The Kingdom of Fiore, a country on the continent of Ishgar, home to nearly seventeen million people and in a world filled with magic. Within this kingdom are the guilds, organizations held together by a common trade for men and women of various ages to work towards making their goals a reality, with the most prominent being the wizard guilds.
Using their magic to meet the requests given to them by those who need assistance, the wizards of Fiore are known far and wide for their various exploits such as the Sabertooth guild, the Lamia Scale guild or the controversial Fairy Tail guild. But our story doesn't focus on them or their members, our story focuses on a lesser-known guild of magical entertainers and the young man who helps them perform their acts of wowing audiences using their abilities. This guild goes by the name of Psycho Circus and our story begins a mere month after a myriad of new members had just joined... And four days after a certain young man said, "I'll be back in a day."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hemlock, 8:06 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The town of Hemlock, a small business village filled with shops of various types, set besides a large mountain range known as Caymen Rock and a river coursing through it known as Nereid Lake. With the various brick buildings strung about the town, the most notable structure within it is a massive building in the shape of a green and purple circus tent with four similar towers attached to it with a symbol of a smiling jesters face on the primary front tent.
In front of the building was a stone path leading into the town with an overhead gate that read "Psycho Circus" in bold letters. Nearby from the massive guildhall for Psycho Circus, in-between the woodland trees, was a decently sized red and yellow tent that was next to a large object with four wheels under a tarp and a mailbox that had the names, "Camilla and Bernard," on it.
Inside the tent, the inside being bigger than what it appeared on the outside, was a large white walled living space with a kitchen, dinner table, a dresser for clothing, a bathroom and a large bed in the center of the room. On the bed was an attractive young woman with long brown hair, dressed in a green tank top and black shorts that exposed much of her legs. Drool coming out of her mouth and her hair messy, the young woman scrambled around the bed, struggling to sleep as the blanket barely covered her body.
"Bluiggghh..." The young woman mumbled in her sleep as she continued to twist and turn before she begun to open her eyes. "Haaaa..." She yawned as she looked at the drool on her pillow as she wiped one of her eyes. "Ugh... Another day of rough sleep... Dang it, Camilla..." The young woman named Camilla thought as she got up from the bed.
Walking away from the bed, Camilla went behind a changing curtain as she undressed and readied herself for the day ahead. Fixing her hair as she walked out from behind the curtain, now sporting a red tank top with blue shorts, a grey coat tied around her waist by the sleeves and a pair of brown boots, she started to do some stretching.
"Okay, okay..." Camilla said to herself as she walked around the tent house before bending forward and proceeding to do a handstand. "One... Two..." She counted as she proceeded to do handstand pushups. "Gotta make this quick... Before the crazy four eyes makes too much noise." Camilla thought as she proceeded to get some minor exercise.
After several minutes and several dozen handstand pushups, Camilla shifted back to an upright position and walked over to the front door, exiting the tent house. Rubbing her shoulders, Camilla went through the giant front doors of the guildhall tent as she looked around.
A massive indoor space filled with small tables and stools, a large bar adorned with many drinks and a pair of stairs leading to upstairs hallways with multiple rooms. While normally quiet in the morning, Camilla looked on with slowly rising annoyance at the peculiar sight of a young woman with short black hair, a white cowgirl hat, glasses, a green top, pink miniskirt, white sandals, a white lab coat-like jacket and screaming into a megaphone.
"Double time!" The glasses wearing woman said into the megaphone loudly. "Keep it up! Don't stop even to breathe!" She continued to shout.
In front of her was a myriad of man-sized plush dolls in the shape of stuffed cats with buttons for eyes, using their nub-like hands to hold cleaning supplies like brooms and cloths to sweep the floor and to wipe down the tables, respectively.
"All the tables better be clean! And the floors need to be free of dust! Even the slightest speck will be seen by "you-know-who" and when he comes in, he's gonna slam a plate over your heads and then sic a beastie on you! A failure on your parts reflects poorly on me as the second in command so don't dillydally!" The glasses wearing woman said in a chipper tone as the cat plush men proceeded to start working faster and more frantically.
"...Daphne..." Camilla thought with frustration as she approached the glasses wearing girl named Daphne from behind as her hand started to glow a bright yellow.
