Act III: Of Bookworms and Flaming People and Whatever a Paracidium is(Job/Brennan)

Job approval on PG.33/Pg. 11

Job Form:

An Explanation:

Slouching as she walked, Hana groaned in pain as her back was sore from the heavy back pack full of merchandise she had been carrying around with her. Tamka was left at the guildhall with the others. She knew Tamka wouldn't be comfortable with the terrain, and so left him behind with the promise that she'd bring back some exotic sweets for him, and promise kept, walking through the guild hall, Tamka had been waiting at her usual reading spot, his eyes sparkling and tail wagging like a dog after landing his eyes on her. Laughing, the silvernette walked over to her companion, swinging the backpack from her shoulders to out in front of her as she opened it to pull out the vanilla cake with pineapple fruit on the sides as a treat and set it in front of him. Immediately, he would dig in. The two didn't need to exchange words to know what the other was thinking, and so feeling a little worn out, Hana went over to the bar to get some water- unlike the drunkards surrounding her. But.... on the way, she saw a peculiar sight. Sorano was holding a mirror and a circuit that seemed to create a sound that couldn't really be understood, and so in her curiosity, of course, she made her way over to the small girl. Brennan had been there as well, and so giving a slight greeting nod to him, she turned to Sorano with a light smile. "Heyya Sorano. What's up?" She tried to be casual, but she had obviously failed as her curious gaze kept moving over toward the two objects in the younger mage's hands. She tilted her head, thinking of an explanation for this, but knew better than to pry into her business. If she wanted Hana to know, she would tell her. In the meantime, with Tamka.... "UGHHHHHHHHHH! I'M SO FULL! WHY DID I EAT THE WHOLE THING?!" The poor little raccoon had groaned..... it was a very very very bad idea for him to do that.... now he's gonna have a stomach ache. v-v

Having nodded in response,  the younger mage averted her gaze to where Brennan stood, causing Hana to do the same thing. But.... He wasn't there anymore.... Looking around Hana's oceanic orb soon landed on the Fairy Tail ace and of course.... He was at a table getting buzzed along with other male members. Sighing, Hana just shook her head in a dissaproving gesture. Looking over to Sorano, she replaced her dissaproving look back to her previously curious one.  When Sorano herself was finish with her thoughts, she as well turned back, beginning to ask a question that sparked Hana's interest. "Umm, sure, I have nothing better to do now anyways. But if you don't mind, what exactly is this job about? Do you know?" Deep down inside,  Hana really didn't care for the job details as she would learn them soon enough or could briefly have the objective explained to her on the way,  buuuuuut, she's been told by a certain ginger that her eagerness would get her killed one day. She didn't really want that soooo yeah. She decided it would be better for her of she began to look into details before barging in. It of course made Tamka happy but.... Then again it didn't really help at all as his lady still chose dangerous and scarring jobs such as the previous zombie ones she's been on.... yikes. But now wasn't the time to think of that as she called the winged raccoon over.  Groaning, he complied,  and he would be placed atop Hana's head,  ruffling his fur and rolling over to lay on his back,  "dead" like somebody would be if they were in a food coma. Not that Sue could blame him, he most definently was.... "By the way Tamka.... We're going on a job. Try getting over your food coma as soon as you can, okay? It'll be bad otherwise." "Why..... Didn't you just get back from your travels?" "Yes, but I would like to do more with my life than just laying around. Now get ready." And from that,  another groan escaped the small, furry creature as he rubbed his heads with his paws in displeasure.

OOC: I was gonna add color to the part where Tamka and Hana talk but I accidently pressed something else and that didn't save so yeah.... I just said no and didn't do it.

