xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Shirotsume Town, 7:09 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Within the confines of their room at the Eastern style inn they went to, Bernard sat on a bed mat on the floor, dressed in his beanie, a black T-shirt and brown shorts with Corvus and Vulp next to him alongside Pietro, wearing a white robe with gauze wrapped around the various exposed parts of his body, opposite of him on the floor. At another end of the room was Anatoli, also covered in bandages from his injuries, as he was laying on the floor with a sheet over him, his back facing the group as they all looked down at the ground in front of them with exasperated expressions on their faces.
"Alright..." Bernard said with a twitch in his eye as he looked at the ground with Vulp, Corvus and Pietro all looking at the same thing as him. "...What's your counts?" He questioned.
Reaching downward, Bernard picked up one of the two pieces of brown parchment he received from his mother Alfana earlier that same day. In his hands, Bernard looked at the image of a map of the country of Fiore but what was notable about the parchment was the overwhelming number of red dots placed all over the paper.
"Want to start with yours, or shall I?" Pietro said as held up the other map.
"...I'll go first..." Bernard said with a frustrated tone. "...Four hundred and seventeen." He said as he placed the map back down on the floor.
"That's less than what I got when I counted." Corvus said as Bernard turned towards the crow. "I counted six hundred and thirty-two." He continued as Bernard's eyes widened. "You?" Corvus asked towards Vulp.
Moving his tail into the air, Vulp proceeded to shift it sideways as an indentation was beginning to form within the fox's tail. Looking on, Bernard's eyes widened even further at the sight of the number for five hundred and ninety-eight being made by Vulp.
"...Was that on this one or the other one?" Bernard questioned in shock as he pointed at the map in front of them and then the one in Pietro's hands.
"He's counting for mine... And that's not even close to what I counted..." Pietro said as he placed down his parchment, revealing it to be a map of the continent of Ishgar. "...One thousand, eight hundred and- urgh... Ninety-nine dots." He said while stopping to groan in soreness as Bernard slowly hunched forward with his hands on his face. "Even injured, I'm still able to count that high. I'm almost impressed with myself." Pietro thought.
"...Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmrrrrrrghghghhhh!" Bernard bellowed in frustration into his palms as Pietro folded his arms.
"It is a tad bit excessive..." Pietro said as he looked at the map of Fiore and the map of Ishgar.
"You're sure your mom isn't on something, kid?" Corvus questioned as Bernard turned to look at the Celestial Spirits.
"At this point, I'd believe it if she was." Bernard thought before grabbing both of the maps. "This is such a steaming load of crap... All I asked for was some indication of what to look for in regard to the creatures I need for my animal show project! How does this solve anything?!" He exclaimed in annoyance as he held them both towards Pietro with the images flashing in front of him.
"Based on Alfana, these dots are supposed to represent "encounters" with various monsters and beings you're going to have." Pietro stated.
"Yeah, I get that! What's with this insane number of dots?!" Bernard replied loudly as he jumped to his feet.
"They're all encounters she found." Pietro said plainly, stating the obvious.
"Your mom did the palm read." Corvus said as Bernard turned to look at him and Vulp. "Wasn't this what you wanted?" He continued.
"Yes- I mean, no! I mean... I was expecting a double-digit number and a checklist or something. She gave me a map of the continent with two thousand dots!" Bernard said while dropping the maps on the floor. "Is she seriously telling me I'm going to all these places in the future just to find monsters?!" He thought with bewilderment.
"Correction; she gave you a map that's north of fifteen-hundred encounters on Ishgar and another map that's just here in the high hundreds." Pietro said as he rubbed the back of his bald head.
"Thank you, I needed that incredibly accurate observation..." Bernard replied with sarcasm. "There's five dots listed for Hemlock, one on Cayman Rock, one in Crocus- why the hell would I ever go back there?!" He exclaimed in frustration as he pointed at the dots.
"...Aren't you respected by the royal family for some of your prior actions? Wouldn't it be likely they would call you to their palace?" Pietro questioned. "Though, I am curious about some of these encounter's locations. Some of them are practically on our doorstep." He thought as he examined the maps once more.
