A/N: All right, chapter 2 is here! And I've made a few decisions for the final cast roster. I've decided to limit the guild mage membership to 25 user-submitted characters. Currently, there are 11 either submitted or in the works. That means that there are 14 spaces still open for the main guild. There will also be opportunity to make characters for the Grand Magic Games; you can make up legal guilds for that and a few other arcs, or create mages for canon legal guilds. I'll determine a more concrete list of canon and fanon guilds for the GMG. Dark mages and guilds are cool too. Also, if there's a particular plot point you want to build an arc around, I accept that too. You'd be making OCs for any arcs you suggest. With all of that worked out, let's get this started!
25 May X820, Phoenix Gear Guild Hall, Estrecho, Fiore.
"What do you mean you still haven't seen the master's quarters?" The old woman asked, as she looked down at a reclined Margaret in her office.
"You guys have some major debts, I've just been working them out," Margaret explained, as she blinked, trying to chase the sleep from her eyes.
"Wait, those were being ignored!" The woman said, a bit nervous.
"Then it's no wonder you guys can't take out loans..." sighed Margaret. "Grace, we have to do things a bit differently from now on."
The older woman, whom Margaret learned was Grace Montague, was shorter than Margaret by a few inches, at 5'5" and wore a white knit jacket, khaki pants, and a powder blue blouse. Her hair was wavy and gray, which contrasted with her bright blue eyes. She gave a disappointed look. "Well how else did master Marcus get the hall made?" She wondered aloud, as she spun, weakly at her age, and directed her to an ancient picture hung on the wall in the master's office. "I haven't been young since the first master left, I think I might know a thing or two!"
Margaret sighed. "You know you called me here..."
Grace didn't have a response, as Margaret stared into the picture. The first master was a middle-aged man of thin construction, with brown hair and thick glasses. Grace stood beside him, younger than Margaret was now. Her hair was as blue as her eyes back then, she wore a long, double-breasted coat and black boots. The scene was winter, and there were others there, none of whom Margaret recognized.
"Marcus, that was his name?" Margaret asked, genuinely curious.
"Yes, and well, the guild's only gotten worse since he left those 25 years ago," Grace sighed as she coaxed Margaret out into the main hall. "The team left for an S-Class job the night before you came in, they should be back no," Ptarmigan said, as the two walked into the main room. Margaret had never paid it much mind before, but she could see where some of the debt came from. While it was in a bit of disrepair, the guild hall was a massive building, with a cathederal-esque construction. The windows were stained glass, in geometric patterns, and the offices and back door of the guild were on a raised platform a few steps up from the main hall. In place of pews, there were tables, some long, some circular, around which mages were supposed to congregate, and a bar to the left coming in. There seemed to be doors leading to a neglected kitchen a few feet further back from the bar. The bar was stocked, and seemingly the only portion of the area not neglected, while the tables were flipped, the balconies' railings chipped and the various games, pool, foosball, and a few arcade machines, seemed damaged, the bar was immaculate.
"Who keeps the bar so nice?" Margaret asked, noting that it seemed egregious, compared to the surroundings.
"One of the mages out on a job now," Grace explained. "They should be back later today."
"All right, good to know."
As Margaret began to observe the banners hanging from the balcony, she took the stairs near the doors and entered the S-Class Lounge. It didn't seem terribly different from the main floor, but it seemed less lived in. Here, there were bugs nested under the tables, the bookshelves containing ancient lore were caked with dust, and all but one of the bulletin boards was covered in spider webs. Margaret walked over to the lone exception. It seemed to be the only board with jobs not five years out of date. She wrote out the names of the benefactors, and pocketed her notebook, as she looked around the book shelves for any other leads...
Barrier Particles and Collective Memory.
Thaddeus Belserion, X192
Abstract: While parallel worlds have not been established to exist per se, there is strong evidence of their existence based on the behavior of barrier particles. In particular, the seemingly spontaneous generation of particles that do not behave as those around them. Moreover, some stray particles appear to take on traits of mages who use them in their magic. The implication of this is that the influence of elemental forces on barrier particles is not immediately lost. This has led me to hypothesize that as the human body metabolizes barrier particles, and especially when mages release them as magic spells, some human memories are retained in the particles. This would mean that...
