"Come join Phoenix Fire!"
"...Dude you just said you can't even sense an ounce of Magic coming from me." Mana deadpans. "Why would you want me in Phoenix Fire?"
Danate shrugs, letting Mana's hands go. "I dunno. You seem nice."
Mana gives him a confused look. "The first thing I did when we met not even five minutes ago is kick you in the balls." she reminds him. "Are you okay?"
Danate waves his hand. "The past is past; forgive, forget." he smiles. "Phoenix Fire is a place to grow," he says. "to get rid of anything weighing you down so you can rise anew." he says, stars in his eyes as he recites what Mana assumes is the Phoenix Fire mantra.
"Oh yeah? Like, say, a phoenix?" Mana says mockingly.
Danate nods, beaming. "Yes, exactly!" he says.
Mana just stares at him, unimpressed.
"C'mon!" he insists. "Master can probably better assess whether or not you have Magic ability." Danate says. "If you do, she'll be more than happy to teach you or hone whatever you have hiding in here." he says, poking Mana's chest (which earns him a slap on the hand). "Master loves teaching -" Danate pauses, a look of remembrance crossing his face. "- ah, but, er, when she can't her students are stuck with Cooley. He's...not as pleasant." he says with an awkward smile.
Mana blinks, the name 'Cooley' striking a chord with her. "Cooley…" she repeats with a frown.
"Yeah. You know 'im?"
Mana sighs. "Slave, remember?"
Danate laughs awkwardly, giving her an apologetic look.
"One of the girls I was locked up with...I don't know if I'm remembering right but I think she said her dad's name was Cooley. The only reason I remember that is because her mom's name was similar to one of my sister's." Mana murmurs, deep in thought. "She was taken away while I was there, I don't know where she is now." she says sadly. "Is Cooley a common name, uh, wherever we are?" Mana asks, looking back up at Danate. She's taken aback by the haunted expression on his face. "D-Danate?"
"What was her mother's name?"
"I-I-"
"Mana, please."
"Morrigan -" Mana answers confusedly. "- her name was Morrigan."
Danate tenses. "And your friend, her name was Mary, right?" he asks.
Mana blinks. "Yeah, how did you -?"
"I'll explain later. Right now I really need you to come back to the guildhall with me. It's not too far from here, let's go."
In Arkcester City…
Glinda Goldkuhl, the young Guild Master of Aberrant Hydra, watches bemusedly as her subordinates drunkenly wreak havoc in their guildhall.
Glinda has shoulder-length wavy blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail with a stray lock of hair framing either side of her face. She has beige skin and yellow iris', a twinkle in them that screams of mischievousness, betraying her usual saintly demeanor. She wears a long sleeve gray shirt with a stand up collar with a light green jabot cravat adorning her neck. A closed dark green tailcoat with a gray trim along the collar and pockets covers the bottom of her shirt and the top of her lacy gray dovetail skirt. Her legs are covered by solid light gray stockings and knee high dark green boots with gray buckles and straps.
Aberrant Hydra and the whole of Arkcester are celebrating an event related to The Goddess Soasis. Glinda is admittedly a little drunk herself right now and she can't quite recall what exactly they're celebrating but everyone is happy so she's satisfied.
She turns her attention to two of the only sober people in the building, Cole Match and Seinaru Fujisaki.
Cole is a bit younger than her, with spiky red hair that lies just above his lower neck. He has a bit of a muscular frame and athletic build. He wears a black sleeveless trench coat with a sleeveless blue shirt underneath and that necklace with a lion head pendant Glinda is very curious about. Cole has on his usual black jeans but has switched out his black combat boots for his dark blue sandals. And, as he always does, Cole has on bandages that cover his arms, torso, and most of his face: the bandages stopping just under his green eyes.
Seinaru is a lean and muscular man with white skin who towers over most of Aberrant Hydra (much to a certain Mage's annoyance as he's always leaving things in places she can't reach) at an even six feet tall. He has messy, neck-length black hair and dull gray eyes. Seinaru wears a large button up white shirt with black pants and a ring with a Sun design on it (something that Glinda is also very interested in).
