Chapter 10: Ad Libitum's Cademeca branch

Last Time Simon got to learn about spirits and got rejected from the guild. This time he joins Kanonno and he learns about her alcoholism. Also the guild gets a surprise visit.

Simon went up to his room and gathered his things.

"Where are you going?" He heard, he turned to see Robin in the doorway.

"Well I got rejected from Ad Libitum, and I sort of promised Kanonno that I would travel with her if I got rejected." Simon explained.

"You don't have to you know." Said Robin.

"I know, but since I'm likely not gonna get a job that's not gonna kill me, I might as well look somewhere else." Said Simon, 'Besides, Siela's been bugging me about going back to Sakriny for a while now.'

"Are you gonna at least stay long enough to meet some members from the Cademeca branch?" Robin asked.

"I don't know when we'll be going, so, probably, I'm just going to be living somewhere else until then." Said Simon, "Why is the Cademeca branch coming?"

"I heard a rumor there's gonna be some conference between the leaders of the three superpowers coming up soon and well we might just be able to meet up with other guild members." He shrugged.

"Why?"

"I dunno, to protect the leaders I guess."

"Then why wouldn't those leaders use their own personal body guards?" Simon asked, bring up a very good point.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that they had their body guards, especially the president of Cademeca. I heard that they almost never leave his side." Noted Robin.

"Which makes the guild thing a groundless rumor." Concluded Simon, leaving the room. "Take care, though I'm probably gonna see you roaming around the city doing jobs. Oh and don't get too overwhelmed by your sisters, it gives you red eyes and what not."

"Gee thanks." Growled Robin, "But don't act like this is good bye, you're not leaving yet, and you can stay here for a few days."

"No thanks, I don't want to feel like I'm mooching off of anyone." Claimed Simon, gong down the stairs, Robin following him. "So I'll see you tomorrow maybe?"

"Fine." He sighed rolling his eyes as Simon left the door. It started raining again, he got soaked fairly quickly he ran into Marianya and Laurel wondering where he should go now.

"Oh, Simon, how are you? Are your allergies acting up?" Laurel asked.

"Well I got rejected from the guild and I don't live at the inn anymore. I did ask Kanonno if I could go with you guys if I got rejected from the guild, she said yes." Explained Simon. "My allergies aren't acting up at the moment Laurel."

"Oh really?" Questioned Marianya rubbing her chin, glaring at Simon.

"Well … yeah … she said: "Knock yourself out" if I get rejected." Stated Simon, "A-and she was completely sober last I checked."

"And how long ago was this?"

"A few hours ago." Stated Simon.

"Never thought you'd be the type to rush into things." She murmured to herself. "At least we're not leaving like tonight or tomorrow other wise I'd kill her."

"Mari Mari Mari …" Laurel sighed to herself shaking her head. "Keep in mind that we don't have a plan for traveling and he could help. Now we have to get Kanonno out of the bar before she gets carried away."

"Fine …" Groaned Marianya she walked off Simon followed her to a bar where Kanonno ranted to a bartender about Reltih or something like that.

"Ya know da worse part? We don't gedda goddamn wage! How da heller we gonna pay da mortgage!"

"Kanonno …" Began Marianya.

"Waddya want Mari?" Snapped Kanonno. "I'm try'n ta gedda a conversation."

"You've had quite enough, we're going." Ordered Laurel, "Mari, grab her." Marianya lifted her off the chair from behind. Simon rubbed his eyes because Laurel was near by.

"It's for your own good Kanonno." Said Marianya.

"Am still sober!" Kanonno shouted squirming in Marianya's arms and digging her heels into the ground.

"Hey Simon, can you grab her legs?"Marianya asked. Simon nodded and picked up her legs, at the knees.

"Le'go!" Kanonno screamed trying to kick Simon, though she did succeed in jerking him around as he and Marianya carried her out of the bar. Simon let go of her legs once they were away from the bar, though Marianya still held Kanonno firmly.

"Wha' was dat for? Am sober, really!" Kanonno protested.

"Kanonno, you have a problem, you need to stop." Advised Laurel.

"In all honesty … this is just pitiful." Stated Simon.

"Ah won't stop and who cares wha'cha think." Kanonno spat.

"Why am I not surprised?" sighed Marianya, dragging Kanonno to the shelter. "If talking to her would make her stop when she started."

