A Night of Good Mannered Fun[Open to All]

Zuo looked at the cheap mirror leaned against his office wall. This was not a good look for him. On this night the old geezer found himself clad in a men-in-black style suit, neck tie and all. His hair which was normally held aloft by incredibly high power hair products was worn down and brushed straight. Looking in the mirror he looked like a completely different person. He sighed and shook his head. This was a bad idea. But he was resolute to stick it until the end, the old man wanted something nice for his guild and this was how he thought he could deliver. Outside his office was the Lamia Scale Guild Hall, opened to the public, filled with people from Hargeon, Lamia Scale itself and a few people from the rest of Fiore. He was going to have to step out for the world to see wearing this.... thing. The old man shuddered at the thought.

So with his head held high and his self consciousness shoved in the closet for the moment he turned to the door, opened it, and walked out. Hardest thing ever.

Now standing before a room of early party guests that smelt like the ocean and the better smelling half of the ocean's population Zuo cleared his throat and addressed everyone in the room. "Thank you all for coming here today to join in our celebration. I must also thank the town government for allowing Lamia Scale to host Hargeon's prestigious Bounty of the Deep Festival." Zuo smiled to himself, for anyone who knew anything about Hargeon knew at least 90% of the town government was in Zuo's pocket. It wasn't corruption.... it was.... something that looked like government corruption(minus the oppression) but was okay because a good guy was doing it. The old geezer built and owned the town okay, just don't push deeper in the topic. Anyway... the political machine boss guild master continued "I do hope you enjoy the spread of food that has been prepared and the activities that we have prepared. The decoration contest shall begin in just a couple hours and the other contests will shortly follow. It is not too late to sign up for any of the contest so please do if you are interested, we could always use some more competition. Lastly the grand ceremony will begin at midnight as tradition so please stick around."

The Bounty of the Deep Festival was your typical port town thanks giving celebration. Within the guild hall was a fancy ball where high end artisans sold expensive pieces of ocean themed art and some of the finest chefs across Fiore offered their services. Outside was a less formal festival where cheaper vendors sold their goods and specialty treats. Small children ran about playing with age appropriate fire works and performers fought for the attention of the crowds. Innocent enough fun and merriment.

The Grand Ceremony mentioned by Zuo Cii was just the opening of a sea shrine for offerings along with a short speech by local spiritual leader. Nothing really that grand but Zuo wasn't naming these things so whatever. NOTHING big at all could ever come out of it.

So have fun kiddies.

OOC: If you are not in LS and want to participate in a contest have one of our members post for you in the sign up thread.

"This is my time to shine." Ophelia cooed. She had arrived to the festival, her spirits high.

She wore a high neck mermaid tail formal gown which was a champagne color. Her ginger hair was tied up in a braided bun that was off to the side of her head, a white flower hairpin was clipped in the middle of the bun. Underneath her long dress she wore light brown platform stilettos. Ophelia held a white clutch purse just for the elegance of it.

"This is it, this is what I've been dreaming off!" The noblewoman was practically jumping where she stood, obviously excited. Ophelia stayed up for the past few days, sewing, planning, and slaving away to make it so that her gown was perfect for her and only her. If something were to ruin it now… She’d go absolutely crazy. Her hard work paid off, and she is taking no risks, and that meant being polite, something that she hated but could pull off.

Quickly, Ophelia put on her formal façade and placed her free hand on her hip, examining all of the faces to spot someone she knew from the crowd. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you, Ophelia, you’re a hot young woman and nothing will make you mad… Yes…

Ren was running around with a plate pilled high with fancy foods. He was grinning wider than ever, and he was looking around for people he knew. "OPHELIA!" he yelled, running over to her. He stopped in front of her, and didn't wait for her to say anything.

"Wow Ophelia you look nice anyways look at all this food I got! I don't think this took under 5 minutes. I didn't know you could eat some of these! I got something called the 'Salad of Flowering Quince' down here and over here on the side is something called 'Point Reyes Blue'. I have no idea what they are but they have garnish and everything! There were like 3 different kinds of forks but I didn't really know which one to use so I just grabbed the biggest one! This is so exciting!" he blabbered one, pointing at the multitude of dishes he was somehow balancing on a plate.

