xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Roads near Balsamico Manor, 3:45 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Along the pathway, through the woods and on the way towards Balsamico manor was a horse-drawn caravan with a man in a suit driving the buggy. Within the back was a certain beanie wearing young man with a disgruntled expression on his face as he sat on a bench as he looked around at his unwanted guests with him. To his left side was Camilla, who had her arms wrapped around his left arm and laying on him was Vulp, sprawled out on top of both Bernard and Camillas lap.
"So what's this idea here? Where you want me to fire a lightning bolt onto the big slimey guy and then he shoots a beam that prematurely blasts into fireworks?" Corvus questioned as he sat on Bernards right side, reading over Bernards book of ideas.
"I'll explain it later... But first, I need to ask everyone something..." Bernard said with an annoyed tone as he looked around at the other people with him in the carriage area. Sitting opposite of him was Marlene and Pietro, who were sitting on another set of seats while Anatoli was standing in the middle area, attempting to balance himself on his ball as the caravan was in motion.
"Something wrong?" Camilla said as she rested her head on Bernards shoulder with a happy expression as Vulp, making a similar joyous expression as he nuzzled himself against Bernards lap.
"Somewhat..." Bernard said with a twitching eye as he looked at everyone in the back with him. "Explain to me again why you are all here?" He questioned as everyone turned to look at him. "So much for this being a job only I'm supposed to do..." Bernard thought.
"Well, I figured it was appropriate I came along to make sure things go well, might be a worthwhile learning experience since I have been mentoring you somewhat. Call this "wizard practice" into the different kinds of work that wizards do." Pietro said, giving his explanation as Bernard looked at Marlene.
"I really want to see how things go, show some support and see if you needed any assistance." Marlene said with an honest tone and a reassuring expression as Bernard looked at Anatoli, attempting to balance himself on his ball.
"I just came- Whoa! I just came along to see if you screw up. Hehehe- Whoa!" Anatoli said with a smirk as he struggled to balance himself as the buggy moved before Bernard turned his attention over to Camilla.
"And you?" Bernard questioned to Camilla. "As if I didn't already assume your answer..." He thought with skepticism.
"Because I'm your girlfriend and I'm being supportive." Camilla said as Bernard gave her a judging look. "...Well, I am also in charge of looking after you so there's that." She said as Bernard continued to give her a look of suspicion.
"...Okay, be honest, everybody…" Bernard said as he looked at everyone.
"Alright fine." Camilla said as she turned her expression from a cheery one to a similarly suspicious look on her face as Bernard made a confused and concerned expression as he looked around at Marlene, Pietro and Anatoli, making a similar expression of suspiciousness.
"Uhhh…" Bernard muttered as he turned his head towards Corvus and noticed the crow was making as confused an expression as Bernard was. "Guys?" He continued worriedly.
"Something wrong?" Corvus said in similar confusion.
"What's up?" Bernard said with a bit of concern as he noticed the glares everyone was giving him.
"A party is a good place for an escape attempt..." Pietro said.
"Where you have to perform with your monsters being very distracting... Everybody wouldn't be the wiser..." Marlene said.
"Sounds perfect all things considered..." Anatoli said.
"For an escape attempt..." Camilla said with a harsh sounding tone as Bernard started to sweat as she dug her nails into his arm.
"Ow! Ow! What the- Do they seriously not trust me enough to not expect me to run away again!?" Bernard thought with a surprised expression as everyone continued to glare.
"Kid, doesn't look like you can escape your friends again..." Corvus said as he looked towards Bernards book of ideas as the sweating young man glared at the bad joke from the crow.
"I wasn't going to run away!" Bernard angrily shouted towards Corvus as the caravan stopped.
"We're here." The man in a suit driving the caravan said as everyone got out the back, grabbing their belongings.
Standing in front of the group was a large and unusually shaped castle on a cliffside overlooking a forested area. The sight of the building caused the group to raise their eyebrows in confusion at the structure of the castle in the shape of a large bowl filled with vegetables and a gravy boat sticking out of the top.
'"The heck kind of castle is this?"' The collective of Psycho Circus wizards thought with confusion as they stared at the bizarrely food shaped castle. As they stood at the front door, their driver proceeded to move towards the front door as he bowed in front of the group and proceeded to open the doors to the castle as Count Balsamico and his daughter, Aceto, emerged.
"Welcome! Welcome!" Count Balsamico said loudly as the group looked at him with Anatoli holding back a laugh as he saw the counts pressed lips.
