Picking Up Chicks Is Easy

Job Info:

Vulcans, creatures known for liking pretty ladies and smashing everything else; even pretty ladies that resisted. They were the creepers of the monster kingdom, and apparently there was a problem with them in Magnolia Town. That was where her and Mao were now, looking for the client whose girlfriend had been snatched by one of the horny creatures. 'Poor guy, he must be worried sick about his girl being kidnapped by these furry perverts!' She couldn't imagine what would happen if a significant other of hers had the same thing happen. The poor bandaged mage would flip out and go ballistic for sure.

She turned towards Mao, her best friend whom had walked the entire way here with her. The bunny eared girl had been fine with going on this job with the socialite. This job was different though, it was actually one for their rank for once. Most of their jobs together had been one higher than them, and usually resulted in them taking a beating more often then not. The decently naive girl, gifted with a gorgeous tail, was fun to hang around with, even if she didn't notice Aiyana's flirting for what it was.

”Well, for once we get a mission that we should be able to manage pretty easily. Ready to find this guy and get on our way?” The person's place was somewhere on the east side of town, which was meant that the vulcan that had kidnapped the poor girlfriend was probably in the eastern forest somewhere. They would find out for sure when they talked to the man, as he was sure to have seen something based on how sure he was in the mission's paper she had grabbed off the board.

[289]
[1]

’What strange creatures.’ The reoccurring thought cropped up for the umpteenth time since they’d started their small journey to Magnolia. It’d started with yet another request to join her friend on a job, one that sounded far less intense than dealing with some notorious treasure hunter and the very odd collection of items from people long gone. It still boggled her mind whether they’d hidden the loot amongst all those strange memorabilia and questionable possessions. However stranger she’d noticed an odd habit of Aiyana’s.

Having taken the train over to Hargeon – since it made little to no sense to have them meet up partway seeing as Hargeon wasn’t that far from Magnolia – Mao suggested they take a quick train ride over to the city. Instead Aiyana suggested they walk since it wasn’t that far. It was a bit of a reoccurring theme with her that the girl refused to use transportation whenever avoidable. ’I know she has the money given how active she is with jobs,’ given how many Mao tagged along for, the pay wasn’t too shabby as of late, ’So…mayhaps she doesn’t like spending it? No, that’d be silly…I’m sure she just likes walking. Or maybe, just maybe…she gets motion sick from trains and carriages!’ Yes, it made perfect sense! A lot more than being a cheapskate at any rate.

”Hm?” Mao almost missed the question, coming back to the present from her thoughts, ”Ah, hopefully it’s not too bad, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves either. Going in with blind confidence could result in worse injuries than when we were cautious against greater foes.” It sounded stodgy now that she rethought the words a bit, but at the same time Mao didn’t want her friend to suffer worse for her confidence than she had for her bravery. Tom Ato couldn’t bust them out of every problem with his ridiculous war cry after all.

Letting Aiyana knock on the door when they reached the abode, Mao again pondered over the strange creatures and came back to the same thought.

’What strange, strange creatures.’

Mao's response was one of caution, which was kind of true in her case. They had been taking jobs of a higher rank, true enough, but that didn't mean they could take a job of their current rank with ease. A nod of her head showed the bandaged mage's agreement with the Sabertooth's response, her light green hair moving back and forth with the movement of her head. It was true that they still needed to be careful. The rank of the mission was recommendations, meaning a lower ranked mission could still have hidden difficulties not included with it. With that single question, Aiyana content with her best friend's answer, the two made their way to the clients house.

Aiyana was given the pleasure of knocking on the creator of the job's door, a simple double knock being the knocking of preference. There was quite the pause between the knock on the door and the sounds of someone walking inside to come and see who it was. The client turned out to be as young man, possibly eighteen to twenty years in age, that had slicked back hair and fancy clothing on. The black tie went well with the black suit and pants, the white dress shirt underneath as well.

