Stay Out Of The Dog House;; Jiyu's First Job;; Private

It was always peaceful in the early morning: no one was awake, so that meant no rowdiness in the guild quite yet. Marschal enjoyed this time of day, and not just because it was the time of day between dawn and the awakening of the sun in the sky. He was a nighttime creature, it was only commandeering that he displayed the cliches of the jaguar that he half was. They were nighttime creatures, they hunted in the night, so Marschal had taken on many features of the feline. Right now though, he was resting on his table, his favored book open on the tabletop, and him looking down to read it. That demonology book... and it was on his favorite chapter... The Hell Panther; how many times has he read this now? Too many to count from what it seemed, but he still enjoyed that single chapter about the fiery jaguar of Hell.

The sound of footsteps caused Marschal's eyes to shift up from the book and to land on Jiyu, who looked to be sneaking around. He watched her make her way toward the job board, tilting his head a bit when he noticed just how short she was. Slowly closing the book, so as not to make any sound, the mage would shift his weight and get off the table. Quietly, he sauntered over to Jiyu, standing behind her when he had reached her, looking over the job board, himself. Not that many jobs were on there that were entertaining to Marschy, at least none that he hadn't done already. More so, he was curious to know which of the jobs Jiyu planned on picking out; he had to say To Earthland... And Beyond! was his favorite.

"Care to see the rest of the board?" he would finally speak up to the wind sorceress, looking down upon her now.

Essentially, he could lift her up if she really wanted to, but he didn't want to just up and—well, no... he'd do it anyway. Bending down, Marschal would aim to lift Jiyu up into his arms, so that she could read the rest of the jobs on the board. Fight all she wanted, he was still going to try and do it anyway, whether she allowed him to was her own course of action.

"I suggest taking an easy one first, instead of one that involves magic right off the bat," Marschal pointed out. What he hadn't known was that Jiyu had already decided that, and quite frankly, that was the best choice to take. After a while, he would set Jiyu back on her feet if she had allowed for him to lift her up, or look at the job she had chosen. He was only curious after all, it wasn't like he planned on going on a job with her if she would rather go on her own.

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Marschal chuckled at her words, dusting his hands off and stuffing them back into his pockets as she berated him. "Hey, I was only trying to help; you could've squirmed your way out of my grasp," the mage stated to Jiyu. It wasn't like he had been holding her hostage the entire time, his grip had been comparatively loose for her. Besides, a grip around her stomach, he hadn't exactly wanted to squeeze the breath out of her, despite how much he wanted to. Like he was a nuisance to her, Jiyu happened to be an annoyance to him as well, with her apathetic attitude toward him. To be honest, it really got on his nerves the way she spoke so solemnly like he did; only he could talk like that. Kind of like how he had just up and claimed a table in the tavern of the guild as his own, even though it wasn't technically his.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"If I had wanted to drop you, I wouldn't have held you for so long, nor would I have gently set you back down," Marschal pointed out. He shrugged though, not bothering to continue the argument, since it was really unnecessary for them to do so. They didn't need to wake people up anyway with their screaming at each other, ready to bite one another's head off. "I suppose, next time I'll just ask... but only if I'm really feeling up to asking about it and whatnot." He would wave it away with his hand. His eyes would shift down to the paper she had snatched off the board, easily looking over her shoulder to read it. Puppy. It seemed fitting when she smelled like a dog, herself, maybe she should just keep that puppy she finds. Then again, the owner probably did want the dog back, so maybe keeping it for herself wasn't the greatest of ideas.

Marschal pulled his hands out of his pockets.

"I suppose that you can help you get there; I have the money to anyway," the mage responded to her quietly. Though he could have just left her to figure it out on her own; she got to Bosco on her own somehow... he didn't know. "It's just a ship ride out to Fiore, then we can just make our way to Magnolia from Hargeon Town, as it's only a short distance from there. I mean, unless you have a better way of getting there, that's the only route I know to get to Magnolia from Bosco." Marschal would fall silent aster having stated that he would willingly help Jiyu, though not entirely willingly. He could oppose her all he want, but she was a guildmate, and there was no way he could deny her her help she wanted. His hands would go back into his pockets, rolling his neck to crack it before looking back at the wind demoness.

Now, he started away from the girl, leaving the guild hall.

"Come along then, Jiyu," the man called behind himself, sauntering toward the doors and exiting out of them. The dock wasn't that far off, so they could just take the ship that was there and sail it out to Hargeon Town. He bounced his way toward the large vessel, never checking to make sure that Jiyu had kept up with his stride. Not like he would leave her behind anyway, when clearly this was her first job that she wanted to excel on. As he reached the ship, he would clamber aboard and wait for the woman to climb on up next to him, and they'd sail out. Out to Hargeon Town, so that they could get to Magnolia and get this damned job over that he was starting to regret taking her up on.

