Time For a Show! (Job/Solo)

Blue stopped walking, widening his eyes at a large crowd of people that had gathered in front of him on the street. They were all huddled around something that couldn't be seen from outside of the mass. The youth wrinkled his nose, and was trying to think of way to get by when an overly peppy woman squeezed her way through the gathering and rushed over to the duo. "You must be the Mages from Fairy Tail!!" she greeted him excitedly, causing a sweatdrop to form on the back of Blue's head. He was a bit wary of her, but only because every other woman he'd met recently was over zealous and crazy. The boy gave a small nervous, "Ha..." before responding. "Yeah that's us...this is the fundraiser for kids who can't afford to eat, right?" he asked, his inquiry met with a vigorous nodding of her head. "It is! Oh, but I heard there were going to be two of you..." the gig was for two people, so unless this kid was crazy entertaining, it was going to be tough with just him. Luckily (Ha!), his partner had been with him the entire time.

"I'm number two!~" came a high-pitched voice from below. When the lady glanced down, her eyes were met with a mostly black cat that stood on two legs and was holding a paw out in the shape of a peace sign. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest little thing!~" Seemingly unfazed by the fact that this cat was both walking and talking, she proceeded to pick Lucky up and smother him with affection. Blue was just left standing there, another sweatdrop moment for sure. But honestly he didn't mind too much. "At least it's not me this time..."

"Break a leg!" was all the warning the boy got before being thrown to the wolves. Yeah that crowd? The audience and potential patrons of the charity. Behind him was a large wooden desk with a big glass jar resting on the edge, currently devoid of Jewels. The woman who was running the fundraiser was seated with an oblivious smile on her face, petting Lucky who was lying down on the table, content as can be. "Thanks for the help, buddy..." Blue thought to himself, shooting the Exceed a glare as he did so. He turned to face the crowd, who were all waiting for the show to begin (though not at all patiently). Chatter increased in volume as the youth was given the spotlight. Stuff like, "He's so short..." and "I know! Can you even do magic if you're that little?" could be heard floating around. An all-too familiar vein began to bulge in the young Mage's forehead. The ONLY thing stopping him from his usual freakout over the mention of his height was the fact that this was a charity event, and it probably wouldn't help their cause to threaten the donators...

But that didn't mean he had to like it!

So he clenched his teeth and forced an irritated smile as he prepared for the first trick. "Oops, almost forgot!~" The fundraiser lady picked up on his cue and stood up from her seat to rush out in front and introduce him. A cane was thrown to her from out of the scene and a spotlight shone down seemingly out of nowhere. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!~ The 'Stop Hunger' campaign of our Charity for Impoverished Youths now presents to you: The Great...!-" she paused, asking Lucky for the boy's name which he lazily mumbled. "-...Clue T. Shortbummer!" "THAT'S NOT MY NAME, DAMNIT!" but his objection was drowned out by the music that accompanied the woman's intro, that also came out of nowhere. Either she had some kind of SFX magic, or the effects engineer for this show was crazy good! Still, the audience seemed less than thrilled. Only a few muffled claps broke the silence that hung in the air after Blue's introduction. So far? This was a mess.

"Here goes nothing..." An annoyed Blue held out his left palm vertical in front of him and smashed the side of of his fist into it, forming one of the many variations of the seal required to perform his magic. A luminescent blue light peaked out from within his hand, prompting a few gasps from the crowd. It took only moments for him to mold his magic, and after that? He slowly separated his hands, materializing the blade to a sword before everyone's eyes. The light shone brighter as he continued with his spell, constructing the hilt last. It was ornate, fitting his grip specifically. The crossguard resembled a pair of drake-like wings, and the pommel was heavy and crafted to look exactly like a dragon's head with red eyes. And while entire weapon was intricately crafted, the most unique feature about it was that it was made entirely out of ice.

Blue snatched the sword out of the air in front of him and gave it a few swings, to the mild amusement of the crowd. None of them looked like Mages, and Blue couldn't feel any Magical Power coming from them, so this was probably relatively new to them. The boy flipped the blade in front of him and grabbed it in reverse, presenting it to the audience so they could get a better look at it. It really was quite a piece of work, and to be so detailed in such a short amount of time was an impressive feat on Blue's part. "Pretty cool, right?" ...this fact wasn't lost on him at all. A smug grin was plastered across his face as he showed it off. Lucky on the other hand had another take on it. "Tacky...~" which prompted a, "YOU'RE NOT HELPIN' AT ALL, SO SHUT IT!" The Exceed didn't mind though, he was perfectly fine with getting petted by the absent-minded charity lady. Blue diverted his glare from his feline companion for a moment towards the donation jar, which now was home to a whopping 100 Jewels!

...

"That's it?!" He turned back towards the audience, whose eyes had since dulled. It would seem that they weren't easily entertained (or they all had REALLY short attention spans...), so this was going be tougher than he thought. Murmers were starting to go around again. "I knew that was all he could do..." said a familiar gossiper, followed by, "The shorter you are, the worse you are at magic, you know..." It goes without saying the boy was not amused. He lowered his head, casting a shadow over the top half of his face. It looked like...he was shaking? Both of his hands were clenched, one around the grip of his sword and one in a fist by his side. Lucky opened one eye to check on his partner and when he saw what was happening? "Uh-oh..." He hoped these people were ready for show, because they were about to get one!