"I see you slacking off back there! And that's not allowed, or else the boss man is gon- baaahh!" Daphne continued to bark at the plush men until she suddenly felt pain in her lower back as Camilla stood behind her, her hand in a fist covered in a round yellow orb. "What in the- ah! Oh hey, boss lady!" She said whilst clutching her back as she looked up to see the tired expression of Camilla.
"What did we tell you about treating the staff badly? And claiming you're in charge of anything besides following a certain someone's requests?" Camilla asked as Daphne tried to get back to her feet.
"Ow... Well, at least you didn't punch me any harder than the last time... Ow..." Daphne said whilst clutching her back.
"Ahem..." Camilla coughed to grab the attention of the glasses wearing woman in the cowgirl hat. "What did we say?" She asked once more.
"I wasn't threatening them!" Daphne said in her defense. "I was encouraging them to work harder with negative reinforcement. Plus, as his personal assistant, I should be the one in charge of the day-to-day stuff when he's not around." She said with a smile, sure of herself.
"And by telling them that "you-know-who" is gonna beat them up with one of his pets, it's going to make them work better?" Camilla said with her arms folded. "You have no authority. You have no control. The only thing you know how to do is get under everyone's skin." She thought with annoyance.
"They don't want to disappoint him. Ain't that right?" Daphne said as she walked over to a blue cat plush man who was wiping a table and smacked it on the head lightly with her hand as Camilla sighed as she looked at the cat plush man, who stopped to look over as well.
"He also said that these plush cat things of yours are to be given fifteen-minute breaks every few hours because it's not good if they get tired while working." Camilla said towards the plush men who looked at Camilla with bright expressions forming on their faces before she turned towards Daphne once more, squinting at her. "Don't even know if these things can breathe or sleep but he said they have to be treated like members..." She thought.
"Well yeah he did say that... But I considered having them working harder with only five-minute breaks every couple of days would be more efficient for the guild upkeep!" Daphne said in response as Camilla shook her head as the happiness from the cat plush men proceeded to fade into sullenness.
"...I'm telling "you-know-who" when he gets back." Camilla said as she walked towards the bar. "Whenever that will be..." She thought with frustration at a certain someone's lack of presence.
"Hehe... He..." Daphne laughed as sweat begun to form on her face. "You... You aren't really, are you?" She said with worry.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Psycho Circus guild, 11:34 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As Camilla was wiping down glasses, standing next to her was an overweight woman with curly dark brown hair and sporting a white and pink striped dress with a black belt around the center and a massively large beard on her face that was moving on its own in the shape of a pair of arms. Holding a glass and shaker between the hands made of hair, the woman was making a drink, vigorously shaking the glass and shaker.
"You want to give it a good shake for a solid few seconds Harriet." Camilla said towards the bearded woman.
"Five, four, three, two, one!" Harriet said as she stopped shaking the drink and proceeded to pour it into a cocktail. "And the finishing touch!" She said as another hand made of her beard hair formed and stretched behind her, opening up a jar of cherries and taking one out to place into the cocktail glass. "Perfect?" Harriet asked towards Camilla.
"Good work." Camilla said as she pushed the drink over to the man in front of the pair.
Sitting at the bar was another large individual, a bald male with a handlebar moustache wearing a simple outfit of a pair of dark slacks with suspenders over a dark blue button up with a black tweed suit jacket over it. Examining the drink before him, he proceeded to look at the drink mixture inside as Camilla and Harriet looked on with expectation.
"Hmmmm..." The bald man muttered before taking a sip. "...Sufficiently done." He said while looking at Camilla, who sighed in relief.
"Bout time! This was the fourth attempt!" Harriet exclaimed with a frustrated expression forming on her face as her bearded hair arms folded. "Seriously, Pietro. Cut your sister some slack!" She said towards the bald man.
"Cocktails are an artform that I hold a deep respect for and will not be served poorly done mixtures. Family or not, I will not budge on that stance." Pietro said with a serious expression in his eyes.
"Least I didn't have to make the stupid cocktails this time..." Camilla thought while looking out at the busy guildhall.