Margaret cracked a smile. Crazy ancient ideas. Collective memory was an interesting thought, but it wasn't as though it existed outside of pulp stories. The past 700 years found no possibility that barrier particles carried memory, only that they were able to take on traits of the things around them-
"We're Ba-ack!" A voice shouted, as the doors of the guild hall flew open, and four human figures stood in the entryway.
Grace shouted from the floor. "Margaret! It's high time you met the others!"
Margaret descended the staircase and observed the four mages near her. She supposed they had to be Phoenix Gear's remaining mages. The four seemed to be a mismatched bunch, but then, Margaret had always thought of guild mages as having loose ties. The mages standing before here seemed to represent entirely different ideas. The closest to her was a few inches shorter than Margaret, and was a woman in her early twenties, with long violet hair and brown eyes. Her ensemble was somewhat simple, with black shorts and white tights and a gray hoodie that hid her figure. The only "showy" part of her was a black necklace with a white gem in its center. Margaret could tell that a good deal of magic emanated from it.
"We're sorry about the wait. We couldn't help it..." The woman sighed.
"It's okay, I'm Margaret Andersson," Margaret said, extending her hand in greeting.
"Elya Graylock," the woman responded.
"I assume you're the leader?"
"No, that would be me," a man only a couple of inches taller than Margaret spoke up. His eyes were also brown, but his hair was green and was spiked ever so slightly. He seemed to show the most negligible signs of aging, and thus she guess he was in his mid twenties. His clothes, a simple v-neck white shirt, a black leather jacket, and jeans alongside black boots, hid most of what Margaret saw as a few scars. Most of this body below the face seemed to be at least slightly scarred. "Silvius Capello, and if anything, I'll Master-ba-"
"Be nice to the new master," Said the elbow's owner. The man's attempt at a crude joke was cut off by a harsh elbow of the third figure. She towered well above the other three, and anyway stood a good five inches above Margaret at 6'3." She was also athletic, but it was not the lean kind of musculature. She was very much curved, and it seemed that her muscle mass was distributed across her body. More of a lifter than a runner. Her hair was a bright shade of orange, and reached her hips, which was doubly impressive considering her stature. She kept things a bit more formal than the other two, with a blue pleated dress with a laced overlay above the waste, alongside white sandals and silver stud earrings. "I'm Adenna, and yes, he's technically the team leader, but I outrank him as an S-Class. I usually watch the bar, but they needed an S-Class mage for this job," Adenna explained.
"A-are you the new master?" The fourth mage asked. He was nearest to Margaret's height, only a bit shorter, and seemed to be of slighter body. His appearance seemed almost contradictory. A frail appearance on a tanned boy with a scar on his left cheek, but what Margaret noticed first was the strange feathered wings on his back. He was dressed more like Elya than any of the others, and wore a simple t shirt and sweatpants, the former of which had holes cut to accomodate the wings. He seemed to be fighting back tears.
"Yes, I'm not quite sure of the situation surrounding my predacessor..." Margaret trailed off, as she noticed the boy's disposition skulk even further than before.
"Adenna, how about you show Margaret around the grounds. She's scarcely left the master's office since she came here," Said Grace, as she took the boy into her arms. "I'll see to Elsie's disposition."
"Sure thing," Adenna said, with a bright smile. "I guess you haven't seen too much of the guild grounds then."
"How far does this go?" Asked Margaret, as she stepped out of the guild hall to a clearing, where there seemed to be a ropes course and a magic power finder situated around a few stands. It seemed that this was meant to be a training ground, and unlike the S-Class lounge, it did see occasional use, but nowhere near the wear and tear of the main hall. Out from the courtyard was a vegetable garden, which was well-kept, and extended around 100 feet. Beyond that, the clearing gave way to a deep forest, that seemed to extend several miles, to a mountain marking the Ishvan Autonomous Region's start in the distance. To the immediate left and right of the hall lay a five story building seemingly made of apartments, as well as a small house to the other end.