"Here's a correction from me; I'm in debt to the royal family because they felt the need to give me too much money that's apparently been spent already on unnecessary renovations and a stupid fortune telling board game, so they'd be calling me there to hang me upside by my ankles and ask for it back with interest!" Bernard said, whining. "Look, there's like two dozen dots in the ocean outside of Fiore! And the other one lists encounters I'm having in other countries!? Why the hell would I go to Iceberg of all places?!" He shouted in his confusion.
"Complaining about it is not going to help. You know that." Pietro stated with a blunt tone as Bernard winced in frustration. "You got something of an idea of where to look towards completing your goal now. Take pride in that fact at least." He said.
"Got your work cut out for you, kid." Corvus said as Vulp nodded with Bernard sitting back down on the floor.
"...How the heck does this make any sense...?" Bernard said aloud to himself as he picked up the maps again. "I thought that weird board game was the strangest thing I was going to deal with today. But this's somehow worse to me!" He thought with aggravation rising within him.
"I have a theory." Pietro said as he caught the beanie sporting wizard's attention. "How many act ideas have you formulated for the animal show?" He asked as Bernard stared at him.
"...Well... A lot... I might have lost count somewhere in my notebook..." Bernard thought as he looked away, thinking about the specifics.
"I've seen the kid's idea book. It's mixed in with act ideas for the other members of the guild." Corvus said. "Thing's a real mess." He continued as Bernard glared at the crow.
"It's not a mess! It's completely legible! I've thought of four or five routines involving creatures with tentacles, broken down by substance they may or may not be made of such as wood, slime or a third option. There's nine to ten involving canine creatures such as Vulp in case I don't want to stress him out and he needs additional support. Seven to twelve acts that involve creatures with wings such as you and Tavio in case of emergency backup if either of you aren't up for it then- bah!" Bernard explained, going on a rant about his ideas in a fast pace until Pietro leaned over slightly and bonked Bernard lightly on the head with a chop.
"Will you slow down?" Pietro said with a serious tone as Bernard clutched at his skull. "You shouldn't be thinking about so many show acts when you don't have the resources to pull them off. You haven't met a single one of these presumed "pets" you're on the lookout for to even know if they'll be as obedient as the ones you've already acquired." He explained, rationalizing the situation.
"I should be thinking ahead towards the future, shouldn't I? That's part of my job... Whole reason I came out here was to simplify it, aside from figuring out what my mom was doing with that money." Bernard said with a defensive tone.
"Be that as it may, it's still too soon. I recommend taking it slowly, heart issues or not, you're young. There's plenty of time. Build this "monster show" project of yours before you play fate with whatever these dozens of dots are concealing." Pietro said with a reasonable voice.
"Take his advice, kid. You'll live longer and we're not looking for another "shot caller" anytime soon." Corvus said as Vulp approached Bernard, rubbing the side of his face against Bernard's shoulder in a comforting manner.
"But why so many?" Bernard thought, still concerned about the quantity of encounters before reaching his hand up and petting the back of Vulp's head, the fox Celestial Spirit wagging his tail in enjoyment.
"There's a high likelihood your mother saw all of these creatures in your future because you might mentally want to search for more until you're completely satisfied... Or in this case, you never became satisfied with the number of monsters and just keep searching for them." Pietro said, surmising the possibility of why the maps have so many dots. "...I'd believe it." He said as Bernard looked at the mustachioed strongman.
"...You can't be serious..." Bernard said, dumbfounded by the logic.
"Are you honestly surprised?" Pietro said. "You know yourself, don't you?" He said as Bernard winced.
"Eh..." Bernard muttered as Corvus and Vulp looked at Bernard. "That's... Not... Maybe a little true..." He thought, not able to figure out a counter to that statement. "...You're..." Bernard said with his mouth hanging open soon after, unable to speak.
"Too many ideas, not enough self-awareness." Corvus said with folded wings and a smirk as Vulp looked at him with a lack of enthusiasm for his comment before stretching his tail outward and smacking the crow directly in the head. "Ow! What was that for!?" He said in anger as he rubbed the side of his beak.