The inside of the Psycho Circus guildhall, a two-story tent that appeared way more structured like a building internally was packed with a variety of unique individuals that comprised the members of the wizarding guild. Men and women dressed like clowns and acrobats, sitting around the various white tables or casually chatting while leaning against the walls as the cat plush men who acted like custodians passed by to clean up, all sporting the signature guild logo for Psycho Circus: a smiling clown face with a peace symbol hand. In one area of the room stood the request board, a signpost lightly covered in flyers of jobs for the members of the guild to make money by using their magic as a small crowd of Psycho Circus' members were looking around on it.
"A measly twenty thousand Jewels to take care of someone's ferret?" A male acrobat member of the guild said while looking at a specific flyer.
"You want to tell the "Clown Prince" about that one, sounds up his alley." A female clown member said behind the male acrobat.
"Eh, it's easy money. Doubt he needs a ferret around him with that fox and crow of his." The male acrobat member said as he took the flyer.
"Haven't seen him in a hot minute... When he comes back, don't mention I haven't been practicing my show routine, I don't want to make him mad." The female clown member said towards the male acrobat as they walked away from the small crowd looking for work.
"...It's still a good week before the next "Ultimate Carnival" show and people aren't practicing because you're not here..." Camilla thought, overhearing the conversation near the request board as she shook her head in frustration before glancing upward to the upper left side walkway.
Sitting on a big and round grey ball with a pair of yellow eyes on it was a young man with lightly tan skin and not wearing a shirt. With a well-toned body that had a sixpack of abs, he wore a pair of baggy white pants that were tucked into black ankle cuffs with bare feet, a pair of black arm guards that covered his wrists and forearms and a yellow bandanna around his neck. With a face similar to that of a chimp with his red and yellow spikey hair and sideburns, he had an aggravated expression on his face.
"We need to talk..." The chimp-like man said to two individuals.
In front of him was a man with extremely long black hair that was reaching down to the floor covered in white and black body paint and make up, wearing only blue pants, black shoes and holding a red axe guitar. The other one was an immensely obese man with a black mullet and pale skin with a cape and black trunks with matching boots. All three with one thing in common, other than their guild logos; none of them were wearing shirts.
"What do you want, Anatoli?" The makeup wearing man said with a disgruntled expression.
"You got any snacks?" The obese man asked as the two other shirtless men looked at him with disbelief.
"No! And what I wanted to say was that you guys need to start wearing tops!" The chimp-like man named Anatoli said towards his fellow guildmembers.
"I do wear shirts! But this is how I look when I perform!" The makeup wearing man retorted.
"I don't care Vidaldus!" Anatoli said as he jumped off his ball and approached Vidaldus. "It's mentally screwing me up that there's so many shirtless dudes in this guild now! We were perfectly fine with just me and I have a condition! What's your excuse!?" He said, getting in Vidaldus' face while pointing at the obese man.
"Look, if you have a problem with what I'm wearing, we can take this outside!" Vidaldus exclaimed angrily. "Kain, you want in on this?" He asked towards the obese man.
"I'm not allowed to fight at the moment..." Kain said with a solemn expression forming as the other two shirtless men looked at him with confusion.
"Why not?" Anatoli asked as Kain turned towards the bottom floor of the guildhall and looked at a small boy sitting at a table dressed in clown makeup and wearing a black and yellow striped hat, a blue coat with black spots, black pants, curved shoes and holding a white voodoo doll-like toy.
"...Because as long as Abel has my Mr. Cursey doll and a piece of my hair, I can't do anything!" Kain said with a depressed expression as he fell to his knees. "Just because Mr. "Clown Prince" has us involved in the shows clown display, I've done incredibly dangerous stunts and Abel forces me to do them because he has that thing that controls my body!" He said with tears forming in his eyes.
"Oh..." Vidaldus said as he and Anatoli walked over to the upset Kain, the pair putting a hand on each of Kain's shoulders.
"You could just ask "you-know-who" to tone down the mind control." Anatoli suggested.
"He's said it to Abel six or seven times!" Kain complained loudly.
"Could you guys tone it down up there?" Camilla shouted from behind the bar as the three shirtless men looked down at her. "We don't need any more shouting in the guildhall." She continued as the three men made embarrassed expressions as the other guildmembers looked at them.
'"Sorry."' The collective of Anatoli, Vidaldus and Kain said in response.
"This is your final warning!" A new voice chimed in as the shirtless trio looked over at the opposite second floor walkway.