They were quiet to the shack closer to the outskirts of the city, except for Kanonno who was complaining and squirming. Simon wondered why no one tried to stop her from going to the bar in the first place, he felt a little sick with the feeling that something bad might happen if something isn't done about her alcoholism.

"I'll go get the laundry, Mari, will you come with me?" Laurel offered once they got to the shelter.

"What about-" Marianya began.

"We can leave that to Simon." Stated Laurel, Marianya let go of Kanonno to join Laurel. Simon was surprised that Kanonno didn't dash back to the bar once Marianya let go.

"What?" She hissed.

"N-nothing, I just thought that you'd go back to the bar."

"Why bother, I'm back here against my will, too late to go back now." She growled, pushing open the door. The shack looked homier than it did outside, it at least it had some furniture and there were some spider webs hanging down and leaks in the roof. At least it had a fireplace and a wood burning stove.

"You live here?" Simon asked.

"We figured that we'd be taking up space at the shelter for the people who really need it. This place has been abandoned for years so I don't think anyone would mind if we use it for a little while." Explained Kanonno.

"I got rejected from the guild." Said Simon, changing the subject.

"I figured, why else would you be here instead of guild residence?"

"Right." Sighed Simon. "So … what are we going to do about traveling?"

"Dunno, pro'ly gonna try to bribe a guy to forge passports." Shrugged Kanonno, "How much do you have?"

"A little under 10,000 gald, but why do you want to want to forge passports and why are you traveling?" Simon asked.

"We're traveling to Cademeca because we know someone who lives there and he might be able to find us a place. Though we can't get to Cademeca without a visa or a passport. Since getting a passport is easier than a visa we thought we could find someone to forge us passports." Kanonno explained. "Though with 10,000 plus gald I doubt we could convince 'im." That's when Marianya and Laurel came in with the so few clothes they had. Laurel kept his distance from Simon so that she doesn't trigger his allergies.

"Sobered up Kanonno?" Marianya asked.

"Still buzzed but I guess I won't get a hangover tomorrow." She shrugged. "I was just explaining Simon about our plan to get someone to forge passports."

"Ah, yes, unfortunately I heard it takes at least a hundred thousand gald to create an authentic fake passport." Sighed Laurel.

"Hm…" Simon mumbled while rubbing his chin. Then he stared up to the ceiling and snapped his fingers until he finally spoke. "I heard this rumor today, it may be groundless, but they say that guild members from the Cademeca branch of Ad Libitum may be visiting Speg's branch. If it's true maybe we can sneak into their luggage and get to Cademeca that way."

"Good idea, but we can't use that until we're sure that there are guild members are coming." Stated Marianya. "Depending on said guild's mode of transportation it could be between a couple of weeks to three months. By then we might be already gone. For now let's try to look for ways to get the hundred thousand plus gald needed to bribe a counterfeit artist."

"I could try to get a job." Simon offered.

"Mari and I can get our fair share of money so you trying to get a job or something could really help us." Said Kanonno.

XXX

Two weeks passed and Simon had no such luck in getting a job. He was still in touch with Robin and asked him frequently about any errands he could run for Ad Libitum. Though that always ended with a "Sorry Simon, no can do." Then he would ask if he could watch his sisters, the response was a laugh. One day he was looking at shops, primarily shop windows to see if there was a "help wanted" signs. He heard a "Whoosh" he looked up to see a strange ship of sorts with engines, propellers and wings, the ship looked more like a bird than a ship. The craft would've made a noticeable shadow if it weren't raining. He kept an eye on the craft and ran after it he followed it to an area of flat ground just outside the city that soldiers surrounded. Though there was a hole of the area the soldiers didn't patrol which was across from where he was. The craft landed dead center of the platform. A door opened at the side of the ship.

"Hey you!" A soldier shouted, spotting him, Simon shivered, "What are you doing here? There are no civilians allowed."

"Ah! I'm sorry! I saw this aircraft and I wanted to go check it out. I didn't know this area was restricted!" Simon cried.

"Are you lying?" The soldier asked, pointing a gun at Simon.

"I'm not, I honestly didn't know that this was restricted!" Said Simon, staring at the gun.

