Mini Misadventures (Verona/Job)

Spoiler:

’How quaint. I wish Sabertooth could float over some place like this.’

It was hard not to feel a little jealousy of the cute town on its personal island in the middle of the rather large lake. The weather was pleasantly cool thanks to a lovely breeze, the sun playing peekaboo behind various clumps of cottony clouds, and she’d greatly enjoyed the vast expanses of green hills and dotting of trees before catching the local fairy to the town. One wrong turn out of the Sabertooth bar on ground level and one ended up stepping into sunbaked sand with a desert stretching before them. To date she’d managed to avoid it, but at some point a mission might lead her towards Rose Garden or another northern location, and she’d be doomed to take the long route or the very unpleasant one.

Pulling her hood down, Mao allowed her ears to stretch back up and soak in some of that lovely breeze, wind winding through the waves of her hair as the sounds of nearby bustling streets hummed in the air. She wouldn’t need to brave the streets today as the client lived closer to the outer reaches of the town, mentioning something about a large house and beautiful garden. Mao couldn’t help configuring a variety of mental pictures, hoping that there might be a plethora of flowers involved somehow. Would there be a lot of pastel petals with the occasional vibrant blossom? Maybe there were a lot of dark and deep colors with the occasional accentuating lighter hues? ’Then again, it’s all subjective. It could be filled with nothing but weeds and still beautiful to someone.’

Another amusing thought came to mind: Mrs. Cartigan mentioned another mage inquired about the job. Normally a small point, she’d gone on to mention the guild “Lamia Scale” and Mao momentarily pondered if it mightn’t be Mei or Ai. If it was one of them then she needn’t worry too much about the awkwardness of introductions – even if they’d somewhat botched that before, Mao sighing at her accidental rudeness…but to be fair,  the owner of the café had been rather pushy about getting them all started. If it turned out to be someone else however, she’d do things proper-like! As if to cement this idea she lightly tapped a fist to an open palm, nodding to the decision while garnering one or two odd-looks from passersby.

About to check the map, as Mao looked up she spotted a mailbox, conveniently labeled “Cartigan.” ’That was easier than I thought…’ A short, tile path lead from the box to a door of a grand, white house, the thing almost too pristine to be true. Whoever lived inside definitely had the money to keep the place in tip-top shape, causing her to wonder why the woman didn’t own some sort of metal detector or magnet that could help locate the missing ring. ’I suppose we’re the metal detectors. Would be a convenient magic to have right about now.’

Another question came to mind however…should she wait outside for her “partner” to arrive, or inside? Someone inside the house chose not to let her dwell too long on such thoughts as the door opened, and a fellow dressed in a suit looked down at her from the doorway, ”Ah, you’re herrrreeee. Madame Cartigan is awaiting your arrival in the gardeennnn. It would seem you’re first, so please feel free to enjoy the tea and crumpets until your partner arrives and then Madame will explain her requessttt.”

The way he stretched out the last syllable every once in a while distracted Mao, to the point she almost missed the raising of an eyebrow when he silently questioned “What are you still doing out here?” Her mind bounced back into her body and the woman quickly skittered around the house to the back where a finely dressed woman in a dark red dress with an eggplant colored shawl sat at a white, circular table with a multitude of shiny white porcelain dishes. Trays of scones and biscuits hovered over one another on a small tower, a teapot close by emitting little vapors of steam through the spout. Unused teacups and plates placed before the empty chairs awaited their turn at some teatime action. Mao would be all too happy to oblige after the pleasantries were done and over with, taking the offered seat and nodding to the woman, ”Hello Madame Cartigan, I’m Mao Nakiri of Sabertooth.”

She laughed, the sound akin to light rain hitting bells, ”Please, simply call me Mrs. Cartigan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please, enjoy some tea while we wait for the other wizard to arrive, and then I can fully explain your mission.” With a small smile Mao reached for the teapot, completely missing the slight, mischievous tilt of the woman’s mouth.

“Who the heck is a Cardigan?” Verona wondered out loud, getting the attention of a few passerbies. If this was any other day, Verona would have been back at her guild playing pranks on little Ukan. However, ever since Kihia became the guild master, she saw less of him and consequently, less of Ukan. Verona’s little pride would never let her admit it but she did like the small dog like wyvern when he wasn’t opening his smart mouth to talk back at her.