"Thanks for that..." Bernard said towards Vulp as the fox Celestial Spirit went back to rubbing his face against Bernard's shoulder in a display of affection once more. "But there's no real way I can handle all of these..." He said once again in a defensive tone.
"She said they're "encounters," not "captures."' Pietro replied. "Some of them will probably just be you and the creatures you actually trust meeting beasts and possibly defeating them... Like I said, probably not everything you'll find will be sound and logical to reason with." He continued, trying to rationalize the maps.
"...How the hell am I going to find time for this?" Bernard said aloud to himself. "Bad enough I have to run the show, maintain the big top and help everyone with their acts... I need to figure out how to space in training the pets to do performances and find whatever these dots are representing." He continued while mentally trying to fathom what to do.
"That's another fair point, considering your responsibilities." Pietro said as Corvus and Vulp looked at Bernard. "Huh... I'm actually pretty good at this advisory thing. Now it's just a matter of whether or not the boy is going to follow through on what I suggest." He thought.
"Anatoli, want to chime in?" Bernard said as he looked over at the monkey man, facing away from everyone. "...Anatoli?" He asked again upon noticing the lack of response.
"Yo, chimpy." Corvus said as he waddled over towards Anatoli. "You awa- gah!" The crow asked until Bernard cut him off by reaching out and grabbing him by the collar. "What's the big- idea...?" Corvus exclaimed in aggravation before turning to see the serious look in his magical benefactor's eyes.
"Don't bother him right now..." Bernard thought as he looked at the crow Celestial Spirit, Corvus sensing that he shouldn't approach Anatoli.
"Anatoli, are you alright?" Pietro said as he looked over at the young man.
As the others looked on, they were unable to see that Anatoli was wide awake with his back turned towards them, laying on the pillow. Tightly clenching his fists under the bedsheets, the heavily bandaged monkey-like wizard just shut his eyes and ignored their calls.
"...Doesn't seem okay..." Corvus thought as he looked on.
"The loss to Warwick must've really affected him. He was quietly eating dinner earlier and waited to take a bath by himself in the bathhouse without us." Pietro thought as he looked at Anatoli before looking over at Bernard who had a concerned expression after standing up once again.
"Hey-" Bernard said until he noticed Pietro snapped his fingers to catch Bernard's attention.
"He's asleep... Let him rest. He's probably very tired." Pietro said, stopping Bernard from approaching his guildmate. "I know you want to help... But please save it until we're home." He thought as he looked at Bernard, hoping he understood the look in his eyes.
"I... Ye-yeah..." Bernard said slowly. "...I should leave him alone too..." He thought as he looked at Anatoli as Vulp looked at his master's expression.
"We better get some rest as well." Corvus said as he rubbed the back of his head towards Vulp, the pair of Celestial Spirits turning into light particles and disappearing inside of Bernards Lacrima pacemaker.
"Lil' Bern." Pietro said, catching Bernards attention again. "I feel like getting some rest too. Why don't you go check on the other's while you're at it?" He said as he rubbed his belly before twisting onto his backside to get ready for bed.
"Right... I'll go do that." Bernard said as he walked towards the sliding door to the room, glancing once more at Anatoli before leaving.
Walking on the hardwood floor and passing several other guests in the inn, going in and out of rooms, Bernard stopped at a screen door. Taking a deep breath, the pacemaker needing young man gently tapped on the door with his finger.
"Camilla, Marlene, you guys awake?" Bernard said, asking for the girls of their group.
"Bernard?" Camilla said on the other side of the door. "You can come in." She said as Bernard grabbed the sliding door and opened it.
Marlene, still sporting bandages around her head and wearing a white sleeveless nightgown, was laying on her back with her head on the pillow of her bed mat. Sitting up next to her was Camilla, wearing a matching purple tank top and shorts with a patch on her left cheek, her entire right arm from the fingertips to the shoulder being covered in gauze and bandages around her legs.
"Hey." Camilla said plainly towards Bernard as he entered the room.
"Uhhhh... How you both doing?" Bernard said with an awkward tone.
"I'd be better if this whole day never happened..." Camilla replied with a tired voice.