After Sorano had explained the situation Hana nodded in understanding,  but her curiosity still hadn't subsided. What was the message? That question haunted her,  and so looking between the circuit and the mirror she asked, "Do you mind playing the message for me so I can hear it myself?" In the meantime,  Tamka struggled to push himself up to his feet,  knowing not to argue with his stubborn lady any further. After succeeding in doing so, he jumped off of the silvernette's hair and scurried towards the little tree house they had made as their new home. As Hana would listen to the message trying to make out any details and words from the message,  Tamka would pack everything into a bag and drag it back into the riled guild hall. He brought crackers,  pears, peaches, a blanket,  and a couple bottles of water. Thinking of nothing else they could bring,  Tamka dragged it back to Hana in which she would slip the back pack on. Like Sorano,  even with her heightened sense of hearing, she couldn't make out anything. The message was too muffled to hear anything. "Well  that is strange. I can't make anything out of it either, but if it is one of the twins that sent the message im sure they'll tell us what was in the message when we get there. Besides, I like adventure, its more amusing than the stuff that goes on here everyday." She wasn't really lying when she said that. Everyday at the guild hall the day would start out jokingly and peaceful until BAM! Drinks are handed out to most everybody in the guild hall,  of course with the exception of the children in which some are just naturally hyper. At that point, the guild turns into a mess. Everybody brawling out over little things to practibly nothing. Due to the unnecessary roughness,  Hana would usually spend her time traveling,  sometimes even without Tamka who became rather amused by their fellow guildmates brawling it out. She loved her guild, but least on this job there would actually be a reason to fight.

The member 'ivyleaf33' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

With Hoshi being determined to go on foot and flight,  Hana became rather happy, knowing that she wouldnt have to go through the trip with the urge to throw up. Oh how she so rather dearly missed those times where she would be able to ride in a carriage without getting a sudden sickness that made her feel like passing out even though she couldn't from how spinny the world would be. But alas, those days are over,  and she could only deal with it by avoiding mobile transpatation,  her raccoon companion becoming her carriage. Making sure they we're all set,  the four began to fly over the land of Fiore past beautiful sights that Hana noted in her head to come back and visit some time. Of course,  after this trip,  she would have to go alone and allow Tamka some rest seeing as how he grew tired more easily than other flying creatures. She should really train him to boost his stamina...
That only lead her to think of tactics that only her mentor and previous guildmaster Heero would think of when training somebody else. Sure they we're overwhelming and doing, but over time she came to realize that they actually worked. Torturing,  yes, but they worked. 'Hmmm,  if that's the case,  I should make him fly ten miles every day!' Oh goodness,  she got too many traits from that guy...
Soon enough,  the fairy tail mates came across some stone pyramids,  surrounded by a lush green forest. 'That's pretty...' Hana would think as she examined it, and to her pleasing, that seemed to be their destination. Obviously,  since Hoshi was descending downward towards the structures with Tamka in suit. 'Yes! Pretty and creepy scenery exploration!' She would most likely be the first to die in a horror movie without her powers, but never mind that, since this is not a horror movie, the writer is just putting in her smart remarks to makes things a bit more funny even though she's most likely failing miserably. Oh well,  she's at least getting the word count in with her rambling right around now and it's time for her to stop breaking the fourth wall. Hana nodded in response to the information Sorano gave her before speaking up. "I think it's best if we look around first,  the entrance could hold some pretty valuable clues as to what's going on. Afterwards let's head down together. I'll tell you if I hear or see anything unusual."