”Hi, I'm Aiyana and this is Mao,” the second name would have Aiyana's hand pointing a finger at the bunny eared girl as she said it. ”We're here to help with the vulcan kidnapping.”

Oh! I'm SO glad you guys have finally arrived! I don't know what I would have done if you had been another day later!” The words had a flair of desperation to them, comically so, as he led them into the first room of the house. It appeared to be a living room, or sorts, having plenty of seating available to them. Not waiting for the two to sit the man fell backward into a chaise lounge chair, his head hitting a mound of pillows as he brought the back of his hand to his forehead. Had he gone quiet in that moment, the Lamia Scale mage would have surely thought he had fainted right then and there. Keeping his hand there, and his body slack against the chair, the man continued speaking so he could provide the necessary information so they could help out.

”We were out for a stroll near the eastern forest of Magnolia when we heard the first of the strange noises. Rustling of trees and bushes! We thought it must have been some wild animals, so we just started walking a bit faster so we could get back to town before we had to worry. If only we had run! She would be with me right now!”

He seemed to be holding back tears, and unsuccessfully so if one was to get his hand pried off of his face, as he began telling them the important items.

”Claire is about your friend's height, her head stopping where the top of her ears are. I'm not sure what kind of vulcan it was, but he ran in the opposite direction from Magnolia into the forest! Please bring her back to me! And take care in the forest, some demons have shown up that aren't native to this area and I don't know how strong they are!”

Seeming to be spent, the man finished his speech of sorrow and information. Aiyana had never sat down, instead opting to lean against a large, comfortable looking, red chair that she pushed against to stand up straight again. Only after making sure both jewels were in her hair, and her hat was resting properly atop her head, did she speak up.

”No worries, friend, we'll bring her back for you. Just stay here, take a nap, and leave the rest to us!”

The man nodded to her, his face appreciative even in his sorrow, as Aiyana walked to the door and awaited for Mao so the two could begin their journey into the forest they had once done a photoshoot for.

[675]
[3]

The man was…very theatrical in his movements. Every step came with a certain precision to it that left even walking then flopping onto the artsy sofa feeling like a performance for them. She applauded him mentally, but couldn’t really discern how much of it was an act for them and how much was honest grief over the kidnapping of his lover. As the man recounted everything Mao opted to stay standing as she couldn’t imagine them remaining her for long after the story. If the guy felt the need to lay down as he spoke of the atrocity of the odd gorilla-esque monster’s crime then so be it. ’I wonder if she’s anything like him…’ It begged the question if they’d be rescuing a true damsel in distress or not. ’What if she wore the pants in their relationship? Well no matter, if she had the strength and cunning of a warrior or mage then she probably would’ve freed herself by now.’ Regardless of personality the woman required their aid.

’Isn’t she taller then?’ It mildly irked Mao that the man opted to use her as the comparison, ignoring the fact that most people didn’t measure her with her ears. At least the physicians generally didn’t count it for the checkup she’d gone too – much to her displeasure. Then again they also tended to treat her like a child for the first bit, sometimes ridiculously so to the point she wondered if they’d even seen a teenager before or merely treated all short people like idiots.

Aiyana assured the man they would find his lost lady love, the fellow not so much as sitting up to send them off, letting the duet instead see themselves out. Stepping out Mao sighed, ”He’s something of an exhausting man.” She couldn’t honestly imagine staying in his company for long let alone living with the fellow, his actions confusing the woman who primarily saw his type up on stages.

"Yeah, he seemed like he had a bit too much of a dramatic flair going on in there." The bandaged mage wasn't sure if she could have stood someone like that over a long period of time, especially if they were always like that. "Anyways, let's head to our old photo shoot's forest and see if we can track this vulcan down!" That modeling job had been on of her favorite jobs, to date, she had done with Mao that did not involve combat. Of course, with the way the jobs seemed to progress in rank, she didn't think there would be a whole lot more non-combat jobs for them in the future unless they took the lower ranked ones for fun. The Lamia Scale mage looked over at her Sabertooth friend as she smiled widely, the memories of that job almost making her giggle as well.