"Oh but I have to save my appetite for the contest so I guess I can't really be eating anything" he realized. "Can you give me some help with what I should do?" Ren asked with wide eyes. Ren felt like a child all over again.

Kihia sat in the stool he most commonly used for treating his own wounds, he had spent the past few hours getting ready for the grand ball Master Zuo had set up. Kihia was almost ready, he had a white dress shirt on with white tuxedo slacks on, and a white tie. He had his tuxedo jacket hung up on the wall. Kihia had locked and bolted his door due to he didn’t want to be disturbed. Why did Master Zuo put this party on….. I have never been to a ball… let alone ever actively participated in a party of any sort… and… furthermore… why did Icirak… better question… how did Icirak hear of this… ball……. And why… did he think it was a good idea… to send me a tuxedo for the occasion… I have rarely wore one… the only time I have was for a mission and that one was thankfully provided… but here… Kihia continued to sit there unmoving, he had wrapped his right arm in bandages once again due to the large amount of people attending from outside of Lamia Scale. He had a pair of gloves on his desk, he questioned why he had to participate… and further more… why did he have to wear a tux… “I am going to wait here a bit… I need… a little more time to clear my head…”

Quincy walked into the hall wearing a brown dress with fluffy white ruffles in the chest. Her gloves were replaced by a white scarf that wrapped around both arms and behind her back. Her hair was decorated in bows and matching ruffles. She wore dark tights and a pair of high heels that made her look an inch taller. Which was significantly taller than what she usually looked like. She stumbled a bit trying to get used to the heels, but she was in the fashion show and she wanted to win. She looked around the area seeing what was available for her to do without ruining her dress. She knew she couldn't use her magic whatsoever because it would burn the fabric from her dress. But ultimately she couldn't do much until she was able to get changed and party with the rest of her friends.

Talen sighed as he came down the stairs into the Lamia Scale guild hall's main hall. Today was the formal party that Zuo had been planing, and somehow Artemis and Aello had found out about it. If it had been up to him, Talen would not have attended the party, let alone dressed up for it, but the two spirits saw this as an opportunity to get him to dress fancy, something that he avoided at all cost.

The two spirits had fussed over him, taking measurements, comparing different cloths and colors, the two spirits, who normally did not get along, seemed to bond over the experience. Talen on the other hand had hated it. He did not like the tight uncomfortable cloth's that they made him try. After a week of preparations, the two had finally finished his outfit. It was a dark green tuxedo, the green was so dark that looked more black then green. He also had a bow tie that was a slightly brighter shade of green. He had an exotic flower attached to his chest that was giving of a sweet smell. Well, the Celestial Spirit mage thought to himself as he walked towards the food tables, may as well make the best of this.

The wagon carrying Ni-Ju and his party supplies came to a stop just to the side of the Lamia Scale guildhall. Hopping down from the buckboard, Ni-Ju thanked the driver with a curt wave and set about unhitching the wagon. As he finished the driver turned his horses around and began to head back towards the docks without a word. "Now I just need a couple of strong folks help to get this set up!. " He exclaimed excitedly, straightening the silk ties on his Changshan as he entered the guildhall. Standing in the entrance he called out to those that had already arrived. "Is there any way I could possibly get the assistance of one or two of you to help me with setting up the fireworks display outside?".

A Changshan

Spoiler:

Rita had received an invitation to the ball being held by Lamia Scale in Hargeon. She decided to follow up on the offer. Maybe it would be a good thing if she met new people here. Rita could always use some friends outside of her guild. From the word of mouth, Rita had heard that there was going to be decoration contest of some sort. She planned to participate. Rita was a molding magic user...She was in her element. Besides, maybe there would be prize money.

The Fairy squeezed her way through the ocean of guests outside and made her way into the hall. She had spruced up a bit extra today for the event. Rita replaced the usual scrunchie with a crimson bow to tie her hair down in a low tail. The wizard had arrived wearing her red velour corset. It brought out her curves in all the right places making it well worth the extra cash.

