Laura slipped into the guild hall behind some other people. It wasn't hard to stay unnoticed in such a large guild. Most of the members were yelling loudly and having fun. There were probably some people not even part of the guild, like a five year old playing with a group of kids his age.
Laura stopped in front of the request board and addressed the woman she had spoken to yesterday. "What jobs are there?"
"There are a few you can go on right now. Most of them were done by Lyla before she left." The woman contemplated a book in front of her. "Oh! I know. You can do this one." She handed her a flier.
"This is seriously a job?" The young woman asked skeptically. It was for someone to come and talk to them for a little bit. The reward was pretty good too. "It's stupid."
"I can give you a different one." She handed her another. This one was for tracking a vulcan in the woods. It said not to engage it in battle. "It's recommended you have a partner at the very least."
"I don't need one." She tucked the flier into her pocket. "I'll take it."
"I'll inform the master and write it down then. Be careful." The woman cheered.
"Whatever." The newest member walked away.
"By the way, my name is Mirajane." The high-pitched voice easily cut over the chatter. "I forgot to introduce myself yesterday."
Laura ignored her and walked out the door. At least she had a name for a face now.
"Why are people so stupid?" Laura grumbled to herself. This job hadn't seemed so bad until the person who requested told her that the entire thing was so his kid could have a single. Stupid. Toy! Ridiculous! This man was rich if the reward on the quest and his home were anything to go by, why didn't he replace the toy?
"Why?" She muttered aloud. "Because that toy is the one his spoiled brat wants!"
The vulcan was even stupider. She had found his unattended lair so easily. All that was left was to go retrieve the toy and be done.
In the quiet forest, she could hear everything. It was a nice change from the loud city. That guild was even louder. Laura strolled into the silent lair and began to search through piles of dusty, stolen stuff that the petty ape had collected.
"Aha!" She exclaimed when she found it. She dusted it off and tucked it into the velvet lined bag that the man had given to her for it. "Dumb ape," she muttered and began to walk out.
In the distance, heavy footsteps accompanied by the crunch of greenery echoed. The woman stretched right outside the door and waited. She felt like doing something interesting since she had some time to kill today. The ape wouldn't get to her for another couple of minutes, so she stretched every muscle in her body.
Laura had finished stretching a minute ago when the Vulcan came into view. "Pretty lady!" The green and purple ape exclaimed in shock. "What pretty lady waiting for?"
A lazy smirk danced across her face. "To play around. I'm bored." She answered.
"I make you wife if you bored." The dumb animal began to leap for her.
The woman stepped out of the way so that he crashed into his lair. "I'd rather a much more faithful husband than a dumb ape. Besides, when was the last time you looked in the mirror?" She insulted. "And you smell like a piece of shit"
"Wife not insult hubby! That mean!" The upset monster climbed out of his lair. "You should be nicer."
"Gorians are so easy to provoke." The young woman rolled her eyes and sighed. At least this was more entertaining than cleaning. "Primates should be talking. You are just a freak," she taunted. The beast charged at her and tried to punch her.
"I no make you wife. I crush you now!" The enraged monster yelled as he began to attack wildly.
The woman continued to taunt him and use her superior speed to dodge all his attacks. Eventually, the Gorian exhausted himself and fell asleep. Laura scoffed.
"You are a boring piece of shit!" She kicked the sleeping monsters head and stomped away. The thing's snores reverberated through the forest. "And you're far too noisy!"
It had only been a couple of hours since she had accepted the job and the dumb beast had passed out while she played around.
Irately, she handed the toy over to the wealthy man who had set up the job. She accepted the payment and began to make her way back to the guild just as angrily.
Most people avoided her since she looked a little crazy with her wild hair and ratty clothes, but some were just idiots. Today was the day one of those idiots decided to strike.
"Are you ok, lady?" A clean young man asked her. "Cause if you aren't, I can help you." The man was standing in front of her when she was obviously angry and dangerous.
"Oh, sure! I'm a fucking damsel in distress and not some random wizard you're bothering." Laura bit sarcastically. "Go fuck yourself and get your head out of your bloody damn ass, motherfucker." She scowled at him.
"Chill, I'm just trying to be helpful!" The man at least had the sense to back off. They were in the middle of the marketplace, so if a fight broke out, someone would have to pay or go to jail. Laura was obviously not going to pay for shit and jail didn't look like a good idea. Nobody wanted to mess with the Magic Council either.
"Well, take your helpfulness and sunshine to some other bullshit idiot. I'm busy!" She stomped over to one of the vendors. He was selling clothes. She glared at his selection for several minutes before walking away with an outfit that resembled her current one, only cleaner and undamaged.
The young brunette woman gathered soaps for herself and for cleaning as well as a new pillow before she began to walk towards the edge of town. Mutters filled the marketplace about how all these strange wizards came to town.
"This one seems like bad news." A man said.
"Give her a chance. That masked kid is really sweet and she seemed like bad news." A woman scolded.
"The other new one is from Phantom Guild. He shouldn't be here. What if she's from there too?"
"No, she is from farther away. I've got a good feeling about her."
"I've got a terrible feeling about her."
The gossipers were quickly drowned out by the business carried on around them. The other sounds of the town -polite chatter, footsteps, rustling cloth- were all much more pleasant to hear. Not as pleasant as silence, but better than gossip.
"I hate stupid people like that." Laura grumbled to herself as the building thinned out along with people. The best thing about the house was no one was close enough that she could hear them.
The dusty house was the most pleasing thing to listen to. It was a peaceful quiet. Not quite a silence, but a quiet zone with no awful people ruining it. "Or monsters," she muttered aloud as she dropped the stuff she had bought with the rest of her stuff. Laura stared at the cleaning stuff with a frown.
"Should I go back to the guild and get another job or something?" She mused aloud. Nobody would be bothered by her voice echoing but her now. "Or should I clean?" Her frown deepened as she argued each point aloud.
"It's loud at the guild."
"It's boring here."
"You can't enjoy the peaceful house."
"You can get stronger at the guild."
"Shut the fuck up! I'm going to the guild so I quit this nonsense!" She yelled at herself and began the trek to the guildhall.
When she entered, it was even rowdier than this morning. More building was happening, but more people were also drinking.
"Hi, Laura." Mirajane greeted when the woman sat down at the bar. "How was the job?"
Laura grunted a non-answer and stared at the request board. None of the jobs were in town or close by!
"If a new job around here pops up, I'll save it for you." The bartender offered sweetly.
"That'd be great." Laura answered reluctantly after a minute of awkward internal debate.
The woman behind the bar just smiled and said, "Okie-dokie! I'll make sure to do that. I do that for all our new guildmates of course, but some don't want me to do that. I'm glad you do. One of our newer wizards didn't need me to do that despite them being totally broke. And she did it without a team." The woman continued to inanely chatter at Laura, who only paid attention for information.
Eventually, she got tired of it and ordered something to eat. Two birds with one stone. She needed food and her ears needed a break from the high-pitched, non-stop chattering.
"Here's your food. I hope you enjoy." The happy woman dropped a plate in front of the scowling one. "Sorry if I talked too much. I'm just excited about all the new powerful members we keep getting. Enjoy your meal." She walked off to do something else.
"Finally." Laura grumbled and began to eat. She'd go back to the house after this since it was getting late. All these trips back and forth really helped her get the layout of the the town. It was a very clean town to live in at least.