After Sorano had agreed with her plan to split up a bit before going deeper into the ruins, Hana began to travel the opposite way of her guild mate and start searching high and low for any clues there might be hidden. She was honestly excited, because she felt like a detective and well, in this case she was one. She remembered that when she was small the ice dragon Yuki would tell her stories of people like that and all of their thrilling adventures. Even when the mystery solved was to be very simple, she still found the adventures that it took to get those answers interesting. Scanning her side of the room with her oceanic eyes, she couldn't help but notice the details on the walls. Not that there was anything special about them but Hana just liked them... they made the place seem a bit more homey, as strange as it was to say- let alone think- something like that. Although she found many interesting things, none of them caught the attention of being an object of importance to the young dragon slayer. Appearing to be just broken glass and well- trash along with dying vegetation, she discarded them and made her way back towards Hoshi and Sorano, in which she would be faced with the question on whether or not she found anything useful. "Well, I didn't really find any information as useful as yours. Just that people are major litter bugs here." She informed as she shook her head in a disapproving gesture. "We should probably start heading down now, but we should do it with caution." After getting Sorano's approval, Hana would begin to make her way towards the pitch black entry way, stopping first to sniff and listen for any near presences before nodding her head in approval and walking side by side with her teammate down to the lab in which they soon they would come face to face with a couple scientists who had littered themselves with circuits. Easy to beat, yes. However, they would be especially creepy since the two girls and their companions would soon find that they covered themselves with blood and won't stop smiling.

(I wanted to add to the thrill, don't judge meh.)

At the sight of the creepy scientists,  Hana's eyes had widened. It wasn't necessarily that she had been afraid of them,  very much unlike the Ginger furred raccoon hiding behind her; but it was the fact that those guys sparked a memory in her. They themselves... As people weren't acquainted with her... But as personalities they were. It made her uncomfortable beyond relief,  causing her to repeatedly shift her weight from one foot to the other.  Lost on memory lane,  Hana hadn't noticed the battle that had began until Sorano's letters began making their way toward the enemy, in which gaze Hana's focus was snapped in a specific direction. Why was the other guy standing back watching the first scientist fight? That wasn't teamwork,  jeez, how messed up could these guys possibly be? Well,  she had "spoken" or rather "thought" too soon. As she was sending him a judgmental look,  out of nowhere he took out a dead rat from his pocket and.... Oh.... Gross..... He ate it..... That's disgusting. Please give me a minute, narrator-chan needs to compose herself.... *goes to have a heart attack from the horrific site*
*comes back*
Okay, I'm back. That was certainly uhh.... Special.... ANYWAYS,  Hana gagged at the site. Yeah, she didn't want to see him anymore. Not even caring to prepare a spell she ran over to the guy and punched him with B Rank power, sending him flying into the wall. Her gaze was fiery,  and by how red her face was you could definently tell he was angered. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING?! DO YOU KNOW HOW DISGUSTING THAT IS?! WHAT IF YOU GOT RABEES FROM EATING THAT THING, NOT TO MENTION,  DO YOU WANT TO MAKE ME LOSE MY APPETITW FOR MY WEEK?! ARE YOU A TODDLER?! WHAT WOULD YOUR OTHER SAY IF SHE FOUND YOU EATING THAT. BAD!" Out of nowhere Hana got a rolled up newspaper and hit the guy on the head with it as she nagged at him for his serious health issues. Tamka,  now exposed on the battle field looked at his aster and sweatdropped. She herself was special...

(HAHA! BE PROUD OF ME IMOUTO-CHAN!  I HAZ POSTEEEDNSNSJANAN!!!!!!

Lol, at the beginning you would think I was gonna get into deep feels with this. XD)

As Hana had been smacking the evil scientist with a newspaper that's whereabouts were unknown even to the ice mage herself, she stopped out of pure shock as a gust of wind made it's way through the black hole of a hallway out of no where. Looks like Sorano had decided that then would be a great time to go on the offensive as Hana had distracted the two enemies with her nagging, and well, she was right. YAYYY!!!! HANA WAS HELPFUL! But.... she wouldn't be for much longer if she didn't heed the small girl's warnings. Grabbing Tamka by the tail, Hana quickly ducked and covered Tamka by curling herself up in a ball on the floor. The scientists were stunned. They hadn't been expecting this, and it froze them out of shock; hesitation filled their beings before they realized what they had to do and they went toppling over by the strong force of the gusty wind. Hana looked on at Sorano in amazement. The girl was certainly strong, she'd give her that. As she was thinking that, she noticed that Sorano had seemed to have her focus fixated on the burnt one. Guessing that means that she'd be taking on the one that she scolded for eating a rat, she hopped to it and got to fighting. There was only one problem though.... although Sorano was immune to the force of the wind, she herself wasn't. None the less, she got prepared for when the wind would finally die down, and while she was at it used the fleeting air to her aid and used it to propel heavy rocks further than how she could normally throw, making sure to aim at the scientists limbs. He didn't need so much as to die seeing as how he could be a helpful source of information. That is... if he even talks. Either way, Hana just couldn't bring herself to take a life, even with the neutral state her guild is in.

