Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail

Having to hide out with Jellal was not Mavis' first choice. Yet, she had few options. Luckily for them, the town itself seemed to take in a lot of visitors. People hardly gave them another glance, though the animals they had certainly grabbed attention. Mavis had gotten a bit creative before arriving, shaving off some of the fluff from Fluffball, and using it to make Zera and Zeref look like lumpy bits of fuzz on his back. It wasn't exactly the best disguise, but it was better than nothing. Jellal seemed wary of leaving it as just that, and was moving quickly to try and get away from the crowded streets.

"Did you by any chance have anything worth selling on you when you came here?" Mavis frowned over at Jellal. It was the first thing he'd said to her, since they decided on what path to travel.

"Why would we need to do that?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Because we are in another world, with different currency from ours, and no access to our own funds even if they were consistent."

Oh. She bit her lip, glancing around. The city was a good idea on the surface but if they had no funds, there was no way she'd be able to survive. Then again, it wasn't as if she couldn't manage something. Her gaze flickered towards the bag she was now carrying, filled with Wall's inventions. They might hold some value. Yet, they were also her only means of defense at the moment.

Her stomach growled, another reminder of her priorities. She wouldn't be able to live long enough to get into a fight without some type of a job. Her gaze flickered around the area, trying to see if there was a quick path to making some cash. On the streets, she could see random stands set up, selling small little hand-made crafts to visitors. Opening her bag, Mavis glanced inside with a frown. Sure, most of the devices inside were completed weapons but there were some incomplete ideas, which were just pieces of steel with no inherent purpose.

Pulling a few unfinished objects out, she began handing things to Jellal. "Hold onto these for a moment." He frowned, letting her pile his arms with steel. There wasn't a lot, but it was a start. Yet, as she stared at them, she frowned too. "Damn it…I don't think I can use these anyway."

"What were you planning on doing?" Jellal stared at her, shoving the metal back at her.

With a sigh, she shook her head. "There are people all over selling jewelry and stuff. I thought that maybe I could make something too." She glanced at the metal with a scowl. "But I don't have tools to do anything with this, and I don't think I even have a way of making it into something worthwhile for people to buy."

"You think costume jewelry would make enough for a stay at an inn?" Mavis narrowed her eyes at him, while Jellal sighed. "I had thought, considering your reputation, that you would know better." He paused, glancing towards her bag. "If we want to gain funds, it would be best to sell your actual weapons. From what I recall, this is part of a militaristic nation, which means they will be far more valuable anyway."

"I'm not selling them, idiot." Mavis clutched her bag tightly, narrowing her eyes at him. "You just want me to do that so I'll be easier to capture later. These? They're staying with me."

"So you'd prefer to sleep on the streets?" She didn't answer. Instead, Mavis huffed, shaking her head and ignoring him. Jellal followed after, leading to the two of them mindlessly wandering through the town. Yet, Mavis at least had some sort of idea in mind. Jellal was right; she wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably tonight. All things considered, it just wasn't possible. They had no job, and no means of obtaining lodging. So, she should at least know her way around town. If something went wrong…she wasn't going to get caught because she was ignorant about the layout of the city and turned down a dead-end street.

The man wasn't going to stop pushing, however. "Mavis, just stop and think for a moment."

"I am thinking." She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm thinking that I need to at least prepare myself to sleep on the streets for one day. Really, all things considered, food would be more important to manage to get our hands on, rather than lodgings."

"Are you serious right now?" Mavis nodded. Jellal sighed, running a hand through his hair and closing his eyes. "You're carrying around two bodies, and you think it is wise to sleep in the open? Where anyone can observe you, and realize that the lump of fur on that animal's back is not quite so natural?" His arm gestured towards Fluffball, before dropping back to his side.

"I'll figure something out." She had to. There weren't other options. Yet, she knew it wouldn't look good if she was caught with them.

"It hasn't even been a day, and I think I'm already regretting working with you."

"Well, the feeling is mutual, so shut up and stop complaining, alright?" Mavis turned around, walking back towards the stalls they'd seen earlier. It seemed like the city was organized fairly well, at least from her short walk. They'd entered, and been brought right to the heart of the shopping in the city. If she turned and wandered a bit more, she'd discovered she was walking past apartments, inns, and small homes. Not far from them were the restaurants, and it seemed like a guild hall lodged randomly within a city. Seeing one so blatantly obvious in a populated area had made her pause for a moment, gazing at the icon. She didn't recognize it at all, though there had been too many destroyed guilds for her to know more than a handful of what had remained in Edolas.

