Space Unicorn (Job)

Arcadia held the discreet flier/invitation up, reading it over and over. Many places would not let her near the alcohol they served, but flier/invitation distinctly invited any mage from Fairy Tail. She was not so much interested in the drinks listed, but the contest. Any contest or competition often had a siren song like effect on the young slayer. This flyer was a double dog dare she could not resist.

Part of her worried what her teammates Nessa and Aven would think of her, if they knew where she was headed right now. The young slayer hung her head at the thought of disappointing either of them. At the same time, she had done so much worse before even joining Fairy Tail. That's what she ought to be really worried about. Arcadia shook such thoughts aside. That was for another time, right now she had a contest to win!

Now would she dare brave her way through the contest straight? Looking over the flier/invitation a little longer, she saw nothing listed that said she had to. It was a contest of illegal drinks after all. She was sure the other contestants would likely find spells or potions to help them, so she probably should too.

If she could figure a way to not actually drink at all, she was sure she'd win then. If alcohol tasted as horrible as it smelled to her quite sensitive slayer nose, she'd rather not have to. A couple ideas of finding any empty bottles she could were quickly dismissed, a much simpler and elegant plan coming to mind. If she did it right, this whole contest could be won with only a single spell.  

Glancing one more time at the directions on her flier/invitation, Arcadia then looked up and down the street.  She should be getting close by now. Her deep green faerie eyes picked out a street sign at the intersection ahead. It read, 'Silver Moon Street'. Arcadia pumped a celebratory fist briefly in the air. Almost there.  She jogged down the way, and hurried around the corner. Her destination was just ahead.

She called upon a recently learned spell, conjuring a shadow clone of herself. A perfect visual copy of herself, that she meant to wear as a full body puppet. Wearing the puppet, she could carry out what she needed in disguise. Her plan didn't call for a disguise though, rather it would rely on a secondary effect of her spell. The ability to dress and accessorize the clone anyway she imagined, including accessories like perfect shadow copies of the illegal drinks she would not be actually be drinking.

Arcadia kept to a light jog before she reached the walls of the Silver Moon Inn. Disguised as herself, she went straight inside as soon as she found the doors. Once inside, she had another look at her flier/invitation, thinking out loud in a barely audible whispering to herself, "Hmmm... it's down in the basement."

She was able to wander around the first floor pretty freely, while working out where the stairs to the basement were. The first floor's hustle and bustle let her go easily unnoticed. No one stopped her until she finally found the stairway down, and started toward it. A bald, burly, rough and tough giant of a man was standing sentry. The giant man folded his arms, frowning over the young slayer, "Where do you think yer going, little lady?"

Arcadia rolled her deep green eyes a little, showing the sentry both her flier/invitation and the Fairy Tail guild mark on her left forearm. After studying both closely, the giant man hesitantly stood aside to allow Arcadia to pass. She didn't give him time to reconsider, racing past and down to the basement.

In the basement, she was stopped again while picking out somewhere to sit. It was a woman this time, every bit as intimidating and almost as tall as the giant upstairs. Her left eye was blind by an old battle scar that carried clear down her left cheek. The woman's right eye though, shown with deadly intensity. An intensity fully backed up by the fearsome blade readily available at her hip.  The woman scoffed when she stopped Arcadia, "What are you doing down here, squirt?"

Arcadia sighed and rolled her eyes again. She understood their abundant caution, but it was still tiresome to deal with just the same. The young slayer produced her flier/invitation and guild mark for the woman's perusal.

The woman looked over both quite closely, noting the young girl's mark was only an outline.  She snorted, "Fairy Tail, huh? Have to say I'm kinda disappointed. I was hoping they'd send more than just a newbie. Find a seat, squirt, but don't get too comfortable. I'm sure you won't be staying long."

Arcadia Death Glare:

Arcadia gave the woman one of her deep green faerie deathglares. The young slayer couldn't completely sure of the woman was briefly unsettled, but she did leave Arcadia alone after that. She focused her attention back to finding somewhere to sit for the contest.

Walking across the basement, Arcadia's iLac went off playing a little song she had downloaded for calls:

Space unicorn
Soaring through the stars
Delivering the rainbows all around the world
Space unicorn
Shining in the night
Smiles and hugs forever
All around the world
So pure of heart
And strong of mind
S-


Arcadia fumbled around, trying to reach her iLac in her dress pocket without looking. That just allowed the song to play one extra whole stanza more than might have otherwise. She finally extricated her phone out, glancing to see who it was.  It was one of her non-wizard posse, the Magnolia Seis, back home. She grumbled to herself as she silenced her iLac, "Not now, guys."

She quietly sent message by texting app to let them know she was on a job for her guild. Sighing in exasperation, she slipped her iLac back in her pocket. She did love that song, but it was probably the last one you wanted playing before a contest for the consumption of illegal alcoholic beverages. Arcadia was pretty sure any 'street cred' she got from her guild mark was already on pretty thin ice. Noticing the smirk in the woman sentry's face from across the room, Arcadia had a sinking feeling that 'cred' was now non-existent.

Arcadia Sighs:

An array of chairs had been set up in the most open part of the basement with a couple crates as a makeshift bar set up in front. The young slayer picked the least crowded side of set up chairs. The contest seemed quite popular. Including herself, at least thirty plus people had gathered to participate. Not usually one for crowds, Arcadia liked her chances. With this many people, the acting job she'd need to pull off to compliment her shadow drinks would be all the easier.

The sentry woman strode to the front, standing just in front of the makeshift bar. She was greeted with a mixture cheers and whistles. Chuckling on the way up, she held a hand up, and gave a sweeping stare over all the contestants. Even the rowdiest among the crowd quieted down. "Than you, thank you, ladies and to use the term loosely... gentlemen."

