xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hemlock, 9:30 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Outside of the town of Hemlock, approaching on her quad wheeled magi-cycle was Camilla with Bernard in tow behind her, arms around her waist to remain on the vehicle and dressed in their attire from the previous day. With a smile on her face, Camilla had a smug look on her face as she casually made a humming sound as Bernard had a twitch in his eye.
"Okay, pull over... Please..." Bernard said with a disgruntled tone as Camilla turned her head to see Bernards annoyed expression.
"Oh? Got something you want to do? Hehe." Camilla said with a chuckle.
"Yes... Please... Stop the bike..." Bernard said with a face slowly contorting into one of aggravation.
"Sure honey." Camilla said as she pulled over the magi-cycle a few miles before the town of Hemlock as Bernard got off the Magi-cycle and walked into the nearby woods. "Three... Two... One..." She thought with folded arms as she sat on her bike as she watched her boyfriend walked behind a tree.
"Gaaaaahhhhh! Razzafrazza mudda farting flahba gah!" Bernard screamed violently from behind the tree as Camilla overheard the sounds of rocks breaking as she saw pebbles and stones flying in different directions as the inane gibberish coming out of her boyfriends mouth begun to make her chuckle. Breathing heavily for a few seconds, Bernard calmly walked out from out of the forest and approached a smirking Camilla.
"Feeling better, "Mr. Grouch?"' Camilla said playfully as Bernard twitched an eye.
"...Nothing in our agreement said I couldn't walk behind something and scream my head off to let loose the steam..." Bernard said with a tone that sounded like he was hiding his frustrations.
"You sound like a tea kettle boiling. Hehe." Camilla said as she continued to look at her boyfriend with the same smug expression.
"God damn "tilting."' Bernard mentally complained.
"Told you shaking the pinball machines was a bad move if you wanted to beat me." Camilla said as she walked forward slightly.
"Don't remind me, it's pissing me-" Bernard said until suddenly he was cut off by the feeling of an index finger on his lips to keep him quiet.
"Ah-ah! No "rage."' Camilla said with a flirtacious yet cocky look in her eyes as Bernards eye twitched as he grabbed her wrist and took her finger off his mouth. "You remember the deal; from now on, you have to be "cool as a cucumber."' She explained.
"Easy for you to say!" Bernard exclaimed. "You're not the one who has to deal with repeated crap on a daily basis!" He continued.
"I know, I practically have the same job as you, y'know?" Camilla said.
"Yeah yeah but you're not the one who gets aggravated by every little screw up that happens in the guildhall..." Bernard said as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Damn it, I'm getting a tension headache..." He thought.
"The point of these dates we go on are so you and I can have "fun" and so you don't have to think about the guild. It's okay to not focus on the guild every single minute." Camilla said with a concerned tone as Bernard continued to rub his head.
"Like I said already; easy for you to say..." Bernard said with a bothered tone. "I barely have a moment to breathe nowadays. I have to do wizard jobs for money, ready the guildhall every day, plan out the routines for the magic show-" He listed until Camilla put her hand up to stop him from speaking.
"Stop. Listing. Problems..." Camilla said with an angry tone as Bernard begun to sweat a little at her angered expression. "Last thing I want to hear is your absurd workaholic issues that you harp about over and over because you refuse to accept others help." She said, listing her own grievance. "This guild isn't just "your" guild, you know..." Camilla thought as she looked at Bernard, still rubbing his head.
"Ugh... Wish I knew some time controlling magic or something, maybe then I could get more hours in a day..." Bernard said aloud to himself.
"Maybe you should consider getting an assistant. Someone who can do some of the other things around the guild so you don't tense up." Camilla suggested.
"Highly doubtful I'd find someone I can use for that kind of work..." Bernard said with a sigh.
"Can't you just ask someone like Harriet or Anatoli?" Camilla said with a raised eyebrow.
"No, it'd have to be someone "new" to the guild. I don't want to force anyone already in Psycho Circus to be a helper and do the regular "guild wizard" jobs just so I don't have to do nine quintillion chores..." Bernard explained as he looked at Camilla, her eye twitching in response.