"What's going on here?" He heard a woman ask. Simon looked up to see a young woman with short blond hair wearing a white dress under a blue corset and jacket. She also had a belt with a pistol in it and a cape protecting her from the rain. Behind her was a young woman with black hair wearing a blue jacket and hat and black pants, and two red headed teenagers, one had his hair tied back into a ponytail and goggles pushed back his bangs, the other's hair was short with some hairs sticking up and had goggles above his forehead. The long haired one wore a long coat over another jacket, while the other one wore a cape over his grey shirt, pants and brownish red vest, both wore gloves.

"Mam, we found a trespasser on military territory, he could be a spy." Stated the soldier.

"He's not a spy." Defended the short haired red head. "He …" He then couldn't think of anything. The long haired red head sighed.

"He's with us." The long haired red head continued. His party looked at him with shock. "He's our escort, he's making sure we at least got to St. Gabriel safely."

"But he said he didn't know that civilians aren't allowed." The soldiers argued.

"He's lying, he tends to do that under pressure."

"Very well, but, I see you here without them …" Warned the soldier making a slashing motion across his neck.

"Yes sir!" Replied Simon with a salute.

Once they were within city limits Simon thanked them for helping him out. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble." Apologized Simon

"Hey, no problem. We're just glad that the soldiers didn't kill you on our account." Said the short haired red head.

"Don't do it again." Grumbled the long haired red head.

"I'm sorry … I won't." He apologized again sweating and shaking because of the red head's glare.

"It's quite all right." Said the blonde.

"We don't have time to waste, we need to get to the guild." The black haired girl reminded.

"The guild? If you want I can show you how to get there." Simon offered, "Though … what are you doing with the guild?"

"That's confidential, and we can figure out where the guild is." Stated the long haired red head, starting to walk off while the short haired red head grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey hold on, we could use him." He said.

"No."

"This is our first time to St. Gabriel, we'll get lost eventually."

"We'll get a map."

"Calm down you two!" The blonde demanded. "Asch, Luke's right, this is our first time in St. Gabriel and the guild would be angry if we're late. He could show us around the city."

"Consider this as pay back for helping me out with the soldiers." Said Simon.

"Fine." Sighed the long haired red head. Simon lead the four to the guild, once he remembered his location.

"By the way, what's your name?" The blonde asked Simon.

"Simon." He introduced. "What about you?" he asked slowing down his pace so he can get a decent conversation.

"I'm Natalia, and this here is Chloe." She said pointing her head towards the black haired girl.

"I'm Luke fon Fabre." Introduced the short haired red head.

"Asch fon Fabre." Said the long haired red head.

Simon gave a smile then asked Luke, "Are you and Asch twins?"

"Well yeah, Asch is the older twin and I'm the younger one." Said Luke as if it was obvious. Simon turned pink from asking such a stupid question.

"Oh … well I … I um … sorry." He said his face turning red, "This is the first time I've met twins … I mean … I'm sure that there are other sets of twins in the city but the city's so big that-"

"That's enough!" Snapped Asch, "You're making an idiot out of yourself." Simon stopped, minus the noise of daily life the group was dreadfully quiet.

"So … you're not from around here are you?" He asked, breaking the ice.

"Gee, I wonder what gave that away? Was it the airship?" Said Asch rolling his eyes.

"Figures. Cademeca I suppose?" he asked.

"Yes, how did you know?" Chloe asked.

"I keep hearing rumors about guild members from Cademeca, also 'Fabre' sounds like the name of a political family from Cademeca." He shrugged, remembering a conversation a week ago between Kanonno and Marianya over whether the president of Cademeca is truly ruling the country. Of course Kanonno was a little drunk which caused her to think that the Fabre family is really behind the presidency, since they were apparently in the cabinet since the republic was established over 150 years ago. The conversation got very political and ugly. It ended with Kanonno saying something about Marianya's mother and burlesque, and Marianya saying something about Kanonno's hairy legs.

"I'm impressed, you've heard of us." Said Asch. "But you do know that there are Fabres in Speg somewhere." Simon fell silent he felt like he might say something stupid.

"How long will you be staying?" He asked.

"A week." Stated Luke, Asch looked over to him. "What? There's no harm in telling how long we'll stay." Asch gave a frustrated sigh and that was the last thing anyone had said.

XXX

When Simon finally lead them to 108 Gates Street he opened the door for them as a gesture to be polite. Claus looked up from his paperwork.

"Hey kid, I thought you didn't make it into the guild." Said Claus with a smirk.