Standing across from them was a man that looked like a white chicken with a red comb and neck waddle, dressed in a yellow apron-like shirt and dark pants with the Psycho Circus guild logo on his neck. Standing next to him was a young girl with yellow star-like eyes and a red bob cut with a cat ears headband and wearing a tight black long sleeve dress with long black socks and shoes.
"You mess around in the guildhall; the security team is going wreck you like last time!" The chicken man exclaimed as Anatoli rolled his eyes.
"In other words, you kick the chicken's butt and I make everyone poop themselves, hehehe." The star-eyed girl with the cat headband said with a smirk as the chicken man turned towards her with a disapproving expression.
"The hell are you talking about Kawazu?!" Anatoli screamed while pointing at the chicken man. "You barely do anything around here but lay eggs!" He screamed as Kawazu blushed with embarrassment.
"For four thousandth time, I don't crap out the eggs for my Egg Magic!" Kawazu replied in anger.
"Pffff." The star-eyed girl sputtered in laughter.
"Oh, come on Mary!" Kawazu said towards the girl next to him. "You're on the security team with me and Camilla, don't mock your teammate!" He shouted.
"Ugh, don't like, shout in my ear, you fried hen!" Mary complained as she stepped back from Kawazu as Camilla put her hand over her face.
"...I didn't need help in the "security" aspect of running this place, why did you leave me in charge of those two...?" Camilla thought, mentally grumbling as she was bothered by a certain person's decision to give her people to look after as Anatoli jumped back on top of his ball.
As his body glowed with a slight aura, a purple magic circle appeared beneath the ball as it began to float into the air with Anatoli riding on it. Zipping past Vidaldus and Kain, Anatoli was now floating high above the guildhall floor, approaching Kawazu on the other side of the room.
"If you're looking for a fight, I'd be happy to oblige!" Anatoli said with a confrontational smirk on his face.
"Looks like I need to show you why I am a part of the security team for Psycho Circus!" Kawazu retorted as the shirtless monkey-like man and the white chicken-like man started to angrily press their faces against one another.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" Mary said, hoping to start a fight.
'"Battle! Battle! Battle!"' The clowns and acrobats of Psycho Circus chanted as Kawazu and Anatoli started to glow from their magic building up.
Suddenly, however, the chanting stopped, and the two animalistic men proceeded to widen their eyes as they heard the sound of glass breaking, prompting everyone to turn their heads in the direction of the bar. With her hand covered in a layer of yellow energy, the guild members shuttered with nervousness at the sight of Camilla's angry expression as they noticed she had just crushed a glass in her hand before shifting her attention upward towards Kawazu and Anatoli near the second floor.
"...If you guys want to fight so bad... Want to take it outside against me? I could use the wakeup call..." Camilla said with a twitch in her eye and an extremely threatening smile on her face.
"Uh?! Um, he-hey!" Anatoli muttered in fear as he quickly threw his arm around Kawazu's shoulders. "So, buddy!? Ho-how's it hanging?!" He said with a stutter as Kawazu started to sweat.
"Ye-yeah! We-we should just talk out our problems! No need to get violent! Am I right?!" Kawazu exclaimed as he stretched his arm around Anatoli's shoulders, acting like close friends. "We certainly don't want to give Marlene in the infirmary too much work, yeah?!" He continued as Anatoli nodded.
"Awwww... I was hoping to see some dumb animals fighting." Mary whined as Anatoli and Kawazu glared at her, some of the guildmembers snickering in response with laughter.
"You alright?" Harriet said towards Camilla as she used her magical beard hair to pick up the shards of glass from atop the bar.
"Not really... I haven't had a good night's sleep in days..." Camilla muttered as she took his right hand and proceeded to rub her eyes with her fingers. "That's the last time I let him talk me into letting him go hiking up Cayman Rock by himself." She thought as Harriet dumped the glass into a nearby garbage can.
"Speaking of "animals," where is the "Clown Prince?"' Harriet asked with her beard turning into two hairy hands and making air quotes.
"Been a few days since the boy's been in the guildhall." Pietro said.
"If he doesn't arrive in the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to break his nose... Again..." Camilla thought, not bothering to answer from how sleepy she actually was.
"If you wanna take a nap, I can handle the bar duty. Go force that one girl with the glasses and cowgirl hat to waitress." Harriet said as she looked out at the rest of the guildhall to look for Daphne. "Where is she right now?" She asked.
