❅❆Winter Wonders in Midi (Event Job - Demi)❆❅

Never having been to Midi, Arcadia couldn't just use her very handy new dimensional scissors. She'd had such real prophetic dreams from her mother, Khione Glacier, before, but this one was far different. Because now she was flying to meet her guildmate... or potential new guildmate. She didn't truly understand why her foster mother would guide her to a new guildmate, especially one her dream didn't make clear would even need help.  The only real things the dream had made clear was where, a remote Midian village, and when, an emergency in the immediate future.

As it turned out, the fairies at Fairy Tail's reception desk confirmed the emergency in Midi when they posted a job troubled village in Midi. It probably went out to all possible wizard guilds, but it was all the confirmation Arcadia needed to know to gamble a venture to Midi. If the rest was bunk, at least she will have helped people in need finding that out. While her scissors were out of the question, except for the return trip, trains were too. They would take way too long and turn her stomach in knots along the trip.

She did use her scissors to take her to the outskirts of Magnolia via portal. There was just more room for a 15 meter long ice dragon to take flight than in the middle of the street. Running straight out of the portal, she was transformed into a gray whale-sized dragon of never melting ice in a matter of of a couple steps. Surprisingly, it took little effort for her great frozen wings to get a couple hundred tons of nearly solid ice of the ground and kept aloft. Flurries of snow traveled with her, with or without clouds, being spawned the instant she transformed. Her currently, sparkling faerie green eyes being the one indicator of a kind young girl somewhere inside the small flying iceberg.

Arcadia as Young Adult Ice Dragon:

Scale of Ice Dragon Size:

((The elephant was her size as a dragon at A-Rank, the gray whale is the size of her size as a dragon at S-Rank))

She circled and climbed high into the skies over Magnolia. It was going to be a long flight, and she suspected she would need to land a couple times at least to eat and rest up. Arcadia still believed she could fly to the village before sundown that same day as opposed to sometime the next day by way of train. Once she reached a comfortable cruising altitude, the young adult ice dragon banked one more time to set her course for Midi.

Now that she was focused on the mission, Arcadia was far less worried about her dream and more about what she would to do to help those people in the village. She started thinking more closely over the details listed in the poster, scant as there were. It didn't help that her mind had not been the most focused on reading it. One of the more vague senses, her dragon mother's spirit had left her with, was the supposed culprits for the village's trouble might be in search of the ruins of Dragnof. At least she got the sense that is what her mother's spirit feared. Thinking over all that, and finding this new potential guildmate her mother thought would help advert that possiblity had held her mind's focus while glancing over the poster.

That left the few details on the poster a little foggy in memory. Which is why she believed her memory to be faulty when recalling that the poster saying something about the perpetrators being related to Santa Claus? If she had not recently spent an entire day as one of her male guildmates and pretending to be another male guildmate for part of the same day, all to appease a wild crowd of worm fangirls, Arcadia would've thought the poster a prank. Clearly her life had taken a turn for the weird. If modern day Earthland could hold giant worms who happened to be fangirls of her friends, then Santa Claus cutting off and assailing a remote village in Midi was certainly in the realm of the possible.

Her flight was mostly unremarkable, just a lot time to be alone with her thoughts. After a couple stop overs for lunch and early dinner, Arcadia arrived over northern Midi. She had to use her iLac a couple times to make sure she was still on track. One thing she did remember clearly was that she was headed to a village called Livina in Midi's northern mountainous border region.

Just when she thought, she'd have to double check how close she was one more time, Arcadia spotted a landmark mentioned in the poster. The lone mountain pass road that had been cut off by a rocky landslide. It was the only way in or out of Livina, renowned mountain resort. She circled down and landed, shaking the ground. Arcadia wasted little time putting her dragon form's great size and strength to work pushing and rolling rocks and boulders off the pass. If additional help was to arrive on foot or wagon, the road would need to be cleared.