"The guild owns everything up to the mountain, we don't really go much into the forest though. We haven't really found a use for it," Explained Adenna.
"I guess Master Marcus must have had a lot of money to throw around," Margaret remarked.
"To hear Grace tell it, he sank all of it in the guild, left in shame. No one's heard from him since," Adenna said, with a downbeat expression. "Supposedly, the forest was going to be used for some kind of expansion, but keeping up a guild is expensive."
"I was about to bring that up," Margaret said, with a concerned look.
"Master Ella never let me see the books. Is that what you were doing cooped up in the office the past three days?" Adenna asked.
"Yeah, it's a big problem. Marcus settled the hall, apartments, and the master's quarters, but we've got a lot of unnecessary expenses. There are several purchases of alcohol for the bar that haven't been sold, there seems to be a large drain on the power supply I haven't yet been able to identify, and we owe several damages for destroyed property, and one fairly substantial debt for something called 'damages from failure?'"
Adenna winced at the last point. "Let's look at the quarters," She said, seemingly unsettled by the discussion of accounts.
The master's quarters were smaller than expected, and seemed to be an A-Frame, with rooms dotting a shared wall with an extremely sheer roof. The sides of the house were perpendicular to the guild hall, and the front door thus jutted out from the nearer side of the roof-wall. It jutted out into a small entryway. On either end, there was a small porch.
"It's cozy," Margaret said. Seemingly very pleased.
"I like the cut of your gib," Adenna responded with a smile. "Ella was always saying it was too small."
"I don't think I've ever had that much space to myself," Margaret answered.
"I can relate. I grew up with thirteen siblings, big farm family," Explained Adenna. "Anyway, take a look inside."
Margaret obliged, opening the door and feeling a rush of energy, something she could only assume was a spell on the house priming itself to lock and unlock in response to her requests. She entered a simple foyer with two coat closets on either side, and a place for shoes. For how small the house itself was, there was an abundance of space in this area. Margaret could only assume this was to accomodate a large number of guests. The two removed their shoes and went further into the house. The floor plan seemed open, with a kitchen area to Margaret's right coming in, and a couch and myriad chairs centered around a table to her left. The lacrima lights were within lamps and on strands hung on a staircase on the other end of the room. Directly above the two, there was a balcony to which the staircase lead. There were two noticeable rooms across both walls, which Margaret assumed were a master and guest bedroom.
"Hey, it ain't much, but it's home, right?" Adenna chuckled.
"I love it," Margaret responded.
"Great, one more thing," Said Adenna. "You mentioned you wanted to bring costs down, as it happens I have a bit of training in business. Could I look at the books a bit?"
"Be my guest. I could use all of the help I could get."
"Shield Magic: Hero's Aegis!" A distinctly prim, feminine voice rang out, as the duo entered the guild hall. The scene before them was strange, but to Adenna didn't seem terribly foreign. The mages of Phoenix Gear were squared off against a trio of unfamiliar figures. Silvius seemed to be missing both arms, and yet there was no blood emanating from his shoulders, Grace had just activated a brilliant projection around her right wrist, a golden shield, partially translucent. Elya brandished a rapier that seemed to be protecting her from the concussive force of one of the interlopers. Esie was dive-bombing a man in black and red, who seemed to shrug it off. Meanwhile, Margaret noticed that despite being detached from his body, Silvius' arms were attempting to snare an unfamiliar young woman. The new figures all seemed to be mages, though if they were here to join the guild, she wasn't sure what they were doing fighting the current members. The fellow fighting Elya, who seemed to have the upper hand, was jarringly tall, even taller than Adenna. Dressed in black and purple. He had an open leather jacket with massive shoulder pads and a gray tank top ripped where the sleves may have once been. His jeans were ripped, and his right ear pierced. His black hair, choppy and in a short mullet, complemented his tanned skin well, but the thing Margaret noticed most was that his left eye was pure purple save for four white dots. He screamed outward distorting the air slightly, which Elya could defend against, but could not strike back or take him on directly.
