There is Always More Land (Social/Mao)

Elyx! I'm bored! And where are we anyways? Ignite asked as she was looking through the map. Despite how much of an adult she seemed to look like, the She Phoenix could not stop acting like a spoiled child. Meanwhile, Elyx was looking over her shoulder so that he could look at the map. He found nothing that would show them where they were, which was funny since this was supposed to be a map of Fiore. Whatever the case, Elyx was not going to stress over it, he felt like he could stay at an inn and ask for directions on the way back home. All right princess, entertain yourself then with a chocolate bar then. Elyx answered with a smile on his face before he quickly placed his hand inside of his knapsack. The both of them were in quite an odd town, neither of them could recognize it, even with all of the jobs, it seems they never came to this part of Fiore before.

Finally, Elyx got the chocolate bar from his knapsack and handed it over to the She Phoenix, who had her eyes shot wise open before she perkily gripped onto the chocolate bar and let out a loud squeal, almost everyone shifting their heads towards them. Elyx felt himself turning red with embarrassment with how Ignite grabbed the attention of so many people around them. He might as well have "Loser" placed on his head and a dunce cape as well. Instead, he did his best to ignore as he looked around for something in this town that they could do for fun.

Three days she’d spent in that library. Three days with only the mild necessity to sleep and eat at least a meal forcing the girl from that wonderful place (alongside closing time booting her from the haven of books). Today marked the fourth day wherein Mao accepted the inevitable: she needed a break. Eyes began to cross on the last book, the words not quite registering as she’d liked and mentally her thoughts began to drift back a couple of texts before closing the current one with a resigned “thunk!” and shelving it.

’Hmm something good to eat, something good…’ So many smells and choices surrounded the short woman as she walked down a road filled with food carts and people milling about from cart-to-cart. One in particular caught her fancy, ears perking up as she neared it just as the last person left. Fresh pastries sat inside, kept warm in the compartments as the display pieces revealed her choices. Happily the man placed a few in a bag using tongs, and a few jewels later the girl had breakfast!

The mixture of warm, flaky bread with slightly melty chocolate in the center created a sensation of heaven in her mouth, a happy sigh escaping as she swallowed the first bite. In the end the chocolate au pain vanished all too quickly no thanks to the greed of her stomach. ’Good thing I bought two. Hmm…maybe the jelly filled donut next?’ As the round pastry came into hand, hovering dangerously close to her mouth a noise caused a pause and like many around she stared for a moment as a woman gleefully accepted some chocolate. Well, nobody could blame her as chocolate was the best creation of all time.

As fast as it caught everyone’s attention however plenty quickly moved on, including a few impatient souls standing behind the short mage. Her only warning was a sudden shove from behind followed by a gruff, “Sorry,” that hardly sounded apologetic as the pair of men walked by her. Everything slowed down, but in that annoying way of watching a train wreck and being unable to do anything about it. Out of hand and into the air the warm, jelly-filled delight sailed before smacking against a poor gentleman’s back as he peered around. Some of the red goo from inside splattered a little before the thing hit the ground and completely broke apart, the bulk of the contents now displayed on the ground, but as depressing as it was to lose something so delicious Mao quickly fretted through the bag. ’Napkins, napkins…napkins!’

“I’m so sorry!” she blurted out, trying to wipe the bits of jam off the brunette’s back.

So this was Oak town, not exactly a waste of time like some places he has gone through. The Haunted Village was one of those places, it was more like a home for most of the jobs that he took, all of the whispers, the possessed children, the doll girl named Lilith, it was just stationary for jewels and jobs. There were no events in particular that he would care to be apart of there. On top of that, there was also the fact that Ignite has always been tempted to burn it to the ground whenever something would scare her, whih put many of his jobs there in danger. There was also Magnolia, it was great and all with the festive activities, but it was so annoyingly full every time the both of them would enter. Black Rose itself seemed like half of a ghost town, it was well populated, but it felt like doom and gloom when everything seems black and white there. The sun did not shine there too often, and they depended more on technology rather than magic. The Desert... Heh... No questions there. Any place with water, that will cause him to freeze in place and stutter. Oak Town had none of that, maybe this was a great place after all!

