Checking out a Strange Occurrence

Job Information:

It was turning out to be a rather cool day at Cedar, or well more like the beach. A gentle breeze pushed the clouds gently across the baby blue sky, to say the least it was a rather perfect day for traveling. "Why am I here" Tsuuki asked himself, his head gently placed in the palm of his hand as he leaned into the white lawn chair. Growing bored of the rather calm day, the serpent was tempted to cause some trouble; but then that would mean he couldn't drink anymore hot chocolate. Bringing the plastic stripped green straw to his pale lips, Tsuuki took a small sips in order to enjoy his chocolate milk to the fullest extent. A slight shiver ran down his spin when he tasted the warm hot liquid pour down his throat, he tongue slithered out of his mouth and wets his lips. 'Mmmmm, how delicious' he chuckled slightly as he admired the sweet drink. From his view on the deck, Tsuuki could see the crystal blue 

The restaurant was rather fancy, they had a deck that had a perfect view of the ocean; and even on the deck they had a bar. Tsuuki himself sat by himself at the corner of the deck, away from the ocean and closet to the entrance of the actually restaurant. The serpent was spending to much time at Mt. Hakobe, the cold weather there was starting irritate him greatly; thus the serpent decided to take a break from the cold weather and enjoy something a bit more warm. After all snakes were cold blooded, and thus they needed sunlight once and a while. As Tsuuki was patiently sipping on his hot chocolate, from the corner he could see that the two waitresses were rather scared to come near him, he placed the empty drink down and frowned. His hot chocolate was empty, and with his hot chocolate gone, his fantasy was over; he frowned and sighed. "How disappointing" he murmured to himself.

Looking up from his table Tsuuki singled for one of the waitress, she eventually come after severing someone else. "Can I help you sir?" she asked Tsuuki, the serpent paused for a moment rubbing his chin. "Of course you can, I will like some more hot chocolate please; the hotter the better" he murmured softly, giving her a wicked grin. The waitress nodded and soon disappeared from his table into the kitchen. A man with a rather large bushy beard enter stepped onto the deck, he looked disturbed for some reason or another; the smell of fish followed the man as he walked to the bar. Tsuuki could see that it was rather obvious that something was wrong with the man, but for the time being he didn't care. All he wanted was his hot chocolate, and perhaps a bite to eat. Then once he was done with perhaps his third cup of hot chocolate, he might checkout what is wrong with the old man; just to see if he had anything interesting to do. 

To some, sun would be very pleasant and being directly under it's scorching gaze would replenish their energy. And for some, doing exactly the same would sap their energy and will away. Leila was more of the latter, though it was not so bad. Heat was just a natural weakness of hers, as one would expect with the magic she wielded. And so, her steps were lazy and sleepy when she slowly walked towards the building that adorned the beach's visage. Why would she be going to a place like this you ask? Well, it wouldn't be too out of character for her to just be exploring and trying out new restaurants she had never been to. And Cedar was one of those places she yet had to properly visit too, as much of a surprise as that was. A wanderer she was, but still plenty to see she had. Though, unfortunately, today's visit was more of a business one that anything. A certain man had contacted her some time back, requested to meet here. Apparently he had an urgent request that had to be taken care of. But seeing how he was fine with meeting few days from the actual message, it probably wasn't anything too urgent. Still contract was a contract and the Eden's witch was aiming to please. Whatever task she would be given, she would complete to the best of her ability. Perhaps she was far too strict with herself with all these rules she lived by, but it was the only way to reclaim what she once had.

Finally there, the pleasant shade of a proper roof already managed to perk her up a bit. Opening the doors, the lovely and somewhat exotic interior was revealed to her. Plenty of costumers around it seemed, some more strange than others. Especially the one with skin completely pale despite being on a beach where people usually go to get some tan. Well, she probably wasn't one to speak. Her own skin was more on the pale side, not to mention the completely gray spots that covered a good chunk of her body. Even now, the corruption of Eden still adorned her body indeed. She would most likely never rid herself of that little fact which separated her look from one of regular human. Well, that and her hair which became transparent toward it's end. For now, she would look around a bit. And surely enough, she had quickly spotted the bearded man who was her employer for today. Seating herself beside him, she offered a kind smile and asked exactly what was going on. His voice was burly and loud, drawing some unwanted eyes and ears. Not that many would care about the things he said, but it still was quite annoying. Apparently there was something happening on a shore little ways from here. Something that she would have to investigate and solve on her own. Certainly sounded shady. But work was still work and she never shied away from something just because it seemed strange at first. In fact, strange was usually the most fun by the end of it.