"R-right... Stupid question." Bernard said as he took his beanie off and scratched his head, Marlene now beginning to sit up as the pair took notice.
"I can't sleep, I got psychotic perverted half-pints appearing when I close my eyes..." Marlene said with a bothered tone.
"Give it some time... He'll disappear..." Camilla said, trying to reassure her. "I'm probably not going to sleep well tonight either, come to think of it." She thought as she looked back at her pillow. "Never expected him to get even more dangerous than he already was." Camilla said, referring to Warwick.
"Better question: how did he get that power?" Marlene questioned as Bernard walked forward, sitting down in front of the girls.
"Beats me. Any ideas?" Bernard said with a shrug as he put his beanie back on his head before glancing at Camilla.
"Well, I only know of one other wizard with Devil Slayer Magic, and he works in the Fairy Tail guild. Heard it through the grapevine." Camila said as Bernard noticed the name of the guild.
"Of course, they would pop up..." Bernard thought with exasperation.
"The rumor had it that he got it from defeating an "ice demon" of some kind." Camilla said. "If that's the case, Warwick had to have slain a "glass demon?" Maybe?" She continued, not fully sure of her assumption.
"Had to have been while he was travelling around with my mom all these years." Bernard said. "Nobody stands a chance against him now..." He said further. "As long as he has the guild logo, he's on our side but... Jeez..." Bernard thought, worried about the prospect of a person like Warwick gaining more strength.
"How're the guys taking it? The loss, I mean..." Marlene asked as Bernard looked at the young wizard woman. "We kinda avoided bringing it up at dinner earlier..." She continued.
"Pietro mentioned something about how he needs to put more training in his legwork. He felt he was too slow despite the physical and size advantage." Bernard said. "Anatoli..." He said as the girls looked at him with curiosity.
"What about him?" Camilla questioned.
"...He's not taking it very well..." Bernard said with a concerned tone.
"He really wanted to win and become S-class that badly, huh?" Marlene said as she looked at Camilla.
"I do accept his challenges every now and again, but I always win the fight in the end. It's not like he's not trying but this time... I feel like he was hoping for something else to happen..." Camilla said with a slightly melancholic tone. "Fighting Warwick and fighting me are two different things but now the power gap is so large, he must've been rocked to the core..." She thought.
"Normally he's boisterous and loud, something like a loss wouldn't bring him down so much but after today... I think... Hmmmm..." Bernard thought, thinking about his friend in the other room at the inn.
"I got it pretty bad too..." Marlene said as she looked down at the ground, Bernard and Camilla looking at her in intrigue. "Physical wounds heal but mental ones... Urrghhh..." She said until groaning after placing her hands on her face, prompting Bernard to look at Camilla for an answer for her state.
"He didn't hit her, he said something that made her fall back and conk herself out..." Camilla said with an embarrassed face.
"What did he say?" Bernard questioned.
"...You don't want to know..." Camilla replied. "...In most contexts, a woman should feel jealous or even furious for a friend of theirs having romantic feelings for their significant other... But given that this is Marlene... I'd look like the villain if I did get angry with her..." She thought with exasperation at her friend while thinking of the odd circumstances that surround the trio of wizards in the room.
"My pride as a woman is ruined!" Marlene exclaimed as Bernard and Camilla looked at her.
"Hey, hey. Calm down, it's not that big of a deal." Camilla said with a reassuring tone once more as she placed her hands on the back of Marlene's shoulders. "And now I'm comforting you, childhood friend who admires my boyfriend to the point she started wearing hats to emulate him." She thought with a wry smile on her face.
"It is a big deal! That little troll knows I am single now!" Marlene said with tears welling up in her eyes. "And he's literally in walking distance of this place! Which means..." She said as her fears were beginning to mount.
'"Which means?"' Camilla said as Bernard looked on.
"He might come here in the middle of the night and trying to slink under my bedsheets and touch me inappropriately!" Marlene said as she covered herself and started to violently fidget as Camilla tried to keep her still.
"Whoa! Hey! Settle down!" Camilla shouted.