"You wanna see magic...-?" came a barely audible mumble from the young Mage. His head was still lowered and the trembling hadn't yet stopped. He released his grip on the sword, letting it fall to the ground by his feet. Except...when it hit it shattered immediately, startling some of the audience. Lucky took this as his sign and hopped on the back of the fundraiser lady's chair and placed his paws over her ears preemptively. "Three...twoooo...one."

"I'LL SHOW YOU MAGIC!!!"

Right on cue! A mysterious CLAP! sounded out, echoing throughout the area as he bashed his fist into his palm once again, this time much harder than before. "Ice-Make!" The light from earlier returned as well...and with a vengeance! It was blinding to look at directly and it hummed a magical drone as the young mage charged up another Spell. Whatever this one was, it was already without a doubt more heavy duty than the last! After a few seconds, Blue narrowed his eyes and brought both hands above his head. This was it...it was time to give the people a reason to donate! "BULWARK!" the Mage thrust both hands towards the ground and crouched, his palms meeting the pavement with incredible force. The ground shook as a bright blue, almost white flash of light enveloped the immediate area. Members of the audience stumbled backwards a few feet as they felt a cold presence pass by them. Some fell over outright as the shaking continued. Did this kid go mad and attack the crowd?!

Well...not quite. Suddenly the shaking stopped, though the area was noticeably colder than it was before. The light also died down...and when it did nearly every onlooker's jaw dropped in awe. There was Blue, crouched atop a huge wall of ice with a wicked smirk on his face. The structure was at least twenty feet by twenty feet, easy. He jabbed a thumb behind him as he addressed his astonished viewers. "The donation jar's on the table." But nobody moved. They were too busy admiring the massive structure, which was just as detailed and finely crafted as the much smaller blade he created earlier. It was as much a tower shield as it was a mass of ice! But Blue didn't give a damn about what they were doing. These people were pissing him off. They could look at all they wanted AFTER they donated. He furrowed his brow and casually formed the Ice-Make seal again, resting one hand gently on top of the structure afterwards. Glowing blue spots appeared all over the front side of the Bulwark, which then one-by-one all sprouted into symmetrical spikes. The boy glared menacingly at the crowd as he spoke. "I said...the donation jar's on the table..."

You ever see dozens of snooty rich people empty their wallets into a big glass jar at the same time? Because lemme tell you, it's a sight to behold.

"Wow...~" That big glass jar? Overflowing. Blue had to make a basket out of ice half the size of the entire table just to hold all the Jewels these people so kindly donated to their cause. The brash young Mage had since deconstructed his Bulwark and was now standing proudly by their earnings with his arms folded. Lucky held out his paw, to which Blue grinned and high fived. "Cleaned up pretty good, huh?" The fundraiser lady nodded emphatically. "Very good! I don't think we've ever had this many donations at one time..." Blue's gaze shifted from woman to the money pile. As much as it sucked not getting paid for this Job, they'd done a good thing here today (though the means by which he accomplished it was questionable...). "If you need help with this junk again, ask Fairy Tail for us if we're around." He nonchalantly offered, before motioning in the direction of the train station to his Exceed. "C'mon, Lucky." the boy said before turning to walk away. His feline companion hopped down from the table, adding only a "Right." in response.

But before the young Mage could get too far, the lady called out to him. "Wait! I have to ask...why did you two pick this charity out of all of them? Especially when there's no reward..." This question stopped Blue cold. He paused, back still turned to her and a long silence ensued. Lucky just stood there with a curious look on his face and shifted his gaze between the two of them. Eventually a small laugh could be heard coming from the boy. He shrugged his shoulders before responding. "No reason. We just needed another Job under our belt." And with that? He continued walking, not even bothering to turn back to see if Lucky was following him. The fundraiser lady seemed disheartened, lowering a head a bit after hearing his answer. But Lucky had something else to say. He nudged her leg, turning her attention towards him. "Don't let that big dummy fool you. He'd never admit it, but Blue likes helping people." The Exceed turned to face his companion, who was steadily getting further and further away. For all the show he put up, the Ice-Make Mage had a good heart. He was just short-tempered, arrogant, and a little rude at times. "It was tough growing up for us. We didn't have money for clothes, let alone food or anything else." The lady blinked, noting Lucky's lack of clothes. He had a knapsack...but did that really count? "Me and Blue both know how hard it is to have to live like that...and that's why we really picked your charity! If we can help make things easier on even one kid then it'd be worth it."

Lucky shot a big grin at the lady. "Anyways, just ask for Blue and Lucky from Fairy Tail. We'll be happy to help!" The fundraiser lady returned his gesture with a warm smile and bent down to give the Exceed a final few pats and a kiss on the head. "Thank you, Lucky...and give Blue my thanks too." she said, standing up and shifting her gaze towards the boy who was quickly fading from view. The Exceed shot her a peace sign and gave a, "Sure thing!~" before waddling off after his partner. She watched them go, laughing as Lucky waved goodbye once again as they were leaving. Oh, and Blue?

Blue had been smiling ever since he started walking away.