Nashi didn't know why she ever thought letting Venetia choose a job request this time would be a good idea.
In fact she didn't exactly recall telling her she could, let alone promising her, because it was a well known fact in Magnolia, albeit in the guild itself.
Venetia plus anything equals catastrophe.
She loved her friend (don't tell the lug-nut she said that) to death, but Redfox was also the kid that stole an S-class mission at 11, so she wasn't much of a 'think before you act' kind of person.
Nevertheless, the rest of the team didn't think it was that bad of a job, and the reward was good so they agreed. Nashi had a lingering doubt about how the day's events would go, but she brushed those thoughts aside for the sake of the greater good.
The greater good being beating Team Storm by going on more jobs than them.
Team Nashi reached the village after a sickeningly long train ride that Rosemary DID NOT help ease in the slightest by knocking them out, no matter what she says otherwise.
The beautiful expanse of a land was incredible to stare at and Venetia smirked at their reactions as if to say 'and y'all doubted me haha'.
"Oh my! What are you kids doing there? Come on here!" A lady who looked to be in her mid-forties waved at them.
Sylvia tried to beat Rin to their host, but her annoying twin sauntered forward and shot her a gorgeous grin as he introduced the team.
"How polite!" The lady gushed and Sylvia grit her teeth.
She invited them in for tea and explained the situation. Her husband, the village head, and several other males had been held hostage by a group of mages that had been threatening everyone to pay hefty sums of money every month.
She pondered for a moment. "Some kids your age came here earlier actually. They said they'd help rescue my husband and the others. Are you kids their backup? Is that why you're here?"
Rosemary narrowed her eyes as she spoke, "A group of kids our age, you say? Were they from the same guild as ours?"
The lady nodded.
"Well ma'am, we best be on our way then! Can't risk waiting any longer!" The red head's eyes flickered with what the teammates could only call utter madness, before rising from her seat as she rushed out.
"Wait, dear girl? Oh, she seems to be an eager one!"
Rin let out a sigh as his eyes crinkled in adoration, "ALL the more eager when there's competition."
"You kids will need horses, if you ever want to catch up to them then! To the stables!" The woman cheered.
"Horses..."
The two dragonslayers shuddered as they stared at the monstrosities. Sylvia groaned.
"You two will be of no use then! First we take the same mission, and next, only half the team can function fully! This day just keeps getting better and better!" She threw her hands in the air frustratedly.
"Unless we use troia, of course!" Rin snapped his fingers and gave his sister a cocky grin, who retaliated by grumpily flipping a bird at him.
15 minutes later, they found Rosemary speed-walking. She gladly accepted the invitation to ride with Rin, who looked like a kid at Christmas. His grin widened further when Rosemary wrapped her arms around his waist, much to Sylvia and Nashi's amusement.
They reached their destination - A half-burnt cabin at the edge of the forest overlooking the giant lake- only to find Team Storm who'd already engaged in combat.
Rosemary joined the fray in a span of less than 5 seconds, sending spell after spell at the bandits with an evil glint in her eyes.
"What the-Rose, what are you doing here?" Reiki raised an eyebrow while throwing daggers at a goon, who squealed in terror as one hit him, leaving him stuck on a nearby tree.
Nashi grinned as she yelled,"We're here to get the job money, of course. FIRST ONE TO GET ALL OF THESE DUMBASSES ROUNDED UP GETS DIBS!"
Storm yelped, "Aw fuck, the flamehead is here too?"
"I HEARD THAT, ICE CONE! YOU WANNA GO?!!!"
"ARE YOU TWO FIGHTING AGAIN?"
"NO SIR!!" they both yelled as Reiki cracked his knuckles at them.
Seeing the pinkette distracted, a mage took this as a chance to attack her.
"Lightning Strike!"
Nashi turned around just in time to shield herself from the attack. "FIRE DRAGON ROAR!"
Venetia hollered, "JOIN US, FIRE BREATH! WE'RE ABOUT TO KICK ALL THEIR ASSES!"
They managed to round up all the bandits and tied them to the horses. Meanwhile Nova, Luke and Sylvia freed the villagers, who profusely thanked them, glad to finally be able to see their families.
"Why do I still have a feeling that something's going to go wrong?" Nashi muttered to herself.
"Maybe because something always has to go wrong in Team Nashi's missions?" Storm inputted with a smirk.
She gasped at the accusation, fixing him with one of the nastiest glare she she could muster. If looks could spontaneously combust, the whole town would be extinct right this very second.
"YOU WISH!"
"I don't have to, it's reality!" The Devil-Slayer's smirk intensified. The pinkette was tempted to rip the smirk right off his face and maybe claw out one of his godforsaken blue eyes out with a nearby branch. To no avail however, as Kai seemed to have realised that an object as dangerous as a branch was not to be kept in close proximity to a walking-talking demolition kit.
Note to self: Spit in Kai's drink as payback for confiscating a crucial element in her Quick-murder inventory. Oh, how nefarious...
On that thought, she clambered onto her horse with grace akin to a blind Walrus. Rin had briefed both of the first-timers on riding and what-not, but the keypoint that Nashi noted was that if the horse was calm and steady, she was safe. If not, a ticket to her Uncle Zeref was overdue.
Hey, at least Mavis would be more than cordial to her. And she was sure her Gramps Igneel would be on board her 'haunting Storm till he lost all sanity' idea. The possibilities were endless.
