at the guild master. While his observation about her mood was spot on she was less fond about him using the moniker given to her by her friends and guild mates. Sure she was nice, kind and motherly in all the correct ways. Yes she had the motherly patience of a saint but that did not mean she liked being referred to as the 'Guild Mom'. Mothers, like elder sisters, were supposed to be able to protect the people they cared about. As it was she hadn't used her magic in two years and if she was the only shot her friends had at being rescued from a situation she'd probably end up hurting them or worse from forcing the use of her magic. That was if it would even respond to her at this point. "Master Makarov" she said with a curt acknowledgement of the man but nothing more as she poured another shot.
Makarov frowned at the greeting and hopped down to the first floor. Mirajanes patience was practically never ending so he couldn't help wondering what it was that wore her patience so thin when even an all out bar brawl amongst the other guild members couldn't wear her patience out. "Alcohol doesn't help Mira, not in the long run anyway" he said hopping up on the stool beside her. "You want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly." Mirajane knocked back the fourth shot like nothing and dropped her head to the bartop.
Makarov scowled and drummed his fingers on the bartop. "Tell me anyway. Seeing you out of everyone in the guild drink is worrisome" he said with a gentle tone conveying the concern he felt. She seemed to resist and only after another minute of prodding did she begin to rant.
"..and the ass leaves me there at the scene with the injured thief who stole my purse! I mean if it wasn't for the civilians saying I was NOT the one responsible for hurting the thief I'd probably be sitting in a jail before they dragged my ass before you and the other members of The Magic Council for abusing my magic. Magic I haven't touched in two years!" Mirajane hissed with her lip curled up in a sneer.
For Mirajane to be so utterly worked up like this that remnants of her youths dark personality to pop up was concerning. However what concerned him more was her description of this mystery mage. Creating golems was a practice not many magic practices incorporated in active use. For a mage to be able to craft a golem large enough to ride on and disappear with without a trace was worrisome as it was worth some respect. This reinforced that even mages would step in to help their brother or sister in need if it was readily obvious. All the same as the thought was heartening to him his mind was already working circles to think of a spell to track the magical output from a golem that size should put out. "You didn't happen to see what he looked like did you? Distinguishing features and all that" he said.
"How about I save you the time? I'm right here and really Mirajane, I have to say I'm disappointed. You're supposed to be an S-Class mage and you get robbed forcing someone else to stop the guy who stole your purse? Thats depressing for the image of your guild don't you agree."
Mirajane and Makarov turned on a sharp swivel. "Why you... I almost got arrested because of your stunt!" she snarled at the blonde mage.
Makarovs scowl deepened as he observed every available feature on the man. Blonde hair, blue eyes, sharp pointed ears.. That made him scowl more. He was almost tempted to call the man in front of them a myth but the resemblance was so striking that he said nothing for the moment. The only thing barring him from being dead on from the one figure everyone in Earthland knew about was the lack of whisker like scars on his face. "So you're the young man who helped Mira out earlier. You've caused quite a stir you know" the older mage said keeping a sharp eye on the young mans aura. His magic felt off and sent a chill down his spine. It wasn't tainted like a Dark Mages magic or evil but it felt almost restrained, incomplete in its current state. He couldn't help noticing the tattoos on the mans hands either, the runic symbols for the numbers one through nine decorating the knuckles of his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he noted what looked like to be two halves of a tattoo decorating the fronts of his forearms that almost looked like they would form a snarling wolves head. His immediate suspicion was that the tattoos related to his magic but what kind of magic could the young man practice that related to significant numbers one to nine and a wolves head?
"Did I? I hadn't noticed considering Ms. Strauss was too busy being purse snatched and no one helped. I did, I left the thief in her custody. I left" he said shrugging his shoulder. His duster moved before his faithful companion jumped out towards Mirajane. In a motion that was pure muscle memory he caught the rabbit by the scruff of the neck. "Apologies for my companion, shes excitable when it comes to women of a certain sort."
Mirajanes eyes narrowed at that comment. "And just what are you implying by 'women of a certain sort'?" she asked with a dangerous icy tone edging her words.