"I was just showing these four the way to the guild. I was just leaving." Said Simon, just as Simon closed the door Claus dropped the pen at the sight of the blonde woman.

"Wait a minute, aren't you the president's daughter, Natalia?" He questioned. Simon closed the door and leaned against it.

"Why yes I am." She stated. He heard Claus scramble out of his desk.

"It's a pleasure to meet you miss, My name is Claus F. Lester, I'm the vice president of Speg's Ad Libitum branch."

"Please, don't be so formal, I'm not here on presidential business I'm actually here representing Ad Libitum Cademeca.

"Eavesdropping I presume?" He heard a voice, he turned to see Kratos not too far behind him, and judging from the dirt on him, he just got back from a job. "You should know that any guild business is strictly between guild members."

"S-sorry, I was just leaving." Said Simon jogging away from the guild's building.

"By the way," said Kratos making Simon stop in his tracks, "you would've made it if your swordsmanship wasn't so sloppy." He stated, the criticism did hurt a little but there wasn't anything he could do about it since he hadn't been fighting in two weeks. He bowed and went on his way.

He looked around the city looking for help wanted posters when he heard clunks played in a pattern. He wandered to see where it came from it took him a while until he noticed he was close to it. He ran to the source. He found Marianya beating a pair of sticks on boxes, cans, jars, and what appeared to be vehicle parts and pipes arranged around her in a rhythmical fashion. She constantly switched from boxes to vehicle parts and so on, some times she would beat on two different items at the same time which would make the beats just sound like noise. She would continue for a moment until someone walked by and dropped some gald in, in which she would thank them and continue. She would also get a few watchers for a few minutes before they would either drop some money or just leave. She looked like a baby amusing herself with pots and pans until she tires out. He approached her.

"Um … hi." He greeted. She stopped and looked up.

"Finally got around to going to town square eh?" She asked. Simon looked around him with the several people around them going to the shops or other places around the area and some ways away there was a fountain.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Trying to get money, what do you think I do all day?" She answered. Simon thought for a while but couldn't think of anything. "By the way, Kanonno is around here, though I don't know what she's doing. You could go look for her if you want."

"I can check on her later," shrugged Simon, "how did you get into this?"

"I dunno, I guess I just found amusement in banging on tables and walls, in fact, my mother would yell at me and tell me I was too old for that by the time I was seven." She laughed then she sniffed.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said rubbing her eyes, "I just get a little chocked up when I remember my parents it's nothing."

"They died in Reltih's purge didn't they?" Simon asked, she nodded.

"They died when I was ten, I was very close to them, but since they were against Reltih, I would've guessed it was inevitable, fortunately I was spared." She explained. "Though I bet Kanonno might have it worse, though I shouldn't talk about it, but I figure that's one of the reasons why Kanonno started drinking two years ago."

"Any other reasons?"

"I think she was stressed about starting off in the work force and about the fact Pequist was disbanded about two years ago." She stated.

"Have you tried to stop her from drinking?"

"She lives with Laurel but nothing can be done since our supplies are sent with a bottle of vodka, and that gets sucked down by the end of the week sometimes within the first few day." She said. "It's really developed into a nasty habit. You know, someday she'll hurt someone because of her alcoholism."

"Have you tried giving her a different outlet?"

"She loves photography, but it's illegal to own a camera." Sighed Marianya, "In speaking of which now would be the time where she's going to get drunk at the bar."

"Are you two talking about me?" They heard and turned to see Kanonno besides them, "Wha'cha got Mari?"

"Well … about 50 gald, did you get anything?"

"Who says I was making money?" She asked.

"Then what were you doing?" Simon asked.

"I was talking to an old guy about photography, he couldn't let me take pictures out of his camera because the equipment takes too long to set up and it gets in the way. He gave me some pointers on how to get a good photo and did you know that you can develop film in color?" She rambled.

"I'm sure it was quite interesting." Said Marianya, thinking that it would be a long lecture on photography.

"You lost me at photography." Stated Simon.

"All right you guys are bored I'll stop. Anyway, that'll bring our gald total to 12050 gald … boy do we have a long way to go." She sighed.

"Maybe we don't have to get someone to forge passports …" Said Simon to himself.

"Did you say something Simon?" Marianya asked.

"I was just talking to myself. I was thinking … I ran into guild members from Cademeca today they came in the ship thingy that passed over the city today. I think it's at some landing platform." Simon explained.