Currently, she was on her way to some Cardigan’s house. She had asked about more than five people about this person’s house and every time she said Cardigan, people gave her an odd look. Some simply kept walking and the ones that did show some kindness to her gave her a puzzled look till she gave them the job request form she had taken from LS. When she did do it, they gave her a dumbfounded look first, then giggled and then pointed at some random direction. What on earth was she doing wrong?!

Thanks to all of that, it had taken her an hour and half to finally get to Cardigan’s house. Verona’s mouth was a stunned “O” when her head tilted back several centimeters to take a look at the whole structure of the white house. It was almost sky high and seemed like it was pulled out from a picture book of princes and princesses. In short, it looked like a smaller version of a castle. If that wasn’t enough, it was completely white with neat dove motives here and there. Someone in there liked nature and birds way too much; she scoffed and pushed the intercom button. “I’m from Lamia Scale. Let me in!” was all that she said over it. It didn’t even take three minutes for someone to open the big doors and welcome her inside.

“Ah! You’re the other maaaggggeeee! Mrs Cartigan and the other mage are waiting for yyyyouuu! Come innnssiiddeee!” he told the dumbfounded Verona whose eyes were fixed on the confident visage of the butler.

‘I’m not even gonna ask what’s wrong with his throat,’ Verona walked inside, completely avoiding the bowing middle-aged man with a bow tie. Their immediate stop was at the back of the enormous house. She found the wealthy lady and another girl gathered around a table with sweets and tea. Verona made a disgusted face at the tea as she walked up to them.

“Yo…the name is Verona Stone. Are you Mrs Cardigan?” she asked and incidentally missed the slight twitch of annoyance in Cardigan’s eyes. “It’s Cartigan, Ms Verona. Please have some tea,” the rich lady spoke in a high class voice causing Verona to roll her eyes again. She swatted the cup of tea she extended when her nose twitched with disinterest. “I smell something weird in it. Are you trying to poison us?” Verona narrowed her eyes at the surprised lady while one of her hands slowly went up to push the cup of tea on the other girl’s hands away.

Frowning slightly, Mao stared at the teacup now on the vibrant green grass, the contents already soaking into the dirt. Not expecting the action, the cup happily slipped from Mao’s hand at the mere push. ’What a waste…’ Of course poisoning the tea would be a larger waste comparatively, but all the same it’d smelled delicious to her. Finally looking up at the woman who was to be her partner, surprised at the confident person regarding their client suspiciously.

The older woman sighed, a single hand massaging the sides of her forehead. Without a hint of reluctance she gently grabbed the same teapot and poured herself a cup, sipping healthily before setting the cup back in its saucer. ”Hardly child, I have never been, nor ever will be in the business of ‘poisoning’ people. I could hardly call for help from fellow sorcerers if word got around I took them out, now could I?” Mrs. Cartigan motioned for the newcomer to take a seat, ”Come Verona, won’t you join us? It won’t be long before you two begin your task, might as well enjoy a crumpet or two before then.”

Regardless the woman cleared her throat, now lacing her fingers together as she stared the pair down, ”You see, I need you two to find something precious to me. If I were in my younger years it’d be a simple enough task for myself, but as you can see time marches on so I need the help of youthful individuals such as yourselves.” For a moment her gaze fell to the table, sadness creeping in before she closed her eyes, steeled herself, and regarded the duet again, ”There is one thing I hold precious above all else in my life: my wedding ring. My belated husband and I loved one another very much, and it is one of the few possessions that helps keep him close to my heart since he passed away a year ago…and it is lost in this garden. I need your help to find it, and I am willing to pay you both handsomely for it.”

The request still felt a little odd, given the fact she could probably have her help scour around…but perchance they’d already failed that tactic and thus mages? ”Why us? Wouldn’t your staff or perhaps some sort of specialist be better?”

”I’m afraid we’ve tried and failed. As far as I can tell it seems to be on the move here and there as it does possess a small, magical signature thanks to constant exposure, which is why I reached out to mages specifically as you should be able to feel its presence with a little assistance. What do you say?”