The corners of the violinists lips began to lose gravity as they curled up, showing a small grin at the thought of finding a place that he could hang out in without worry. Nothing seemed wrong with it so far, the most problem he had with it was that Ignite was with him, but that problem applied to every place he has ever been in. Elyx looked downwards towards the She-Phoenix as her eyes both locked onto the chocolate as if she were stalking prey. Her grin was happier than his, for obvious reasons with what was in her hands. There was no proper way to describe the smile on her face, the most he could come up with was, Cat-Like. Maybe he should start calling her Neko, but that could be shot back at him since one of his C rank spells in his magic allows him to become a Cat, or Neko to be precise. It's funny since his magic is designed to be about Wind and Speed. Then again, Wind Lerale Boost: Swift Paws, just about gives him the speed of a Roadrunner.

The boy decided to take this moment to relax and take care of his tired body by sitting down on a nearby bench. Before taking the chance to walk, he stretched both arms into the air, his hands clenching into fists, a small crack could be heard in his bones. To get the extent of this, he even stood on the tip of his boots to raised his body upwards, obtaining minimal balance. Things could have not been more relaxing... Until all of a sudden, a soft object struck his white jacket from behind. *Ack* Elyx gagged as he took the hit, some weird liquid striking the back of his hair as well. With the minimal balance, the item was strong enough to knock him forward. Whoa! WHOA! Elyx exclaimed as he spun his arms crazily in circles to maintain his balance, but to no avail as he felt forward onto the rough concrete below him. Nothing really broke his fall except for his chest, slowing down how fast his head was going to hit the ground.

Ignite was witnessing this scene, and she was laughing hard at him while pointing at how he got hit and fell onto the ground. Now Elyx has a reason to prank her for this. AHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's the funniest thing I've seen all day! The She-Phoenix exclaimed as Elyx groaned in pain, resembling the sound of a zombie. He lifted himself onto his legs so that he could sit down with his legs crossed. He looked onto his right side to see that there was a jelly-filled pastry cut in half, and a bunch of red was splattered all over the ground around it. It sort of matched his blood on his cheek, so he could just say that it was jelly so he did not have to show any weaknesses.

All of a sudden, someone shouted an apology, taking responsibility for what had happened. It was nice to see that someone would not try to hide from him for this, he could have yelled at the town or tracked down someone in the town to see who had done what they did. He was a Bounty Hunter after all, it would not be hard for him to track down someone in a town as small as this one. Instead, the lady responsible for this mess tried to wipe off the red jam placed on his white jacket. He turned his head to the side halfway to see who was cleaning him off.

The lady turned out to be around his age more or less, maybe a little bit older. She had a dark shade of blue to represent her hair, and her face looked so worried as if she accidentally stabbed him. Well, he was bleeding due to the fall, but that was nothing, he had taken worse. He put a smile on his face as he stepped forward, away from the napkins. Regardless of the situation he was in, he was a humble one. Swinging his body around, both of the two met eyes, one of them smiling while the other was worried. Thank you for the help, but it's nothing honestly. Just a mistake right? Elyx asked as he began to unbutton his white jacket quickly so that he could get the jam covered item off of his back. It was rather rare for him to be wearing only a T-Shirt in public, but since it was dark Brown, it barely had any jelly stains on it. Don't kill yourself over it, all right? It looks to me you lost quite the amount of pastries though, would you like me to pay for some?

Who knew but a humble donut could fall a…well anyone for that matter. Before today Mao wouldn’t imagined it impossible, but given the exaggerated reaction – not wholly weird though, if one imagined they were being attacked? – he fell all the same. His friend took the action for the hilarity it was, and many others nearby joined in with their chuckles or guffaws at the outlandish performance. For all a few of them knew this might very well be a comedy act as a few people dropped some coins into the bag, much to Mao’s confusion. Yet she ignored it for now, focused on trying to clean up the man who somehow even managed to get jam on his face…wait was it jam?

The fact that it all happened on a white garment made it only worse, Mao now wondering about the possibilities of dry cleaning. For reasons that could only make the woman grateful he pulled away with a smile rather than getting in her face, yelling, and demanding some form of payment. ”Yes,” she nodded, green eyes still staring up into brown ones with a hint of unsureness. The rabbit-eared woman didn’t make a habit of throwing baked goods at random strangers – or throwing much of anything at strangers really – but she didn’t really have anyone to back up her claim with her.