"My guess is the infirmary helping Marlene do an inventory count." Camilla replied as she took out a cloth and started to clean one of the drink glasses. "One of you mind grabbing her by the back of her lab coat and dragging her down here to do some work?" She requested as Pietro finished his drink.
"I'm free, I don't mind." Pietro said as he stood up and walked away from the bar, heading for the stairs to the second floor.
"Thanks." Camilla said as Anatoli floated on his ball to the center of the guildhall, still several feet above the ground.
"Oh, can I come? If she starts fighting back, I can help by punching her!" Anatoli exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles at the thought of hitting Daphne.
"I don't think "you-know-who" would be too fond of you beating up his personal assistant." Pietro commented as he looked up at Anatoli.
"I want her to apologize for calling me a "monkey man!"' Anatoli shouted angrily. "Just because I eat bananas for breakfast, and I am skilled at balancing does not make me a primate!" He continued as he looked down at Pietro.
"...Swan ever say yes when he asked her out?" Harriet whispered towards Camilla with a smirk on her face.
"Nope." Camilla replied while still cleaning the glass.
"All I'm saying is that we have to avoid making a mess, aggravating a certain young man's heart is- hmmm?" Pietro said towards Anatoli until he suddenly heard a noise.
"What was that?" Anatoli said, also hearing a sound coming from above the big top as everyone looked upward.
Suddenly, a hole opened up in the top of the tent of the guildhall as everyone's eyes widened as what appeared to be a young male was falling towards the ground. Startled, Anatoli put his arms up in a frantic manner to catch the person careening straight towards him, but the excess weight of the pair caused Anatoli to slide off the top of his ball.
"Waaah!" Anatoli screamed as him and the person that hit him fell towards the floor as Pietro outstretched his arms to catch them both.
Managing to catch Anatoli and the other person that fell through the big top without them hitting the floor, Anatoli's yellow eyed grey ball also fell towards the ground immediately after.
"What the heck?!" Camilla exclaimed as everyone looked down towards Pietro, holding the two males over his shoulders.
"Ow! Ugh!" Anatoli grunted as he was laying across Pietro's left shoulder.
"You alright?" Pietro said towards the shirtless wizard as Camilla and Harriet quickly rushed out from behind the bar.
"No, I'm not! Some douchebag just landed on- huh?!" Anatoli exclaimed as he turned his head and recognized the person who fell on him that was on Pietro's shoulder.
"What on- ahh!" Camilla said as she approached until also spotting the familiar person on Pietro's shoulder, causing everyone currently in the guild to look in shock.
A familiar young man with shaggy, ashen hair and a relatively average physical build. Dressed in a white shirt with drawstrings around the collar, a dark orange jacket with a black hood, dark green pants, black and white shoes and a black beanie on his head with a familiar smiling clown logo on it that had four circular pins attached to the right corner of it. The beanie sporting man, who was incredibly recognizable to the members of Psycho Circus, was practically lifeless on the large mustachioed man's shoulder.
'"Bernard?!"' The members of the guild exclaimed in surprise as Anatoli quickly got to his feet.
"How'd he come through the ceiling like that?!" Harriet shouted as Pietro quickly shifted the unconscious young man into carrying him in his arms.
"Infirmary! Quickly!" Pietro said as he quickly ran towards the stairs.
"Move it! Move it!" Camilla said as the acrobats and clowns moved out of the way as they went upstairs.
Rushing through the hall, the majority of the guildmembers followed behind Pietro and Camilla as they reached the infirmary. Quickly opening the door, Daphne and a young woman with long, wavy turquoise hair and sporting a yellow long and loose sleeved shirt, a black miniskirt, black boots and a black cap on her head with scaley skin, fangs sticking out of her mouth and with black sclera and yellow swirl pupils in her eyes, turned towards the people entering room.
"Yo! "Scale-face!"' Anatoli screamed.
"Marlene! Emergency!" Camilla shouted as the lizard-like woman.
"Whoa! What's going- Bernard?!" Marlene said until she noticed a friend of hers being carried in the bald and mustachioed man's arms.
"The boss man?!" Daphne exclaimed in similar surprise.
"Here!" Marlene said as she motioned for Pietro to place Bernard on one of the single person beds in the infirmary.