’The tea and crumpets can shrink people?’ Staring down at the food, Mao found it a little hard to believe. ’How…Alice in Wonderland? Shrinking down to enter another world…’ The possibilities of what life down in the grasslands intrigued her, though the potential to die via foot made her rethink things a little. When the woman proceeded to cry Mao wasn’t sure how to react, because the woman’s tone and form turned out a little different from other examples she witnessed in the past, and lacked a quality – ’Distraught…’ she thought – compared to the child who’s ice cream fell to the floor and the family dressed in black in the cemetery. Perhaps grief took on multiple forms?

Other questions persisted, Mao’s tone remaining even as she pressed, ”Before I agree…or not, there are a few more details that need clarifying. First off, how long will we be shrunken for? I hope not indefinitely because at such a size creating a good signal might be difficult, so I’d appreciate a time limit. Granted, if the ring’s not found within the time limit I don’t mind being shrunk a second time or simply foregoing payment.” The last statement was accompanied by a shrug, the story touching, but somehow Mao didn’t fully feel bad for the woman and really, really didn’t want to remain super tiny forever. Being short was hard enough when people occasionally mistook you for a child or young teen.

”Second of all – and this might tie in a little with the time limit question – but I am to assume that during our ‘search’ that nobody will be allowed into the garden, correct? I would appreciate not becoming a bug beneath someone’s shoe…and if possible I’d appreciate it if any pets of your’s remain indoors during since animals can be quite prone to chasing small things.” Avoiding the “wildlife” would be nigh impossible so Mao really didn’t want to add to their foe list in any way that could be avoided. It’d be bad if they came face-to-face with a spider, let alone any…bees…or hellspawn as they might’ve well been named.

All at once the crying ceased, the woman wiping away her “tears” and waved her hand dismissively, ”Of course my dear, there won’t be anyone – be it pet or person – permitted in the garden during the course of your search. I’d really appreciate the ring being found at any…” There she cut herself off, though Mao suspected the missing word to be something like “cost.” ”Erhrm…at any rate, if you both would prefer a time limit…would an hour be all right? I’ll leave a little bell of mine on the brick path by the door for you if you happen to find it before time runs out. All you’ll need to do is hit it, and I’ll hear it from inside the house thanks to some imbuing magic. Will those terms suffice?”

Well, all of her concerns had been answered and met, so Mao shrugged, ”That’s it for me, I’m willing to still take this job on despite your earlier tricks.” Mrs. Cartigan twitched at the word “tricks,” but didn’t comment as she instead turned her gaze upon Verona.

”And you, child?”

Raising an eyebrow in question was all the reaction Mrs. Cartigan got from Verona.  No more questions and no more answers. Mrs. Cartigan gulped as sweat dropped off her forehead. “What is it, child?” she asked while trying desperately to make a pleasant face at the glaring Verona Stone. At that, Verona simply turned away from her towards the other mage she was going to work with. Putting on an air of indifference, Verona nodded at her before walking straight past the girl towards Mrs. Cartigan’s garden. “I’ll be at the garden if your butler can show me the way without opening his mouth,” she brushed the woman off while the butler’s eyes twitched without any change in his stance.

However, he still walked in front of Verona. They walked through several hallways and doors to reach the huge garden behind Cartigan’s house. It covered a long space, thick grass, colorful flowers and different type of trees. Verona had to admit, she did like the way it was all set up. The workers must have just finished watering the whole garden since she noticed droplets of clear water on their leaves and petals. Above all of that, the different butterflies and birds flying all over it got her attention the most.  On the whole, it painted a picture perfect scene.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Cartigan came up behind Verona who was busy staring at a violet flower that caught her eyes. “It was my late husband’s. He loved flowers. This was the first thing me beloved built after the manor. It’s the most precious for me,” This time, Verona could tell the genuine sadness in Cartigan’s voice. ‘At least this gives me some real reason to find that ring,’ Verona sighed and turned around to face her. “Shrink us down already”.


OOC: It turned into a meh post >.< In my defense, I was too tired D:

Mao kept a straight face despite the comment about the butler, having noticed his…undeniably quirky speech pattern – or was it an impediment? It could be so hard to say without potentially offending someone. Despite his obvious annoyance the man kept his mouth shut as the quartet made their way to the garden, the very air fresh in this little bit of paradise on an otherwise bustling island. After their very brief admiration the second girl demanded the older woman shrink hem already, Mao turning around just as the old woman smiled.