When it first happened it’d been hot chocolate onto some stranger’s lap and she’d been wholly unsure what to do, frozen in place. At least thanks to her friend Silabus the situation eventually smoothed over despite the other fellow’s grumbling. On the bright side it appeared only this stranger’s jacket took the brunt of the hit with his head receiving a little bit of a splash attack, so he could remove it unlike the other fellow since removing one’s pants in public would likely incur the wrath of any police figure. Not only did he not start yelling though, he went so far as to offer to buy her more and caused the short woman to freeze on her confusion.

’Is this normal?’

Any lingering worry was wiped away immediately and replaced with a wide-eyed blank look. It wasn’t that she meant to be rude in any way, but the girl required a moment to process it and life returned quickly enough. ”Oh…no, actually I only lost the one, most of them I’ve already eaten. Err…would you like o-,” about to offer him one Mao frowned as she stared down into the bag. She’d forgotten that some folks dropped coins into it, and if not for that crinkly wax paper the man insisted on wrapping each one with – so they wouldn’t make a mess on each other or all over the bag – then it might’ve made for some gross money and pastries.

Fishing out the coins it wasn’t a sum to write home about, but it would help a little with the costs of cleaning the coat so she held out the hand with the small mass of money, ”I’ve got more to pay for the cleaning, but some sympathetic strangers offered some coins as well…also, if you’d like one of the pastries they’re very good. I still have another two…jam…ones…err but I have one with a cream filling and I still have one with chocolate!” She quickly veered away from offering the jam ones, sure that he wouldn’t want to devour the same food he’d been assaulted by moments prior…unless he was into revenge eating? ”Both are pretty good so I wasn’t sure which to eat last, but you can have them both if you like?”

Elyx listened to her speak and noticed a small pattern in how she did so. She spoke with many pauses in her sentences, this poor person, if she was going to react this way when he spoke nicely, he would have felt so scared for her if he reacted with rage. Never in his life has he done something like that to someone, but the fact that she seemed like this while he spoken showed what kind of person she was. Elyx could admit that he was innocent, but not once in his life would he call himself shy. He was a rather perky character, and it does not seem like it because Ignite was much better at being so happy and joyful around people. Whenever they would go on jobs, she would always be so happy since she loves jewels. She was so hapy with jewels that he would not doubt it if someone were to tell him that she were in love with jewels, as in, she truly fell for the Monopoly guy. That would be a marriage he would go broke just to pay for completely, he would love to get pictures and bug her about it whenever she would get a divorce and the money had a preen-up.

The boys eyes then shot up when he heard about a chocolate pastry in the bag, the sun shining as they locked onto the bag now. there was chocolate located inside of that bag, and now his next mission was to obtain it. Even though she offered it to him, the treat had never felt so far from him. Physically, he could reach out to it easily and obtain the bag, the chocolate treat being there. Mentally, the boy would try to reach for it, but then a metal chain grips his arm back with violence. His other arm would stretch towards the other direction. He closed the gap though with just simply an answer.

I love chocolate, may I please have the chocolate pastry? Elyx asked, and from there, time seemed to slow down. the answer that came out of her mouth did not seem to be revealing itself. In his mind, her mouth was moving in slow-motion as he braced himself for a Yes or a No. It was soon to reveal itself, but to him, it would not be moving any slower.

Something about the boy’s demeanor changed when she mentioned the other pastries. The very air around them turned tense and for a fleeting moment Mao imagined she might be in the midst of a hostage negotiation or something of the like. Even stranger, for one so kind, Mao entertained the notion that she might be robbed within the next moment or two, curious given how kind the gent was concerning his jacket and the little mishap. ’Surely it’s all in my mind?’ The way he stared at the bag…he desired the contents in such a way that almost made Mao blush with the intensity, unsure how to really respond to it.