The woman whom Silvius was trying to restrain was by contrast very much short and slight. She stood substantially under five feet tall, and was slight of build. She was dressed slightly more formally, wearing a white blouse and pleated skirt, with a pink ribbon at her collar. She seemed almost "warmer" than the first as well, with eyes and hair almost calming shades of brown. Around her was a dark aura, and a mace in her right hand. It wouldn't have been terribly magical at all if not for the fact that it seemed to be made of leg bones and a human skull. Margaret could sense that it was formed from barrier particles in turn. It seemed Silvius had the upper hand here, as she was unable to break the grasp that the latter's arms had on her. The final figure shrugged off Esie's attempts, and seemed only to avoid the attacks. Grace charged at him with her shield. He took the hit gracefully, and merely stood up, seemingly unfazed. He was dressed more formally than any of the others, with a black button down shirt, pants and shoes to match, along with a red coat hanging from his shoulders. Even though he wasn't fighting back, Margaret could tell that he was strong. He seemed to be able to sustain hits from even the guild's ace. A welcoming smile painted on his face, left clear thanks to his unruly black hair being tied back in a pony tail, told Margaret that this was hardly unfamiliar.
"Is this supposed to happen?" Margaret asked, noting that the tables' damage and topplings were consistent with such a skirmish.
"Yeah, any time someone joins the guild, they're supposed to spar whoever's available, just to get a ballpark of their strength. We don't have many traditions, but that's one of them," explained Adenna.
"Master Margaret!" The extant mages said, as they called off their respective magics, and the three new figures responded in kind.
"Well, it seems your strategy is working," Grace said, a warmth previously absent from her voice emerging.
"Right, so tell me about yourselves," Margaret cracked a smile.
The mulleted giant spoke up. "I'm Calleis Dysnomia, but you can call me Cal. I'm here to chew as and kick bubblegum, and I'm all out of both!" He declared with a laugh. Margaret rolled her eyes at the comment, but stifled a laugh.
"Zavid Strydr," the well-dressed man said, with a more reserved tone than Margaret expected, as he extended his hand.
"Hazel Prynce, the bone mage," the short woman declared herself.
"Bone magic?" Margaret asked, in a genuinely curious tone. Strangely, she had never encountered anything that quite functioned that way?
"It's a little complicated, it's sort of my own bones, sort of not. I'd need to draw a few things out..."
"Well why don't you? I'd like to see it," Margaret said, her intellectual curiousity very much piqued. "More importantly, I'd say it's high time we welcomed three new mages to Phoenix Gear!"
The surrounding mages erupted into laughter and applause, as Adenna began pouring drinks.
Later that night...
"So the good news is that these expenses are not atypical for a mage guild, the main problem is that we don't have enough revenue," Adenna said, looking over the ledgers Margaret had supplied.
"All right, that's the first bit of good news," Margaret sighed, blowing out pipe smoke in the same breath.
"Would you please smoke outside?" Adenna asked, a bit annoyed.
"Hey, it's my guild."
"Fair enough. I just hope Ptarmigan's applications get us enough mages to start bringing in the money."
"Well, I think I have an idea," Margaret said as she held up a stack of jobs, and separated several of them. "Why don't we just put the higher paying ones out?"
A/N: Chapter 2 finally gets us to some fan-submitted OCs! As a courtesy, I'll start listing off OCs and their creators, including myself, at the end of the chapter where they made their debut. All OCs from chapter 1 were my own, so here's the rundown of Chapter 2:
Grace Montague created by The Impostor
Elya Graylock created by Origm2012
Silvius Capello created by MyDearWatson
Adenna Denn created by Outcast001
Esie created by Snow Bender
Calleis "Cal" Disnomia created by Pine Swiftwings
Hazel Prynce created by Post-Apokiasulyptic-Misha
Zavid Strydr created by Alucard Deathsinger
All right, and if you want to see your name on that list, shoot me a PM, and follow the rules currently on my profile. Check back there for updates on upcoming arcs, the OCs I might need for those arcs, and more details on what I'm currently looking for on OCs. Also, just as a further heads up, I'd like to encourage future OCs' histories not have them coming directly to the guild. More organic circumstances of joining to help vary the process up a bit, please. For everything else, check my profile, and as always, until next time!