 Rita had never been inside the Lamia Scales guild hall, She noted that it was a whole lot bigger than she had first imagined it to be. Almost immediately, she spotted a familiar looking blonde fellow running around with a platter piled high with all kinds of fancy dishes. This could be a nice start to the evening, She approached with a smirk. Now standing before him Rita paused for a minute, quickly examining him from top to bottom. She pressed her thumb to her lip and bit her nail trying to recall a name when suddenly the light bulb went off in her head. "Oh yeah!- You are that water mage! R-Remember that spar?" Rita exclaimed. "Ren was it?- Eh.....I wasn't all that great at holding back, No hard feelings right?" She mentioned, offering a him a hand. Only then did she remember the significance in this gesture "Don't worry, I promise that I won't try any thing funny this time."She said as a nervous chuckle left her lips. It had been about a year, Rita wondered if Ren still remembered how she had used this friendly gesture against him. Rita silently chuckled to herself, noticing that she was no longer two inches taller than him like when they first fought. Instead her height was now greater than Ren's by three inches thanks to the black platform pumps on her feet.

‘I can’t believe I’m actually here. I could be doing something else, like a job or just reading.’ The thoughts of Karasuba echoed in her mind as she watched the guests arrive into the Lamia Scale guildhall, while leaning on a wall. The Celestial Spirit mage was clad in a black tuxedo, with a white undershirt and a rose in the shirt pocket, and her top hat on her head. She didn’t want to even come to the ball in the first place, but when Aquarius had figured out she wanted her holder to stop acting like a loner and mingle a lot more with her guild mates. They had fussed on whether or not she was to wear a dress, but Karasuba won despite Aquarius’ arguments. ‘At least I’m not wearing a dress. This is so much more suited to me.’

Karasuba watched her guild mates interact with the people, and silently stood by as she tried to meld with the wall. Which she was sure Zuo Cii could do, but that wasn’t the point of her thoughts.

Lance lay in his bed thinking as he stared up at the ceiling for a few moments. "I should really go somewhere tonight..." he muttered as he placed his hand over his eyes a few seconds before Lea walked into the room with a piece of paper in her hand "Dad we got an invitation to a Lamia scale ball in Hargeon!" she said happily as Lance sat up and looked at her "From who?" he asked curiously and she shrugged "I dont know who sent us the invitation but we got one so I say we be kind enough to go!" she said happily as she ran to the closet and pulled out her Dress and walked into the bathroom to put it on after she tossed Lance his Tux happily. Lance quielty put on his Tux which he hadnt worn since he had went on the wedding snatchers job with Ebony.

After they were all dressed and ready to go they headed down the train station and went to Hargeon.

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When they arrived they found themselves in a building that had many Lamia scale people in it and didn't see anyone from any other guild. Lea tapped on his shoulder and pointed towards a certain girl that Lance knew. "Whats Rita doing here?" Lance said to himself as he saw Lea trotting over there to go talk to her. He panicked a bit and quickly moved over to a space at a wall were he could sit down and not be noticed.

Lea on the other hand smiled sweetly as she grabbed Rita's none extended hand softly and stared at her with a cute smile as her cat ears twitched "Hey Rita." she simply said as Lance stayed hidden and hoped for someone to talk to.

Finishing his speech Zuo instantly sunk into the floor out of sight. For even as his speech was in progress he saw members of the press moving his way just waiting to pounce on the mysterious guild master. Everyone had heard about his eccentricities and feats of magic in public however many things about him were completely unknown to the world. Where he came from, what he was working towards, why he chose to come out of hiding after so long, just who he was. A famous public figure shrouded in mystery? It made any reporter foam at the mouth with headline fever. Zuo had no intention of sharing any of the information they wanted so he always made a hasty escape when one came near. Tonight was no exception. When Zuo was next seen it would be melting out of a wall, an ability one of his guildmembers wish they had the inverse of, and walked up behind Ni-Ju. "I do believe you were looking for some assistance?" He smiled and clapped his hands together "I am such a fan of fireworks. By the way you look splendid my boy. I must thank you for coming and participating in our festivities."