"And like I said already; just get your friends or your weird pets to help you! You pacemaker-needing nimrod!" Camilla thought with growing frustration at Bernards relatively "close minded" viewpoint.
"Well... At least the food and games last night were fun." Bernard said as he took off his beanie and scratched his head, causing Camilla to change her expression.
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Mermaid Heel seems like a pretty nice guild. And that shrimp cocktail was to die for!" Camilla said with a happy tone as she remembered the meal from last night.
"Don't think I've ever eaten pasta noodles with scallops, clams and tomato sauce before." Bernard said in response. "And thank you, Risley, for giving me a cheap price for the only time in my life I'm ever eating that because it's too expensive..." He thought as he fearfully remembered the original expensive price tag for the food he ate.
"Then pinball machines and we stayed at that nice little nearby hotel for the night." Camilla said with a smile. "But you know..." She said with a smile as she got close to Bernard, startling him as she got within breathing distance of him. "You forgot to give me something for waking up before me today before we drove back." Camilla said with a seductive tone.
"Huh?! Like what?!" Bernard said with surprise and confusion. "I swear, if she says a kiss, I'm going to flip!" He thought nervously.
"A "good morning" smooch wouldn't have been a bad way to start the morning." Camilla said as she pointed her finger towards her lips as Bernard swallowed spit with a blush on his face upon hearing her request. "Better late than never, come on." She said as she stretched her arms forward and draped them over Bernards shoulders in a loose hug.
Reaching forward with her pressed lips, Camilla attempted to kiss Bernard but he quickly ducked out of her grasp and swiftly walked over to Camillas magi-cycle and stood behind it in a defensive manner as Camilla made a displeased look in his direction.
"...Will you stop being so defensive when I try to do these things with you..." Camilla said with an annoyed look on her face.
"Maybe when the prospect of you and me getting "intimate" doesn't make me fear the possibility of having a heart attack... I almost wish she could go back to just kissing me in my sleep and leaving an aftertaste in my mouth..." Bernard thought as he put his hand on his Lacrima pacemaker. "Maybe a little later or something... Can we just go home?" He said in a disturbed tone as Camilla sighed in disappointment.
"I should lock you and me in a barrier box and see if you can talk your way out of kissing me then..." Camilla thought with a displeased look as she walked over to her bike as she sat down on it with Bernard holding her from behind. "Hold on tight." She said as she turned her head towards Bernard.
"It's okay, I shouldn't slip." Bernard said in response.
"...Not why I said that..." Camilla said with half closed eyes as Bernards started to widen as his face turned red in realization of what she meant. "Hehe." She chuckled as she powered on her magi-cycle and rode off towards town.
Driving back into town, the pair looked around and noticed the suspicious lack of people around the buildings as they both looked at eachother and grew concerned.
"Where is everybody?" Camilla questioned as Bernard continued to move his head left and right in an effort to see any civilians.
"I don't- hey! Over there!" Bernard said until he looked past Camilla and noticed a large congregation of people near the entrance to the Psycho Circus guildhall as they pulled over on the side of the road and walked over to the crowd. "The heck is with this crowd?" He asked as Camilla shrugged, also unsure.
"Let's see..." Camilla said as they begun to walk past the townsfolk until they begun to see the various clowns and acrobats of the guild before walking into some familiar faces. "Hey guys!" She exclaimed as she got further to the front of the crowd where Anatoli, minus his large ball he normally stood on, alongside Marlene, Pietro, Harriet, Nole and Andy and even Chester, Gigantia and Silencio.
"Guys?" Bernard asked as he and Camilla looked at everyone, all of whom had incredibly surprised faces as they looked at the pair.
"I'll be the first one to say it..." Chester said as everyone looked at him. "How the hell did you pull this off?" He said as he pointed in the direction of the guildhall.
"Pull what- Ahhhhhhfffff?!" Bernard said until he and Camilla looked forward in the direction of where he was pointing and their jaws dropped in shock as what was there was not the normal guildhall they remembered.