Even as a small walking glacier, it took Arcadia a good half hour to plow even a narrow path through the landslide. She did manage to clear a path at least one wagon wide, the rest of the landslide would have to wait. The dragon resumed the form of a teenaged human girl once she was ready to head into town. She wore a glowing crystal rose behind her left ear, and a Valhallan charm anklet around her ankle. The anklet, the Silver Star of Odin, is what allowed her to appear as her normal age as long as it was worn around her ankle. Without it she was bit a little girl. Arcadia was glad to have this workaround for now, though her curse had shown signs of beginning to wear off as late.

5 Year Old Arcadia ➳ 14 Year Old Arcadia:

She started toward the outskirts of Livina, keeping an eye out for the face of a girl.. woman she had only seen in a dream or any sign of Santa Claus aligned perpetrators. If she was lucky, she could talk these Santa Claus perps down without a fight or maybe that was why her mother had pointed her to this woman. If they could be talked down, maybe she could find out if there was any truth to her dream-inspired fear of their designs to find Dragnof's ruins. With her mother's remains laying the in ruins as an eternal glacier of ice that never melts, Arcadia had an interest in the location of the ruins remaining lost to legend and time. It was the easiest way to ensure no one desecrated her mother's place of rest.

Normal Arcadia:

Winter Event Job Details

WC: 1105
Arcadia WC: 1105/4000

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

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'Monster Dice' :

The pale blonde slayer had made her way into the heart of town. You almost would not know the town had been cut off from the rest of Midi with the way the townsfolk were going on with their lives. She guess the attacks had  only been around  mountains surrounding the town so far. Arcadia doubted that bit of good luck would last. No one would go to the trouble of cutting off the only route in or out if they did not mean to move in, or at least make some demands.

Livina, Midi really was a beautiful mountain village. Sure a lot of the cute little shops she was passing by catered to tourists, but that was Livina's bread and butter. They would not exist if not for the people drawn to this posh resort mountain village.  It was all so picturesque that the slayer realized she had been lulled into letting her guard down.  For all she knew, the holiday attackers could be laying in ambush.

Arcadia immediately used one of her favorite spells, Refraction, to displace her image a few steps from where she truly was as a precaution. She was still hoping to talk them down, but she also did not care to be caught out in the open in case they had other plans.  

Just ahead, festively colored portals opened up. Before Arcadia could advance toward them she felt a slight pressure headache. It was a discouragingly familiar sensation to the young blonde slayer. It Bob the Dream Demon, an entity from the Nightmare Realm she had the misfortune of meeting in Valhalla. His visit was brief this time, however, as she looked around bit mot see the demon anywhere.  She only heard his voice in her mind.  He did not sound happy.

It was your mother wasn't it. Too bad! Too bad, if she hadn't been so nosy, I would have had quite the surprise party for you in Dragnof. I was just seeing about convince the hosts of this shindig to move their fun to your old home. I managed to convince some of them, but not enough. Now that you've come early, and ruined the surprise, it wouldn't be polite of me to ruin the current hosts' fun too. Besides you mother cheated and apparently found you a potential new friend, which just spoils any other fun we could've had. I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. I'll surprise you yet!

Just like that, the pressure headache was gone and any sign of the dream demon.  At least, she would not have to deal with that headache, literally and figuratively, for the rest of this mission. The dream demon's words did put some more doubt in her mind about the possibility of talking her way through.  

Arcadia approached the portals, her image refracted a few steps ahead. She offered a friendly smile and wave to the elves, though she did not approach to closely, lest she invite the polar bears with the oddly color-schemed elves to investigate her image too closely. The pale blonde slayer introduced herself, "Hey there. I'm Arcadia Fairchilde of Fairy Tail. I'm here to make sure these townspeople don't get hurt. If they've wronged you or your leader in some way, I'm sure we can work something out. Nobody needs to get hurt today."

For one long moment, some of the elves appeared to mulling over a response.  Right as one was about to speak, one of his more trigger-happy compatriots ruined chances for a purely diplomatic solution.  Before the elf who was going to speak could get them to hold, that one trigger-happy elf got more than half its allies to attack too. Once so many of Santa's minions were committed, even the elf who might have talked joined in.  