What she failed to notice during her inner monologue was the stealthily creeping Mage that had earlier managed to hide himself among the foliage, approaching her horse.
In what Nova would later describe fondly as 'the snowball effect', he yanked Nashi's leg, attempting to throw her off her horse, just in time for the Lightning Slayer to notice and send an attack that left him immobilised.
It was at that moment that Nova realised that she'd utterly fucked up.
"HOLY FUCKKK!!" Nashi was left screeching in horror as her horse decided to live out it's dream of winning the Derby.
Hanging onto it's mane like her life depended on it, she tried to (keyword being tried) mount her horse, which was impossible considering the damn beast of an animal was sprinting like it was possessed.
She faintly registered a flash of light before a sheet of ice blocked the horse's path. It steadied itself instead of trying to break through it to her relief, and she solemnly swore never to watch reruns of Mission Impossible with equines ever again.
She chose to collapse on the muddy ground, squinting at the sun as she tried to steady her breathing. The raven-head sat himself next to her as he scanned her for possible injuries.
"How many fingers am I holding?" His breathless voice questioned.
"Wait let's see, one-two-," she deadpanned, "Twelve."
He smacked her head, making her yelp, his eyebrow raised as if daring her to retaliate. She briskly stood up with a scowl on her face. The ground rattled as the rest their team caught up to them.
"The next train to Magnolia is in an hour, so you both had better hurry!" Rosemary barked.
"Gee, thanks for asking if I was okay!" The pinkette rolled her eyes and jabbed Storm with her elbow as he muttered 'Drama Queen'.
"GEEZ WOMAN! You're riding with me by the way," he bit his lip as he smirked at her face that now morphed into one of disgust.
"Oh HELL NO!"
"Get on the horse Nashi!" Rosemary's eyes narrowed. Nashi and Storm shot Rin looks of pity as his face contorted into a pained grimace when the Manipulation Mage's grip tightened. He really did deserve to be lauded for bearing with her violence.
Speaking of violence, she imagined a dozen ways of pushing Fullbuster off the horse and riding off into the sunset. Now that's a happy ending...
He lazily snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she noticed that he'd mounted the horse already. Shooting him a last annoyed look, she climbed the steed and he whipped the reins as the horse began to steadily gallop.
"Not to be condescending, but I figured you'd know that you have to hold on in order not to faceplant on the ground," she could sense the smug look on his face. Not today, Satan.
"And risk you trying to feel me up? No, thank you," she snarkily retorted.
"Oh please, if anyone's risking sexual harassment, it's me. Your hands just waiting to feel my chest up," she gaped at him and spluttered indignant.
"Well-your-your CHEST IS JUST WAITING TO FEEL MY HANDS UP!"
"Maybe it is," he tilted his head as he winked at her. Her narrowed eyes and grimace provoked a chuckle out of him.
"Pervert."
"Sure, sure," he brushed her off. He abruptly stopped the horse, sending her tumbling into his shoulder. Her hands harshly gripped his coat as she yelled profanities at him.
"Not my fault you didn't hold on tight enough," he whistled innocently.
She let out a growl of frustration as she pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "HAPPY?"
"You loveeeee me," he teased. He winced as she pinched him, clearly unimpressed.
"Claws off me, woman. Play nice!" He scolded and cracked the reins in a fluid moment, and they were off.
And Nashi pretended as if his cologne didn't cloud her senses and the firm grasp his hand had on her didn't make her face flush.
"I need a picture of both of you!"
"WHAT?!" Both the mages screeched in shock.
The village head winced at them symphathetically as his wife's eyes glittered in excitement.
"You both look ADORABLE together! When's the wedding?" She cheered as she took pictures.
"WE'RE NOT- HE'S NOT- NO NEVER! GROSSSSS" their faces contorted into identical grimaces as their oh so helpful teammates snickered.
The lady waved them off, "They always say that, now CLOSER! HOLD HIM TIGHTER!"
"Well, she's still better than Max!" The pinkette muttered as she rested her head against his shoulder.
"Amen to that."
A week after, Mirajane seemed way too cheery for her own good.
"NASHI! THERE YOU ARE!"
Several heads turned to glance at the dragon slayer as she gulped nervously. She reached the bar as the older Takeover Mage grinned at her.
"Laxus requested both you and Storm to participate in this contest. Compulsorily."
She scrunched her nose slightly as she took in the words 'Couple' and 'shoot'. "Aunt Mira, I've told you this a billion times already, WE DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER THAT WAY! HECK, WE DON'T EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER!"
Mira's grin only widened as she remarked, "These pictures seem to tell a different story."
Nashi's eyes widened dramatically as she whipped her head and met the She-Devil's eyes. "YOU wouldn't-"
"Too late, I've already sent it!"
A frustrated growl erupted across the guild, and the members collectively shook their heads at the Matchmaker.
A few weeks later, Nashi was relieved to know that she hadn't won the contest after all. That was shortlived however, as Storm marched up to her table and slammed the latest edition of Sorcerer's weekly on it.
She blinked rapidly as she glanced at the picture of- wait, was that Jake and Rose?
"THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M LOSING TO JAKE AND ROSE! GET YOUR ASS OFF, SALSA BREATH, WE HAVE WORK TO DO!" He lifted her off her chair, despite her squeals of protest and threats to disembowel him and, throwing her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, raced out of the guild, much to everyone's delight.
Even worse, she didn't know whether to kick him where the sun don't shine or stare at his butt. Which was definitely a no-no.
She swore off horses and troia from that day.