Gone was the normal big top red and yellow circus tent that was familiar to the wizards of the Psycho Circus guild and in its place was a much more cleaned up gigantic green and purple tent with a four additional circus tents towering next it with two in the front and two in the back with flags on the top with a massive guild logo on the main tent. Turning their heads in Bernards direction, the guildmembers looked at the color escaping his body as he slowly begun to turn white as his jaw looked like it was beginning to unhinge and drop all the way to the floor in shock.
'"Oh no..."' The collective of Psycho Circus wizards thought, minus Chester, in fear of the possibility of the guilds manager going ballistic.
"I'm going to strangle someone! I'm going to take Formosa and stuff it down someones throat until they explode and ugh, I can't get mad! Damn it, I- wait... Wait, this design is familiar... No... No way!?" Bernard thought until he suddenly begun to look at the new guildhall and begun to notice something familiar about the way it looked.
"Hey... Bernard?" Marlene said, speaking up with concern.
"Buddy, you gonna be alright?" Anatoli said, also concerned as Bernard quickly ran past everyone to get into the guildhall and see what it looked inside.
"Something tells me the inside is even more insane..." Pietro said as Camilla ran after Bernard with the other members running inside too.
Standing inside was Bernard with everyone else joining and were bewildered at the inside of the guildhall, dramatically better than the guildhall it originally was. Gone was the simple wooden tables with benches and in their place was round tables with white clothes on top and stools around them that were cleaner and had no chipped wood. The support beams to the guild were no longer simple brown wood and were now white pillars that looked sturdier and more refined than the old giant rods that kept the ceiling up. The bar at the far end of the guild appeared more larger and new to the building was a set of two stair cases that lead up to a new second floor series of rooms in the back of the guildhall.
"This is... Amazing..." Gigantia said as she looked around at the new tables.
"You can barely recognize the place." Harriet said as her beard hair turned into a pair of hands and placed them on her head in surprise.
"It even smells different." Anatoli said as he sniffed the new main room with his nose.
"...Did you have to do that?" Marlene asked as Anatoli ignored her.
As the guildmembers looked at the new impressive guildhall, a magic circle formed in the air a few feet from the ground as a familiar small man in a top hat, ringmasters outfit and holding a cane and a familiar tiger-furred cat in his free hand until he suddenly started to spin Tavio around by his tail.
"Waaahh!" Tavio screamed as he continued to be spun around in circles
"Ladies! Gentlemen! Handicapped boys! Chimps! Giants! Mimes! Hairy women! Twins! Muscles! The rest of you!... Hello." Master Barnum said in a grandiose manner as he spun Tavio until he suddenly stopped and greeted them without any fanfare, catching everyone off guard as he let go of Tavio in mid sentence, sending him flying up to the second floor walkway.
"Master Barnum!?" Camilla said in surprise. "What happened here? What did you do to the guild?" She asked as she approached the guild master.
"Glad you asked Ms. Hagen." Master Barnum said as he spun around and pointed at the new guildhall. "I felt it was time for a refresher in our humble little guildhall so I decided to spruce things up and put some "additions" in." He explained as everyone looked around at the new tables and set up.
"Jeez this is swanky!" Anatoli exclaimed as he looked under a table. "There's not even gum under here!" He said as he poked his head out.
"New tables wouldn't have gum under them already, moron..." Chester said with annoyance as he looked at Anatoli.
"That's not all we have! We have more "amenities" in the building now!" Master Barnum said as he jumped and landed on the bar table as Camilla walked behind it to check it out.
"This is way more organized than I had it before... New nozzles, new sink, even got cooling Lacrima to keep the beverages frothy..." Camilla thought as she looked at her new workstation, impressed by the upgrade.
"If you look to my right, that walkway upstairs leads to a hallway where our new medicine bay area is, complete with some beds to rest on between shows and training. To my left, we have a nice walkway that leads to another hallway where we now have nice new storage room for all of our old props. That's where the two towers in the back are for, I'm still ironing out more rooms for any "future" plans, of course." Master Barnum explained as he looked at his son, Bernard, who was still standing motionless as he looked at the changes to the guild hall.