”It shouldn't take long to get to that spot, it wasn't far into the forest after all.” From where they were, that spot was just about a ten minute walk. Sorcerer Weekly had wanted a good location among the trees, but had also wanted to be decently safe and avoid the animals and monsters that could be among the vegetation. 'And we get to see a vulcan in person for the first time!' Aiyana kept the thought to herself, knowing that Mao wouldn't be as excited about the prospect.

Vulcans had a few different kinds they could be, though the one Aiyana was expecting to find today was a forest vulcan. This particular species of vulcan was known to travel about the east forest, known for their coloration and patterns that blended in well with their surroundings. She had heard they had pupil-less eyes, though she wasn't sure if the other mages were just telling stories or from experience in the matter, as well as five pink hearts running down each arm. It was too bad all types of vulcans were lady-grabbers, as it would be really nice to have Memory summon them once in a while to fight for her. 'Maybe if I acted like they had to protect me from someone else trying to take me, then they'd get aggressive on whatever I directed them at.' Twas an amusing thought, though not one she should really be dwelling on quietly while her best friend was traveling with her.

Turning to head to talk to her, having been walking at her side, the young woman decided to bring up something the man had tacked on right at the end of his little skit. ”I wonder what kind of demons are in the forest. He never actually told us what they were after telling us that they aren't native to the are, which we would have realized anyway.” The Lamia Scale wasn't sure how much Mao would give on the subject, but talking with her was a lot better than just walking along quietly through the forest.

’I suppose it’s a good thing we didn’t come across any Vulcans during that job, or troublesome demons either.’ Then again that might’ve made things a bit more interesting and perhaps the woman wouldn’t have a slight hole in her memory from the event. Even the recording crystal she’d created automatically seemed to phase out until she properly awoke again. ’Anything and everything must be a conscious observation then.’ On occasion she’d been able to make some that held dreams, allowing the woman to see them time and time again even if they held some fuzzy hints, but the process turned out a lot harder than she’d initially hoped. It also meant that if she really wasn’t focused on the process then things could be omitted at any moment.

Hearing her friend’s voice pulled the long-eared woman from her thoughts, blank look staring at her as the question processed. Her eyes widened for a moment as it finally clicked, and she shrugged, ”He didn’t really offer a lot of useful information. Hopefully they’re nothing too troublesome, but it’s hard to say as they could be anything from tiny imps to…well I’m not sure what size restrictions they might have. Some might even have capabilities with magic or tools…or they might be nothing more than capable nuisances who merely chuck pebbles at passersby.” It would’ve been funny to a degree if they were more proficient in illusion capabilities, posing as intimidating beasts and turning out to be nothing more than minor imps intent on ruining romantic dates.

’Then again, whoever believes forests with Vulcans is a good date spot might need to get their head checked…buuut they could be seeking to impress their dates.’

Dating rituals and rules intrigued her, but it was a hard thing to really gather any data from. Sometimes people insinuated things that the girl couldn’t understand, other times they became swept up in their fantasies, and still some opted to laugh and call her “naïve.” Why couldn’t people just come out and say what they really meant? Was honesty really, truly that hard?

”I’m more interested in the Vulcans admittedly…I’ve never actually seen one before. At the same time he sounded unsure of how many there might be, so we should be careful as we wouldn’t want to walk into a whole tribe of them accidentally.” Was tribe even the right term? Mao wasn’t sure since she’d done very little research on them, merely knowing that some could utilize forms of takeover magic. She’d really rather avoid those kinds if and when possible without some preparation.