"...What a sourpuss... Hehehe." Anatoli whispered as the others looked at him with annoyed expressions.
"Hello, once again." Aceto said with a relaxed expression. "I see you have brought guests as well?" She asked as Bernard scratched his head.
"Yeah, a bit of a surprise to me…" Bernard said as he looked at his friends, who merely responded with a thumbs up that annoyed him. "So what's the plan here?" He asked of the Count and his daughter.
"My daughter will show your friends to their rooms. Mr. Bernard, you may use the outside area here to practice your routines." Count Balsamico said as he motioned for his daughters assistance.
"Here, follow me." Aceto said as Camilla, Anatoli, Pietro and Marlene grabbed their stuff as Bernard, Corvus and Vulp stood outside.
"Excuse me?" Camilla asked as she walked alongside Aceto.
"Yes?" Aceto responded.
"If we are staying the night, can you put me and Bernard in a room with a single bed?" Camilla whisper with a smile.
"Oh my! Are you his partner in that sense?" Aceto replied in surprise as Camilla giggled in response.
"In a way. Hehehe." Camilla laughed as the others walked behind them on the way to their rooms.
"Someone can't stop bragging about dating the bosses son." Anatoli said as he rolled on his ball as Pietro nodded in response.
"Hmmmm…" Marlene mumbled as Anatoli and Pietro looked at her.
"You alright?" Pietro asked as Marlene looked at the duo.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine..." Marlene replied as they all followed Aceto.
Meanwhile, outside of the castle was Bernard, who now had Baurs and Formosa out and standing around with Corvus and Vulp with Bernard pacing in front of them, reading over his notebook at the same time.
"How long are we just going to stand here?" Corvus said aloud as Bernard stopped pacing.
"Give me a few minutes to think. These things take time." Bernard said as skimmed through the pages.
"So we are to perform?" Baurs asked out of curiosity.
"Yup, but don't know how, since the kid still hasn't told us what we are going to do to entertain a baby." Corvus said as he sat on Baurs large head.
"I said I am thinking!" Bernard said loudly as he continued to pace around as Corvus stretched his neck over to Vulp and Baurs.
"Hey." Corvus said quietly towards Vulp and Baurs as they looked up at him. "Wanna hear something funny? I was rummaging through Camillas mailbox and found a letter to Bernard in there." He said with a smirk.
"Okay? And?" Baurs asked as Vulp looked up confused as Bernard spoke up, overhearing the conversation.
"Sh-shut up, Corvus! You don't need to tell them that!" Bernard said embarrassed.
"What did it say?" Baurs continued.
"It was from the Fiore royal family, hahaha! The princess and that broccoli headed general guy were congratulating Bernard on "joining a wizard guild and becoming a wizard" after he left the capital some time ago. Hehehe." Corvus said with laughter as Bernards face turned red with anger and embarrassment.
"Well, I guess congratulations is in order. Good job, master." Baurs said casually as Vulp looked at Bernard with a cheery expression as Bernard looked aggravated.
"Will all of you stop looking at me like that!?" Bernard exclaimed. "We don't have time to waste right now! We gotta figure out a routine of some kind before tonight!" He shouted as he pointed his fingers at everyone and gave them some of his magic energy. "Okay, so on my mark, I want everyone to do as I say. Got it?" Bernard continued as he looked at a page in the book.
"As you wish." Baurs said as Vulp nodded in compliance.
"Whatever floats your boat." Corvus said nonchalantly as Formosa started to move in response to Bernards command.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Balsamico Manor, 7:59 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Ugh... Do I have to wear this stupid bowtie?" Anatoli complained as he sat on his ball in front of a doorway into the area where the birthday party was already happening, now sporting fancy dress slacks, black shoes and a bowtie around his neck with no shirt.
"Because this may be a child's birthday party, it's still a formal event." Pietro said as he walked over, now sporting a tuxedo.
"Oh come on! You're hardly dressed any differently from how you normally dress!" Anatoli shouted as he pointed at Pietro.
"Because I dress in such a fashion that it's easy for me to change in and out of for just such an occasion. You dress like you are going to the beach everyday." Pietro said constructively as Anatolis eye twitched in annoyance.
"He-hey..." Marlene said as she walked up to the pair. "How do I look?" She asked as the duo looked at her outfit; a simple black dress with short sleeves, a silver silk scarf draped over her shoulders, a pair of silver and black bracelets around her wrists with a pair of silver heels to match.