The two men are trying to play a card game but Cole is currently being pestered by his drunk guildmates to play them a song on his flute so they can dance. Cole and Seinaru remain stoically unmoved but Glinda can tell they're starting to get on Cole's nerves so she takes pity on him. With a wave of her hand, a small yellow portal appears above the troublemakers and vacuums each of them up. Glinda opens another one of the other side of the guildhall and deposits them there, closing the one by the men and closing the second one when all of the confused, drunk guildies are out.
She doesn't have to look back at Cole to know he appreciates it so she surveys the guildhall once more. Fortunately, Victoria is celebrating with her wife at the orphanage. Goddess knows the chaos that woman causes when she's sober...Glinda shudders just thinking about the destruction the tiny woman could cause to her guildhall while drunk.
Glinda spots a drunk Neil Pace (she can tell because he's shed all of his clothing except his pants and a single shoe. She'll reprimand everyone tomorrow about giving a minor alcohol) having a dance battle with another boy, thankfully sober, on top of one of the tables.
Then Neil's dance battle opponent takes off his shirt and throws his shoes at Neil.
Glinda facepalms. Nevermind. They're both drunk.
She's about to turn in to her office and pass out on the desk when there's a sudden commotion by the door.
"Rejoice, peasants, for I have finally arrived!"
Glinda pales. Goddess please tell me I'm hallucinating that voice.
Glinda turns back around, groaning when she sees a very drunk Victoria Mormo by the entrance of the guildhall being swarmed by her guildmates.
Victoria is one of their older members (although it's a very bad idea to say that when she's around) but she's very short for her age, only standing at half the height of an average adult. She has a smooth, round face that gives her the appearance of youthfulness. Victoria has waist-length blonde hair that she's left down today. She's wearing a long black dress underneath an intricate white coat held together by two cross-shaped buttons at her neck and midsection. The coat looks especially tight around her arms and has five zippers on each sleeve; Glinda recalls Victoria once telling her they're used for something but she can't quite remember what at the moment. She also wears black tights with polished black shoes and her head is usually covered in a white habit but that seems to be missing at the moment.
Victoria pushes past her guildmates and steps on the table opposite Neil and his dance battle opponent. "L-Listen up - I'm only gonna say this once -" she announces with a hiccup. "whoever stole my habit -"
Ah, so that's why she's not wearing it...but she did just get here so shouldn't it be at home?
"- I will personally send you off to meet the Goddess."
"Victoria, shouldn't it be at home?" Glinda calls, getting the drunken Mage's attention.
Victoria narrows her eyes. "Shouldn't you be in bed, old hag?" she retorts
Glinda grits her teeth. "You're literally a decade older than me -"
"Say that a-again." Victoria challenges, reaching for one the zippers on her sleeves.
Needless to say, Aberrant Hydra didn't allow Arkcester any peace for the rest of the day.
In Wisteria Village…
Oliver Windsor sighs, staring at the doors of Silver Sabelum.
Oliver is the lonely new Guild Master of Silver Sabelum, a rather small Guild compared to the other Valiant Guilds. He has messy, shoulder length burgundy colored hair with most of the back tied into a little high ponytail. His face is framed by bangs that go just above his collarbone and he also has bangs that fall just over his eyes that constantly tickle his eyelashes; which in turn makes him constantly run his fingers through his hair so they're out of his way (no, he will not cut them or style his hair differently). He has tanned skin and amber colored eyes. Oliver wears a wide necked white t-shirt with a black tank top underneath. His pants are knee-length black trousers with white ribbon ties and today he wears a pair of red and green socks with the opposite color slip on shoe on either foot.
"Oli, it's your turn."
Oliver sighs again and turns back to face the table. He narrows his eyes at the chess board, unsure of what move his opponent made while he wasn't paying attention. He glances between the board and his foe, trying to read her expression for any indication of what she did.