The sun was in not a way to replenish Tsuuki energies, on the other hand being in the sun for prolonged time could severely burn his skin; since Tsuuki was rather pale and pasty. Being in the sun was merely a way for Tsuuki to regain warmth after spending most of his time in a frozen waste land, that was sadly the home to his guild. The serpent was known to travel when threatened with boredom, but he also traveled when faced with an interesting proposition or when he simply wanted something. No, he wasn’t a wandering wizard who sought to help people in need but instead he was a slithering serpent searching for almost any and every opportunity. Of course, the serpent was informed of some sort of strange occurrence taking place on this beach, but for the time being he didn’t care; for now, the only important thing was drinking his hot chocolate. Whatever the strange occurrence was it could wait until Tsuuki managed to finish his drink, right now that was his goal; that was his obsession.  No doubt people was judging him, drinking hot chocolate on a rather warm day, no doubt people thought he was insane; which wasn’t rather entirely untrue.

As Tsuuki was happily suck the straw that rest between his lips and the hot sweet heavenly drink known as hot chocolate, he couldn’t help but notice that the old man was drawing a lot of attention. Hearing the doors open he turned to see a new costumer walking in, she was different than the others; she looked interesting. Like him she had a rather unhealthy shade of pale with what seemed to be grey spots covering a good chunk of her body, furthermore the new comer seemed to possess almost transparent hair. For a moment Tsuuki stopped draining the glass of hot chocolate, and allowed his amber eyes to follow her movement and like he expected she made her way to the man dressed in the yellow rain coat. ‘Interesting’ Tsuuki thought to himself, once again focusing half of his attention to drinking his luxurious glass of hot coco, and the rest of his focus on the new girl who was obviously a mage.  Eventually there was a loud slurping sound as Tsuuki’s enjoyment of the hot coco suddenly came to an end, he frowned and tossed the cup to the side; resting his chin in the palm of his hand; he placed his full focus on the girl and the man. As the man went on about how there was something ‘wicked’ going on at the beach, Tsuuki was ease-dropping during the entire conversation and he certainly didn’t hide it. In fact, the entire mission sounded interesting to him, getting up he made his way to the elderly gentlemen. “Well, this certainly sound like a predicament” he commented coldly, speaking before the other mage could ever utter a word, turning his attention to the bar tender; he gave the man a rather devilish grin. “I believe I would need a Hot coco to go please and perhaps one for this lovely young lady”  

This place was at least somewhat busy with all the sounds and movement happening all over. It all kinda blurred into one big unrecognizable mess once Leila started focusing on a single point, which was the man in front of her. But even then, she was still a mage that had plenty of combat already behind her. Perhaps completely unintentionally, she had learned how to take in information from her surroundings even when not properly paying attention to it, as measures to prevent being attacked out of nowhere. Maybe every warrior eventually got into a mindset like that, expecting to enter combat at any moment, even when sitting in a perfectly friendly family restaurant. In any case, precisely because of this habit of hers, one sound in particular caught her attention even as she talked with the elder man. A glass hitting the table rather forcefully, as if tossed aside instead of just placed gently atop the solid surface. But not thrown with the intent to break it either, merely a toss of mild annoyance. Was that way too specific to make her sound like a normal person to others? Well, she wasn't exactly all that normal herself. And soon, the pale man was standing right next to the table, joining the conversation without being asked to. Not that she minded it, just her employer nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the new individual and grew uneasy as a result.

"Oh my, not many gentlemen these days. I will graciously accept the drink then!"

A smile and small gesture of a hand to greet the serpent. Hot coco wasn't exactly something she'd order on her own, but if it was offered to her for free, then she had absolutely no reason to refuse. After all, she was taught as a young that it is rude to refuse kindness others want to give you. If that extended to random strangers just buying you drinks or even bribes and such, she didn't really care either. The waitress who heard the order ran off once more and Leila stretched a bit in the meantime. Her employer on the other hand remained quite stiff and unsure of what to do.

"You won't mind if this gentleman tags along, right? The more people go there and investigate it, the sooner the problem will be solved after all. And you did say that this should be taken care of as soon as humanly possible."

Not that she was a human. Or her new partner for that matter. She already worked with plenty of people to be able to say that this one wasn't exactly your average Joe from the neighborhood. If that wasn't clear enough from his appearance. In any case, they soon got their drinks and the Eden's witch was ready to go, if the serpent was.

"We can head out whenever you want, good sir."