Yeah, this was her favorite part easily.

At the snap of her fingers, a sparkly dust-like material flew from her fingers to enshroud the pair, coating them in a fine mist. For the first few seconds Mao pondered if that was just a distraction for the real spell until a small tingling started along her tail and back before spreading to cover almost every inch of her skin. By the gods it was horrible, as if the girl’s entire body suddenly fell asleep and that pins-n-needles sensation covered every inch. Unable to control herself, the short mage started rubbing her arms as if that might stave off the annoying and ticklish feeling, but to no avail as she slowly realized that their client…started growing.

”Sorry about that darlings, it’s a…small side effect if you will,” judging by the “sweet grandmotherly smile” the pun had been intentional, even if it did very little to comfort her. At this point it almost felt like an ant hill decided to climb her in some sort of contest to see who could reach the top and plant a tiny flag first!

Within less than a minute however they’d both be no more than two centimeters a piece and the world suddenly looked impossible. Grass now stretched higher than them, providing shade from an even more intimidating sun. Droplets once smaller than pearls became large blobs ready to soak them at a moment’s notice if they didn’t pay attention, and the rustling of the wind against trees once melodious took on a more sinister sound of cackling from monstrous trees. The fact that critters out of sight could be heard all around only further unsettled her.

’If reincarnation’s a thing, I hope to never become a bug.’ By now the horrible tickling sensation subsided and Mao turned to her companion, unsure how to really speak with the standoffish woman, ”I suppose we should get going. Are you able to feel anything? Well…aside from residual limb tingles.” She could still feel it mentally, even if not physically.

Verona felt her eyes twitch as she felt like thousands of people were all pinching her all at the same time. Even though she made no move to rub at her burning skin, Verona’s intense eyes were completely fixed on Mrs Cartigan who obviously found the two mages’ discomfort to be funny. Thankfully, the annoying feeling didn’t last too long. Within a minute, both Verona as well as Mao was in the size of an ant or maybe even smaller. It could be felt that her magic power had been dropped a lot as well. She didn’t feel as big or strong or as full as she did before. Compared to a lot of things, she was like a wilting flower ready to snap.

“If reincarnation is a thing, I hope I never become a bug,” she yelled at the top of her lungs, unaware that she had just given voice to her companion’s thoughts. Meanwhile, she stomped on the ground and started spewing out a sting of curses aimed at the fat woman that turned them into this tiny…tiny, well, they were not any better than bugs, now were they? Once she finished raging, Verona turned to Mao who asked her about feeling anything. “Feel anything? You want to know what I’m feeling? I feel like I’m freaking tiny!” she screamed, sighed and then simply sat down on the soil with a huff. “Sorry but I have absolutely no luck at the moment,” she finally answered Mao while still keeping her eyes closed. She was trying to sense something out of the ordinary around them. But no matter what, all she could pick up were the sweet fragrance of roses, fresh honey and then the smell of something seriously awful like…manure? Urgh

As she spent a little under a minute just sitting there getting no luck, Verona stood up and started patting dirt off her skirt. “I can’t get anything from here. Maybe we should go further into the garden. If I’m not wrong, we are still only a few meters away from where we started. If this garden was huge before, at this rate, it is enormous for us”.

’A dumb question I guess.’ Not that she’d blame the woman as being ridiculously tiny compared to before was far from favorable fate. The fact they held the same thought caused her to smile, even if the crystal mage hid the action from the other woman by scoping out the scenery. Yep, nothing, whole lot of nothing from their starting point. ”Sounds like a plan,” Mao agreed. Why the need to shrink them so drastically? Even if they found the ring, dragging it around would become a giant pain.

Double checking that her gauntlets stayed with her, Mao sighed in some relief as they began their trek: at least she wasn’t completely unarmed. If they had to fight the denizens of this overgrown forest then she’d rather have some personal back up. Through the grassy forest they’d tread however, the stalks a couple times their size and lead to another thought:

’I hope we don’t have to fight anything larger than a bug.’

Round and through the grass they went, something slightly tickling Mao’s senses and yet it would just turn out to be the cacophony of noises or some grass citizen crossing their path as a lady bug stopped to stare. For a split second the bunny-eared girl could almost swear it shrugged before taking off, the flapping of its wings creating a decent if not sudden breeze. At this size however kicking up dirt wasn’t much of a worry at least, but seeing one up close was extraordinary since the shell usually caught one’s attention and yet now they could make out the face as well as their strange legs. Another thought struck her as they passed a pill bug – who only looked freakier at this size – and Mao couldn’t help murmuring under her breath.