"You look like a silver snak- Bagh!" Anatoli said until he was suddenly stopped from making fun of Marlene by the feeling of a strike to the back of the head. "What the hell?!" He said as he turned around to look at who smacked him.
"Behave, you dumb chimp." Camilla said with a stern look in her eyes, dressed in a lowcut light blue strapless dress with a black zebra lined design on it with black heels and a black bracelet on her right wrist.
"Ye-yes ma'am..." Anatoli said with a moderately fearful tone as he noted how beautiful Camilla looked.
"I must say, you both cleaned up well for the event." Pietro said as he looked at Camilla and Marlenes dresses.
"Thanks Pietro." Marlene said with a reassured expression.
"That little shopping trip we went on a couple of days ago worked out, huh?" Camilla said with a smile to Marlene who nodded in response.
"Now, the big question is, where is the man of the hour?" Anatoli said as he looked around.
"Yeah, Bernard spent the last four hours practicing with his pets and was trying really hard to avoid having us see him." Marlene said as she glanced around.
"Oh he'll be coming in a second… Hehehe." Camilla said with a smile and a chuckle. As she finished speaking, footsteps could be heard as someone approached the group. Turning around, Pietro, Anatoli and Marlene saw Bernard approaching them, dressed different than normally.
Bernard, a disinterested look on his face, appeared before the group dressed in a purple tucked in button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows with a pair of bracelets around both of his wrists, a black tie underneath a black waistcoat with black slacks and black dress shoes with a purple and black fedora on his head, replacing his usual beanie. Perched on his shoulder was Corvus, sporting a collar with a Psycho Circus guild logo around his neck with Vulp standing next to Bernard, also wearing a collar.
"Your fancily dressed stars are here!" Corvus said as he raised his wing whilst still perched.
"Handsome..." Camilla thought with an aroused look on her face as she stared at Bernard with a smirk.
"Now you look proper compared to normal." Pietro said as he examined Bernards attire.
"That looks really good on you." Marlene said in an honest tone as she looked at Bernard.
"You look like a dealer at a poker table..." Anatoli said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Bernard.
"...Can all of you just go to hell?" Bernard said annoyed as he shook with frustration as Camilla approached, raising her hand and pushing Corvus off his shoulder.
"Ow!" Corvus exclaimed as he hit the ground.
"So not happening." Camilla said as she grabbed Bernards right arm and forced it around her shoulders, keeping him still within her grasp. "This is awesome!" She thought gleefully.
"Are you seriously going to cling to me all night?" Bernard said disgruntled as Corvus and Vulp returned into light particles inside Bernards Lacrima pacemaker.
"...Hmmmm…" Marlene mumbled with a disturbed expression as she looked at Bernard and Camilla.
"Yo, fancy snake. Something wrong?" Anatoli said as Marlene turned her attention towards him and Pietro.
"Oh uh, nothing." Marlene said with a nonchalant tone as she played with her scarf as she turned towards the door with Anatoli and Pietro looking at eachother as Anatoli shrugged his shoulders in response.
Moving towards the doorway, the Psycho Circus wizards mentally prepared themselves as Pietro pushed open the door into the location of the party.
Within the large venue space of Balsamico castle, a myriad of different men and women were standing around within the hall and enjoying the party as there were numerous tables of food spread out, a banner that displayed the baby Merilos name and servants dressed in butler uniforms with drinks on platters. Balloons hung from the ceiling with streamers adorned around them and at the end of the room, in a crib, was a certain infant dressed in a pink blanket.
"What a shindig..." Bernard said as he glanced around at everyone with the others from Psycho Circus.
"Hey! Give me a whole champagne bottle!" Anatoli screamed loudly as he rolled on his ball over to a female server with black hair in a ponytail with strands covering over one of her eyes, who was taken back by the chimp-like mans odd behavior.
"'Moron..."' Bernard, Camilla, Marlene and Pietro thought as they looked at their comrade.
"Well, he is going to be drinking all night... What will you two be doing?" Bernard said as he looked at Marlene and Pietro.
"Think I will try and entertain some of the guests as a way of helping with your act. Kinda like an opener." Pietro said as he pulled out his championship belt and put it on his shoulder as he walked away towards a group of partygoers, passing by a pair of female and male servers with yellow and black hair with exotic masks on their faces.
"You?" Camilla asked of Marlene.
"Not entirely sure... Maybe, I'll look around and see if I can find someone who is into fangs and skin blotches." Marlene said in a self-deprecating fashion as she walked away, Bernard and Camilla staring at her.
"...She okay?" Bernard said towards Camilla.