Her hand lifted, brushing against her upper shoulder where the mark of Alvarez lingered on her skin. She hadn't been gone for long and already, it felt so lonely here. Zera and Zeref would be back soon, but it would come at the cost of sacrificing the friends she'd gained. Had it really been worth it? Irene betrayed her, and she was lying to them all about her true intentions within Earthland. There was no way she'd manage to sneak past everyone to steal magic away; that was why she only had to find the resurrection magic that had to exist here.

They'd spent the entire day wandering. Stores were closing, and Mavis settled for a spot on the streets outside of them, hoping that a more populated area would be safer. In the worst case scenario, she could always break a window and set off some alarm to get help. Jellal joined her on the ground, and her stomach rumbled. She covered it with her hand, shaking her head with a frown.

Seeing her motion, Jellal sighed. "If you had been willing to listen for a change, perhaps you wouldn't be quite so uncomfortable right now."

"I can handle hunger." She turned away from him, lying down. The ground was hard, and her neck felt awkward, lying down flat without anything underneath her. After a moment, she glanced over at her bag. It was a shame that it was filled with dangerous tools; it would have been nice to at least have something to use as a pillow. Fluffball was too…well, round, to work.

Silence lingered between them. Jellal eventually was lying down as well, on his back and gazing above them. He didn't speak, and after a moment, it seemed as if he was sleeping. Before long, Mavis joined him and the next day began. Yet, this time, Mavis was determined to actually make some sort of progress. "You can do what you want, but I'm going to get a job, I think."

Jellal had paused, staring at her. "Mavis, ideally, this trip will be short. If you are refusing to seek out comforts, I'd say the better plan would be to approach that guild from earlier."

"And risk being recognized?" She knew that she wouldn't be known, but Jellal's ignorance would work in her favor this time. "Sorry, but I thought you said to keep my head low and stay hidden?"

"It isn't any more public than a job would be, Mavis."

She shrugged. "Well, I want to be able to eat. I don't know about you, but I'm rather hungry and I didn't exactly pack for a trip."

She began walking towards town, seeing shops opening up slowly. A shadow fell over her, making her glance up with a frown. Some massive vehicle seemed to be flying across the sky. Likely, it was powered by magic, considering how easy it would be to manage in this world. The sight made her smile, watching as it fled off in the distance.

The plan to get a job, however, was not so easy to execute. She approached the shops, asking if they were looking for some extra hands to assist them. Yet, when she couldn't provide qualifications for working, she was always turned away. They seemed to have some requirement about citizenship or something for working…either way, she didn't fall into the right category to be able to work in any legal position.

That was what made her decide that so long as Jellal wasn't paying attention, she could get by how she wanted to. He'd been busy waiting for her to finish talking to the manager of a store, only being shot down again for the same reason. Yet, she was surrounded by food, fresh farm-grown veggies and fruit, from what she could see. As the man turned around to help another customer, she smirked. Her hand snaked out to the side, snagging an apple and slipping it into her bag of mechanical prototypes and weapons.

Grinning, she began walking off, getting a safe distance away before pulling it out. "Mavis! Did you just—" He broke off, seeing her taking a bite of the apple. She raised her eyebrows at him, while the man pressed a hand to his forehead, looking torn between wanting to shout at her and wanting to turn her in for her theft.

"Well, aren't you a sly little thief." Mavis' eyes widened, hearing a familiar voice from behind her. She spun around, seeing familiar light green hair. A girl with a bland expression gazed at them, her hand on her hip as she observed them. "Mr. Jinx isn't as easy to sneak past as you might think." She tilted her head, glancing at her nails. "He knows you've taken something from him."

"Then why didn't he stop me?"

The girl shrugged, frowning. "Because, children like you simply aren't worth his time."

Since when was Brandish so cruel? Mavis narrowed her eyes, stepping forward. "Excuse me? I'm not a child."

"Oh?" The girl's smile widened, and she stepped forward. "Well, if you aren't a child, then you must be punished. Vistarion doesn't welcome criminals at all."

Before Brandish could come closer, Jellal stepped forward. "Please, forgive her." Brandish crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him. "She aren't from this area, and we've recently found ourselves deprived of our belongings. We were looking for work, so we could purchase supplies and be on our way, but it appears as if we are not able to find any here."

"Well, I suppose there'd be no fun in it anyway." Brandish shook her head, letting her hands fall to her side. "Randi's here, and I'm finally going to get to have fun with my new doll. I'd rather not waste my time dealing with a task that really should be Neinhart's to manage."

It seemed as if Brandish was going to leave with that, yet she paused as she walked down the street. Her gaze turned back towards them, studying her for a moment. "You claimed to want work, didn't you?" Mavis hesitated, before slowly nodding. "Can you lift things?"

"Um…yes?"

Brandish paused, walking back towards her. "And if I asked you to dress up as my pet, what animal would you choose to be?"