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

'Monster Dice' :

A blank expression, followed by wide eyes, looked at Aiyana before her Sabertooth friend began answering the simple question she had asked. 'She must have been lost in thought, Aiyana thought as she smiled softly as her best friend responded. Her ideas about the demon's they may come across were interesting indeed, almost making her laugh as the other woman continued to answer questions as she had asked them; before talking about her interest in the Vulcans. ”Yeah, I don't think we'd enjoy a tribe of those things just coming at us at once...” Her body shivered at the thought of a bunch of pervy monster coming after them; monsters that were known for being pretty strong in combat.

It wasn't long after her body stopped shivering that she could hear noises coming from the bushes around them. ”Looks like we have company!” Her voice let loose the statement as she drew her weapon, ten odd looking demons in tribal looking clothing charging at the pair of women with different war cries. The demons seemed to have some sense of order, the group of ten splitting up to come at each woman with equal strength, though she couldn't tell if there was a leader amongst them. Noticing the demon's were quite small, even though they held a wide assortment of weapons amongst themselves, Aiyana attempted to first scare them off so they wouldn't have to deal with all of them before fighting off the vulcan they were looking for.

”Memory! Give them something to fear!” That was all that was needed for the shadow faerie to show herself and begin to follow the single order. A flash of bright light on the ground would bring forth something the demon's had never expected to see in their lives; an undead being larger than any of those around. The summoned brute looked around at the small demons before letting loose a blood curdling roar that seemed to shake the very air around them. Ten individual screams could be picked out of the noise as the, once hostile, creatures turned and ran away from them at full speed. Turning to Mao, she said one thing before starting to lead the way again. ”Well, that was easy!”

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

'Monster Dice' :

Perhaps the term “tribe” would’ve been more befitting the demons given their garb, though only some of it appeared to fit while the rest had things suspended or tied to them in a way that suggested…’Little thieves…’ There was probably an actual tribe somewhere pondering what happened to some of their laundry and belongings. Unfortunately they came armed with matching weapons as tomahawks, daggers, spears, and the like aimed for them during this quasi-dramatic charge…and a short one in the back of the troupe brandishing some arrows without a proper bow. ’I suppose they’re not all competent then?’

Maybe that one was in some sort of adulthood ritual and was still learning.

Surprised and shocked green eyes widened at the ugly beast now standing between them and the mini horde of abominables. She considered joining the little things in their haste to escape it after that intimidating roar, only to be reminded it was a friendly…sort of at any rate. ’I shudder to think where Aiyana met that thing if it’s now an ally.’ The little faerie’s magic continued to astound Mao with its ability to recall past opponents, at least to some extent, though she’d mostly been privy to witnessing the “grand entrances” of a certain veggie demon, if they could be called such. Sadly Tom Ato couldn’t be the solution to all of life’s little problems.

”Yes…I…suppose it was,” she managed to mumble out, regarding zombified brute with hardly veiled disgust and horror. Well…it wasn’t the first time, but back in the temple they didn’t exactly have the best light and things had been different with a masterful user of crystal-make magic boasting before them so she couldn’t get a great look at the thing back then. ”I must say…I’m glad they’re non-too smart…because as terrifying as it looks at least it doesn’t have a matching smell.” Slowly acclimating to the discomforting sight of it Mao took some comfort in the lack of accompanying smell despite the constant and slight fear of catching a whiff with every sniff.

Spoiler:

"Oh, no kidding! If this big lug smelled as bad as he did when I had to fight one of them I'd probably pass out from the smell!" A shiver went down her back as she thought back to that day, and the horrid stench of the thing as the young woman had had to fight the brute in close combat. If she could ever find a way to forget that smell she would without a second thought. The young woman was torn out of the thoughts as she heard movement coming from up ahead of them, and not just the movement of a small animal.

From the depths of the forest came two creatures from opposite directions. It seemed that today was their lucky, and unlucky, day for the two girls searching for the damsel in distress! Both a forest and mountain vulcan appeared and seemed to be converging towards the two women. It turned into a Desierto standoff as the two vulcans and the two woman all looked at each other as they figured out what was going on. In the clutches of the mountain vulcan was the girl they were supposed to save! Their charge didn't seem to be as weak, actually not weak at all, as they were led to believe. It seemed like she was actually fit enough to fight on her own if it was a fair fight; although vulcans were not included in that.