"I... Genuinely don't know if that's a concern or not... This is Warwick... She's a single woman... Anything's possible..." Bernard thought as he looked at the girls.
"I'll do everything I can to protect you!" Camilla said, trying to calm down Marlene who was now hanging her head in shame. "I can't promise a barrier that will hold all night though in the state I'm in but... The thought counts..." She thought, mentally bothered by her weakened state currently.
"Maybe I should just resign myself to fate..." Marlene said with a depressed tone.
"Please, do not say "fate" again... After today, I don't want to hear any more stuff about that." Bernard said, disgruntled after the day he had. "Encounters... Something about bowel movements and... That other thing... No! No! No!" He thought as he looked at the girls before glancing downward at Marlene and Camilla's chests and exposed legs before realizing what he was doing was incredibly perverse and proceeded to shut his eyes, turning away.
"Hey!" Camilla said, prompting Bernard to look her in the eyes. "I saw that!" She said loudly.
'"S-saw" what?" Bernard questioned. "Crap, did she notice?!" He thought with embarrassment over his action.
"You were just checking us both out in a pervy way, weren't you?" Camilla said as she got on all fours and inched closed to Bernard's face, causing Bernard to look at her and accidently glance down again at her bosom.
"Were you?!" Marlene said with wide eyes and an excited tone. "...Cause if you were, please say "yes." I will actually feel better hearing that..." She thought with a face that was showing more signs of her desperation.
"Gurh!" Bernard muttered as he shifted his eyes back towards Camilla's face as she noticed he did it again, her reaching her bandaged right hand towards Bernard's face and pinching his left cheek. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He muttered in pain. "Okay, I deserve this but ouch!" Bernard mentally complained but accepting his punishment.
"If you want to do that kind of thing, do it when we're behind closed doors at our tent! Not at a random inn with strangers around!" Camilla said with a bothered tone and a blushing face before letting go of Bernard's cheek. "People ogle me all the damn time but I don't mind when it's you." She thought as she looked at her boyfriend.
"Owww..." Bernard groaned as he put his hand where Camilla was pinching him. "That was one half a scolding and the other half a flirt..." He thought, noting the meaning behind her words as she looked at him with annoyance.
"Also, you!" Camilla said with a harsh tone as she turned back towards Marlene who winced in response. "You... Oh, forget it..." She said until sighing and putting a hand on her head. "...I'm too tired to be upset by this." Camilla thought, exhausted.
"We-well, it's not like he saw too much of me... You didn't see my underwear design, right?" Marlene said towards her tired friend before asking Bernard. "I mean, he obviously didn't look no matter how flattered I'd-" She thought until getting cut off by Bernard's answer.
"Blue stripe- purg!" Bernard said until he closed his mouth with both hands upon realizing what he just said, Camilla shifting an angry glare at him and Marlene's face blushing profusely with her mouth hanging open. "Oh, for the love of god, what is wrong with me?! Why did I say that?! Has being around Corvus and Warwick today at the same time affected my sense of morality?!" He thought in shock at his sudden behavior.
After seeing Bernard accidentally admit to looking up her nightgown from the way she was sitting, Marlene put her hands on the hem of her outfit and looked away from the others with a faintly amorous smirk forming on her face, finding personal joy in the acknowledgement of her being physically desirable. Reaching an arm out, Camilla proceeded to put Bernard in a headlock, tightly applying pressure to his neck as Bernard felt the side of her chest against his face, his clearly upset girlfriend making an expression of anger and frustration directed at him.
"Arugh! Sorry! Sorry! Ow! Arugh!" Bernard muttered apologetically as Camilla continue to squeeze his head.
"I change clothes in front of you all the time! You don't need to look at that from other girls!" Camilla exclaimed with a bothered tone.
"Yes... And you're... Pink today... Guh... Ygh..." Bernard said as Camilla adjusted her position from a headlock to a sleeper hold, now kneeling behind the sitting Bernard trying to free himself to no avail with his arms from her hold.
"Oh, so you are glancing at me when I change?! You keep saying you're not when I catch you walking by near the changing curtain, and it pisses me off! You can look at me naked, you know?!" Camilla said as she tilted Bernard's head backwards to make eye contact, still enraged as Marlene looked on.
