Vivre l'Animaux Shelter! [Job]

Spoiler:

Things were dire, the stakes high. Mao couldn’t fail this job or it’d be her life: she was sure of it. Sabertooth would likely disown her, friends leave her, and Silabus would probably cease being her friend at the end of it all if Mao couldn’t bring home the bacon on this one. Even worse: she’d be letting them down. These poor, mostly defenseless things staring up at her with hopeful eyes and all the innocence of the world. All they wanted was a bit of love and hope (and food, and a bed, and maybe a few chew toys…but their needs were overall much simpler than any child’s).

Staring at all the puppies and kitties – regardless of age – Mao felt a bubble of absolute desire to help these poor creatures. Granted she really wanted nothing more than to take them all home with her in all honesty and let the cute dears live out the rest of their days living in her room (and subsequently trashing it even if the woman gave it very little thought). ’I suppose I’ll settle for helping raise funds for this orphanage since they’d probably get mad at me otherwise…’

”Thank you so much for helping our fundraiser for the animal shelter!” the cheerful voice pulled the mage’s attention away from the cute, barking full-grown husky. Strawberry blond hair cascaded down in waves, cheery and warm brown eyes watching her with gratefulness shining in them, ”It can be a bit hard getting people’s attention, especially when you’re yelling the same phrases over and over again. We haven’t made much money in the past that way so we’re getting really low since we don’t have many regular donations either. We’re so happy that you’re willing to take time out of your busy schedule to help us!” The woman all but threw herself at the ground, instead settling for bowing the entirety of her upper body to the still crouched Mao.

Her actions elicited a bit of shock on the other woman’s part, ears perked right up that accidentally only served to further aggravate the locked up canine. She ignored the canine’s vigorous barking however to smile at the woman who’d been thanking her profusely since she arrived, ”It’s no matter: anything to help the animals!” This would be fun even if she wasn’t entirely sure what to do for them.

”So what exactly am I supposed to do?” The inquiry came as the woman – who’d introduced herself as LeBlanc – led her from the shelter towards their booth in the middle of the city. In that large circular plaza sat an erected booth complete with awning for shade and desks with newsletters, information, and a few collection boxes for spur-of-the-moment donations. Some friendly dogs sat on leashes kept close to people manning chairs, a few of the calmer and lazier variety while others gaped openly at passersby with tongues lolling out and panting in their barely contained excitement. Cats in carriers lightly decorated the desk, only one on each of the three desks positioned close to a large fountain.

”Mostly we’d like you to garner attention, though…I suppose I should’ve asked what your magic was first, but there’s usually someway to grab attention even if all you can do is talk telepathically…” She started fretting, trying to keep the smile in place even as her eyebrows knit.

”Oh, is that all?” a small amount of surprise affected each word, ”I think you’ll be surprised how easy that is for me…”

’This will be a bit…strange.’ Holding the spherical lump of crystal, Mao eyed the slightly pink hue dubiously. This wasn’t a spell she particularly liked as a certain sense of maliciousness emanated from inside, an unavoidable fact that prevented her from utilizing it immediately. However, it would be one of the most eye catching as well if she kept things from getting out of hand.

Perhaps sensing her reluctance LeBlanc called out from behind the desk in a stage whisper, ”It’s okay Mao, I believe in you! Whatever you do will be great I’m sure!”

How could she speak with such confidence to someone she knew nothing about? It astounded Mao the blind faith she held. ’Then again I spoke without really, truly thinking as well. It’d be a shame to dash her hopes now.’ Simply standing there as a glowing statue wouldn’t quite get the attention they required, and Mao didn’t want to just hop around Hargeon making a spectacle of herself as well. Home of Lamia Scale the last thing she wanted was to cause them any issues or grievances against Sabertooth.

’Here goes nothing…’

Two arrows appeared in her other hand, not that anybody but her eager new fan behind her noticed. ’Suppose I should start with a bang?’ Throwing the pair up into the sky they rapidly formed into large chunks of crystals before exploding, the subsequent shards exploding into dazzling bright red lights that fizzled towards the ground. Thanks to destabilizing the spell it didn’t last the way it should’ve, though she was happy it’d retained some of the sparkle even after death.

As heads turned around, some with the near audible cracks of vertebrae, Mao’s fingers clenched around the orb until it shattered. Wisps of the magical energy swirled around her as they formed the multitude of crystalline shards shooting towards the sky. Up into the sky where the last vestiges of the exploded rubies they went, the pinkish gems coming to form the picture of a wolf. Hands raised towards the cloud, slightly waving as she commanded them to motion as a howl, before doing a lap around the fountain in the sky and reform into a tiger growling.

People “ooh!”d and “aww!”d as she created image after image of fantastical creatures before they became a kitten, a dog, and then the logo for the shelter. By the end a crowd had flocked, some people turning away from the show to drop in a few jewels into the boxes or converse with the employees of the booth. Mao even took a few requests, creating some in the sky and making smaller figures on the ground level for the children to dance around. By the end of the day she’d been thanked by LeBlanc at least a hundred times if not more.