”Put me down you stupid vulcan!”

”Pretty woman! Pretty!”

Turning to Mao, Aiyana decided to speak up before they would probably begin the battle with the vulcans. ”Well, this could get interesting. What are the odds that they start fighting each other while we try to succeed in this job?” There was a smirk on her face as she asked the question. Knowing that vulcans went for pretty girls, and there being three pretty girls here for them to take, it was pretty obvious that the two would fight over all of them.

What were the chances of such a situation occurring? Mao figured it must’ve been some astronomical number for two beasts from a similar family but different type to not only meet up before the two mages, but for one of them to be holding their rescue target. It’d have been fascinating to watch their potential interaction in a multitude of scenarios, though she preferred it without the civilian who at least looked like she could hold her own given a proper chance unlike the fellow from earlier.


What would they do however without any of the three women present? Would they high five and be on their way? Would they shrug and go around one another? Would they hold a territory dispute? Well either way Mao would only get to witness the version where they had three women before them, and find out soon whether or not the two brutes deemed the lot worthy of fighting over. ’Or I suppose they could try to find some way to split the group evenly as possible and both go home reasonably happy…but that’s probably giving them too much credit.’

From what little she’d read Vulcans weren’t exactly known for their problem solving skills.

”I don’t know,” Mao murmured beneath her breath, keeping it loud enough so only Aiyanna could hear her, ”The most opportune scenario would involve them fighting each other so single-mindedly the three of us can make an easy escape. Unfortunately I doubt that’s going to be the case somehow.” Did they consider mage girls as “pretty?” Could they even tell a female mage apart from a civilian female? Did it matter? Either way their staring contest was starting to get a little heated and Mao thought she spotted some sparks flying between the two.

"Well, it looks like we're about to find out." Aiyana's sentence was almost cut off as the vulcan's both started yelling at each other.

"Pretty ladies mine!" The forest vulcan yelled at the other.

"No, pretty ladies mine!" This burst forth from the mouth of the mountain vulcan.

Both screamed this at the top of their lungs, and both believing they were the rightful owners of the three women amongst them. This caused quite the amusing scene for the two mages to watch, the female they were supposed to rescue being placed down on the top of a tree limb so the two womanizing creatures could begin to trade blows. ”Pretty ladies mine! Smash you!” Words were followed with action, a punch being thrown at the face of the other vulcan and landing square into the nose of the forest vulcan. The crunch that was heard was definitely the fracturing of the vulcan's nose, although it seemed more worried about losing the women around him than what had to be a painful injury. In response to this, the other ape-like creature swung at the other; the mountain vulcan easily dodging the attack by jumping backwards.

'And it begins! The world championship boxing match of forest versus mountain vulcan! Who shall be the victor? And who will reign victorious with the prize of three beautiful women?' She could hear the announcer's speech in her head for the start of this fight as she stepped back to keep away from the chaos of battle. The bandaged mage would let the monsters fight and even the odds for them first, then go in and finish both off.

As the beasts started trading blows Mao watched as one socked the other in the face, and then the injured beast returned in kind – rather tried as the other avoided the attack. Watching as they went at it, it wasn’t unlike watching a pair of pugilists going at it, ducking and weaving as they sought an opening to eventually bring their foe down. Granted they mostly fought for fame, glory, and money; but often times, women ended up as a consolation prize in the form of fans. These two just wanted pretty ladies, though she wondered what they would even do with them….gawk all day long?

’At least that’s all I hope it’d be.’