”I hope we don’t run into any bees or wasps…”

Never mind some horrific spider that could weave them into a web at this size. The idea of being impaled by a stinger…no if she thought too long about it, she might begin to pale. Nearby rustling caught her attention, whatever it was possibly cutting down grass in order to get to them or…wherever it might be going in a hurry.

The member 'Mao' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Verona quietly shrugged and swiftly hopped ahead of Mao. Both her hands were pulled back to hold the back of her head as she felt a cool breeze rush through her hair. It playfully tangled between her silky brown tresses and like a lover, pulled it back before letting it go with a swoosh sound. Subtle scent of nature that wrapped around the fire dragon slayer made her sigh in bliss. Normally, Verona wouldn’t have cared. But the high grass and maybe her height as well; they reminded Verona of her own childhood where she had traversed through Igneel’s forest for far more times than what she could count. The lively girl that she was would never stay at one place for longer than five minutes. Rivers crossing the forest, the valley, the field of golden daffodils and the warm clearing in the middle of the forest; both her and Igneel’s favorite resting spot. She would frequently visit them all and often, she would even intentionally hide from Igneel. Strangely though, he would always know just where to find his little girl. At the end of the day, he easily caught her and dragged her back to the cave. Yes, she was not a very obedient child.

From her current height, Verona felt that the sky looked farther away from her when she looked up. Well, that was supposed to be quite obvious in her situation. Effortlessly, she had tuned out all the weird noises coming from all around her. Surely, it was weird bugs and insects doing whatever they wanted to do. She just really hated that height though. Not only could she not find the end of the garden, her tiny legs weren’t carrying her any longer than half an inch per second. She wanted to quickly get this mission over with. She didn’t realize that she had even passed by some bugs by that point. Well, that was until she felt intense heat on her feet. When she looked down, she felt that a ray of sunlight, at that height, had intensely burnt her. She immediately retracted her foot and scowled up at the sun. The grass and leaves were covering most of the sunlight but the tiny rays that slipped past them were not making things easy.

No sooner did she turn her attention back to the present, she heard loud snipping sounds approaching them hastily. Before Verona could even step back, she found a dark, huge, shiny figure walk out. It was a beetle and it was cutting away whatever that it found in its way. But things didn’t stop there. Oh no! If this beetle came to them from their front, then there was something else approaching them from behind. A harvestman.

The beetle charged at her while the harvestman seemed to have targeted Mao because of her strange ears. One of them looked angry while the other looked hungry. The angry beetle took a step forward, narrowing its beady eyes at the brown haired girl wearing bright red clothes. Maybe it was angry because they trespassed? Was that it? Did they cross some invisible line?

"This won't go down well..."

The large, shiny black beetle did not seem to like their presence, its anger almost palpable despite Mao’s lack of experience in identifying insects’ feelings and moods. Just as she theorized it could’ve been a sort of territorial response something else showed up to the party and its mere presence wiped every last thought from the girl’s mind. Verona and the beetle ceased existing in her mind as a lot of the exotic perspective of the world melted away and her sole purpose turned to destroying this wretched creature before her.

A specific incident couldn’t be named, couldn’t be recalled or summoned from the various memories she’d accumulated in her gems. This reaction stemmed from before her memory, body acting purely on instinctive dislike and distaste for the type of creature, and failing to see a difference between it and any other spider. As far as her mind registered: it had eight, spindly legs and a mouth currently watering at the idea of munching down on her. The fact it may or may not have poison hardly crossed her mind, sure that any bite from it would be as unpleasant as others.

How she positively itched to squash it immediately.

Her current height – or severe lack of it – posed a strong issue to this however as the thing lurched forward. She couldn’t just grab the nearest object of someone’s and quash this thing from existence, cleansing its very being from her presence. Instead it would have to be summarily destroyed, hacked to pieces as the gloves appeared on her hands, the action not registering on a conscious level for the girl. She struck out with a swing as the thing gave another swing forward, a leg flying a couple of centimeters away. A few, thin rivulets fell down her shoulder as one of the mouthy talons lightly scraped her shoulder. It wasn’t long before another leg flew from its body, this time the thing wrenched from its body at the cries of the beast, the wriggling sending her momentarily flying when the limb finally gave way. It was with a quick roll she was crouched, hand braced against the ground as eyes took on an animalistic quality unbefitting her assumed creature.