"Women like you Ms. Strauss. As much as I try to curb her habit she has this obsession about diving head first into the cleavage of well endowed women like yourself. Don't ask me why she does it because I don't know myself. Nor does her mate for that matter" he stated factually as the bunny futilely tried to escape his grip while a second distinctly vulpine popped out of the opposite side of his duster and growled at the bunny drawing a whine from the fluffy rabbit. "Go make nice with your mate snowball and leave me to business" he said dropping the bunny into the pocket with the fox.
"What business do you have to talk about young man? For that matter we don't know your name" Makarov said while he mentally was ready to take note of the name to search the magic councils records of registered mages later. This young man was powerful just from his aura alone, there had to be records.
"Well I'm here in Fiore on business actually. You have obviously been informed by Ms. Strauss I am a mage and I guess you could say I'm a bit of a freelancing mercenary up to hire for whatever mage guild offers the most. Given I'm here on contract from an employer whose job doesn't begin for a while so I thought to offer my services."
"You still haven't told us your name" Mirajane said, her expression pulled back a scowl.
"I haven't have I? Pardon that could you." He made a flippant dismissive gesture with his hand. "My preferred title is Maelstrom. My last employer called me 'The embodiment of chaos and destruction'. My last target who was a Dark Mage marked for death by the King for being the mastermind behind sacrificing an entire town to summon a demon called me God as he begged for his life. But really, execution jobs are too messy for my tastes. Just call me Maelstrom or Chaos."
Mirajane and Makarov shared a look. They had heard about a Dark Mage summoning a demon before he and the demon were cut down but not by who. It would explain why there was an active SS-level job out there put forth by the royal family some time back, the first of its kind. What they didn't know was that it had been an execution job or who ended up turning in the carcasses as proof to the King. "Where do your skills, magical and otherwise, put you on a scale from Rookie to S-Class?" Makarov asked.
Maelstom reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of guild identifiers and proceeded to the bar dropping them there on the bartop. He had dated IDs going back almost ten years to almost every major guild in Fiore, all of them bearing an 'outside contractor' endorsement, with an embossed S-CLASS CLEARANCE beneath his name and picture. "Do these speak to my level of skills? Personally I found the Sabertooth Guild to be quite... Brutish for tastes."
Makarov looked skeptical as he used a spell known to the Magic Council members and Guild Masters to verify the IDs. While outside contractors were uncommon in Fiore they weren't unheard of and each guild used the same spell authorized by the Magic Council to create the IDs for those they contracted to do work that weren't members of their guilds. "They're legitimate Mira" he said with his lips pulling into a thin thoughtful line. "I don't know how you attained such a high clearance with all these guilds" he pushed the IDs back to Maelstrom who pocketed them "but if we agree to accept your services you will work your way up and as the Guild Master I will require notice of when you are leaving to fulfill the contract that brought you here to Fiore in the first place."
Maelstrom scoffed and rolled his eyes at Makarov. "Did you expect me to demand automatic S-Class status? Thats hardly professional and I am nothing but a consumate professional. Think it over, I'll be back in the morning for your answer. Call this compensation for the frustration you've suffered today with my intervention on your behalf with that thief. I bid you adieu."
Makarov and Mira blinked, something they both regretted as the moment their eyes opened from the split second blink the man, Maelstrom as all the IDs and he himself identified as, was gone into thin air. "How did he.. You're not considering taking him up on that offer? Even with the IDs being real how we can trust him to keep his mouth shut about anything he might learn about the guild?!" Mirajane asked throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.
"We can't trust him and I haven't decided. I would wager he was sworn to non-disclosure legal magic before he ever got the outside contractor ID, something I would do if I was any other guild master hiring an outsider. Your day was taxing and frustration mixed with alcohol is not condusive to making a rational decision. Go home and sleep. I have people to get in touch with before I make up my mind." Makarov left Mirajane at the bar, his brows furrowed as he made a mental list of the guild masters he would need to contact and speak to regarding this Maelstrom fellow.