Placing the unconscious Bernard in a seated position, Marlene proceeded to remove his orange and black jacket and placed it on another bed next to the one he was on before laying him flat on the bed with his head on the pillow. Lifting up his left hand slightly, Marlene proceeded to place two fingers on his wrist to check his pulse.
"How's Bernie doing?" Anatoli asked as he, Pietro, Camilla, Vidaldus, Kawazu, Mary, Kain, Daphne and the various other members of the guild were circling around the bed.
"His heart rate is normal... Let me see." Marlene said as she lowered Bernards hand and proceeded to lift up Bernards shirt slightly.
Moving it up past his chest, the members of the guild looked down towards the area around where his heart was and stared at a particular protrusion. Glowing brightly was a round white gemstone sticking out of his body as Marlene examined it with her eyes.
"His Lacrima pacemaker seems to be alright... The magical energy it's giving off seems to be the same as usual. I even see some of that one weird thing of his sloshing around in there." Marlene said as she rubbed her chin, some of the members being relieved to hear that.
"That's the pacemaker the boss man has?" Daphne questioned as she looked at it. "This's the first time I've seen it, I've only heard about it through convos around the guild... I can practically feel the magic radiating off that Lacrima... It's generating so much power. Oh, my goodness! That much energy could fuel so many of my projects!" She thought as she stared at the pacemaker as she stretched her hand towards it.
Before she could touch it, however, Camilla reached her right hand forward and clutched at Daphne's wrist as the glasses wearing woman shifted her nervous expression towards the intense glare the head of security for Psycho Circus was giving her.
"Don't even think about it..." Camilla thought with hostility as she looked at Daphne who proceeded to pull her hand away from Bernards pacemaker.
"What happened to him?" Marlene questioned towards everyone.
"He suddenly came crashing through the roof." Anatoli replied while shrugging.
"How'd that happen? I thought he went hiking or something?" Marlene said towards Camilla.
"A hike that took four days that he said would only be for a single day..." Camilla thought as she put her hand on her head, annoyed.
"Only way to find out how is to wake him up." Mary said as she approached the bed. "I'll use my Virus Magic to stimulate his bowels and then he'll wake up to poop!" She said while putting her index and middle fingers of her left hand near her forehead.
"No!" Camilla exclaimed as she grabbed Mary by the wrist and pulled her left hand down.
"Oh! I'll play a heavy tune! That outta wake the guy up!" Vidaldus said as he pulled out his red axe guitar, ready to play it as he started to tune it.
"Not that either!" Camilla shouted towards the guitarist. "Look, everyone out! I think it's best that Bernard just gets some rest." She suggested as she pointed towards the door.
"Well, you heard the head of security. Move it." Kawazu said, putting his hand on two of the clown members of the guild, motioning them towards the exit. "And you help too, poop girl!" He exclaimed towards Mary as she formed a mischievous smirk before helping Kawazu escort the guildmembers out of the infirmary as Pietro, Marlene, Anatoli and Daphne approached Camilla.
"You know, the other day, I actually said to myself how funny it would be if someone fell through the roof of the guildhall. But I wasn't expecting Bernie to do it." Anatoli commented while scratching his face.
"That wasn't a good foreshadow..." Marlene said in response to Anatoli's random premonition.
"I should probably pass what happened along to the guild master." Pietro said as he caught everyone's attention before turning to look at the unconscious young man nearby. "Though granted, I don't think I should until he wakes up." He continued with a slightly worried look in his eyes.
"Let me just double check his pulse and see if he's feverish while I'm at it." Marlene said as she walked back over to where Bernard was, placing two of her index fingers on his neck before putting the same hand on his forehead and then her free hand on her own. "He's not too warm and his heartrate appears to be normal." She said with a relieved tone to the other Psycho Circus guildmembers before Daphne walked over.
"Hmmmm..." Daphne muttered as she rubbed her chin as she examined his body.
"Something wrong?" Pietro asked as Camilla folded her arms.
"Just looking at- ahh! There they are." Daphne said as she looked downward at Bernards waist and noticed something dangling from the belt of his pants.
Reaching forward, Daphne removed what appeared to be a keychain that had three small dolls hanging off it that looked like a trio of her cat plush men, one green, one blue and one orange wearing a purple button up shirt.