"...What I wouldn't give to have a relationship like these two..." Marlene thought, slightly jealous at the level of connectivity between Bernard and Camilla. "That reminds me, thank you for that thing you did earlier." She said, catching the couple's attention.
"Huh?" Bernard mumbled as Camilla was still lightly squeezing his head. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He mentally complained as Camilla was still agitated.
"The whole "pretending to be both of our boyfriends" thing to cover for me and Camilla... I really appreciated you doing that for our sake." Marlene said with an earnest tone as Camilla looked at her friend before sighing and letting go of Bernard, the beanie sporting young man slumping backwards and accidentally leaning against her body behind him. "A little over a minute that I'm going to remember a lifetime..." She thought, thinking back.
"Yeah... I guess I owe you for that too." Camilla muttered as Bernard looked upward at his girlfriend as he was leaning against her while rubbing his own neck with his hand. "It did help a little until the fight to keep Warwick from being too "hands-on."' She thought.
"S-sorry for the suddenness of it... I didn't know what to do." Bernard said with a raspy voice. "And I don't even know if it worked after what these two told me about Warwick knowing Marlene is single..." He thought as he glanced at Marlene before sitting back up.
"...That whole charade was amusing but now I'm back to the mental torture..." Marlene commented. "If only that whole thing were true... It might keep him from coming in here if he shows up." She thought with tears welling up in her eyes once more.
"I already told you; I'm going to try my best to keep him out... Rugh..." Camilla said with her arms folded until grunting in pain as she touched a currently sensitive part of her arm, Bernard noticing her reaction.
"You're in no condition to do that." Bernard said with a serious tone. "Heck, what other options do you have?" He asked.
"Acceptance..." Marlene muttered in a despairful tone.
"For your own sake, that's not an option!" Camilla exclaimed as she crawled over to Marlene to comfort her once more.
"If there's a slight chance that he still believes the lie, if he found me in here, he might back off again." Bernard said with a nonchalant tone, saying the first thing that popped in his head.
Suddenly, the room fell quiet as Marlene and Camilla both proceeded to look at Bernard with wide eyes as the pacemaker needing young man took notice. Looking at them with a raised eyebrow, his face started to slowly contort into one of shock as he came to a realization of what he just suggested.
"I... I didn't mean that... I didn't mean that! I was only kidding!" Bernard said while waving his hands in a nervous sounding voice and with an embarrassed blushing face. "What is wrong with me tonight?! Did that board game screw me up completely?!" He thought before jumping up to a standing position as the girls continued to silently stare at him. "I'm-I'm-I'ma get going!" Bernard fearfully muttered as he turned around to head towards the door.
Before he could get far however, Marlene shuffled past the still staring Camilla and lunged to grab Bernard's right wrist, grasping it firmly with both hands to keep him from exiting the room. Turning back to look, Bernard glanced at Marlene with the face of a begger.
"That's a great idea!" Marlene exclaimed loudly as Camilla looked at the both of them. "He's not going to come in if he thinks I'm not single! If we just keep up the lie until we get home to Hemlock, everything will be alright!" She continued as she tightly squeezed Bernard's wrist.
"Hell no! What is wrong with you?! I'm not doing that!" Bernard said as he tried to free his wrist as he noticed a trickle of saliva was coming out of her mouth. "And you're drooling!" He continued as her face was starting to shift from one of desperation to arousal as she stood up to meet Bernard at eye level before grabbing and slightly raising both of his hands with her own.
"It's just one night! It's not like anything will happen!" Marlene exclaimed as Bernard started to back up towards the sliding door, Marlene approaching him slowly and cornering him. "Unless something does happen then it will just be a thing that happens!" She thought as a trickle of blood was starting to come out of her nose.
"You were concussed, weren't you!?" Bernard shouted in frustration as Marlene wiped the saliva and blood from her face. "I can't sleep in the same room as the both of them! I can handle sleeping with Camilla, I've done that with her enough times! But this is just too ridiculous!" He thought with bewilderment as Marlene was dangerously close to his face, Camilla looking on with half-closed eyes.