It only took one swipe of a polar bear's massive paw to extinguish Arcadia's image. The young slayer shifted the focus of her spell to keep herself invisible. She also conjured a small army of of puppet clones of herself made from tiny ice crystals suspended in mist bending light into visual illusions. There were at least twenty-one puppets she had conjured, and she used them to run interference and create confusion among Santa's minions.  The many illusionary copies of Arcadia basically kept them busy, while the real Arcadia put a little breathing room between herself and them. Keeping Santa's minions busy was all the puppets could do on their own with no offensive capabilities or actual substance to them. In her partial retreat, Arcadia noticed the face she had seen in her dream off toward a shop right next to the festive portals.

This was going to be a hard fight to pull off on her own. With even a little help though, it might be possible to spare a few of even most of the minions. If Arcadia were forced to worry too much about her own survival in the fight, she would not have the luxury of holding back or using the finesse necessary to avoid killing.  

Arcadia snuck her way over, leaving her puppets of mist to keep the holiday minions occupied, while she approached the woman, noting the impressive magic power emanating from her.  If her mother had been right, this mess could still turn out alright.  Glancing back over her shoulder, Arcadia was glad to see her puppets were not only keeping the holiday minions attention away from herself, but also giving any Midian townsfolk in the area a chance to flee to safety.

The pale blonde slayer shifted the focus of her refraction once more, allowing her image to appear a couple steps to the side.  It was not a precaution not against Demi, but against being spotted by any of the holiday minions.  She smiled to the older wizard, "Hello. I'm Arcadia Fairchilde of Fairy Tail. I sense magic power of no small measure from you, and I sure could use your help."

Time being an ultra precious commodity at the moment, Arcadia skipped over subjects like prophetic dreams and dream demons named Bob. Mentioning them would only raise questions, and she would end up wasting most of that time giving answers. "If you need compensation; that's not a problem. I'm one of Fairy Tail's aces, so I could arrange that easily enough.  Or we could provide you with ample opportunities to earn all kinds of jewel.  If you help me here, we can pretty much skip the usual interview and guarantee you'll be in. Who knows, maybe you'll make a few friends if you don't mind them. Anyway, I'd like to be able to spare these guys' lives, and I'm pretty sure I can only manage that with your help. So whether you do it only for the immediate jewel or to join is, I hope you will help me out."

Arcadia glanced back to see how her puppets were holding up, and it looked like she had lost about two of them.  She mentally commanded the rest to begin drawing the holiday minions into a more closely clustered group.  The young slayer smiled back to Demi, "Now that I think about it... you kinda look like Ruvel.. Hmm.."

Turning toward the minions, she hurried to the most open part of the street.  Thankfully most townsfolk had fled the area by now, so there was plenty of room for her to take on her dragon form.  The ground shook a little as she grew into a 49 foot (15m) long monstrosity of nearly solid ice.  At nearly the same time, Arcadia tapped into the Silver Star of Odin to change the output of her magic from ice to elemental crystal.  Her spells were not quite as potent with crystal as they were with ice, but it should bypass any resistances or benefits to cold that minions of Santa might have in common with an ice dragon slayer.  

To keep the holiday minions from rushing her and ruin all her puppets' work to clump them together, she stomped one forefoot. Crystal spread out in sheets over the ground toward the tightly clustered minions, and encased all the feet and tree trunks in the area. They wouldn't be going anywhere without some effort or help from Arcadia.  She helped about five elves, polar bears and two festive trees by tapping into her dimensional scissors.

Arcadia opened up a hands-free portal under their feet and trunks, their combined weight helping shatter the crystal that held them. Those elves, polar bears and two trees all dropped out of sight. An exit portal had opened up about 100 meters straight up, causing it to rain elves, bears and trees on the minions she had missed.