"When we were getting our rooms squared away, she seemed a bit down." Camilla said as she looked at Bernard.
"Maybe she'll find someone to take her mind off things..." Bernard said calmly as he and Camilla walked over to the table where the baby was.
Looking over the crib, the pair looked down and saw the infants form; a cute and adorable child wearing only a single diaper with small black curly hair coming out of the top of her head as she sat contently in the crib.
"Huh, black hair, thought it would be brown like her mothers." Bernard said as he and Camilla looked at the baby.
"She takes after her father somewhat." Said the familiar voice of Aceto as she approached the couple. "My father doesn't enjoy my relationship with the love of my life, Velveno, so the baby looking like him somewhat is a bit of a nuisance to him but he loves his granddaughter with all his heart." She explained.
"Who's Velveno?" Bernard said with curiosity.
"Former wizard and thief, he just got out of prison I heard in Era after he was arrested at a party that the Fairy Tail guild was attending awhile ago." Camilla explained.
"Then we spent a night together and we made a beautiful child." Aceto said with a happy tone as she looked at her infant daughter, a sense of relief could be felt by Bernard and Camilla as they looked at eachother after seeing the joyous expression on her face. "You both may enjoy yourselves, it will be some time before you have to perform tonight, Mr. Bernard." She said as she walked away.
"...Thankfully..." Bernard said with a worried tone.
"Getting cold feet?" Camilla asked.
"Definitely don't feel ready for this..." Bernard said as he scratched his head under his fedora.
"Oh calm down, it'll be fine." Camilla said in a reassuring tone.
"Easy for you to say..." Bernard said tiredly.
"Come on, let's dance." Camilla said as she pulled Bernard towards the dancefloor in the large room, to his surprise.
"Seriously?" Bernard said in a complaining manner.
Meanwhile, as they danced, Marlene stood around a snack table as some people passed by her, noticing her odd physical appearance.
"What's wrong with that girl?" A random male partygoer said quietly to a female friend as they walked by.
"Maybe she is a part of that animal show on the guest bill." The female partygoer said in response as Marlene overheard.
"...I'm not an ugly animal..." Marlene thought depressingly as she looked down into a punchbowl in front of her at the snack table and looked at her face and her features with a face of discontent.
"Hi." A new voice suddenly said towards Marlene as she turned her head to see someone approach her.
Dressed in a servant uniform and holding a platter was a young man about Marlenes age with a slicked back hairstyle of green hair, but more surprisingly to Marlene, was the large tattoo-like markings around his face and eyes that looked as if he had small snakes going up his face towards his forehead in green and black coloring and he appeared to have tattoo markings on his exposed hands as well.
"Uhhh hello?" Marlene said with surprise and confusion to the peculiar man talking to her.
"Sorry for startling you, I just happened to notice you were all alone." The man said towards Marlene in a reassuring tone.
"Yeah well it's..." Marlene said, struggling to find words to say. "He looks weird... Well, actually, he's kinda cute minus the tattoos. But why is he talking to me? Isn't he supposed to be giving people food or something?" She thought.
"Quite the shindig, don'tcha think? You come alone?" The man said as he looked at the partygoers.
"Uhh no, I am here with some friends of mine." Marlene said as she looked at everyone with the tattooed man.
"Oh, I am sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." The tattooed man said as he put his platter down on the snack table and outreached his hand to introduce himself. "The name is Dolph. You?" The tattooed man said, revealing his name as Dolph.
"Marlene..." Marlene said with a smile forming on her face as she shook Dolphs hand as they begun to talk. Looking on from the dancefloor while close as they slowly danced, Bernard and Camilla looked over to notice Marlene talking to Dolph.
"Looks like someone found a playmate. Hehehe." Camilla joked as Bernard smiled somewhat at seeing Marlene make a friend.
"At least we don't have to worry about her now... Now I can go back to worrying about all this crap." Bernard said as he slumped his shoulder as they continued to dance.
"Quit pissing and moaning, think about all that money in your pocket when it's over." Camilla said in a reassuring tone.
"Could be useful for buying a bunch of train tickets. Hehehe- Ouch!" Bernard joked until Camilla pinched Bernard on his cheek as he winced in pain.
"Don't even joke about that, jerkwad…" Camilla said with an angry expression forming.
"Ahem! Ladies and Gentlemen!" Count Balsamico said as his voice reverberated around the room as he held a microphone, catching everyones attention. "I would like everyone to please come to the dancefloor and huddle together as we have found a photographer to take a photo!" He said as he introduced a man at his side.