Quick note: Sorry for taking so long! I was busy with the musical as you know but I found time tonight to post and will be able to get online way more next week as I won't have to stay at school for very long anymore and my last performance is on Saturday. Sorry imouto-chan! Luv ya!

OOC: Bad post is bad lol))

For a moment, a strange sort of silence would descend upon the room, the robotic girls standing woodenly at the edge of the cavern, lifeless eyes staring forward in incomprehension at what just occurred. Breathing hard, the letter mage set her hands on her legs, taking the moment of silence to catch her breath briefly. But as expected, it was a short-lived moment of rest that provided no more than the bare minimum of a respite from battle. Feeling her magic reserves already starting to drop drastically, she sucked in her breath and exchanged a glance with Hoshi. The exceed well knew what this look meant, and reacted accordingly with a brief smile. Raising her wings in a quick movement as the circuits flared up in color, she rose up to the sky, a sudden heavenly aura surrounding her. While it was certainly a divine force that powered her movement, there was something about this gathering of power that wasn’t exactly god-like. Instead of a holy, descended from above feeling, this was a subtle sensation that crept in from all around them, surrounding them with a wash of beautiful, pure… naturalness. There wasn’t much else you could say about it, really, because the earthiness of it really was quite amazing.

A soft, natural scent washed over them, causing even the lab girls to pause in their advance for a moment before continuing. But when they had decided to advance, they would find that things weren’t going to be easy for them – not with Hoshi here. The seemingly harmless exceed (although she had proved many times over that she was not what she seemed) had harnessed the energy of her patron deity, the Mother Earth. It was one of her very few abilities, but a powerful ability, one that you couldn’t exactly underestimate. Slowly, orbs of some sort of material would form at the tip of her paws, the light slowly fading into the natural glow that water gave off when the lights from the strange fixtures above shone through the transparent material. Channeling the new energy efficiently, he exceed would send twin spirals of the clear liquid down at the robots, ensuring each got a liberal amount of the attack before retrieving the lengths again, holding them in orb form while flying over them. The girls looked up, seemingly out of instinct, and reacted quickly with brisk movements. As they had in the past, the girls easily disappeared and reappeared, special teleportation abilities seeming to be their strongest.

One suddenly flashed into being behind Hoshi in midair, circuits flashing a dangerous, glowing red. As they reached their exploding point, a sudden lash of water snapped itself tightly around the girl’s body, Hoshi herself swinging herself up into the sky. As they burst apart in a rather large mess of neon fluid, Both girls did receive a slight bit of damage, though none of it was as substantially damaging as it would have been had Hoshi’s spell wrapped around her. Moving fluidly after the exceed, Sorano responded to the girl’s attack by flinging three of her blades in her direction. Piercing into her body, through the black material, the knives brought the clone falling to the ground. While Sorano was not someone who enjoyed killing people, she had been less careful about it since they’d established themselves as an independent guild. It did help that most these were mindless experimental clones… Just a bit. Pressing down the slightest pang of guilt in her stomach, the letter mage continued, turning around to slam a tranquilizing quill into another clone, the unique ink causing her to pass out from the substance. Around twelve more to go.