A smattering of laughter and heckling briefly rose up, but she continued on, "Who I am is not important. Most of won't be able to remember your own names shortly, let alone mine, so I'll skip the niceties."

One already drunk contestant cheered,"Nobody can ever forget you, Risia!"

Another drunk yelled, "Since when are worried about being nice?"

A couple of the drunk's fellows laughed much too hard at that last bad joke. The woman, whom Arcadia now guessed to be called Risia, pulled a knife Arcadia hadn't noticed while she was being questioned. "Next one of ya louts who talks before I finish up here can finish the contest without their tongue."

This was all rather intense for the young slayer, but at least the rest of the crowd was finally quiet. Arcadia had to wonder if Risia was serious about cutting anyone's tongue out.  Risia went on, "We have four rounds set up. Our bar maids will be coming around to bring each of you your drinks. Each round holds a beverage more crazy strong than the last. If there's a tie, then it's as easy as who can stay standing the longest after that fourth round wins it all. I'd say most of you won't make it past the second round. Last contest, no one made it past the third."

Risia continued, pointing to other armed guards around the basement. "If any o' you gets handsy with the servers, you know who will be stomping yer face into the floor. If you get handsy with each other, that's between you all. The Silver Moon Inn isn't responsible for any hands lost either, so my advice is keep 'em to yourselves. Alright, Chuck, yer on."

Risia gave way to the shorter, portly and balding bartender. He sported a thick, peppered grey beard to match the ring of remaining hair around the back and sides of his head. Chuck roamed out in front of the bar to begin the contest, "The first round tonight are Buttercup Margaritas. These might just make ya foolish enough to try second round of drinks."

Chuck motioned to the servers and they all picked up pre-prepared trays of Buttercup Margaritas. They spread out through the basement, handing each of the contestants their drink for the first round. Arcadia smiled to the server giving her a Buttercup Margarita. She thought, well maybe this will require two spells instead of one.  Leaving behind her shadow clone to mime drinking her margarita, Arcadia refracted her actual self invisible.

The young slayer snuck off to a far corner of the basement where she found one of a few potted plants sitting. The important ting about this particular potted plant from the others around the basement, it was the most out of the way.  She quietly emptied her margarita into the dirt in the pot, and snuck back to her seat. The invisible slayer put her shadow puppet back on, quickly downing the rest of her shadow margarita.

Arcadia watched as the other 29 or so contestants slowly finished off each  their own margaritas. She quietly dismissed the empty shadow glass to she could hand over the real one without being left inexplicably with an extra glass in her hand. To her disappointment, all the other participants did not seem greatly affected  by this first drink. A number of them did have trouble standing, and complained about the room starting to spin, but no one was left too impaired to continue.

Chuck was busy setting up the next round of drinks while the first was being served, and by the time the servers had returned the last empty glass, the next round was ready. The portly bartender chuckled, “Looks like some of you are feeling that last one more than others, but all are still standing. Let's see how you all handle this next one. Lizard Wine! If it hits you hard enough you might just get actual patches of lizard skin or even yellow reptilian eyes!”

Arcadia graciously nodded to her server when taking her next glass. Hearing some of the side effects mentions, she was pretty glad she had no intention of actually drinking. On the other hand, people like Risia might get suspicious, if she was the only one not showing any sign at all. One more thing to adjust with her shadow clone.

First thing, she remained invisible, slipping back out of her now wine sipping shadow clone.  The unseen slayer snuck back to the plant she had picked out to empty her drinks into.  She dumped her wine into the potted soil, and snuck back as she had before. This time upon her shadow clone finishing her shadow drink, Arcadia turned the clone's eyes a golden yellow. She made sure to match the yellow of the other contestants she was watching.

This time about half the contestants just can't finish their drink, or if they do, they had a severe reaction gaining lizard skin over most of their body. Again, Chuck busied himself preparing the next round of drinks. This time he only had to pour half as many.  Chuck spoke up again after the last glass was returned to the makeshift bar. “Looks like things are getting serious. Only half  made it through that round, and sometimes nobody makes it through this next one.  Today our third drink is Cat Rum! It's been known to make you attractive to fats, and maybe even grow your own set of cat ears and tail.”

Arcadia again thanked her server for the rum she was left with. She had  her routine down now, wasitng no time to go invisibly sneak away and dump out her drink, while her shadow self stayed seated. She giggled a little when her thoughts added a pair of kitty ears atop her pale blonde head, and a matching tail under the skirts of her dress.

She was only one of four contestants to make it rough the third round. So many brusk looking guys either too drunk or just didn't have strong enough constitutions. Chuck simply had the servers bring out the last four drinks with little explanation for this last round. Chuck nodded, “This is it. Last round.. Only four left.”

With only three other contestant's left, Arcadia had to be more cautious with her last run to the potted plant. It took her patience to  to wait long enough for the others to appear distracted. She could feel her heart pounding right up until she was safely back in her seat.

After the fourth round was finished, she was one of two who hadn't blacked out, and the only one who could stand on their own power.  Arcadia jumped for joy, and Chuck made it official, “We have a winner!”

Arcadia held onto her invisibility and shadow puppet for a little longer. Risia approached the young slayer, looking suspiciously over the the oddly sober looking young girl. “You got the ears, the weirdly colored eyes and all, but don't seem to be terribly affected.”

Arcadia cut off the sentry woman, meaning to head off any questions too serious for her mood, ”I am a dragon slayer.”

Risia nodded, buying that logic, “That makes sense.”

Once she had collected her prize of the 20k jewel, Arcadia made a b-line for the exit.

Word Count 2430/2000