For a moment Tsuuki enjoyed how nervous the man was of his presence, it was somewhat amusing to him that he has such an effect on people. Slowly grey clouds started to plague the crystal blue sky, which caused many people to groan and leave the podium. Almost everyone except for Tsuuki who could care less about the rain, the sailor who no doubt has been through worst, and the other mage who seemed to be interested in this job. Judging by how uneasy the man felt around him, Tsuuki could guess that the man was terrified of snakes, or that the man was weary that there was something different about Tsuuki. Either way, he found the man’s jump and fear to be rather amusing.  

“Heh, it is a sad thing, isn’t it? People who forget their manners” he mused in a sarcastic monotone voice, with a slight note of amusement. “Although I will admit I am a poor gentleman for interrupting this conversation in such a rude manner, I only ask for forgiveness” his sarcastic tone never gave up. 

The serpent barely acknowledged her presence and instead of smiling back, he simply nodded in reply. Which was about the only greeting she would ever get from him, that was until she fully catches his interest. There are only three drinks that Tsuuki actually enjoys and drinks on a regular basis those drinks are Tea, Water, and Hot chocolate. Out of those three-hot chocolate is perhaps his favorite drink of all time, there was simply something about it that caused an obsession with the warm beverage. The waitress eventually came by with three mugs of hot chocolate, she even placed little umbrellas and marshmallows in the holy beverage for them. Rubbing his hands together, he wasted no time in drinking the godly beverage.   
 
Once he was done drinking his glass of hot coco, he turned his attention to the man and the other mage. Surprisingly the man agreed for Tsuuki to join the mission, which Tsuuki expected was more out of fear then for the mission to be quickly solved. Furthermore, he was surprised that the other mage allowed him to join the job, he couldn’t help but give her a rather cunning smirk. “It seems you are the one with manners” he commented, looking up to the sky he noticed that it was now grey and a bit darker. Personally, Tsuuki didn’t mind a little rain, in fact it would make the entire mission a bit more dramatic, but in the end it was up to his new ‘partner’ 

“It is starting to storm I believe, which means the water level and the waves may rise” He observed, getting up he yawned. “Furthermore, the rain will make me a little tired and cold, and that is something I do not want” he pauses turning his attention to the girl. “It would be best that we leave now, before the storm start, also bring that Hot Chocolate with you we might need it for the cold weather” 

The girl could only continue to smile as well, as she herself was amused by this new arrival. He acted differently to most people, or creatures in this case. She already could guess that he probably wasn't the most respected individuals in certain ways. But at this point, that was nothing more than an accusation. However, Leila already worked with members of guilds such as Savage Skull and found out that even they can be pleasant to be around. In the end, they were all just mortal creatures that had to dance to the song of the universe, forced into it's bidding. From time to time, they could find a way to break out of such curses and forge their own path, defy the fate itself. But it would not happen very often. Always played like a toy by the higher forces... how utterly disgusting did that sound. Oh well. The young witch would look up into the skies and observe the clouds merging and splitting apart as they tried to form a blanket over the blue canvas of skies. Perhaps he was right and a storm was coming.

"Indeed, people without any manners are the worst of all. However, you did not sin all that much just yet, so I'll go ahead and forgive you."

She would return the tone in her voice to the man, teasing him as she got up from her chair and moved over to the railing, leaning over it and watching the waves in the distance grow. She would return to her seat as the drinks arrived, grabbing hers into both of her palms and feeling it's warmth slowly spreading throughout her being. It was pleasant with the wind slowly growing colder. Tsuuki would urge that they should head out right away, even explaining his reasons. To that, Leila would chuckle lightly.

"Oh, do you not deal well with cold mister? You needn't worry. I am capable enough to deal with any kind of storm we might encounter on our way or during the investigation. Raising water doesn't pose any problems either as long as you're not afraid of heights too."

Explaining it all and showing her confidence, she would grab the cocoa firmly and head out through the door. She was the witch of Eden, her powers naturally revolving around manipulation of nature. So if it would be more nature they had to go against, there was absolutely no problem in dealing with it. And if the worst possible scenario was to occur, she could even create a little hut for them where they could wait out the cold. The mental image of doing such thing was actually quite amusing. In any case, the girl continued on her way to where she had to be, not really caring if Tsuuki followed or not. It was her contract and he was an extra helper that just decided to join, so he was really free to disappear at any moment he wanted. Though he would not obtain any rewards if that were to happen, obviously. And why even bother doing anything if you were not to be rewarded for it?