More blows and missed swipes were traded, even some “fancy” footwork kicked up some dust, but even Mao’s attention began to waver without an imaginary commentator to keep her entertained. She bided her time, waiting until they both became more enraptured with taking the other one down than with the bounty of “pretty ladies” surrounding them before moving. ”Stay here,” she murmured to Aiyana as she ducked behind the girl and used the brush to hide her presence.

Even more wallops passed, one of them resounding with enough force Mao winced, feeling it not unlike a strong hit to a bass drum. ’That one had to hurt.’ Yet she didn’t waste time seeing what happened, instead reaching the tree the third woman currently sat upon.

Judging from this height the lady was clearly not pleased with all of this, arms crossed as she glared at the two brawlers. It took a little doing, but eventually Mao got her attention, ”I’ll help you down madam.”

”Just hold out your hand and be ready to catch me if I fall, otherwise I can get down by myself,” the woman huffed. Rather than retort or say anything else Mao nodded, grabbing her hand when the woman jumped down and pulling her backwards when momentum almost forced her into the fray. After dusting herself off the annoyed brunette nodded towards Mao, ”Sorry if I’m a little brusque, just been something of a day as you can likely imagine.”

Enraptured as she was with the two fighting vulcans, Aiyana paid almost no attention to anything else until she heard Mao's voice ring out to tell her to stay where she was. A nod of her head, all the while focusing on the two great monsters showing their lust through combat, would be the only sign of acknowledgement given to the command. Thus far the forest vulcan had taken a beating, the poor thing not even landing a hit on it's mountain based cousin as of yet. A long set of attacks and dodges, fancy footwork and different kinds of punches and kicks among the chaos, would show no one being hit for a few minutes. It almost got boring until the mountain vulcan landed the most vicious of left jabs to the face of the other vulcan; the sound made by it resounding amongst the trees like the sound of a bass drum being thrown against concrete.

A wince was made with Aiyana's face, as if she herself had felt the pain of that hit as the forest vulcan went sailing through the air to crash into a tree nearby Mao; who had now successfully helped the captive woman down from the tree she had been placed in. 'Oh, guess she was a good person to do it. Her tail is useful for coordination after all.' Her thoughts didn't stay off of the vulcans for long, however, when she noticed the forest vulcan slowly, and unsteadily, get up off of the ground. ”Now's our chance! Let's take out the weakened one out of the fight and we can handle the mountain vulcan a lot easier after.” With that said, Aiyana drew her Khopesh as she and her zombie brute began to charge in to do as much. With the two vulcans so focused on each other they would never notice the women coming in to attack until it was too late.

”Well it’s…no problem,” she murmured, a little wary of the woman and her volatile temper. She felt somewhat ready to explode and Mao didn’t want to be the focus, not that she really expected it to be but the woman already vented a little. ’I pity whatever or whoever has to face the true wrath.’ “Stay here behind the tree, we’ll take care of them and then make sure nothing else tries to whisk you off to its den of…iniquity.” It sounded funny at the end, but a good enough word assuming Vulcans dwelt in dens in the first place. ’No time to worry about semantics however.’

Donning the pair of gauntlets Mao invoked the power of diamonds, letting the crystalline structure envelope parts of her body in their majesty. The already daunting pair of clawed gloves became more fearsome and awesome beneath the jagged coating, and even her tail became a third claw to be weary around. Though their foe was weakened already she didn’t want to rush in without at least some form of protection alongside a little bit of added weight for what she wanted to do.

Mao rushed at the tottering beast, leaping up so she could hook a diamond encrusted arm around its neck and force it backwards. Rather than letting simply fall backwards as it might’ve preferred, the woman curled her over-sized tail behind it, the sturdy coating forcing the thing to bend backwards over the rough and uncomfortable structure. Some uncomfortable cracks were heard, the thing groaning at the unusual posture as some muscles started to stress and other parts began to bruise beneath the overly prodding spikes. The pose would be held long enough for Aiyana and her beastly friend to get their free hits on the prone Vulcan before she’d rip her tail out from beneath it, delivering a solid punch to the side with the very same limb. Sure it’d survive, but the poor Forest Vulcan would likely require a few days to recoup after all the abuse it suffered and some of the back pains it’d be feeling yet.