The young adult ice dragon pressed her advantage, not giving the holiday minions a chance to gather their collective wits. She inhaled and unleashed a great roar sparkling with countless tiny razor-sharp shards of crystal over the sprawled holiday minions.  She risked whatever surprises the Christmas trees had in store by lounging for the nearest one, ripping its trunk up from the ground in her jaws. Arcadia turned the 15 foot tall tree into a giant club swinging and sweeping it back and forth in front of her as the holiday minions finally got a chance to spread out and begin their counterattack.  

WC: 1562
Arcadia WC: 2667/4000

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

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'Normal Dice' :

(Rolling for positive or negative effect from Santa)

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

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'Normal Dice' :

News of another guildmate was pleasantly unexpected. It was a point in Demi's favor, and an important one. It felt little weird, a stranger, in a country far away from Fiore, potentially knowing more about a guildmate than she did.  Markus Eldridge was mysterious alright, a mystery she had yet to meet in person. Yet Arcadia did know one thing about Markus, this potential ally did not. Maybe she would be happy to know it. "Good to know he missed us while he was gone. Never met him myself, but I've heard talk he made it back safely. If you had anything to do with that, thanks. I feel he may mean a lot to my big sister. And there's nothing to worry about your job at the WFTC.. You may not officially be working for them, if you should join Fairy Tail, but WFTC are very close allies. I see no reason a liaison position could not be arranged where you keep basically the same duties. Then again there's no real reason you could not keep it as a secondary job, if it was alright with them."

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That may have been the last easily pleasant things Arcadia said to the extra pale wizard. Once she got serious, turning dragon, about doing what she could to help, Arcadia's first impression had very much turned sour. It was a whole vibe she was detecting since first introducing herself that was only clarified by critiquing the manner of the emergency help she had flown across a continent to lend. Part of her was questioning her mother's judgment.

Then again the mercenary nature of Fairy Tail meant she did not mean she had to like everyone who joined. She shifted her frame of mind to a purely professional one. Getting through this fight and making sure the townspeople stayed safe demanded it. ”Cultural niceties went out the window, when I, the only apparent wizard to answer their call for emergency aid, came under fire out here. Maybe if the active threat they need protecting from didn't greatly outnumber us, I could afford to be pulling punches. Maybe  the Midian people are smarter than you give them credit for, and put self-preservation above their reverence for dragon-kind. You'll notice most of them have retreated to safety, because a dragon has been sent to help save them. I guess I'm lucky you happened to be here or I really would be the only wizard around to help.” Turning her faerie green gaze to any others bowing toward her, "Listen to the churlish one. Follow those Rune Knights and the others. I... We can't protect you, if you run to the danger I've... we've been sent to protect you from. Now run!”

Luckily, Arcadia did have a working relationship with the Rune Knights, so once one of the officers recognized her, their confusion was cleared down through the chain of command. The ice dragon was unfortunately now otherwise too engaged in the fight to get in more than an exchange of nods and a few words, "Major Tanaka. Good to see you again!"

Major Tanaka:"Good to see you too, Ms. Fairchilde. Wish it was under less urgent circumstances. Come visit in a few days."

With that Major Tanaka and the Rune Knights went about following Demi's instructions, since they were the most sensible thing they could do to help right now.  

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Arcadia's opinion on the mage her mother had directed her across a continent to find had softened for the better as the fight had progressed.  Especially after the trees launched their presents. The explosion of confetti and glitter also robbed the ice dragon of all the magic power she held within her.  

That would have spelled the end of the fight for her, and maybe worse. A young slayer reverted to human by suffering sudden magical sickness would have been easy prey for one of the remaining polar bears.  Instead, she was able to remain in dragon form a while longer, saving her life and allowing her to fight on. What allowed this? The divinely blessed crystal moon rose that had melded in with her form with the rest of her clothing and other personal belongings, like any of her other magic items, kept on working of she been wearing them when she transformed.  The same crystal moon rose Ruvel had given her back at the festival in Tolgalen, now shared some of the mana stored within it.  