"I got it!" Exclaimed Kanonno, "Simon, you come with me, Mari, just keep beating your trash."

"Excuse me?" Scolded Marianya.

"Sorry Mari keep trying to make money for us we might need a back up!" Said Kanonno dragging Simon with her. They ran through the streets of St. Gabriel, most of these places Simon had never seen before and he was pretty sure that they ran past the palace at least three times. The two stopped at some sort of small shop, probably for travel. Simon saw maps of the world hung up on the walls of the shop and monochromatic pictures of various destinations. Kanonno let go of him and started looking around the shop.

"What are we looking for?" He asked.

"A map of the area surrounding St. Gabriel." She answered. Simon looked around to see where the maps could be when he noticed that Kanonno was already looking at maps.

"You know … if we wanted a map we could've just gone to a place that stores books and the like." Said Simon picking out a random map and unfolding it and putting it back.

"If we went to a library we wouldn't be able to keep the maps much less draw on them." She Said doing the same thing.

"Also … how do you know this city?"

"I just got a map and memorized the streets." She stated, "It helped me get to work for the past few years back in Sakriny. Ah-ha!" She ran to the cashier, paid for the map then ran back to Simon. "C'mon, we might still be able to steal a few minutes from Mari." The two ran back to town square to see that Mari had already put away her "drum set." Simon looked up to see that the sun was going to set so the two headed back to the shack, when it was night. Marianya stood outside the shack along with Laurel.

"What took you two so long?" Marianya asked, "By the way I managed to make a total of 75 gald."

"We were getting a map." Said Kanonno holding up the folded paper once they got in and Marianya lit up the old fireplace.

"Let's see." Said Laurel. Kanonno unfolded the map, the four huddled over it, Simon rubbed his eyes.

"So Simon is this the landing platform you mentioned?" Kanonno asked pointing to a square outside of St. Gabriel labeled St. Gabriel military air craft port. Simon nodded, then followed it with a sneeze.

"Oh I'm sorry, I keep forgetting you're allergic." Said Laurel backing away from him.

"It's okay, I keep forgetting as well." Stated Simon rubbing an eye.

"Anyway," Said Kanonno getting them back on topic, "It looks like we'll be able to sneak into the port just by walking in."

"Don't do it." Stated Simon.

"Why not?" Marianya asked raising an eyebrow.

"There are guards everywhere I would've gotten killed if the guild members didn't bail me out." He said.

"I see … we could hide in the guild's-" Kanonno began.

"They didn't have any luggage as far as I can see well at the moment." Simon interrupted.

"Is there any weakness to the port's security?" Kanonno asked.

"Well, there, for some reason, weren't any guards right here." He said pointing to the area behind the base that said: "Relop Forest."

"So we'll sneak into the port the day before the guild leaves. We'll go from the north exit and sneak into Relop forest we should make it to the port by the time they leave." Kanonno suggested. "Now we just have to figure out the time." The two women and female cat looked at Simon.

"What?"

"Hey Simon, though you're not in the guild, you can still befriend guild members right?" Said Kanonno with a mischievous grin.

"Of course, you've seen how I've interacted with Ro-" He began, "What are you getting at Kanonno?"

"What if you befriended one of the guild members and got the time out of him, then we can leave at least 24 hours before hand?" Theorized Marianya.

"So you mean spy on them."

"Well not so much spy, just forcing yourself to befriend a guild member to get one piece of information, one minor piece." Said Kanonno, "It's so obsolete that know one would know nor care." Simon gave her a raised eyebrow then sighed.

"Fine … I'll see what I can do."

XXX

Never thought I would finish a chapter so soon boy I have a problem/fetish/obsession with corsets and vests I bet you can make a drinking game off of the "Steampunk" fashion nonsense you've read in here though I don't recommend it. So … please give me your thoughts, I'm always open for criticism. Oh yeah! Before I forget, I did change Luke's and Asch's story a bit, well instead of the Duke's son, they're part of an influencial political family, and they're twins, like in Radiant Mythology instead of replica and original. This is mostly because I wouldn't know how to fit in clones and I didn't plan for Asch to be part of some religious order. Luke being the younger twin made more sense to me than him being the older twin like in Radiant Mythology 3 because Luke was originally created seven years after therefore he's younger than Asch. I probably stop talking about this. So yeah, any two people that happen to look alike will either be related or its just a coincidence.