”All right Memory, let's make this even quicker! Bring out Tom Ato to help dish out the pain!” This was yelled just before they reached the forest vulcan, the creature being bent back into a painful position by her beautifully tailed partner as she made her way over. With a zombie brute, and now a trash talking tomato demon, tagging along with her they were sure to beat the thing to unconsciousness before Mao had to worry about letting go.

”All right! Time to beat this monkey into something resembling one of my dead cousins!” Tom would be the first to strike, launching a powerful volley of red tomato paste, or was it tomato juice, from his finger as he pointed it our like a gun. The juice struck the monster in the face like water from a water cannon; hard! As the creature found itself unable to breath through the stream, Aiyana and the zombie brute began their onslaught. The giant, decrepit looking, beast slammed into the forest vulcan at full force, shoulder slamming into the opponents ribs with a loud cracking sound that would startle anyone not used to the breaking of bones. At the same time, the bandaged girl would swing the blunt part of her weapon into the head of the vulcan just before Mao would let go with her tail before hitting the beast in the side with the same appendage.

The forest vulcan couldn't withstand the onslaught, not after what it had already taken from the mountain vulcan. It fell to the ground, blacked out, and not looking like it would move from that point. ”All right! Now for the next one!” Those words would be all she said before turning to see something she would find amusing for days to come.

They’d done a serious number on the thing, and possibly terrorized it enough to ensure the safety of women for…well maybe a few weeks while it recovered and then got over the trauma. These things probably held some level of tenacity however that spying a pretty woman might set it back on its path of kidnapping. Rather than leave herself open to attack in the throes of half their victory Mao wanted to make use of any final shred of their surprise element only to find….it wholly unnecessary.

Fists up and ready, the woman’s eyes blinked as she took in the sight of the Mountain Vulcan basically crawling away battered and bruised. ”AND YOU BETTER STAY AWAY IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YA!” their “helpless maiden” yelled, giving another swift kick to the bubble butt of the ape. The action inspired it to crawl away faster, the thing whimpering – or maybe even blubbering – as it made a limping escape. The woman yelled a few more choice words, Mao cringing and inching away slightly from the woman’s wrath. Even as it started to finally peter out with that spot of revenge Mao remained a little wary.

She clapped her hands as if to rid them of any remaining dust before turning towards the group of mages, ”All righty, now that that annoying business is done may I please have you ladies escort me home? I’d hate to be blindsided again before reuniting with my dearest.” Silently Mao nodded, feeling a little inadequate seeing as she’d taken one down single-handedly – more or less – while the group of them mobbed the other. However she pitied the man back at the cottage more if only because it sounded like the apes weren’t the only ones on her list.

"Oh man! That chick has got some sweet n sour moves!"

Aiyana had to agree with her summoned tomato demon, the woman they were here to save for this job was apparently a lot stronger than they had been told. The time the group that had taken the job had knocked out the forest vulcan was enough for the sole woman to take on the even bigger mountain vulcan! The bandaged mage wished she had been able to see the fight go down, as the girl in question had nary a scratch on her body that was not there before she had looked away to charge at the forest beast. The Lamia Scale mage listened to her yell, and kick, at the vulcan as it scooted away, utterly defeated. Aiyana doubted it would be kidnapping anyone any time soon, though after that it was a guessing game she would like to avoid.

The short girl walked to the other two as the zombie brute and Tom Ato were desummoned; the latter in the midst of his river dance as he disappeared. ”Well, looks like we weren't as useful for you in the long run. We'll gladly escort the beautiful lady back home, though. Surely a vulcan would be hard pressed blindsiding three of us at the same time.” With that, Aiyana would lead begin to lead the way back for them, hoping that the trip would remain uneventful and monster free. ”At least it's not far either, and the vulcan fight probably scared off everything in the area far enough away not to bother us.”