"Back towers... Leading to a resting bay and a prop room... That's..." Bernard thought as he begun to notice some suspicious similarities to the new guildhall and something he remembered writing down once.
"The right side tower in the front leads to a new practice room for us all to do new routines and such for our annual show, figured it be easier so I don't have to make a bunch of rooms with my magic all the time, hehe." Master Barnum said as he pointed in that direction with his cane as everyone looked on.
"That's useful." Marlene said as everyone nodded.
"What about that one?" Gigantia asked as she pointed to the left side tower.
"That's our new hot spring area." Master Barnum said plainly as everyones eyes widened to the point of shock.
'"Hot spring!?"' The entire guild minus the master and Bernard screamed in surprise.
"A mens side and a womens side hot spring with tons of decorative rocks and a soothing environment for relaxing after any showcase or practice. A little rest never hurt no one, am I right?" Master Barnum explained before looking at his son, whose body was twitching in growing agitation as everyone but Pietro, Camilla and Marlene looked at the hot spring tower.
"Last one in has to eat a rock for the show!" Anatoli screamed in a delighted tone as he ran towards the tower with everyone in hot pursuit.
"Haven't you ever heard of "ladies first!?"' Harriet screamed as she ran past some acrobats and clowns rushing to get in the bath.
"Out of- ow! My way!" Silencio said as he pulled the tape off his mouth in pain to speak as he joined in the rush to bathe in the guilds new bathing area, leaving only Marlene, Pietro, Camilla, Master Barnum and the still frozen Bernard in the main room.
"Master Barnum..." Pietro said as he approached Camilla and the guild master. "How is this possible?" He asked.
"Your magic can create a new outer tent but all of this inside stuff sounds overwhelmingly expensive." Marlene asked in curiosity too.
"Easy answer: I happened to find a nice chunk of change and I spent it yesterday afternoon." Master Barnum said with a smirk as Camilla and Bernard overheard, quickly looking at eachother in shock.
"Wait! Master, you found a very high amount of money and spent it in one foul swoop?!" Camilla said as she bent down and questioned the guild master.
"Certainly, I felt it was appropriate to use that money on making the guild appear more "presentable." We can't just have people assume we're just a circus forever, right?" Master Barnum said with a smirk as he looked at Bernards slowly contorting face, filling with rage. "Of course, I'm not the one we should be thanking for the idea. I had a little help." He said as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a familiar small black book that belonged to Bernard as Pietro, Marlene and Camilla turned towards Bernard, noticing he was seething with anger.
"He looks like he's going to snap in any minute!" Marlene thought fearfully as she looked at Bernard grinding his teeth.
"Ber-Bernard, calm down!" Pietro said with worry over Bernards wellbeing.
"I... Am going... To kill him! I... Wait... After I kill him, I need to clean up the mess to the floor, I would need some serious detergent we might not have in the guild! I'd have to go into town with the money I have and then come back and have to clean the new tables first! Then I gotta check the water in the new bath area and do inventory checks in the prop room before I clean the floors so Camilla doesn't need to worry about that! Then I gotta- I gotta- I gotta... Ugh..." Bernard thought in a disturbed manner as his eyes slowly begun to shift into the back of his head as he fell backwards, hitting the new floor as the others looked on in shock.
"Oh no! Bernard?!" Camilla exclaimed with worry as she and Marlene and ran over to check on him.
"Master, that resting room you mentioned. That way, right?!" Pietro said with concern as he pointed to one of the upper floors.
"Yupper." Master Barnum said playfully as the girls picked up Bernard and carried him with his arms over their shoulders as the three took him upstairs to the medicine bay area. "It's a shock at first, I understand that much... But give it time, you can handle it." He thought as the three helped Bernard down the hall.
Reaching the med room, they saw multiple one person sized beds as they helped place Bernard on one of them as they laid his head down on a pillow with Camilla and Marlene standing at opposite sides of the bed.