His opponent is Lenox Arachnia, a fairly senior member of Silver Sabelum in terms of experience. She has her black hair up in a loose chopstick bun and wears a pink headband to keep her hair in place. She has pale skin and pink eyes. Her face is framed by bangs that go just below her chin. Lenox wears white straight point collar with a black tie embroidered with a spider web underneath a red v-neck blouse with a thick green stripe going down the middle. Over that she wears a long, open pale yellow waistcoat with red shoulder and wrist straps. Her lower half consists of a short green pencil skirt with a pair of light green spanx underneath that goes a little past the length of the skirt. Her legs are completely covered by solid pink thigh highs with little spider webs designs all over them and a pair of short black and pink combat boots protect her feet.
Oliver gives up and sighs for a third time, pouting. "Lenny, I'm bored." he states.
Lenox gives him a small, sympathetic smile. "We've all been telling you to pick a right hand so they can watch over the guildhall and Wisteria and you can go out on missions." she reminds him.
"I know but no one stays here long enough for me to even have a conversation about that!" Oliver whines. "They're always in and out of here in less than a minute."
Right on cue, Akito Kageyama enters the guildhall. He's a young man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes who opts for a more simple outfit of a white t-shirt with blue jeans and black sneakers (he's dodged his guildmates many attempts of dressing him up in something more elaborate, claiming there's no point in buying different outfits when his usually gets destroyed and torn up in battle; although he has taken to wearing a black choker and a matching black wristband).
True to that claim, he's walking in with his shirt and jeans torn up. "Hi Master. Hi Lenox." Akito says as he passes by without looking at them.
"Hi Akito."/"H-Hello." Oliver and Lenox respond in unison, watching him immediately head to the request board.
"I finished the mission for that old man, he should come back with the reward later today." Akito says as he reads the board. He scans it for about ten more seconds before he picks one and walks back towards the pair. "I'm taking this one." he says, holding it out for Oliver to read.
Oliver reads it and nods. "Yeah, okay, but listen, I -"
"No time to talk. Gotta shower and head out." Akito says, turns on his heel, and exits the guildhall.
Oliver groans, dropping his head onto the chessboard and scattering the pieces. "See what I mean, Len?" he says. "I'd ask you but I know how you feel about attention and I don't want to put that pressure on you. Maybe I can try asking Koz when he gets back..." he trails off, letting out yet another sigh.
Lenox blushes shyly at the comment. "Th-Thank you, Oliver." she says. "Um, do you want to go entertain the village children?" she says.
Oliver quickly lifts his head up, beaming. "Brilliant idea, Lenox." he says and stands up. "Come on, let's go." he says, grabbing Lenox's hand, and dragging her out of the guildhall with a squeak.
Nadine Septim, the Guild Master of Phoenix Fire, leans against the second floor railing, staring down at the other members of Phoenix Fire. Other than Emile trying to flirt with a very uninterested Rina, things were mostly tame at the moment. The more rowdy members were out fulfilling requests and Cooley is in the training yard trying and failing to power through his drunkenness and give a lesson to the younger members (she sent Alistair out with him to make sure he doesn't do anything too scarring in front of the children). She smiles, relaxed. The guild usually isn't this peaceful.
Good. I'm getting too old for this. She thinks to herself.
Nadine Septim is an older woman (who is definitely not too old for this, she just doesn't want the responsibilities that being Guild Master brings). She has red hair cut into a short pixie cut. She has eyes as red as her hair and dark skin with a few wrinkles that being forty seven years old brings. Despite her age, she still has an athletic build. Nadine wears a dark green open back top with bell sleeves tucked into a dark brown side popper knee length skirt. Today, she's wearing black socks with matching black slip on shoes.
"OOOOOOOI! GRANNY I'M HOME!"
Nadine sighs, dropping her head. "So much for peaceful." she mumbles under her breath. She looks back up, raising an eyebrow as she watches Danate enter the guildhall, pulling a girl dressed in rags behind him.
