Vanessa Enoteca
I awoke on top of James, his sleeping face was a bit concerning. Instead of a neutral or soft expression, he had a frustrated look on his face. "James, I hope you'll talk to me," I thought as I got up from the bed. I felt something tugging at my hand. I looked down to find his hand holding onto me. It made me smile a bit. "At least he cares for me," I thought with a smile as I got dressed and left my room, making sure to close the door quietly.
"How's your guest doing?" Nacht inquired with a smug smile, just around the corner.
"Why would you want to know?" I shot back.
"Well if he is to be a member of this squad then he should pull his weight. Immediately." I could feel his ire piercing through me.
"Really? He's just gone through some hard to swallow things right now and you want to force him into something he might not be prepared for?" I insisted.
"If it were up to me-"
"Well its not up to you, now is it? You're not the captain, hell, you're not even the Vice-Captain anymore."
"I see. Well best of luck with the deadbeat," Nacht said with a tongue dipped in spite.
I fired a glaring look at him before heading to the kitchen where the clanging of cooking instruments could be heard as Charmy was making breakfast. Finral was eating breakfast with Finesse, Noelle was drinking tea with Grey and Nero, Zora was discussing something secretly with Magna as Luck tried to instigate a fight. Captain Yami was reading the paper as he polished his sword on the couch. I grabbed some toast and eggs and took a seat at Finral's table.
"Vanessa!" both Finral and Finesse said with enthusiasm.
"So Finral has told me that you and your lover arrived back at the base late last night!" Finesse said in a hushed whisper.
"Finesse! We aren't lovers! …Yet." I couldn't resist throwing out something for Finesse to chew on.
"Oh Vanessa!" Finesse said with a gasp, covering her mouth.
"Speaking of your lover, how is he doing? He isnt badly injured, is he?" Finral asked. I saw Captain Yami stiffen up in the corner of my eye.
"No, he's quite alright, a bit shaken up but physically fine. Probably just tired," I replied.
"In what way is he shaken up?" Finesse asked with concern.
chew on.
"Aaaah! I knew it! I told you Finral! She's found her soulmate!" Finesse said with an excited squeal.
"What's next for him?" Finral asked. I heard footsteps coming from the hallway, a gasp from Charmy was all I needed. I swiftly turned to face James who was standing in the doorway with the clothing I had made for him when he first visited the base.
"You must be our new member! Here, eat this!" Charmy offered. Everyone looked away from what they were doing to look at him. He stood there, still as a statue for a few moments. Not speaking, not emoting, just standing. Then he kneeled down and took the plate of spaghetti. I ran over to him as I saw him tear up.
"Thank you so much," he spoke in a quivering voice before turning to me and taking a seat next to Finral. He silently ate his spaghetti, seeming to savor every forkful until the plate was clean.
"The food… it was delicious." He said, wiping his tears from his face.
"Are you ok?" I asked, moving my chair right next to him, I put an arm around his shoulders.
He looked up from his food and smiled at me. "Yea," was all he said.
?
I looked around at these foreign surroundings of mine as I traversed through the thick foliage. Several plants which I had no knowledge of surrounded me, strange animals that loosely resembled ones from my world pursued me. I hid in a small alcove and started to check my ammo when a pair of women surrounded me. The smallest of the two was a women with grey hair and a happy smile. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm just checking my supplies," I replied. The second woman had silver hair. She had a friendly but stern attitude.
"What are you doing out here in the wilds?" she asked. I would have to lie if I wanted to get out of this. I didn't want to tell them I was from another world, because they would either think I'm crazy or some sort of evil invader.
"I was checking my supplies. I'm on a hunt and I've seemed to have gotten lost," I replied.
"Oh! Are you ok?" The one with the short grey hair asked.
"Yea I'm fine. Do either of you happen to know where we are?" I asked.
"We should be near my cabin. I recognize some of the plants around here," the grey haired woman said, offering me her hand. She helped me up as I gathered my things.