"Check his pulse!" Camilla said as Marlene nodded and put two fingers on Bernards neck before shifting over to his wrist to check there as well.
"Heart rate seems a bit raised but he doesn't appear to be in any serious signs of trouble..." Marlene said as she put down Bernards hand.
"He must have fainted from the shock then." Pietro said as he pulled up a chair in the room and sat down on it.
"Ugggh... I can't believe this is happening now..." Camilla said as she scratched her head in frustration.
"What do you mean?" Marlene asked as Pietro looked at Camilla as she sighed.
"Bernard told me the other day that the royal family was giving him a loan of money. That's where the master got the money to upgrade the guildhall." Camilla explained as she shook her head.
'"A loan?"' Pietro replied. "...How big?" He said with a raised eyebrow as Marlene was also curious.
'"As big as the amount of money it takes to repair an entire town from a "Fairy Tail incident" is what Bernard told me what they gave him." Camilla said as she bit her lip.
"...That's... Very large..." Marlene said as she and Pietro begun to sweat.
"He'd never be able to pay that much back..." Pietro replied.
"Apparently they told him he doesn't need to." Camilla said as Marlene and Pietro looked at her. "They told him the loan was a "good behavior" reward for keeping the guild from bothering the Magic Council." She explained.
"But what about that debacle he and Anatoli got into?" Marlene asked.
"Swept under the rug... The princess of the country and the head of the royal army think highly of our obnoxious workaholic manager... Who really needs to learn how to relax!" Camilla explained before shouting a criticism to the unconscious Bernard on the bed.
"I guess that's a good thing but how does that relate to the money issue?" Pietro asked with his arms folded.
"From what Bernard told me, the royal family won't ask for anything related to the money if the guild just doesn't cause anywhere near the level of trouble as the Fairy Tail guild." Camilla said as she put her hands on her hips.
"Why didn't he tell us that?" Marlene said as she looked at Bernard.
"Probably because a certain someone in this room doesn't trust anybody enough to help him..." Camilla said as she bent forward over Bernard. "Not even his own little army of pets that follows his orders or his close friends who don't hate him or his damn girlfriend who has the same damn responsibilities!" She exclaimed as she got mere inches from the downed Bernards face as Pietro stood up and put his hand on Camillas shoulder.
"Calm down, we don't need you needing bed rest too." Pietro said in a serious tone.
"Ugh, sorry, it's just so frustrating..." Camilla said with an angered tone. "We went on a date last night and he promised not to get angry from now on but he couldn't stop whining about all the little problems he claims to have when they're easily rectifiable by just asking for help." She explained.
'"Old habits die hard." Especially when it comes to a guy like him who is so used to the prospect of the Psycho Circus guild relying on him for things. It's hard to change people when it comes to certain things like that." Pietro explained. "Then again..." He continued.
"Hmm?" Marlene mumbled.
"What?" Camilla replied.
"We're in a new guildhall, you can technically say this is a "fresh start."' Pietro said as a slight smirk formed on his face. "The old guild was his responsibility more than this one. He can't claim it's his duty for maintaining this guildhall now since it's brand new." He continued as Marlene and Camilla looked at eachother with wide eyes as they begun to realize what Pietro meant.
"Hey... Yeah that could work." Marlene said in response.
"He wouldn't need to feel so uppity about maintaining the place and stressing about it finally." Camilla thought as she begun to agree with the idea. "Sounds like a plan. But first, we need him." She said as she and the others turned to look at Bernard.
"Hard to do with him out like a light." Marlene said. "Plus he might get argumentative about it." She said with concern.
"Hmmm..." Camilla thought as she put her hand on her cheek. "Actually... I think I might have an idea for that." She said as she started to smirk. "Marlene, come here." Camilla said as she motioned for Marlene to walk over to a corner of the room, away from Pietro and begun to whisper in Marlenes ear.
"Hmmm?" Pietro grunted in confusion as the girls quietly talked.
"Wait? Really?" Marlene said loud enough for Pietro to hear.