"Danate!" Emile and Rina say in unison, happy smiles on both of their faces.
Danate gives them a friendly smile. "Hi guys, I gotta talk to Master real quick." he says, dragging the reluctant looking girl behind him as he heads up the stairs. "Master!" he smiles at Nadine. "I have a new recruit." he says, pulling his apparent hostage up to stand right beside him.
The girl crosses her arms, not meeting Nadine's eyes. "I didn't agree to that." she grumbles, clearly uncomfortable with most of the guild's attention on her. "Didn't you bring me here to talk about -?"
"Not here." Danate hisses quietly.
Nadine studies the girl, unsure of where she came from. She has tanned skin, long, waist-length unkempt black hair and bright green eyes. Like she observed when the two entered, the girl isn't wearing actual clothes, moreso along the lines of something a slave would wear, and isn't wearing any shoes. The cuts, bruises, and dirt littering her skin support Nadine's observation about her clothes. Despite all that, however, Nadine can sense something magical in her; something lying dormant and just waiting to be awakened.
"What's your name?" Nadine asks her.
The girl flushes, meekly looking up to meet Nadine's eyes. "Mana." she answers.
"Mana…?" Nadine tries for a last name.
"Just Mana."
"I see." Nadine says, her eyes drifting to Danate. He gives her a pointed look.
"Can I talk to you alone, Mana?" Nadine asks.
Mana's eyes widen, clearly panicked, and she glances at Danate.
Danate grins. "Don't be shy," he says, patting her back. "Master doesn't bite...unless you bite first." he jokes.
Mana grumbles something under her breath and nods at Nadine, following her to another room.
Danate hums contently to himself and goes back downstairs, greeting his guildmates as he goes to sit by Emile and Rina.
"Danate where'd you find that girl?" Emile asks curiously. "She looks like she just escaped from prison." he says.
Emile Solflare is a teenager of average height with navy blue hair with messy, spiky hair. He has a black x-shaped barrette clipped to his bangs that doesn't really do anything to pin any of his hair back so it's pretty easy to see that it's for fashion purposes only. He has lightly tanned skin and dark gray eyes that always seem to bear a mischievous glint. He has an athletic build and his face has a faint scar on his left cheek. Emile wears a silk black kimono with the design of the sun and the moon on the front, with several tiny stars scattered throughout the kimono. His kimono is tucked into a pair of navy blue hakama pants and he wears black socks and waraji sandals.
"Emile!" Rina gasps. "Don't be rude." she scolds, bonking him on the head.
Rina Dawnstone is a teenager the same age as Emile. She has black hair that falls in loose curls that reach her mid-back. She has dark brown eyes and lightly tanned skin. She wears a tight black turtleneck romper with no sleeves and blue studs all over it. She wears a pair of black combat boots and to top it all off, she wears a white baggy faux fur coat. Rina also wears quite a bit of makeup: long dark lashes, eyeliner, lip gloss, and blue eyeshadow.
Emile glares at her, rubbing his now sore head. "I'm just saying…"
Danate shrugs. "I mean, he's not wrong. She's been a slave for a Dark Guild since she was a kid." he says offhandedly.
Rina facepalms. "You could've said that with a little more empathy…" she says.
Danate smiles apologetically, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that."
Emile pauses for a moment, looking between Rina and Danate like he's waiting for something. Then he frowns, "How come you didn't hit him on the head!?" he whines.
Rina blushes and smacks Emile's head again. "B-Because!"
"Because isn't an answer!"
"Well it is now!"
Danate's head just ping pongs back and forth as he watches the two argue, amused and oblivious.
Mana shifts uncomfortably as Nadine shuts the door behind them.
"Take a seat, Mana." Nadine says, walking towards one of the couches in the room. She sits down and pats the space beside her, "Like Danate said, I don't bite." she says, finally giving Mana a smile.
The smile doesn't help set Mana at ease but she shuffles forward anyways, stiffly sitting next to Nadine.
"Now, why did Danate actually bring you here?" Nadine says.