If the Vulcan fight didn’t scare everything away then surely the woman’s beat down did the rest. It was hard to tell since the nearest flock of birds disappeared when the two great apes started going at it with their large grunts and savage fists. Luckily unlike at the wedding Aiyana was quick to dispel both summons, though Tom Ato tended to be the more troublesome one between him and the brute – and probably whatever else she kept in her company.

Wasting little time – on the off chance they run into a tribe of Vulcans or had to deal with another little pack of troublesome demons – the group made their way back to the cottage. As they walked however Mao noticed something: the woman appeared to be heating up again. Unlike before though it was a bit more subtle. Currently it resided within her eyes and a firm press of her lips as their “mademoiselle in distress” didn’t provide much in the way of conversation whereas before one could almost see an aura of anger seeping out when she’d been held by the Mountain Vulcan and then placed in the tree.

By the time they made it to the residence however the woman calmed down into a dark and cold simmering sense of womanly anger. She didn’t even fling the door open as Mao imagined, settling instead for gently opening it with that ominous aura about her. If that oddly withering man held any sense for danger he’d do any level of groveling to regain her favor, but the way he came flying out of some side room and basically flung himself at his freed lover told Mao: he did not.

”OH MY DARLING!” he bellowed, hanging languidly from her sturdy frame, ”I fretted over you most ferociously! It does my soul well to see you again, and with nary a scratch!”

The walk back turned out to be the quietest one of Aiyana's life, so far. It was obvious just how angry the woman they had 'saved' was as they walked, slowly stewing more and more as they walked. It was obvious, really, with how her eyes were slightly squinting while her lips pursed in frustration. It wasn't as bad as when they were fighting the vulcans, though, as back there she had been angry enough to take out a much stronger enemy than the two mages had been able to do; and in an even shorter time no less!

By the time they had arrived at the house, the very one they had met the over dramatic man from before, the woman had calmed down. Calmed down was the best way she could put it, as she was in a dark, cold looking, style of anger; the wrath of a woman scorned was on the way for one very unlucky man. 'Well, at least she won't be in the heated anger at least. Maybe this way she won't straight up kill him when the door is opened...' Aiyana would get to see what happened a few moments later, the lady simply opening it gently as her seemingly oblivious boyfriend came out from a side room to come to his girlfriend.

'Oh gods, here we go! Time to see how badly this goes for us...' The bandaged mage was not sure what to expect to happen, though she was pretty sure what she would do in this situation...

”Oh yes…’darling,’ how I worried over you as well,” the icy tone betrayed her yet the man appeared to either feign ignorance or failed to take notice. Mao theorized it might be a mixture of both. It was a very odd scene to witness however, the man flopping about the house as he went on about how worried he’d been with increasingly poetic words, hanging himself over furniture while she continued to reply in the tone with the underlying threat of beating the tar out of him for doing nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Remembering the other two women was really an afterthought, the woman amusingly recalling their presence as she turned and arched a brow. For a brief moment Mao thought she might be silently questioning why they hadn’t vamoosed already until she spoke, ”Ah, before you two allow me to reward my two ’heroes’ for your hard work.” One might’ve thought she insulted them if not for the very pointed stare at her lover – one that went unnoticed since he’d thrown his upper body over a chair’s arm, face down into the cushion. Honestly, what was up with this fellow and his movements?

Ignoring his blathering she moved to a canister on the counter and leafed through some bills before handing first Aiyana and then Mao their due jewels. A sickeningly sweet smile spread across her face, ”I’d also appreciate it if you ignore some of the sounds you hear once the door’s closed ladies. It’d be…appreciated.”

Mao heard her loud and clear: ”If you know what’s good for you.”

Whatever happened in there after she didn’t know, blocking out the horrendous shrieks. The man could really hit some high notes though.