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While Jiyu was enjoying her time on the boat, Marschal was, unfortunately, keeling over the side of the ship. He was holding back throwing up from seasickness, even though he had been raised on a boat for several years. The event of his father's tragic death overseas was what had caused Marschal to gain this sudden seasickness. Boats were unavoidable for Marschal, however, so he would have to get used to the rocking of the ship or deal with throwing up. From his place over the ledge of the ship, he would watch Jiyu try to catch the sprays of water spilling over the ship. A soft smile caressed his lips, but the smile didn't last long before he turned away from her and threw up his lunch. Now that he felt better, though still slightly dizzy and wanting to throw up, he'd wipe his mouth off and join Jiyu.

"Well, considering Black Rose is its own nation, you're not going to be avoiding ships anytime soon, unfortunately," Marschal spoke to her. "They're really our only source of transportation, unless you happen to have a pet that can travel long distances with people on it." As far as he knew, not many people had pets that could do that, and he definitely was one of those people who didn't. Not that he was bothered by it, but he could handle just throwing up occasionally on a boat to get to places. Besides, the ride was almost over anyway, considering Hargeon Town wasn't that far off from where Bosco was. It was likely the closest place that Marschal had known in Fiore, or they would be traveling for a few days now. Hargeon Town was only a couple hours away from Black Rose's homeland, so it was easier to just make a pit stop there.

"You know, Jiyu, you're going to fall off the ship if you lean out any farther than you already are leaning out," he'd state. His red and gold-flecked eyes would silently watch the calico-haired woman, cocking an eyebrow at her. Should he help her or should he let her face the consequences of leaning too far out from the ship's ledge? Marschal would purse his lips and go into deep thought for a moment, but by the time he had thought of what to do, the ship was slowing down. They were pulling into port now, and would soon dock, so now would be the best time for Jiyu to get a hold of herself. However, not wanting to see the consequence of her actions, Marschal would turn away from her and walk off. His steps were slightly wobbled, but he made his way to the place where they usually connected stairs to the ship's outer side.

The ship started to just sail into the docks, slowing down when ropes were thrown out to people, who pulled it in and tied it up. Then a stairway was connected to the ship, and without much thought to Jiyu, Marschal would hop down on it. He traveled down those steps and took the final leap onto the dock, turning around to see if Jiyu was going to follow. Marschy didn't see her though, and waited a few more minutes to see if she would come down after a while. They needed to get a move on if they planned on finding that lost puppy and return it to its owner.

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Marschal heard the splash of water and he turned to see Jiyu swimming her way toward the dock he was standing on. She wasn't alone though, in her hand was a puppy, which was what they were supposed to be looking for on the job. As Jiyu brought the puppy to him, he would take it from her and hold onto it while she got back onto the docks. He lifted the dog up and stared at it, eye to eye, pursing his lips while it tried pawing at him and yipping a little. It was excited for some reason... probably because it was being saved and going to be returned back to its owner.

"I suppose you did... that means there's six more of them to find," Marschal responded, still staring the dog in the eye. After another moment, he returned the puppy back to Jiyu, deciding that it was best she just hold onto them instead.

Closing his eyes, he sniffed the air, aiming to track down any scent of a dog that would reach his sense of smell. His mouth opened partially, a horrible habit of his that was instinct he had inherited from simply being part feline. Moments later, the mage opened his red, gold-flecked eyes and started walking deeper into Hargeon Town. What were the puppies doing down here in Hargeon Town though? The owner lived back up in Magnolia from what he remembered. No scent of any of the puppies were around here either, which meant this puppy they had just happened to stray a little too far.

"Right, so I don't smell anymore of the dogs around here, so the rest must be up in Magnolia, where they're meant to be," Marschal stated to Jiyu. It wouldn't be that hard getting into Magnolia, it would just be an exhausting walk there and having to find the puppies.

Instead of waiting for an answer from her, the mage turned a corner and began heading in the direction that Magnolia was in. The people of Hargeon Town were bustling about their own business, purchasing food or hanging out with friends. A while after they had been walking though, Marschal would hear the sounds of a young dog barking in the distance. He was confused since he had not smelled anymore dogs, but maybe this was a dog that hadn't been owned by their client? No, he was entirely wrong, for soon a little puppy came charging out of the crowd and straight for Marschal. Staring at the little creature with wide eyes, Marschy knelt down and let it run into his arms, where he picked it up.