She could feel the warmth of the blooming love it held the promise of spread through her, and the rose's glow shone dimly around all of Arcadia's ice dragon form.  She was saved for now, but she knew even the rose's gift would not sustain her long on its own. This fight had to be ended and ended soon.  

The ice dragon felt growing admiration and respect for Demi's tenacity, because as far as Arcadia could sense the other mage had been drained of magic power too. She took that as inspiration to renew her own fighting spirit.  

Just in time too, because the remaining elves, bears and one tree  surrounding Arcadia jumped on the opening that losing her personal magic power had given them. Individually, their attacks did little against her scales of ice that were further protected by conjured magical armor of extra ice over them. Collectively, their were chipping, scraping through,  which was adding up to a wounded dragon.

Shaking them off, Arcadia earned a little space with a sweep of her tail and a swing of the tree she was using as a club. The ice dragon followed with a frosty roar that she swept left to right in an arc around her by a simple turn of her head.  Another sweep of her tail and its bladed tip splintered the tree she did not have a hold of, finished off all but one bear that her frozen breath had not, and bowled over a couple elves.  Slamming the tree she had weaponized finished off the last poor bear and slamming it one more time would splinter tree itself.  Her makeshift club rendered useless, Arcadia gave the remaining elves reason to retreat back into the portals they came from.  The ice dragon's bite and talons were quite persuasive.  

Arcadia thought that would have been the end of it, but any sense of victory quickly vanished when the portals failed to close after the retreat.  It did not take long for the new threat to emerge. Arcadia's heart sunk a little, while she could remain a dragon indefinitely, that all changed as soon as she started using magic or exerting herself in combat. As a dragon she could spam her spells freely without draining her magic power to nothing, but only because sue began to to burn it through it steadily and constant as soon as she began to fight.  It was not unlike her Dragon Force, but with the benefit of flight and a dragon's size and greater strength added in.

That meant she was pretty sure extra reserve of mana held in the crystal moon rose would not last another full fight.  Arcadia might be the one needing to retreat this time, yet she felt it unthinkable to leave an ally behind.  No warrior of Dragnof worth her honor would.

Seeing Santa and the bear, tree and elf that come through the portal with him more ready for battle than offering any signal for truce, Arcadia welcomed them to Midi with a portal of her own opening up underneath their feet and/or trunk.  They dropped from another portal in the sky overhead.  

Arcadia pounced on Santa as soon as he landed, and used 15 meter long bulk to keep him pinned face down.  She may not have the magical might left for a full length showdown, but she hoped she could force Santa to talk this way. At the very least she thought to keep Santa busy, while Demi hopefully handled his backup as easily as she handled her share of the others.  

There was something strange though, something she felt the moment Santa stepped out of the portal.  Her injuries from the first fight had slowly began to freeze and heal over on their own without Arcadia spending any of what precious mana the crystal moon rose provided her.  It was coming from Santa.  There was still some good deep down in Santa trying to come out.  "It doesn't havta be this way, Santa. I can feel the good still in you."

Sadly, Santa did not answer, he just grunted and kept struggling to find a way to free one of his arms, presumably to cast something to rid himself of the small glacier practically sitting on his back. It was then Arcadia's faerie green gaze caught sight of the candy cane tucked behind Santa's ear the way an office worker would tuck a pencil or pen behind their ear.  Unremarkable except this candy cane had a sickly glow and gave off an unmistakable aura of corruption. It was a moment of clarity that brought the dream from her mother into full mental focus. Whatever had caused this evil turn in the first place, that candy cane of corruption was the thing perpetuating the evil in Santa and keeping the good she felt still in him from coming free.  

After all this was over she would be able to offer Demi a portal back to the Fairy Tail guild hall in Magnolia, where she could offer to give the guild's stamp.  Despite her initial misgivings, Arcadia was now sure Demi would make an excellent addition to Fairy Tail and was certain Markus would be happy to see her again.

Arcadia flicked the corrupted candy cane with a single talon away from Santa toward Demi, "Destroy that corrupted candy cane, and this madness should end!"

WC: 1647
Arcadia WC: 4314/4000