"You boys probably got some information worth sharing with everyone so I'ma head on out and let you all go about yawls business while I take care of things. Yes, yes, yes." Daphne said with a smug tone and an adjustment of her glasses.
"Shouldn't you leave those with him?" Marlene said with squinted eyes at Daphne.
"These little guys probably know what happened to the boss man." Daphne said with a greedy smile on her face. "Once I'm done getting the deets from you three, the boss man is going to add your time away with him to his bill for all my hard work, hehehe." She continued as she walked out of the room, leaving everyone disgusted with her behavior.
"I think out of any of the new members, I don't like her the most..." Anatoli commented.
'"Agreed..."' Camilla, Pietro and Marlene said in unison before Anatoli looked over at Bernard.
"So, any ideas?" Anatoli said.
"For what? How to wake him up?" Camilla replied with a confused tone.
"Hmmmmm..." Pietro said as he rubbed his chin before walking forward. "I have an idea that could wake him up." He said as he walked over to where Bernard was.
"What?" Camilla said with a raised eyebrow as Pietro bent forward slightly, looming over Bernard.
"Lil' Bern, you better wake up because Camilla and Marlene are planning to remove your clothes." Pietro said loudly as Anatoli's eyes widened while Camilla and Marlenes jaws dropped.
'"Huh?!"' Camilla and Marlene exclaimed in shock from what Pietro just said.
"Pfffft! Whahahaha!" Anatoli laughed.
"What are you saying Pietro?!" Marlene said with a red face of embarrassment.
"We're not going to do that!" Camilla said with a bothered expression and a blush.
"Sounds like something you two would do. Wasn't the story that you both stuck your tongues in his mouth the first day the guildhall got updated?" Anatoli said with a smirk on his face as a chill ran up both of the girls' spines.
"They did. I wanted to talk to the boy, but I was forced to wait until they finished a "fantasy" they both had." Pietro said while still looking at Bernard to see if there was any reaction.
"Th-that was... Ummm..." Marlene replied, unable to give a straightforward answer as she put both hands on her facial cheeks in a sheepish manner. "...It was just a couple of permitted smooches... And one of many "fantasies" I've had if I'm being honest with myself..." She thought with unease.
"It-it was a very specific scenario that had one thing leading to another, and things happened! Alright!? It wasn't as complicated as what you may have heard!" Camilla said defensively. "It was just to get him to calm down, nothing more!... And he still refused to kiss me of his own accord, the only idea I could think of was having Marlene join in on it..." She thought with awkwardness as both her and the reptilian-like girl both started fidgeting.
"Sounds like the cat and the lizard want to be in Bernie's pet show! Haha- ugh!" Anatoli said in a joking tone until Camilla proceeded to conjure a barrier orb around her fist and punched Anatoli in the chest to punish him for his rude behavior.
"Shut your hole!" Camilla screamed in anger as Anatoli fell to the floor, clutching at where he was struck.
"Be quiet!" Marlene said as she raised her leg and kicked Anatoli in the spot he was protecting.
"Could all of you knock it off, we don't need another member of the guild in an infirmary bed." Pietro said as he turned around to look at the trio of younger wizards.
"So-sorry." Marlene said as she backed away from Anatoli with Camilla doing the same.
"Ow..." Anatoli grunted while rubbing his stomach as Camilla looked at Marlene with half-closed eyes.
"...Ju-just so you know, I wouldn't strip Bernard of his clothes without permission from you! Obviously, the context would be one hundred percent medically related! He's your boyfriend, not mine after all!" Marlene said with a defensive tone as she quickly waved both her hands.
"Look, forget it. It's a moot point unless it actually happens..." Camilla said, quickly dismissing the conversation while putting a hand on her forehead.
"Ri-right..." Marlene said while putting her hands together and started twiddling her thumbs.
"He's completely out." Pietro said as everyone turned their attention back towards him. "Based on Marlene's prognosis, best we can do now is just wait for him to wake up, unless anyone has any other ideas." He continued.
"A part of me wants to use this opportunity to get some rest by joining him in the bed but I can't do that with everyone here..." Camilla thought while scratching her face.
"...Bit of a longshot..." Anatoli said, everyone turning to look at him. "But I might have one." He said as he walked over to where Pietro was as the rotund man walked over to the bed next to the one Bernard was on and sat down on it with the two girls watching.