Mavis stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"What. Animal. Would. You. Be?"

It was absurd, yet she seemed to take the question so seriously. After a moment, Mavis decided to go with the animal she knew was close to her Brandish's heart. "Um…a cat? It seems like the easiest to manage, all things considered."

"I suppose." Brandish shrugged. "Are you skilled at painting nails? Giving massages and drawing warm baths?"

"Is there a purpose to these questions?" Jellal stared at her, interrupting.

Brandish narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not talking to you. Really, I'm tired of men thinking they can demand answers of me. Go away." She waved her hand at him. Mavis thought it was just a dismissive gesture, however, at that moment he seemed to vanish. She blinked, her eyes widening. This was her chance. However, that was when she saw Brandish bend over, picking something up. Between her fingers was the back of Jellal's shirt, and he had shrunken down to the size of the apple in her hand. "That is much better. Maybe this will teach you to stay quiet while us girls are speaking."

"As much as I agree with you about how irritating he can be, I do still have to admit, I have no idea what this is all about."

Brandish scowled. "Well, my latest assistant seemed to think I was overworking him. He claimed I couldn't do a thing for myself, and that he couldn't stand the job anymore." Her arms crossed over her chest, studying Mavis. "In other words, if you are looking for work, I'm saying I have a position available. I'm planning a shopping trip soon, and I can't make Randi carry all the bags for me. As much as I'd like to make the doll do it, I know his majesty would throw a fit over that too. So, I need an assistant again, one that can at least manage to accomplish something without official training."

"You're looking for someone to carry your shopping bags for you?"

"And to answer accomplish any other task I feel like assigning you, yes." She held out her hand. "So, is that acceptable to you?"

She grinned, and took her hand. Maybe she was different, but working with Brandish was something she'd be happy to do any day. Knowing Brandish, this'd be the easiest job to handle. However, as soon as she pulled away, Brandish seemed to return Jellal to normal. "Considering he is your friend, I suppose I shouldn't punish him too harshly." Mavis was about to correct her when she held out a pair of cat ears. "Put these on. You said you'd be my cat if I wanted you to be, and right now, I want to have an adorable kitten following my every step through town."

What? Before she could reply, Brandish was moving again. As strange as it was, it was a job. So, Mavis placed the ears on her head, and began walking after the girl. After a few moments, Brandish glanced back, seeing Jellal had joined as well. "I suppose he can help too. As irritating as he is, men at least can help accomplish some things, when we are low on labor."

"And what will you be paying us with for our services?"

"Lodging and food, of course." Brandish glanced at them, narrowing her eyes. "Based on those disgusting rags, I'd say you need them. And Grandpa refuses to grant me the pay I deserve, so sadly I can't place people on any sort of payroll, but I do at least have the authority to give you a place to stay."

"I suppose that is acceptable." He glanced over at Mavis, nodding. "We do have some…unique pets with us, as well. Do you think we could find space for them to stay outside?"

"Of course. There's plenty of room. Though, I'll have to ask for you to return for them later. I'd rather not waste more time waiting around for this trip. After all, I have been planning it for nearly a week now." Well, it wasn't as if the Legions were harmful or anything. Plus, they stood out fairly well. Mavis thought they'd be able to find them later. Even if they didn't, she'd just have to get creative to locate Zeref and Zera again, once she had access to magic in this world. When they stayed silent for a moment, Brandish tilted her head. "Did you actually not recognize me?"

Jellal frowned, while Mavis smiled. "You're Brandish, right?" The girl nodded, placing a hand on her hip again.

"Indeed. So, obviously there's no need to worry about space, pets." She didn't quite knew what to feel about this, but it was a place to stay and food to eat. Rather than complaining, she followed after Brandish. It didn't take long for her to realize where they were headed; it seemed as if Brandish in this world was in a place of power, since it looked like they were going to be living in a castle, rather than just some run-down inn. Jellal wouldn't be able to look down at her now for seeking out a job, would he? She grinned, feeling giddy and excited. With a place to stay, she now had plenty of time to research and examine the magic of this world fully. Jellal wouldn't be able to watch her at all times either, not with both of them assisting Brandish. This entire situation was working in her favor, and she couldn't help but feel things would only continue to look up for her in the future.

So, I'm not certain if Brandish is a little OOC here, but I feel like I definitely gave some of her little quirks more of an emphasis than they were given in canon at least. Either way, I hope she wasn't too unbelievable here (I rarely write her in my stories). Either way, to avoid making Mavis and Jellal's time in Vistarion too boring, I've sorta tried to lump together a bit of their struggle with a random lucky event to get the plot moving forward. I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to review and tell me what you think!