”The chocolate one?” he’d startled her out of the imagination daze she’d settled into, physically jolting out of the daydream, ”Of course!” Immediately a hand sought out the pastry wrapped in its personal waxy paper. Rather than merely hold it out to him however Mao immediately placed it in his, some instinct demanding she fork the goods over rather than keep him waiting. Now secure in the knowledge that nothing ridiculously silly (at least in regards to stolen pastries or the like) Mao considered the pair for a moment before making another offer, ”If you want I can show you where I got them. They’re quite delicious, and I’m sure he’s got more if you’d like more of the chocolate pastries.” And then she could nab a few more of the cream filled ones, saddened to realize she only had one left. ’Hard to say if there’ll be any more chocolate-filled ones if I show him where it is.’

The Violinist locked his light brown onto the pastry as it was given to him. Both hands gently gripped around the treat, the warm feel, fresh from the bakery for sure. The corners of his lips further pressed themselves upwards as the boy then opened his mouth, ready to bite into the chocolate-filled item, only for him to be stopped by Wind-Make Awakened: Warning. This allowed him to sense wind flows from up to 15 meters away, and one of the wind flows seemed odd... The boy turned to the bench to see that Ignite had gone. She's trying to steal this treat, not a chance! The boy thought to himself before he turned his head to look over his shoulder, and there was Ignite, running towards him from behind. The intention was obvious, now all he had to do was dodge. The She Phoenix was closing in onto the pastry, reaching out her arms to nab the item. Elyx tossed the item into the air as Ignite almost swiped the treat from his hand, but she ended up grabbing air itself as the treat then fell back into the Violinists palm once again. With that, he sunk his teeth int the pastry in front of Ignite's eyes. The She-Phoenix slumped and fell onto her knees with defeat. M-My chocolate... No... Ignite whispered, creating a scene that was more dramatic than it should be. It was his fall, he was the one who should have it. But Ignite was going to keep sulking on this. Meanwhile, Elyx had to find out where this girl got the pastry so he could shut the She-Phoenix up.

Wait, you know of the place? Please, I really would like to have more of these, and I would really like to shut my partner up. We've never been here before you see... Elyx admitted, putting his hand behind his head and scratched it a little bit out of embarrassment. It kind of hurt to admit that he was ignorant to something, even if he was not afraid to sat that he needed help. But now that he had said it, he can't turn back from the request now. This girl seemed nice enough to show him, he had the jewels to pay for a few dozen to bring back to Black Rose.

For the briefest of moments Mao wasn’t quite sure this had been the right choice. If anything it appeared the woman offered an addict his drug of choice, though the sheer delight and desire to devour the delicious morsel helped assuage this feeling. Head tilting to the side, she became curious when the teen stopped short of that first bite, as if sensing something wrong in the force. When he looked behind her gaze instinctively followed, though one could almost visualize the question mark above her head as it didn’t quite click.

In that short span of time she momentarily forgot about the woman who’d outright laughed when the Sabertooth mage accidentally beaned the kind gentleman with one of her jelly-filled pastries. In a roundabout way it’d been her fault too that they’d even talked or that the accident occurred since it’d been her shriek of delight that caused Mao to pause long enough for someone to bump her and send the thing flying.

Quickly enough he avoided the attempted theft, and the bite appeared like a taunt to his partner. If Mao didn’t know any better, she might’ve accused the woman of being an actress since she hardly saw such levels of comical despair outside the stage. People started to stop and stare, including the tailed mage who snapped out of her momentary stupor at the question.

”O-oh! Yeah, of course!” Whirling about Mao called over her shoulder, ”This way!” If there was one thing Mao might claim to be decent at, it would be dodging and weaving through crowds as she slipped past and around group sand couples with little effort. If not for her tail slinking behind it might’ve been hard for some to follow as the people milled about, though even then those two tall ears could be seen bobbing up and down behind some of the taller people. The cart blessedly wasn’t far, just around the corner of a large shop and down the road a block, the only thing making it take a little bit was the thick crowds. Turning around she smiled, ”Here it is!”

There it stood, a simple enough cart that the owner could pick up by the two handles and pull or push as he pleased. The compartment stayed well insulated, ensuring that the bread retained that “freshly baked” feeling and smell even if it’d been around an hour since he last stocked up on bread from his main shop. Jovially he called out as many others did, vocally advertising his little cart and shop to even those who couldn’t see him through the throngs of people. ”Come get some fresh, baked bread! Many fillings to choose from! Fresh baked bread: so good it’ll melt in your mouth!”