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OOC: ATM I am putting up several event-split threads. As the event is taking part in multiple locations. Please consider moving to one of the other threads to reduce typical "event clutter."

Almyra was excited to be attending the festival Alexei had told her about at Hargeon. Between her and Alexei, they were able to buy passage to the city on a boat. She liked riding boats, the sea was beautiful, though it wasn't quite the same as seeing the landscape whizzing by when riding a train. Though both gave the thrill of the prospect of going to a new place, which was especially strong tonight, since she was going to a festival with lots of people. She loved people and crowds. This would no doubt be fun.

She stepped off the boat onto the docks, wearing her worn, green cloak as always and simple t-shirt and pants underneath. She didn't have anything else to wear really, but it was clean. She was good about keeping herself clean despite all of the adventures she went on. Holding Tammy by the hand she started to run off toward the beach with he festival, the glowing lights attracting her attention easily.

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((OOC: Almy to beach))

Dress:

The guildless mage heard about the ball that Lamina Scale was putting on. She never been to a ball before but all she could imagine was princes and princesses she learned about in books. Although Killa was a little afraid to go too. She didn't have any friends but maybe this was a good way to get some. Entering the ball with people in it. A blush came across her cheeks. The people here were beautiful no less. Her red/green eyes stared at each person individually. They all dressed different. When Killa heard it was a ball she dressed for a ball.

Killa titling her head to the side to cover up one of her red/green eyes. She stepped into the ball more getting a good look at the mages around her. Although what really caught her eye was the food. Feeling herself crumble at the sight of food. Killa walked over to the food feeling her stomach grumble a little. She picked out a few things and set them on a plate.

A smile leaked across her lips as she began to eat the yummy food. A satisfying smile was plastered on her lips. Listening to the music made Killa even more excited. She had made her father teach how to dance to this style of music because she wanted to be a princess. Closing her eyes Killa smiled as the music played in her head. But the sad part is that Killa actually never came with a partner and she didn't know anyone. A small sign escaped her lips as she began to eat more of the food set out across the table.

"She's as excitable as ever," Blane mused as he and Alexei walked off the boat, watching Almy sprint off towards the beach. "It's kind of adorable, don't you think?"
"It's more annoying than anything," Alexei grumbled, although it was somewhat good-natured. "We can't go five minutes without her asking annoying questions or snuggling that doll of hers."
Blane simply shrugged. "As you will. Either way, it seems like there are plenty of distractions here for you, hmm? I fancy trying out the ball. I might even ask our Almy if she wants to join," he said with a grin.
"Suit yourself," Alexei responded. "I'm going to go try out the outer festival, see if there's anything entertaining there. Maybe some carnival games or something, I don't know."
Blane frowned. "You realize I'm under orders to follow you? I have to stick to you. You know what that means, right?"
Alexei was silent for a second. "You're not planning on dragging me to the ball, are you?" He asked the light elemental, his tone harsh. Blane simply chuckled, however. "Don't worry, I'll let you have your fun." The two made their way towards the outer rims of the festival, still arguing. (Alexei to Outer Festival)

John looked down at the people who walked towards the Lamia Scale guildhall, dressed in suits and pretty dresses. A wide smirk appeared under his bandages, this was going to be fun. He thought and leaned with his shoulder against a building. He had overheard his guildmaster Yuna speaking about this event, how she had found out he had no clue. He didn't care either.

Silently John observed the people walking either in or out of the guildhall, he could tell that his pitch black robe and bandages was going to stick out like a sore thumb. But hey, that was why he was here anyway. Pushing himself away from the building he looked around and began to slowly walk towards the entrance of the guildhall. A few things popped into mind on how he could get in without too much hassle or things he could do once inside. But John knew that starting a war between Lamia Scale and Nox Animus right now would just be foolish, besides, he didn't know if there was anyone else from Nox Animus who had heard the Guildmaster talk about this.

John kept walking slowly towards the guildhall, reaching into his heel long coat he took out a small glass bottle, inside it a fiery orange liquid moved as he removed the cork, raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig from it then corking it and putting it back into the coat. He let the whiskey sit in his mouth for a few seconds before he swallowed it, feeling the warmth of the alcohol flow through him. He shivered slightly and blinked slowly.