Hoshi’s role in this fight was big, her body spinning through the air as her wings furled about her, paws causing bursts of water to strike the mages, drenching the arena. When put into action, the small exceed was able to do more than her appearance suggested. Despite her fragile body frame and delicate white-furred paws, the ability that the Mother Earth had instilled within her was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Gulping in a breath of air, she looked around briefly, flying up towards wherever the ceiling of the lab was to look down for Sorano. To her relief, the letter mage looked fine despite the many mages appearing and disappearing all around her. Having confirmed her safety, Hoshi would enter the fray herself, narrowly escaping the sudden spurt of red liquid from one of the clones. They were difficult opponents this time, since these were other mages, well-trained through some complex programming. They would have to find the mastermind behind all this technology in order to stop them, something she most certainly wasn’t looking forward to. Following up behind one of her partner’s attacks, the exceed slapped a sheet of water into the clone’s face, knocking her out in a brisk move before joining Sorano on the floor.

By now, only two of the fifteen clones remained, and both sides were breathy and exhausted. The girl on the right arched an eyebrow at them, as if daring them to come at them, while the other seemed more severely injured, trying not to look up as she clutched at an arm. Her outfit had several circuits seeming to be hanging on only by a wire of so, and blood streaked her pale skin. She wouldn’t be hard to take out. In a quick, easy move, Sorano sent a lightning bolt down on the stronger-looking girl, frying her circuits and leaving her defenseless before knocking her out with a quick strike with the hilt of a knife. Before Hoshi could finish off the weaker one, however, a sudden blunt pressure would be felt at the letter mage’s head before she collapsed, yelling in surprise. Hoshi blinked, wondering what in the world had happened. Then, she looked to the side, only to see the formerly downcast-eyed girl smirking at her, snatching a circuit in her hand. “Hey, kitty,” she whispered, before her circuits all lit up in a wave a bright red, eyes glowing the same color.

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The member 'ivyleaf33' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

The fluid exploded througout the room, splattering the tanks and tubes and bodies with scorching red liquid. Sorano hissed in pain as she felt the pain on her forearms crisping in the extreme heat. What the heck? She hadn’t been defeated after all? A hiss exited her mouth as the light slowly faded, leaving her with a badly burnt arm and legs, and… Hoshi? Looking around in horror, Sorano’s eyes tried to pick up on the presence of the fun, bubbly exceed. “Hey, Hoshi? Hoshi? Where are you? Hey Hoshi, seriously, where are you?” For once terror laced her voice as she ran towards the fallen figure of the girl who had been behind the explosion. “Oh my god, oh my god, Hoshi?” Her emotional barriers flickered for a moment, causing her mind to blank, even her alters not daring to enter her mind in such a precarious situation. Groping about in the now cooled artificial fluid, the letter mage scrabbled about like someone who had lost their mind, a bare skeleton remaining of the formerly calm, composed and intelligent guild master. Hot tears streaked down her porcelain face as she begged any sort of deity in the heavens to help her. No, not Hoshi, anyone but Hoshi was fine, just not her!

While to some this may seem like an obsessive scene, with a great overreaction from the child, one would have to understand their background to understand Sorano’s reaction. The letter mage had no one, no one left who had ever seen the way she truly was besides Hoshi. Not even Anna, the kindly mage who had taught Sorano how to live life again knew her as well as the feline had. The two told each other everything, allowed each other to know everything, anything about each other. Their relationship was probably the most open one might had ever seen, the two fitting into each other like they were meant for one another. The thought of losing her one anchor to her emotions… There was no way that someone so emotionally unstable as Sorano could handle the loss. Already, signs of losing Hoshi were showing in her panicked demeanor, her mind scrambling apart from the usual organized rows. She was falling apart. She searched through the debris, brushing aside pieces of circuitry and stray tubes and tools, trying to distinguish proper figures apart from the sea of red – a gruesome combination of both blood and electronic liquid.