"Yeah, I'm being serious here." Camilla said.
"Sooo... You're sure? One hundred percent positive?" Marlene said with a tone on intrigue and nervousness.
"Yes." Camilla said bluntly as Marlene blushed in response before swallowing spit.
"O-okay! I'm in!" Marlene said loudly as she quickly turned away from Camilla, breathing into her hands and smelling them for signs of bad breath as Camilla walked back towards Pietro.
"What was that about?" Pietro asked.
"A little scheming. Hehe." Camilla said with an impish smile as Marlene walked over with a happy expression on her face.
Shifting their attention back towards Bernard, Marlene and Camilla both proceeded to walk to both sides of the bed and proceeded to sit down on the sides, close to Bernard as the pair loomed over his unconscious body. Pietro, looking at the pair, then suddenly became confused at the action they were taking as he noticed them both bent forward over Bernard, putting their faces close to his ears.
"Bernard... Can you hear me?" Camilla said with a sweet voice into Bernards right ear.
"Yoohoo... Bernard." Marlene said in a similarly nice voice as Bernard shuffled a little in his sleep.
"Uhhh... Girls?" Pietro said with confusion.
"Shhh!" Camilla muttered as she raised a finger and motioned for Pietro to be quiet. "Bernard, it's very rude to stay asleep when we want to talk to you... Because if you don't wake up." She said in a seductive voice as she and Marlene put their hands on Bernard chest.
"You're going to miss the "naughty" things we're going to do to you..." Marlene said in a flirtatious tone as she and Camilla shifted their hands down his belly and waistline.
Suddenly, his face turning red from embarrassment, Bernards eyes quickly opened as he jumped up to a seated position on the bed as the two girls arched back slightly to give him space to sit up, a pair of smirks forming on their faces as their handiwork proved successful.
"I am not a piece of meat!" Bernard screamed loudly as he grabbed the pillow he was laying on to use as a shield from Camilla and Marlene.
"Pfff!" Marlene chuckled as she put her hand over her mouth.
"Told you it would wake him up." Camilla said as she looked at Marlene.
"...I almost got the feeling they forgot I was in the room..." Pietro thought as he rubbed his bald head as Bernard looked around.
"Where... Am I?" Bernard asked as Pietro snapped out his train of thought.
"The med bay room, second floor of the new guild." Pietro said as the two girls still looked at Bernard.
"Oh... Right..." Bernard said as his tone become one of annoyance. "I was hoping I was having a nightmare when I saw the new guild." He said as the two girls suddenly got slightly closer to him.
"Actually, it's a good thing you woke up when you did. We wanted to talk with you about that." Pietro said as he caught Bernards attention.
"What?" Bernard replied.
"This guildhall, most of it's your ideas, correct?" Pietro asked as Bernard looked at him and sighed.
"...Yes, I've toyed around with ideas to maybe update the guildhall and make it cleaner and more presentable. The second story floors are for additional space and to give us secondary seating areas for the shows to draw bigger audiences." Bernard explained as the others looked at him. "The hot springs, this med bay, the storage room... Yeah, I thought those up too so the old fart wouldn't need to keep using his magic to shift rooms back and forth like the hold guildhall needed us to do all the time... And I guess someone here mentioned the money from the kingdom?" He said as he looked at Camilla.
"Guilty as charged." Camilla said with a plain voice.
"You didn't want the guild to change this much, did you?" Pietro continued to question.
"All I wanted was to get some better tables and support beams and save the rest for if the kingdom came back for it." Bernard explained. "And why are you two still so close?!" He thought as he noticed Camilla and Marlene were still mere inches from his face as they continued to stare at him with observant looks.
"Well then. That idea didn't pan out and now we look like a wizard guild and a circus show. Like we honestly are supposed to." Pietro said as he stood up. "If anything this new guildhall is a positive as long as we maintain it and don't cause too much trouble." He continued.
"Yeah but you're not the one who has to clean this damn place! And now it's bigger and I have more crap to deal with!" Bernard complained as Marlene and Camilla made annoyed faces at his reaction before turning towards eachother and then nodding to one another.