A predatory urge to kill and maim took over.

---

HP: 99%
MP: 100%

Harvestman -2 legs

Verona purged Mao and the harvestman from her mind when she saw the beetle start straight for her. The bug absolutely disgusted the raven haired beauty. Its elytra were dirtied with mud and the antlers were snapping in rage. Occasionally, it raised the leathery forewings to give Verona a peek of its transparent but surprisingly beautiful folded wings. They were outlined with silver lines and even the tiniest movement of it caused dirt to rise and strong wind to blow on Verona who had to grab onto the base of a tall grass to not crash back on to Mao.

“This is not how I expected my morning to be!” she complained in the middle of struggling to not get blown away. “I don’t know about you, bunny girl, but I am not becoming a beetle’s breakfast,” she gnarled and finally pushed her off the grass towards the sky.

Verona landed on the beetle’s back with a loud thud. It felt like leather but the very unpleasant type. Black slippery surface stared back at Verona as her fiery eyes tried to glare a hole through the thing she had slipped on while trying to stand up. On top of all that, there was grain like substance sticking to it. Pollen…

The yellow puffy things fell on Verona when the beetle moved and she moved with it. The girl was stumbling around its back while the beast tried to shake her off. “Hey I don’t want to be on your back either! Just stay still!” she shouted before throwing a fire punch to its back.

Fire; oh she had forgotten how much effect fire had on things like it. She had not done much but the beetle was already on fire. This situation would have been great for the fire dragon slayer if it weren’t for two things – one, Verona was now back on ground and two, the beetle on fire was charging straight towards her AGAIN!

This time she ran for it. She didn’t even look back when the beetle growled in agony and thrashed around in the ground. Oh no! Only one thought ran through the girl’s mind. She was going to drop these dead bugs into that old lady’s tea for shrinking them down!


HP:95%
MP:95%

In her right mind Mao would’ve been thoroughly disgusted. That blank slate state however allowed the woman to overlook the gross nature of the bug’s inner juices slipping over her gauntlet as the woman dove the thing through the exoskeleton all for the sake of a stronger hold. It thrashed about and for a moment she could experience some of the thrills bull riders went through as it bucked and whipped about, all to dislodge the painful thing it wanted to eat. Missing limbs and now punctured it might’ve been rethinking this whole “eat those tasty looking weird things” plan.

One of those wicked limbs reared up too high and without another thought a clawed metal hand swiped out. The moment it placed weight on the nearly decapitated extremity the pressure cracked the last tinge of flesh that kept it together. Between the wild dancing about and the crash from the sudden burden Mao finally flew from the wretched thing’s back, rolling to her knees as those slit eyes regarded her grotesque opponent.

It really needed to die.

Perhaps now because it’d turn into an inescapable battle to the death or maybe an incurable rage gripped the beast, but the harvestman gave up any intentions of leaving now. If it didn’t at least gain a healthy bite on its intended meal then all this would be for naught, and any chance to escape might offer its possible new predator a far too tantalizing opening. It snarled and hissed as only a nightmarish creature could, flailing both legs and stubs in the air as it charged. Heat licked at her back, only the barest of glances back telling her that another vicious enemy neared the woman’s back.

Backwards she rolled, tail curling beneath her even as both feet came up to press against the wannabe-spider’s belly. Teeth sank into a shoulder, but she paid it little mind as the coiled energy sprung through her body. Feet gave a great shove against the abdomen even as that ridiculously large tail further pushed against the ground and forced Mao’s body to somersault while the battered beast flew up into the air, just enough to crash into a burning beetle. The shrieks of pain might’ve been mildly pleasing if the smell of burning goo and bugs didn’t put the woman off, waking Mao a little from her stupor. ”Gross,” she murmured, pressing her little nose into the crook of one of her elbows. The sleeves helped a little at least, but she sure as heck wasn’t going anywhere near the tangle of writhing insects.

---

HP: 89%
MP: 100%