“Interesting.” I sudden voice snapped the letter mage from her thoughts, jerking her head upwards to look at the man who stared at her in an unimpressed manner. “I’m disappointed, quite honestly.” An eyebrow was raised skeptically at Sorano, disbelief etched into his every feature. “I had expected so much more from the supposedly emotionless guild master. Instead, all I see before is an emotionally distraught teenager who has lost her pet. Honestly I had been expecting so much more. In the end, will I have to even try in order to defeat you? I was impressed with your conduct at first, but it is obvious you have too many weaknesses to win against someone of my level.” A smirk grew on his face, and the man slid a powerful sword from its sheath. “It will definitely be fun to watch the collective reactions of all those mages out there when they hear that I have slain the guild master of Fairy Tail, hmm? Fairy Tail, guild of destruction. Guild of monsters, of people who can’t possibly be normal human beings with their unpredictability. No one ever knows what they might do next, actions ranging from extraordinarily well-calculated to nonsensical. I have long since wanted to meet the master of such a beautifully chaotic guild. Are you sure there’s no other master? Perhaps you are nothing but a decoy? I wouldn’t be surprised, honestly, sweetie.”

The tip of his sword skimmed the ground, slicing a line of silver through all the red. At the end of the path, Sorano’s eyes widened as the still figure of Hoshi twitched in pain at the sudden prick of metal in her scorched fur. A breath was hurriedly sucked into her mouth as she felt within her for how much ethernanos she had left. A sickening feeling of dread settled into her stomach as the store turned up empty, lacking the powerful energy she so depended on for magic use. They were doomed, weren’t they? Sucking in a breath, the letter mage suddenly felt the entire situation settle on her shoulders. She was exposed, emotions bared to the outside. There was… Absolutely nothing she could do when she possessed emotions. A sudden shock coursed through her veins at this realization, and without thinking, she let her mind take over. In a single movement, her body was discarded to the ground, a powerful aura of white and black swirled together in a mosaic of dizzying brightness as her aural form discarded her emotions, becoming the version of her most suited to fighting.

“I believe you may have underestimated me, sir. It is difficult to determine the true strength of someone when you are judging them at their worst, you realize.” In a quick movement, she sent a streak of mixed light at the figure, watching with mild interest as he easily dodged it. Streaks of speed magic echoed in the air beside him, painting the air a dull yellow glow. Sorano reveled in the powerful energy senses of this form, feeling the presence of each individual magic and trembling power touch her veins, leaving them trembling with delight. She could make do with this, couldn’t she? His sword whizzed towards her quickly, his smile having disappeared. “Don’t think you can beat me with such elementary skills, miss. I may have underestimated you, but I am not lacking in my own skills.” His sword lashed at her spiritual body, but he was not the only one with speed in this situation. The energetic form easily dodged his strike, retaliating with two quick slashes one after another, finally catching him on the arm. Seeing him wince at the impact, Sorano recalled that her new aural abilities were no longer pure, burning white signatures. She had grown tainted with experience and age, wielding a terrible, dark infection along with the pure burn of justice. It couldn’t feel nice to get hit with that.

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He grimaced slightly from the unexpected sensation, but to his credit, the scientist recovered quickly, stepping back as the two circled each other briefly. Having tested out each others’ waters already, they were ready to really enter the battle. He feinted at her quickly, sword ducking to her unprotected side, dipping into the aural substance, A small gash opened up on the still body lying on the ground, the sense of pain quickly dismissed by the mage. Small injuries were of no importance to her at the moment, instead, her eyes focused carefully on the faint twitches of her opponents’ muscles, watching for any giveaway sign of weakness. He darted forth again, seeing she was not going to retaliate, and this time Sorano was prepared. She flattened herself to the ground, jerking out abruptly to slice a streak of aural energy into his leg as he darted back. Like many swordsmen, he often slashed sideways, not expecting the downwards motion of their opponent. Many mages, even some of the very best forgot about the fact that a person could move in four main directions. They simply assumed their opponents would go left or right, or up and down. There was no in between, and it did actually work on most mages. Mages, that were not Sorano.