"Phase two." Camilla said plainly.
"You got it." Marlene replied as the two turned towards Bernard, who suddenly noticed their glares at him.
"Uhhh? Guys?" Bernard said in confusion until suddenly Camilla took the pillow he was holding and threw it on the ground as Marlene grabbed Bernards shoulders with her hands. "What the heck are- huh?!" He said in confusion until he suddenly felt the feeling of what felt like lips pressing against the side of his neck.
Twisting his eyes, Bernard looked down and noticed Camilla begun to lightly kiss Bernards neck, causing a shiver to go up his spine with each press of her lips until he begun to notice a similar sensation on the other side of his neck as he tilted his eyes in another direction and begun to see Marlene doing the same thing.
"Whaaha!? What are you doing?!" Bernard exclaimed in shock and embarrassment as Marlene and Camilla put their hands on his chest and face, respectively, and pushed him down onto the bed where they both begun to shift their playful smooching from his neck to Bernards cheeks, his arms flailing wildly as he failed to shake off their forceful affections. "Wait! Wait! Stop! Ahh-ha! That tickles!" He complained as the girls begun to laugh slightly from his reaction.
'"Feminine charm." One of the most powerful coercion techniques ever." Pietro thought as he watched Marlene and Camilla continue to kiss Bernard.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! No more! No more!" Bernard shouted as he got back to a seated position, his face smothered in pink and red lip marks that covered his neck, cheeks, ears, forehead and even some areas around his mouth, with both Camilla and Marlene hugging him tightly with their arms around his shoulders with smiles, signifying personal content with their actions.
"See! Two girls showering you in affection and you didn't have a heart attack. Nothing to fear." Marlene said with a seductive gaze towards Bernard as she tightened her hug on his upper body as he tried to pull himself out of their grasp but to no avail.
"Finally got that kiss I wanted out of you today as well. Now that we got your attention, we have something to discuss. Or we can go right back to what we were doing, either one works for me." Camilla said with a sly grin as she and Marlene looked at Bernards sweaty, lip-stained face.
"No! No! Okay, what do you want?!" Bernard said in a fearful tone.
"I can answer that." Pietro said as he caught everyones attention. "With this new guild, it's time you learned that just because you have responsibilities doesn't mean you can't enjoy your leisure time or need to do things by yourself." He continued.
"Huh?" Bernard said as he was still stuck in Camilla and Marlenes grasp.
"Your old responsibilities to the guilds maintenance were for the old guildhall. Now we have a new one so it's time for some legit change. Camilla will still handle the bar duty, Marlene is in charge of this room since she's our primary caretaker for medicinal help." He said as Bernard looked at the pair as they begun to loosen their grip, finally letting him go. "I can handle the prop room inventory and I'm pretty sure Nole and Andy aren't doing much these days so they can handle maintaining the new bathhouse. Understood?" Pietro said, laying out his suggestion.
"Bu-but-" Bernard stuttered in attempt to protest before getting cut off by Pietro speaking.
"Ladies?" Pietro said as Marlene and Camilla inched closer to Bernard again, causing a chill to run up his spine as the two girls grabbed him by the shoulders once more with their lips puckered in an attempt to kiss him until he suddenly put his hands up on their cheeks and tried to push them away from another round of teasing.
"Okay! Okay! Deal! Just stop it with the forcefulness! Please!" Bernard said as the girls got close enough to nearly kiss him yet again until they stopped.
"Great! Looks like our job is done and you're finally growing up." Camilla said as she looked at her boyfriend, slightly blue from the experience.
"Haha!" Marlene said as she and Camilla begun to hug Bernard once again but with less tightness as he just made a slightly embarrassed and displeased face as his eye twitched.
"Hehe... Got to admit, that was pretty funny." Pietro said with a chuckle at Bernards misfortune.