Mana shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. He didn't explain much on the way here. We were talking about joining Phoenix Fire and he mentioned a man by the name of Cooley. I recognized it and told him about a friend I had whose dad had that same name." she says. "Then he asked her mother's name and got all serious, now we're here." Mana explains.
Nadine gets a similar haunted look when Mana finishes explaining. "The mother's name was Morrigan and your friend's name was Mary, correct?" she guesses.
Mana nods, frowning. "Danate guessed the same." she says. "Why? Do you know them?" she asks.
Nadine looks down. "Cooley Brown is your friend's father. He's a Mage here." she states.
Mana blinks, taken aback. "I-I-I had no idea. Mary didn't say anything about that." she says.
Nadine shakes her head. "She wouldn't have known. Cooley joined us years after she was kidnapped." she explains. "Mary was taken when she was five years old so I'm surprised she remembered their names at all."
Mana shudders as she remembers the Dark Mage who'd seemed overly invested in torturing Mary, both physically and verbally with taunts of her supposed dead parents. "There was an old guy who brought Mary to stay where I was. He would always yell insults at her about her parents, 'Cooley this' and 'Morrigan that'. And then he took her away some time ago and I was alone again. I...was he the one who kidnapped her?" she asks.
"Most likely." Nadine nods. "Cooley doesn't speak much sense lately. He's a very powerful Mage but he's been drunk since he got here two years ago." she says.
Mana hopes that's an exaggeration.
"Enough about Cooley. I will speak with him later. Thank you for telling me about this." Nadine says gratefully, bowing her head slightly.
Mana blushes, embarrassed, and gives Nadine a small, awkward smile. "It's no problem. I really had nothing else to do." she says.
Nadine studies her again and it's silent for a moment. Then, "Tell me about yourself, Mana."
Mana scratches her cheek. "There's really nothing to say." she says.
"When you were speaking about Mary, you spoke as if you were also held captive." Nadine comments. "Is that not so?" she asks.
Mana looks down at her lap. "...I was." she admits. "I came to help with Mary but I also wanted to ask about a Dark Guild, Revenant Beasts." she starts, her nails digging into her thighs as she's filled with a dark, angry feeling. "They kidnapped my siblings and I when we were children and killed our parents." she says bitterly. "I was sold to someone within the guild so I was always visited by those people." she spits.
Nadine gently places a hand over Mana's and she's instantly comforted by the oddly warm feeling the action gives her. Mana releases the grip on her thighs, cringing at the angry red marks she leaves behind.
"I have a particular affinity for Fire Magic." Nadine says, answering the unspoken question. "It's allowed me to pick up a few tricks here and there. Did that help?" she asks.
Mana nods. "Y-Yes...thank you." she says.
Nadine nods back and takes her hand back, continuing her questioning. "You said you were sold to someone within the guild. How is it that you don't know where they are?" she asks.
Mana crosses her arms. "I was only permitted to move between three rooms for...for a long time. A washroom, the main-room, and my cell." she says. "This is the first time I've been outside since...er...since I was sold." she says with a small frown.
Nadine furrows her brow, noticing Mana's continued inability to provide a specific time frame of certain events. "Mana, how long were you held captive?" she asks.
"I don't know." Mana admits.
"How old were you when you were kidnapped?" Nadine presses.
"...I don't know."
"How old are you right now?"
"...I-I don't know..."
"Did you only give Mana as your name because that's all you can remember?"
"Y-Yeah." Mana says, fear brewing in her eyes. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I remember?" she asks.
Nadine gives Mana a serious look. "I can't say for sure but I believe they used a banned form of Memory Control on you." she says. "Unlike the legal form, becoming aware of its use on you won't break the spell." Nadine says.
"Wh-What?" Mana blinks. "Memory Control? Why would they do that? Why would they take those things away from me and not my family?" she asks. "Why would they let me remember that I had a past before them?"
"I can only guess they took those things away from you because they interfered with other memories they wanted you to forget." Nadine says with a frown.