He followed a group of talking people into the guild hall and looked around, there was a lot of people inside, he didn't care about who they were or how they were dressed. Not paying attention to anyone he might bump into John walked straight into the center of the room. Looking around him he could see some of the visitors look at him, most of them rather confused. John smirked under the bandages that covered his head and just as he had done a couple of days before in the danger room in Nox Animus' Danger Room he raised his arms slightly.

The shadows of those around him, walking in the light of the lamps in the ceiling began to spread, slowly the shadows would begin to move, sliding across the floor towards John in the center of the hall. So many shadows, he could feel every movement through them. As the shadows crawled closer they would eventually cover John and begin to slowly flicker like flames.

"I hope you're not afraid of the dark." John said, loud enough so the closest ones would hear him. The black flames began to slowly change color from black to a regular flame, but at the same time the light would dim down as the shadows John had once pulled to him, crawled up the walls and covered the light sources, casting the room into darkness, John standing in the middle of the hall, orange flames flickering around him. "My my, a bit dark, isn't it?"

Rita felt a tugging at her shadow around her heels, of course it remained attached they were bonded through her magic. Rita would be almost powerless without her shadow beneath her.

The mage looked around, and quickly realized that everyone else had lost their shadows to the mysterious element. "H-Huh?" Her eyes opened wide as she watched them all migrate up the wall. Quickly, She whirled around and scanned the sea of guests for a culprit.

Rita's eyes flickered and she noticed the tone off the room turned to blue, Rita's dark vision had kicked in...meaning something had happened to the lights. The darkness was hardly an issue for Rita, her irises were practically night vision goggles on their own thanks to her ability. She continued the scan the hall until her eyes met a figure in the center of the room, orange whips of fire surrounding him.

The shadow mage muttered something to herself between gritted teeth. No one else dared to approach the figure... Well except for one... Rita dismissed herself from both Ren and Lea. She weaved her way around confused party guests until she stood before the bandage clad man. He certainly was a menacing sight- but Rita didn't know how to back down from anything. She could tell that he would be bad news and so Rita reached for her scythe. The Fairy grimaced when she realized she hadn't brought any weapons with her. Rita narrowed her eyes and looked up at the man."Just who are you?" Rita ordered, sparking a shadowy aura around her right fist.

Lea gripped Rita's arm while she followed Rita over to the man in bandages. "Uhm I - I am afraid of the dark..." she muttered silently as Lance was walking around with his eyes closed. He bumped into the man and opened his eyes with a sort of fowl look on his face "who the hell are you?" he asked as he saw Lea with Rita. He dismissed them as he was more interested in the man at this moment of time.

Lance smirked at the man "It really isn't nice for you to crash a party as fancy as this one." he told the man with a feint black aura growing around him. Lea scratched the back of her head "Uhm Dad... no isn't the time for you to be doing this..." she told him but he ignored her and kept the same challenging expression on his face.

"Crashing?" A voice echoed out from behind John as a red-headed young woman walked up to stand next to the bandaged man. "We were invited, thank you very much." She looked up and down the three Fairy Tail members before them, unimpressed. She'd been hoping to catch Emilia here, but she supposed it was too far away from the other redhead's guild hall to be worth the trip. Either way, she had a few new people here to bother, which suited her just fine. "We're perfectly capable of doing whatever we please here. After all, we're all wizards, aren't we?" She grinned widely. "The name's Vi. A pleasure to meet you, although given the disposition of Johnny-boy here, I doubt we'll be able to chat for too long." She turned to face Rita. "I wouldn't start a fight here, either. The guild leader of Lamia will probably kick both sides' asses if a legitimate fight broke out here, and that man is one I certainly don't want to make angry." She turned to John. "In fact, it's probably not a good idea to be doing that either, but I know I can't really stop you. Just know you increase the chances of an ass-kicking every moment you keep doing that."