"Shut up!" Bernard complained as Camilla and Marlene rubbed their faces against Bernards.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Psycho Circus Guildhall, 12:05 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
After the guildmembers had finished soaking and Bernards pets, minus Formosa and Zaphkiel, were free to roam around the new guildhall, the members of the Psycho Circus guild were congregating and relaxing at the new tables in a cheerful manner as Anatoli and Bernard begun to set up the new guild request board.
"Wish I had known you were fooling around with "snakes and cats" upstairs. Pfff! I should have brought a camera! Hahaha!" Anatoli exclaimed in a hearty laugh.
"Shut up! This whole day was nothing but surprises and I hate surprises!" Bernard whined as Anatoli continued to chuckle. "Maybe I should make fun of the fact you don't have a ball anymore!" He continued as Anatoli got enraged once more.
"The only reason I don't have my ball is because of your stupid crazy deer!" Anatoli said as he and Bernard got face to face.
"Hey! No fighting in our new guildhall!" Camilla exclaimed as Bernard and Anatoli looked back towards her at the bar with Pietro and Marlene sitting on the nearby stools.
'"Yes ma'am!" Bernard and Anatoli said fearfully.
"Mind me asking why you chose the method you did to get him to cooperate with the new deal?" Pietro said as he caught Camillas attention.
"I didn't think threatening him with violence was the right thing to do so I thought of another method that was more fun. Hehe." Camilla said with a smirk and chuckle as Marlene begun to laugh a little too.
"And she was nice enough to include me in the fun." Marlene said until she shifted her eyes downward with a slightly melancholic expression. "Though... I'm a little annoyed by the fact my first romantic moment with a boy in a long while was with someone elses boyfriend..." She said with a depressed look on her face as Camilla looked at her friend with a tired expression.
"Hey..." Camilla said, grabbing Marlenes attention. "I'll let you know next time Bernards acting like an ass, I'll make sure to invite you along." She whispered to her friend as Marlenes expression brightened up and formed a smile of contentment as Bernard and Anatoli approached.
"Done with the board." Anatoli said.
"Now what do you want me to?" Bernard asked as Camilla looked at him.
"Well, it's not too crazy right now so I guess you can just relax- huh?" Camilla said until she noticed one of the clown members of the guild ran up to the bar.
"Guys! Guys!" The clown said as he caught the groups attention.
"Something wrong?" Pietro asked.
"Yeah, what's up?" Camilla said with concern.
"There's some people outside wanting to come in." The clown said as the group looked at eachother before turning their attention to Bernard.
"If it's someone from the Magic Council or from the kingdom, tell them to come back another day. I'm seriously not in the mood." Bernard said with furrowed brows.
"No, it's not anyone from the government!" The clown said as the rest of the guild begun to overhear. "It's some people asking to join the guild!" He said as everyone looked at him in surprise.
"Wait! What?!" Anatoli exclaimed loudly.
"There's some wizards outside! They said they want to join Psycho Circus!" The clown said loudly.
'"New members?!"' The everyone in the guild, including Bernards pets, said extremely loud and in surprise.
Um... Can someone contact Camilla and Marlene for me and tell them I've been very rude lately as well, I wouldn't mind the company. I mean, sure, I'm just some disembodied narrator but I could use the companionship from a pair of lovely girls such as them sooo... Ah forget it. Following Bernard and Camillas date, they rushed home to find their guild vastly different than what they were used to. Gone was the old yellow and red tent and in it's place was a much more extravagant purple and green multi-tent guildhall complete with brand new amenities. But in response to the shock of the new guild and his inability to let go of the fact he thinks he's the only one who can maintain the place, Bernard fainted and woke up in the new med bay, and at the mercy of two beautiful girls who forced him into finally spreading the work to his friends legitimately or suffer some "pleasurable punishment" at Marlene and Camillas hands and mouths. The guild hall has been improved and Bernard has less responsibilities as the manager now but new surprises emerged as a group of wizards had arrived outside requesting to join the Psycho Circus guild out of nowhere. Who are these people!? Why do they want to join now?! Will Bernard finally relax?! Heck if I know! But we'll find out more next time on Menagerie!