"...A part of me is extremely bothered by this development... And another part of me just wants some sleep... Which would require him being in this room... So... I have to make a compromise anyway." Camilla thought as she put her hand on her head in annoyance before standing up.
"We used to have sleepovers when we were kids! Just picture it like it was back then!" Marlene said, trying to argue for a reason to have Bernard stay in the room, failing to notice Camilla approaching.
"And that was when we were kids! This is totally different!" Bernard replied in frustration.
'"Guh!"' Bernard and Marlene muttered in unison as the reptilian-like woman felt a hand on her left shoulder and Bernard felt another hand was slammed right next to his head.
With Marlene shifting her head to the side and Bernard moving his eyes in the same direction, the two were caught off-guard by the sight of Camilla with a very tired expression on her face, having placed her right hand on Marlene's left shoulder and slamming her left hand against the screen door with force but not enough to break it, next to Bernard's head. Startled, Marlene let go of Bernards hands, making some distance between herself and the couple as her and Bernard just looked at the S-ranked head of security for Psycho Circus.
"Oh no! I went too far and didn't think too hard about what I was doing!" Marlene thought as she shivered in fear.
"I am so dead! I'm never going to make my animal show now after this!" Bernard thought as Camilla glanced at him before shifting her attention towards Marlene before sighing and then facing her boyfriend again, grabbing him by the collar with her right hand that was originally on Marlene's shoulder. "If you're going to kill me, please mak- mprgh!" He said defensively with his eyes closed until suddenly feeling something press against his mouth.
Opening his eyes again, Bernard was shocked to see Camilla had pulled him into a kiss, her lips overlapping with his as he felt her tongue enter his mouth with his face lighting up. Looking on, Marlene covered her mouth in similar bewilderment as neither the beanie sporting young man, nor the reptilian-like woman expected such an action by the powerful brunette wizard.
"Mwah..." Camilla muttered as she separated herself from Bernard, a trail of spit falling to the floor as she placed the right index finger of her free hand on his lips, preventing him from closing his mouth. "There... Got to go first." She thought as she locked eyes with Bernard, the young man's pacemaker needing heart pounding profusely before Camilla looked at Marlene. "Come over here." Camilla said as Marlene slowly approached.
Removing her finger from atop Bernard's lips and stretching her arm slightly, Camilla grabbed Marlene by her shoulder and pulled her in their direction, causing her to stumble and land against Bernard with her hands on his chest with the two just staring at each other with blushes on their faces. Reaching over, Camilla grabbed Bernard's far arm and forced him to place it around Marlene's lower back before doing the same with his other arm to herself, making everyone in the room now stand in a group hug position.
'"What is happening...?"' Bernard and Marlene thought with confusion overtaking their mental states.
"One night only, we'll all share a bed mat." Camilla said, catching the two bewildered wizards' attention.
"What?!" Bernard replied in shock and embarrassment.
"Really?!" Marlene replied in shock and excitement.
"If there's even a fraction of a chance Warwick shows up, this is honestly the only way we avoid an issue arising." Camilla said with half-closed eyes. "I spent four days with lack of sleep because of your hiking trip, I am not doing even one..." She thought while looking at the still confused Bernard.
'"Avoiding an issue!?" This is a huge issue! Why are you okay with this?!" Bernard exclaimed as he tried to remove his hands from the girls' backsides with Camilla glaring at him and placing her palm on his hand that was on Marlene's back, stopping him.
"It's just one night... Get over yourself. We're all adults here." Camilla said with a stern tone of voice.
"That's where the problem is!" Bernard thought with a twitch in his eye.
"Ca-Camilla..." Marlene said, speaking up as the S-class wizard looked at her.
"Hmmm?" Camilla mumbled in response.
"...Is this a... "Punishment in the med bay" scenario?" Marlene said with an anxious smile on her face and her hands clasped like a beggar. "Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes!" She thought, hoping for a specific answer.
"Oh god, no! Anything but that!" Bernard thought as his face started to turn blue.
"Go nuts..." Camilla said with a nonchalant tone as she laid her head against Bernard's shoulder while closing her eyes. "Just keep it like usual, don't go any further than kissing and the occasional grope..." She continued while opening one eye to see Marlene's joyous expression.