"That's two now, which leaves us five more to go; still... what are they doing in Hargeon Town?" Marschal repeated his thoughts.

His eyes shifted toward Jiyu, but he wouldn't exchange any words with the calico-haired woman before walking again. A few hours would pass in between and the duo would enter Magnolia Town, which was a lot busier than Hargeon Town. It was also louder, causing Marschal to flatten his ears against his head in order to tone down the noise. He wrinkled his nose up in disgust, but really he was sniffing around for any stench of dog besides the ones they had. They needed six more and supposedly, it was going to be quite difficult in order to find the lost puppies. However, with two already in hand, he didn't think it would be that hard, as they had just come running straight to them. Or maybe it was because of Jiyu? She didn't kind of smell like a dog, herself, and now he was beginning to wonder.

"Do you smell that? It smells like... dog," Marschal pointed out, sniffing toward the shorter girl. The derogatory comment was made toward Jiyu, but he really could have been saying that about the puppy she was holding. "Anyway, I think now that we're in Magnolia Town, it's going to be a lot harder to find these damn things because of the business." He ran his hand over the puppy's head that he was holding, petting it and wondering where they were meant to start. "Any ideas on where you think we should start? Or should we just split up and meet back here in a thirty minutes?" Not that he was saying it was only going to take them that small amount of time to find the other five. They would also have to return them to the owner afterward, but he wouldn't worry about that until they got all seven.

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He had hear Jiyu's words, and yes, he had tried everything in his power to ignore what she had been saying to him. Marschal didn't like dogs, never had liked dogs, even though he was currently married to a wolf and had a wolf for a son. Dogs were not his forte, and dogs clearly did not like him because of his cat-like features that he displayed. The fact that he also smelled feline to them was worse, and this excluded puppies by the looks of what had just happened. Those were puppies though, and puppies weren't always the smartest creatures when it came to avoiding predators. While Marschal truly didn't have anything against canines, it was the fact that they liked to chase him around. Being chased around wasn't the most enjoyable thing, unless it was for some other reason than to be a meal.

"Dogs do not like me; mind you, that excludes puppies, since those are puppies," the mage finally answered her question. "I'm half cat, and cats and dogs have a rivalry to each other that, while can be easily ended, will never end." He shrugged his shoulders though and set the puppy on the ground, letting it run off to where Jiyu was. His eyes wandered down to her feet, where he saw the other five puppies dancing around her ankles quite happily. That had been a lot easier than the mage had expected it to be; it was like dogs were just attracted to her. Not that he was bothered with that, as it made their job a thousand times easier than what it was made out to be. So, he cleared his throat and began walking deeper into Magnolia Town, now looking for the house of the owner.

"Why are dogs so attracted to you like that? I swear it is like you're part dog or something," the half-breed pointed out. He wouldn't care if she was, as Black Rose happened to be full of people who had animal traits on them. Izayuki was a tanuki, Magna had a monkey's tail, he was cursed with the ears of a panther, their guildmaster was a literal wolf. Black Rose accepted anyone it seemed, and while that wasn't the worst of things, it mixed predators with prey. "I mean, not that I have anything against dogs, but it just seems weird that these puppies are attracted to you." Nor did he much care that she was claiming a victory that was nonexistent, as he wasn't a very competitive person. Thus, he allowed her to claim that victory, since it hadn't even been a game in the first place, though it had been to her.

Her next words startled him, as he was certain most people knew of those that had an animal trait or two. Another shrug would follow in reply to her, almost hesitant in saying anything more about his past to her. "I'm half cat, as I stated; my mother had an affair with a panther yokai and that's how I came into the world," he explained abruptly. In all honesty, he didn't know why he had blessed with such features and the beauty that he had, instead of like other half-breeds. Others were ugly, cursed with not looking as nice as their cousin half-breeds, like someone who Marschal happened to be. Or maybe it was his father's genetics that he had been blessed by, though he couldn't really remember what his father looked like. "I don't know why I only have some features and not all of it; maybe it's because of my human genetics as well."

He'd point toward a small, white building to the right, recalling that this would be the address the owner lived at. "We're here," Marschy said, walking toward the home and through the gates of the fence around the house. Then he would walk up the stairs and knock on the door, waiting for the person of the home to open it. Hopefully, Jiyu had stuck behind him, and that the puppies were also busy following the one thing they liked. Unfortunately, he would be pissed if they managed to lose one of the seven puppies they had so easily collected. At the same time, he wouldn't be surprised if they had because puppies were such curious creatures.

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