Mana looks at her, completely lost. "I don't understand. What do you mean?" she asks.
"Your name and your sense of time aren't the only things they made you forget."
Mana freezes, her face full of confusion and fear. "I...why? Why me? I'm nobody special." she says, the confusion and fear spiraling into anger and frustration. "That boy - Danate - he couldn't sense an ounce of Magic coming from me!" Mana snaps. She stands up and starts pacing the room, gesturing wildly at Nadine as she rants. "You know my younger sister used to be able to do tricks with Fire Magic too?" she says. "The five of us...we all had some form of control over an element. Morgan had fire, I had air...I-I can't remember what the others had but they had Magic too." Mana says, her expression falling. "But they would withhold food from me to keep me weak so I couldn't use my Magic and I - I'm not in touch with that side of me anymore. I lost my ability to do Magic. I'm weak. Why would they let me remember that I used to be able to use Magic but not how old I am?" she says, deflating as she thinks about Danate's words from when they first met. "I'm not the best version of myself."
Nadine sighs. "You've spent too much time around Danate." she says.
"We met a few hours ago -"
"Too much time." Nadine repeats, leaning back against the couch. "Listen, Danate doesn't have the best social skills but he does mean well." she reassures. "He's also not the best at sussing out latent Magic ability as he is active Magic ability." she comments, waiting to see if Mana can put two and two together.
Mana pauses and Nadine can just picture her words running through Mana's head at a mile a minute. She turns around, looking at Nadine with wide, hopeful eyes. "Are you…?"
"It's like you said, they starved you and kept you weak for years." Nadine says, standing up. She walks towards Mana and ruffles her hair, "I could sense your ability when Danate brought you up to me. I'm confident that once you start getting the proper nutrition again, your Magic will come back to you in no time." she says reassuringly.
Mana's eyes brim with tears as she looks up at Nadine. "I...really?"
Nadine nods. "And if you'll let me, I'd like to help you." she says.
Mana sniffs, smiling at Nadine. "Y-Yeah, um, Danate mentioned that you like to teach -"
"M-Master!" a clearly drunk voice bellows, bursting into the room and interrupting the moment. "Master I can't take those little sh - who's this?"
Nadine grimaces and answers him but Mana can't hear her over the blood roaring in her ears. Her legs start shaking, fear coursing through her veins as she stares at the face of the man who'd tortured her and Mary for a long, long time.
The White Bull is a tanned man with an ever present, dark, evil scowl on his face. He has messy black hair and bright sky blue eyes that betray his true nature. Mana hasn't seen him in anything but studded white leather armor, however he seems to have swapped his usual set for one with brown and green accents. He holds a hip flask in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, talking to Nadine like nothing.
H-How? How did he find me? Why would he come for me? I haven't seen him in - I haven't seen him in forever. Where's Mary? How does he know Nadine? Why hasn't anyone called him out for being here? Did...Did Danate trick me? Was this all some sick joke?
Mana drops to her knees, hyperventilating as she stares at The White Bull. She feels Nadine's hand on her shoulder but she has tunnel vision for the man before them. Her heart drops when he finally looks at her. He says something to her but she still can't hear. The White Bull takes a step forward and Mana flinches, scrambling backwards until her back hits something solid. She covers her face with one of her hands and gets lost in her increasingly chaotic thoughts.
I won't go back there.
Mana's heart rate increases to a dangerously fast pace and beat feels stronger and more painful than the last.
I refuse.
He's going to take you back.
I'm free again. I-
He's going to hurt you.
I have to protect myself.
Hurt him first or you'll never see your brothers and sisters again.
For my brothers and sisters.
Get revenge for Mary.
And for Mary.
And then everything goes black.
PF x AH x SS
A/N :pepestab: don't ever ask me for anything ever again
jkjk...unless?
This was just something to get out to give people a feel for each guild and introduce most of the characters :fingerguns: I have every intention of pre-writing before actually posting so I can ask the creators all the questions I need to ask :)