"By the way, what's your name?" the second woman, who wore an ornate set of clothing and had her silver hair in a ponytail.
"You can call me Nomad, I don't like giving my name away." she looked at me with suspicion but didn't say anything.
"Well I'm Licita and this is Acier!" Licita said with a smile.
"Its a pleasure to meet you both. Where are we?" I asked.
"Well Nomad, we're in the Clover Kingdom," Acier said.
James Miller
I was sitting in Vanessa's room with Lady Finesse, Finral, and of course Vanessa. "What was it that you wanted to talk about sir Miller?" Finesse asked as she sipped some tea.
"I need to meet with some craftsmen. A metal mage, a wind mage, and an enchanter. My weapon needs ammunition and the bullets I use aren't likely able to be produced here," I explained.
"How do your bullets work?" Finesse asked.
"There's the metal tip of the bullet which is what does the damage, then there's a brass casi by which holds an explosive powder that is ignited by a spark created by the hammer," I explained.
"So there's no magic used?" Finral inquired.
"Yes. But I only have a limited supply of them. Do you happen to have access to any combustible powder of that nature?"
"I'm afraid not, however I do know of a powder that explodes when there's enough magic put into it," Finesse replied.
"Where can I find it?"
"It's not a common material so you'll be hard pressed to find it in a market."
"Shit. Looks like I'll have to go with plan B."
"What's plan B?" Vanessa asked.
"If I couldn't find something to act as gunpowder, then I'd have to find something to replace it. What I was thinking of was a normal bullet using magic as propulsion. In that case I'd have to get my rifle enchanted so that it can fire magic. Or if that's impossible then I'd need a rifle that can store magic power and can release it in a particular shape," I explained.
"You know… I think I know someone who might be able to supply you with a magic crystal that can do that!" Vanessa said with excitement.
"Really?! That's great!" I said, giving her an appreciative hug of excitement. "Where can we find her?"
"That's the thing… she's in the Forest of Witches," Vanessa said with a nervous sigh.
"Aren't men not allowed to enter?" Finesse asked.
"Yes, but luckily I'm the queen's daughter," Vanessa said with nervous laughter.
"So we'll be fine?" I asked, looking over to her.
"Yes, so there's no need to lose sleep over it!" she reassured me. I nodded and walked out of the room, only to see the entire rest of the squad waiting outside my door, minus Nacht and Yami.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing, coming in here and not talking to your new squadmates, huh?!" a young man wearing a black wrap mask over the lower part of his face and with red hair asked.
"Let's fight!" a short blond haired boy asked as electricity enveloped him.
"I'm glad you're ok, if you ever need to talk you can always come to me," a man in mime makeup whispered.
"H-h-hello, I'm G-g-grey," a timid girl said as she hid her face behind her hands.
"Don't be an idiot and get yourself killed," a young girl with short black hair and red eyes and two small, black horns.
"Don't go after my sister or Grey if you value your life," a man with long purple hair threatened.
"You and I should train together, dude!" a man in punk-like shades said.
"You should try more of my cooking, ~la," a short woman said.
"I… hope… we'll… be… good… friends," a man with hair that reached to his heels said.
"Just don't get yourself hurt, ok?" Noelle said with a huff.
I just laughed. It was refreshing to see so many people talking to me at once. Everyone just stared at me, but I didn't care. It was nice, it felt as if all the weight that was on my shoulders just slipped off. I could see in the corner of my eye, Vanessa smiling.
I spread my arms out and took them all into a big group hug. "Thank you all!" I said with a smile.
"Alright! I'll be coming to talk with you later!" the masked red-head said with a glare.
"Got it!" I replied. "I'm going to do some maintenance," I said, pulling out my rifle. Everyone watched as I disassembled my firearm I cleaned the bolt and barrel, making sure to inspect my weapons. I finished a few minutes later, the rest of the squad leaving to do their own tasks. Vanessa led me outside to her broom.
"Hey James," Vanessa said, leaning against me, resting her head on me. "Let's head to the Forest of Witches," she said as we got aboard the broom.