Focusing on one another, they nipped and nibbled at each others’ strategies and defenses. The scientist’s immense speed and dangerous precision matched with Sorano’s cold, calculating mindset and painful energy attacks were a perfect combination for a skilled partnership, or, in this case, a difficult rivalry. They were well-matched, able to counter each others’ attacks quickly. Sorano’s adaptability was countered by his speed, and his swordsmanship was countered by Sorano’s precise movements and energetic form. After only around half an hour of back and forth testing, not much progress had been made on either side. Both were breathing hard, gasping out shallow gasps and trying to catch their breaths. Had it been only a training session, this was where Sorano would have asked to stop. But this was no practice – this was the real thing. If she failed, she was basically dead. So, burying her humanity even deeper inside of her, she pushed onwards. The movies glorified the battle, made the protagonist’s struggles and triumphs look grand and heartwarming. It was nowhere close to that in reality, however, and the victory was won not with fanfare, but with great exhaustion.

Having pushed himself to the limits, the scientist had simply not had as much stamina as the letter mage in this new form. Being speeding around constantly with a heavy sword compared to Sorano in a lightweight body, he tired quickly, weakened enough for the letter mage to catch him unawares. A powerful hit of energy to the side of his head put him out, and Sorano was instantly looking for Hoshi. Grasping the furry little bundle from the ground, she pressed her magic hurriedly into the limp body, breathing relief when she twitched a sign of life into existence. “Thank god, Hoshi,” she whispered, settling the feline down as the girl fell back into her physical body. It was obvious how much it hurt, an instant sensation of burning and prickling shooting through her limbs where she had been hit in the battle. All that rejected hurt came back now, hampering her movements and leaving her without a moment of peace. She pulled herself up to her feet, job having been forgotten already until a familiar voice called out. “Hey, Sorano? Oh my gosh, Sorano? Is that you?” The teary, joyful voice cut through her thoughts and turned Sorano’s head towards a petite blonde girl standing in front of a just-opened back door.

“O-oh, Lexa, hello,” came her response, looking at Tranzbose Lexa in something almost akin to surprise. She definitely had not forgotten the job was going on, right? Running over, Lexa wrapped the bleeding girl in a huge hug, pulling her towards the door. “Thank you so much Sorano! Ahh, I’m getting so dependent on you it’s not even funny, like, you have no idea how terrified I was, okay? Like, I woke up, and I’m locked in a room! I could barely get the circuit slipped out a crack in the doorframe, which stripped away a lot of the data. But you got it in the end, which is all that counts!” Grinning, she pulled a folder out from a desk in the corner. “As always, I am in your debt, Sorano, so I must pay you, yes?” She reached out, handing the letter mage a check in circuit form. “They should accept these, come find me if they don’t!” The girl smiled broadly, rummaging around in the folder again. “Also! Here is a special something I created while stuck in there. I wanted you to have it, as a symbol of our friendship. You’ve helped me so much, I wanted to thank you with something personal like this, okay?”

The letter mage took the strip of decorative circuitry, colors flowing smoothly below her fingertips. “This… wow, thank you, Lexa,” she said, looking up with almost genuine gratitude in her expression. “You will never hurt a single ally in the nearby area with this amulet, yeah? Keep it on you, Sorano. I saw you fighting out there, you know. I had a sight-lacrima, and your fighting is gorgeous. However, I can definitely tell that your abilities are wild and unpredictable. I don’t want you to hurt a friend on accident someday.” With these solemn last words, she gave both Sorano and the unconscious Hoshi a peck on the cheek, and disappeared into the dark tunnels of the labyrinth. Waving awkwardly, Sorano sighed, tying the circuitry around her wrist, and returned to the sunny world above. Already, she could guess that one day Lexa would call her back to this exact location again. And honestly, Sorano didn’t really mind. After all, wasn’t Lexa Grimoire someone they could see as a friend now?

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