Zuo was forced away from Ni-Ju because someone decided to throw a tantrum in his guild. He sunk into the ground like he had when he dodge the reporters and was instantly on the move. Some bone headed imbecile was trying to pull off something sneaky right under his nose. But that poor idiot did not know that this guildhall was Zuo's play thing. The entire building was made from marble stone, and Zuo was capable of freely manipulating marble as if an extension of his own body. The second the lightning dimmed Zuo used his magic sensory to locate the culprit. Immediately he manipulated the marble under the man's feet so that it became liquid like and unless John moved he would be sucked down his knees before it hardened again. However getting out of the way would be most difficult as for any non-flight enabled human to move you normally need to push off the ground, but for John the ground was pretty much water, he was in for it unless he could walk on water or fly. Using his high level magic sensory(to see people) and his memorization of the lay out of the guild to guide him he traveled with speed akin to teleportation. Zuo rose up from the ground behind John and Vivian and spoke in a voice that was composed but obviously short on patience "Too late to run now.

Zuo spoke clearly and slowly "Boy I want you to return the light to my guild hall this instant. If you do not comply immediately if you so much as voice a complaint or protest or move a muscle or even try to deliver a clever line before doing so I will remove you from my guild hall immediately. If you restore the lights like a good boy without hesitation I will allow you to stay and participate in our festivities. If for whatever reason you refuse to restore the light, attempt to escape or attempt to harm me or any of the other guest I will ruin you." The crazy old geezer was not joking he had every intent of following up with his threats and he very much had the means. "I will turn the ground around your feet into a thick cement like liquid and drag you down until half of your body is buried. I will then compress the ground around you crushing your bones to paste until you are nothing but a torso. Then I will have a healer save your life and force you to live on with only half of your body. Do not take my words for idol threats. You could walk away from this happy and healthy or half dead. Take your pick." Zuo did not care if Warden and Harrigan walked in the doors of his guild as long as they behaved, but he was not going to tolerate any disruptions of the peace. None at all.

He may have come across as a deranged nutter just casually making such a threat but Zuo never really cared what others thought of him and he didn't plan to start now. Besides the only people in ear shot were the four before him.

"Ren are you seriously going to eat all of that? Whatever! No mind! Sit sit, I will teach you the basics of fancy eating." Ophelia sat down in a chair and placed her clutch purse on the table. She assembled the plate so that three forks were on the left of the white ceramic plate and two spoons and a knife were on the right side. The noble woman placed a napkin on the plate and began her speech. "You have three forks," Ophelia said, picking up the farthest fork on the left, "This is your salad fork, the biggest fork in the middle is your dinner fork, and the fork that is closest to your plate is the dessert fork. Now, when eating, one must never rest their elbows on the table and you musn't slouch." The noblewoman grabbed the napkin and set it on her lap. "When eating, you either tuck the napkin into your shirt or set it on your lap like so." She then pointed to the knife and spoons to the right of the plate. "The knife is called the dinner knife, you use that to cut your meal if it contains meat or things that require to be cut into small pieces, the smallest spoon in the middle is the teaspon, and the biggest spoon farthest from the plate is the soup spoon. Usually there will be two glasses, a wine glass which is small and a water glass which is much larger and wider than the wine glass-"

There was a sudden pause as the room grew quiet, Ophelia raised her head and noticed a rather odd looking fellow whom was covered in what appeared to be bandages. This caused the noblewoman to slowly rise from her seat and squint, trying to get a good look at what exactly was happening.

Kihia suddenly stood up hearing a large abnormal commotion coming from the hallway, The party?.... Kihia quickly grabbed his tuxedo jacket and put it on and grabbed Icarus. Kihia quickly went and unlocked his door and walked out rushing to the Guild hall, Something is up… but what… Kihia rushed into the hall and immediately noticed all the lights had been put out from some unseen force. He then closed his eyes and started to use his magic sensory ability, he sense a group of mages near the center of the hall one of which he recognized as Master Zuo’s. Kihia frowned and then slowly started to walk towards the center of the Guild hall making sure not to cause to much of an interruption. I will be here… to aid Master Zuo in what he needs and protect the Guild… but I shall not act unless this escalates…

"L-Lea?! Why did you follow me over here!?" she shouted as she looked down at the five year old. Rita wasted no time and peeled her off of her arm and looked down at her sternly. Rita knew The girl could be put in harms way if she stuck by Rita like this. "Lea- You should of known better than to of followed me over here, You need to learn to go find Lance first, I can't watch you like this all the time." Rita explained.