Next to the count was an incredibly large man with a large forehead with a flat head, he was dressed in a black suit with sunglasses over his eyes with a calm smile on his face with a camera with a Lacrima in it hanging by a strap around his neck.
"Please, everyone huddle together. We wouldn't want everyone to miss out on appearing in this photo after all." The large man said as he made a gesture with his hands. Upon seeing this, the female servant with a ponytail and hair covering her eye, the pair of servants with the exotic masks and slicked to the side yellow and black hair and Dolph, the tattooed servants eyes lit up.
"Excuse me, but maybe you should join in on the picture. Then we can talk some more later on?" Dolph said to Marlene.
"Oh sure, I would like that actually." Marlene said in earnest as she walked over to where everyone else was as they huddled for the photo.
"...Hehehe." Dolph chuckled as Marlene walked away as Anatoli and Pietro joined her in walking over to the group.
"Wanna join in?" Camilla asked of Bernard.
"Ehhh I might, just give me a sec, I want to get a snack." Bernard said casually as he walked away towards the snack tables. "Huh, wonder if I should ask Corvus or Vulp if they want to join in on the group photo." He thought as he walked away as Camilla joined her friends and other partygoers.
As everyone stood together, the camera man with the sunglasses started to sweat profusely and begun to breath heavily as he looked through his camera at the many individuals at the birthday party as Aceto, holding her daughter and the Count stood in front.
"Tell us when." Aceto said.
"V-V-very well..." The large man said as he pressed the button to the camera. "Everybody! Freeze!" The photographer screamed. With the flash overtaking everyone, suddenly, a magic circle appeared underneath the feet of the partygoers as a clear glowing box appeared around everyone in the range of the camera flash. Within the box, everyone in range was still and motionless, as if suspended in time within the box.
"Alright charades over!" The female servers with the ponytail said as she removed her bowtie and vest, revealing herself as Claudia Vanderheem.
'"Finally."' The pair of servers said in unison as they snapped their fingers and their servant uniforms changed into a set of garishly over the top clothing with yellow and black matching color schemes, revealing the male one to be Tazo.
"Couldn't we have worn something more "Avant Garde" than these trashy servant outfits? I was worried me and my sister, Tiza, were going to faint from a fashion faux pa." Tazo complained as he examined his clothes.
"One more minute of pretending to serve people shrimp on a stick and I would have jabbed one of these twits with a skewer." Tiza, the similarly dressed sister to Tazo, said
"Nicely done, Loumo!" Dolph said as he removed the top of his clothing, revealing a ton of beastly and animalistic tattoos under his clothes.
"Re-really? It was go-good?" The large man named Loumo said as he looked over the camera he held.
"I'll be the judge of that." Claudia said as she walked over and examined the camera and looked at the photo he took.
"I-I hope you like it..." Loumo said nervously as Tazo, Tiza and Dolph looked on with curiosity at Claudias critique.
"Your white balance is off, the camera is out of focus somewhat and it feels like your palms were sweaty all over my precious "Stop Camera."' Claudia said as Loumo begun to sweat nervously. "But decent work getting everyone in the frame, C+ for effort." She said casually as she handed the camera back to the Loumo as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Now then- Huh?" Claudia continued as she eyed the location of the baby Merilo until she noticed a slamming noise.
"What was that?" Tiza said as she and her brother looked around.
"Hmmm?" Dolph muttered as he looked over by the snack tables and noticed a table had been turned over onto its side in a cover position. "How'd that get like that?" He wondered as he raised an eyebrow.
Meanwhile, behind the table, sweating nervously, Bernard kneeled down in a hiding manner as he tried to catch his breath and assess the situation.
"...Great... Party crashers..." Bernard thought as he swallowed spit.
Awww... I wanted to see Bernards performance... Oh well, at least we got something serious taking place. As the party was underway, all was well as food was eaten, people danced and were prepared for a nice party with Bernard making his performing debut but all of that has come undone as Claudia Vanderheem and her team, using a magic camera, has captured everyone at the party in a box that has them suspended in animation, with only one person, and a couple of creatures, free to fight back; Bernard. Can Bernard stop the mysterious group on his own or will this be the end for our young hero? Find out next time on Menagerie!
Authors Note: (Okay, I am so sorry this chapter is later than normal, usually I have had more free time but lately I have been busy with a lot of life shit and the holiday season so I am apologizing and this chapter was meant to be so much longer but I was getting strapped for time and will be having to do a cutdown again. Once more, my apologies.)