"What are you going to do?" Camilla questioned.
"You're not going to draw on his face and see if he feels the marker, are you?" Marlene said with a bothered look on her face.
"Do you see one in my hands?!" Anatoli exclaimed loudly as he showed his open palms to everyone. "Just watch. Oh, and Camilla, come here." He said as he motioned for Camilla to come with his finger.
Raising an eyebrow, Camilla walked forward and stood directly next to Anatoli, both in front of the unconscious Bernard on the bed. While taking a moment to clear his throat, Anatoli formed a smile on his face as he opened his mouth.
"Douchebag!" Anatoli shouted very loudly before quickly moving himself behind Camilla and putting his hands on her upper arms, standing behind her like he was using her as a human shield.
Almost like flipping a switch, Bernard's eyes quickly opened, and rage formed within him as he rushed himself to a seated position and formed a fist with his right hand.
"Don't call me that!" Bernard screamed in frustration as he threw his arm for a punch in the direction of Anatoli and Camilla.
"Wah!?" Camilla muttered in surprise as she reflexively activated her Barrier Magic around her body, covering herself in a layer of energy to protect herself as Bernards punch landed against her right breast.
With his fist connecting against the Barrier Magic layer on his girlfriend's body, a very painful jolt surged through his hand and up his arm. With his face grimacing from agony and his knuckles bleeding from the damage, Bernard grabbed his right wrist and jumped backwards.
"Aaaahhhh!" Bernard screamed in suffering as he fell back off the bed, the other members of the group watching what happened.
"He's up!" Anatoli said with a smirk.
"This was your plan!?" Camilla screamed in disbelief as she looked behind her at Anatoli.
"Ber-Bernard!" Marlene said with a shocked tone as she ran around the bed and bent down to check on the beanie sporting young man.
"Are you alright?!" Pietro said as he stood up and looked over at Bernard.
"Gahh! Orughh-grrr!" Bernard grunted as Marlene examined his hand.
"I guess he has a magic word to wake up. I just remembered that from when we shared a holding cell in Era." Anatoli said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"You made my boyfriend try to punch me..." Camilla said with an incredibly angry expression on her face.
"You're not hurt, and it woke him up, didn't it?" Anatoli replied as he walked over to check on him as Marlene started to apply an ointment to Bernards hand.
"Camilla, grab me some wrapping, please?" Marlene said, asking for assistance.
"S-sure." Camilla said as she walked over to a nearby drawer and pulled out some gauze. "Here." She said, reaching over the bed and handing it to her.
"Ow. Ow. Ow." Bernard said repeatedly as Marlene bandaged his hand.
"Welcome back to the waking world." Anatoli said with a smug tone.
"Wh-what?" Bernard said as he looked around and noticed he was in the guildhall infirmary. "How the hell did I get here?" He questioned.
"I think we're the ones owed a story about that, Lil' Bern." Pietro commented as Anatoli helped Bernard to his feet.
"Yeah, actually... You said you were hiking up the mountain and would be back in a day." Camilla said with half-closed eyes as Bernard looked at Camilla's judgmental expression.
"Where's Corvus and Vulp?" Marlene asked.
"How'd you get sent flying through the roof?" Anatoli also inquired.
"Did you have any luck up there for the hunt?" Pietro said with a raised eyebrow.
"...Too many questions... And unfortunate answers..." Bernard thought while nervously looking away.
Well, well, well... Look what we have here, ladies and gentlemen. Doth mine eyes deceive me? It looks to me like- wait, was stuff changed?
Authors Note: (So we begin my editing process of the chapters for Menagerie 2. You'll probably spot the changes pretty easily here. I cut down the chapter a bit and I got rid of Camilla being a bit possessive with sleeping with Bernard and Corvus and Vulp coming back immediately like it was originally. Personal choice on it changed, I had the feeling that writing Camilla like that was okay at first but then re-reading it, I kind of made her seem a bit "overbearing" and didn't really help her much in terms of characterization. I also added Pietro, Anatoli and Marlene being in the room now when Bernard eventually woke up, I felt adding them would help give them more involvement, given they're major characters to this story. You'll also notice a certain "keychain" that Bernard had that Daphne took off his body... You'll see what that is in the new chapter 2.)