That's when she noticed Lance had approached as well. Rita saw the look in his eyes, Lance wanted in on this perhaps he was up for a fighting this guy. Rita could not allow herself to be left to watch his kid for him while he ran off and did something stupid. She stepped in front of Lance and passed Lea over to him. "Lance, Shes your kid It's your job to watch her not mine...I'm not a babysitter you know." She said dully. Rita had to be blatantly honest with him this time. "You can't just run off and leave Lea unattended and hope that she finds some one to hold onto. I mean sh-" Another voice cut in, this one feminine. Rita turned back around and was faced with a woman who possessed cherry red hair. She spoke and Rita responded,

"I wasn't sure what you people were pulling, So I took the precautions anyone would take." She sneered smartly. A smile filled with gritted teeth crept up her face. "I understand that this isn't a good place, We will have to settle this another time then?" She inquired in a bittersweet tone as she put her hands to her hips.


In a sudden turn of events, a figure rose out from the earth behind the two, Master Zuo Cii himself. Things quickly got interesting. Rita smirked, The two were at Zuo's whim and practically powerless now.

Lance's aura dissipated as he heard another voice "I am not going to fight him... and he looks suspicious so I just... tried to stop him..." he muttered as all of a sudden Master Zuo appeared. Lance smiled and had a twinkle in his eye "M-Master Zuo!" he said with a gleam as he grinned "Its an honor to meet you!" he said happily as he turned to Lea with a bit of a disappointed look "Dont run off from me like that again..." he muttered as he grabbed her by the hands and pulled her beside him "I am sorry if she caused you trouble..." he muttered again as he walked out the doors of the guild to take a few deep breaths.

It was to crowded in there for him. He didn't mind crowds but the crowd was not helping him calm the darkness stirring inside of him at this moment.

Oh my, so much attention in such a short timespan, this turned out to be quite effective. As the first person approached him and demanded to know who he was. Smirking John looked at her and lowered his arms slightly, keeping the shadows intact around the light sources in the room. Just as he was about to answer he heard a child's voice followed by someone bumping into him then another person asking who he was. Then another voice, this time female and this time he knew who spoke. Vi.

He wasn't surprised that Vi was in charge instead of Vivian, but it was nice to know that he had another guild member with him, should things take a sudden turn and they'd have to fight he wasn't going to be alone.

Then he felt the ground beneath him soften up which was probably caused by the latest voice, an old man's voice. John knew who the Guildmaster for Lamia scale was, and he was no fool to try his patience either. "Well, now I've survived more than that, Zuo." John said and tilted his head, withdrawing the orange flames and returning the light slowly to the guildhall, moving away from the liquid part of the floor and looking towards the girl with Shadows around her hands. "I am... John of Nox Animus, and who might you be, Shadow mage?" He asked and tilted his head.

Rita's suspicious had been proven by John Himself, He was from a dark guild...or a guild leaning towards the dark side at least. Rita still dint know what she thought about Nox. Either way...mages from there showing up all of the sudden was nothing to celebrate. Rita turned away to resume the social event but found herself addressed.

John had quickly dismissed himself from Master Zuo himself and turned to Rita next, longing for her identity."H-Huh?" She muttered confused. She looked back over her shoulder and eyed the Nox Animus wizard. "Me?..." She echoed, turning back around and taking a step back.

The Fairy took notice that she had been referred to as 'Shadow Mage' and with that she looked down at her right hand that felt rather cold for some reason... From what Rita identified, she had began to emit magic energy from her hand without knowing of it- another thing that she would have to work on. "Tsk..." A grim expression met Rita's face as she quickly did away with the dark aura clinging to her hand and turned back to John. All she could say was that didn't like how things were at the moment. The Shadow mage paused before she finally gave him his answer."I'm just... Rita, and Fairy Tail is my guild." She stated, with a coldness her gaze.