"Deal!" Marlene exclaimed in a happy tone as she reached her hands upward and grabbed Bernard's face. "Forget my worries, I'm taking every second of tonight and locking it away in my memory!" She thought as she opened her mouth, sticking her long forked tongue out.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Bernard muttered in surprise. "Maybe we can talk about this- mrurph!" He said until getting cut off.
Outside the room, small groups of random guests passed by as they were startled upon hearing a loud thud and seeing the door to the room Camilla, Bernard and Marlene were in suddenly shaking, sounds of lip smacking occurring behind it. Meanwhile, at the front desk, a clerk looked on as the front door to the inn had opened up as a familiar small man with a sword on his back had entered.
"Hello and welcome, do you have a reservation?" The clerk asked.
"Nah, don't got one. Any free rooms?" Warwick said with a smirk as he looked back with a small group of women standing behind him, some very attractive while others were remarkably less so. "Tonight's gonna be a good night, hehehe." He thought as the woman looked at him with lustful expressions.
Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh steamy night heat! It's time for the MAAAAAAIIIIIN EEEVEEENNT... Sorry, couldn't help it. Pietro and Bernard examined the maps Alfana gave her son to the big reveal that they're covered from top to bottom in dots she found of encounters Bernard's expected to have, much to his chagrin. With a tired Pietro and a depressed Anatoli, Bernard took a break from dreading over the maps to go see how Camilla and Marlene were doing and now he's in a bit of trouble as the girls fear the possibility of Warwick arriving and now forcing our mentally overworked hero to spend the night sleeping in the same bed as them. The whole situation is now about to get even more troubled as the half-pint swordsman Devil Slayer named Warwick has actually arrived at the same inn, followed by a horde of girls. I can only imagine what's going to happen next... See you next time and HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM US HERE AT MENAGERIE II!
Author's Note: (I felt like discussing this because I know it's probably on the minds of some: the whole triangle dynamic currently involving Bernard, Camilla and Marlene. I'd like to bring up something... You ever notice the extremely large "shipper making admirer pile" that Gray and Natsu have in both canon AND non-canon? I like to research the stuff I write to try and make something authentic to the setting and in doing so, I've seen a lot of Fairy Tail, among other Hiro Mashima works, as of now... And there is a LOT of people in-universe who want Gray or could lead to people thinking something specific involving his romantic connectivity with other characters.
Not counting the obvious one being Juvia and her weird obsession with perceived "love rivals" for Gray, but there's been characters like Mira shipping Gray and Lucy together, one filler episode where Gray acknowledged how attractive Erza was, the end of the Galuna Island arc had the entire villages female demon populace developing an attraction towards him, the Key of the Starry Heavens arc had some serious vibes given between him and Angel/Sorano, Briar from the Avatar cult admitted she was falling for him when he was undercover in the cult, the weird school OVA even had Cana lusting after him after seeing his naked ass with hearts in her eyes, the women in the crowd at the Grand Magic Games thought he was hot, Hakune the snow woman in 100 Year Quest was feeling him up despite being a "man-hater" and that's just the women... A group of homosexual bandits were into him, a male monkey made out with him, Bob from Blue Pegasus in a filler episode claims to have slept in the same bed as him while he was unconscious and even two characters changed sexual orientation because of him, Earth Land Sugar Boy AND Eclipsed Cancer.
As for Natsu... It's not as large but still. Eden Zero's anime borderline confirmed a level of the relationship between Natsu and Lucy a lot have thought about and of course, we can't forget about Lisanna and her old romantic stance on Natsu when they were kids and then there was one of the antagonists in 100 Year Quest, Touka, before she changed her views to focus on Happy when a big reveal about her character happened.
I bring this up for discussion for this reason: it's not that hard to believe Bernard could be in a situation like this with Camilla and Marlene. Camilla is Bernard's girlfriend and Marlene has a deep admiration for Bernard with a semi-known crush and both Bernard and Camilla both genuinely care about her. They're also not teenagers... See you in the New Year :P)