[B Rank Exam] Presentation Anxiety

The Inkling was sitting in a train. He was en route to the Capital city of Crocus for a task that he had been assigned. Garnet was tasked with travelling to Crocus for a workshop or a presentation of sorts. Supposedly they wanted a mage of Fairy Tail to attend and Garnet was selected to make an appearance. Which was fine with him, but if it was anything that needed active talking, then he knew that he was going to be screwed. He sighed, as he wrote down important notes into his new, blank notebook. While it wasn't anything fancy or crazy as the stationery they had back home, it served its purpose well and that was all that mattered. For this occasion he decided to dress in his favourite outfit that he liked to wear - a black t-shirt with writing in his language on the front and in the back, fingerless gloves, shorts with leggings, black boots and a black bandana with a lower half of an Inkling skull. Over that he threw on a jacket, to keep himself from falling ill, just in case.

The train reached its destination and the Inkling hopped off. It was about midday, time of lunch. Garnet was hungry, but the ever growing nervousness was dampening that feeling. Sure, he had been on air a few times, he did a few interviews for magazines after the climb to the top of the Splat battle ladders and leaderboards, but this was different. He didn't know what exactly was going on and he couldn't even talk. Quite the mix, if he had to say. The group that was behind the whole event and seminars and such was named MageWorks, but that didn't elude to anything in particular for Garnet in terms of the topic. That uneasy feeling only intensified as he was nearing the hall where the presentation was supposed to be held at.

The Inkling reached the hall in question with little trouble, as he followed a map that he had pulled up on his phone. People were mingling about and Garnet entered the large building. The Inkling looked over the paper with instructions again. It said that the event will behosted in the hall in the afternoon, but nothing too specific. It also said that the rest of the things he would get to know on the spot. With that in mind, Garnet looked around, searching for a door that could possibly lead to a large hall. The lobby was slowly getting filled with more and more people and that fact didn't help Garnet's growing anxiety. At first he couldn't see anything because of the crowd, but soon enough he spotted doors that he thought could be the ones he was looking for. He pushed his way towards it and wanted to open it, but he was stopped by a security guard. "It's not open yet. You will have to wait for a bit longer." He said as he outstretched his arm in front of the Inkling, preventing him from entering the hall itself. Garnet stopped in his tracks and showed the security guy the paper he had with him. The security guard looked it over with a sceptical expression at first, but it eventually softened and he returned the paper to the Inkling. "My bad. Here you go. Go in and prepare for your panel." He would say and open the door for Garnet to slip through, who gave him a thumbs up back in appreciation. "Good luck."

Garnet entered the large room. It was filled with a rather large number of chairs, that should be more than enough to accomodate all of the people that were gathering outside. It also raised Garnet's anxiety a bit in the process. He jogged down the middle aisle, towards the stage. There were some people, some of them seemed to be members of the staff team, if he had to guess from their similar t-shirts and hoodies. Garnet made it to the stage and was instantly greeted by one of the staffers. "Hello there! You must be the Fairy Tail mage yes? Garnet, was it?" She said as she looked over some of her papers that she held in her hands. The Inkling nodded and instead of using the stairs to the side of the stage he climbed up right then and there. "Also quite nimble I see!" The woman laughed at the sight. Garnet grinned and the staff member looked through more papers. "So here's the deal. You will be on a panel that is centered on sharing your experiences as a mage, more so on the topic of overcoming your fears." Oh. Oh no. That meant talking to the crowd. That was going to an issue. "You will be joined by two more mages on the panel aswell. They are already in the back, getting ready. Your panel is the second one, so you have a bit of time to get everything that you need prepared." The staff member outlined the situation for Garnet who now had to figure out a way to convey his thoughts to a large crowd on basically a moment's notice.

The Inkling went to the back of the stage, as he was instructed. He looked around for the two mages that he was supposed to be with. But they found him first. "Hey hey, Fairy Tail mage!" A girl waved at him and he walked over to her. "You're here for the second panel, right?" Garnet nodded in response and typed something on his phone. Yeah, I am. It's just that I cannot speak this language, so I'm worried that I am going to fail this event. He showed the girl the message, who was surprised at first by his behaviour, but then she read it. Her eyes went wide after doing so. "Oooh yeah. That is kinda a problem." As if he didn't know that already. "Don't worry though. I have Fire-make magic, I could make your words appear in the air, if you want!" The girl grinned and Garnet nodded with a smile. "Where are my manners, though? I'm Dea. There is one more chick that will be with us aswell, Severa, but she just went to the toilet, so she will be back in a little bit." The girl introduced herself and the missing third member alongside her.

Garnet asked around the staff members with the help of Dea and got to know Severa a bit more aswell. Severa was a red-haired woman with a stern expression on her face, but she seemed very reliable and vowed herself to help Garnet through his anxiety of not being able to speak the language. The staff revealed to Garnet that there was a lacrima-based tech available, that was able to project pictures up in the air. So basically something like a regular projector back home and Garnet was happy to hear that. With a bit of fiddling and comments from his newfound companions he managed to pair up his phone with the lacrima contraption. The Inkling quickly made some slides and pictures that he could show to the audience, but the time they had before the panel was shortening real fast and before he knew it, the trio was up.

There was a long desk with several chairs and microphones and the three mages took their respective seats as they were greeted by an applause from the audience. The hall was quite full, but it wasn't the kind of full when people trampled over one another. Dea spoke up first. "Greetings, everyone! I am Dea, a mage proficient in Fire-making." She introduced herself first. "I am Severa. I specialize in requip techniques." His other companion introduced herself aswell. "And between us we have Garnet. He is a mage from Fairy Tail who is unable to speak our language, so he is quite worried that he will not be able to deliver on this panel." Dea took the matters into her own hands and Garnet looked at her with shock written on his face. The girl only winked at him back. "So why don't you show him that there is nothing to be afraid of, even if he cannot speak to us directly?" She asked the audience and started clapping. The crowd was hesitant at first and Garnet only looked downwards in shame, but the audience slowly joined in and cheered for him. The Inkling looked up at the crowd that was now cheering him on. "Now there is one fear or anxiety taken care of, isn't it?" Severa asked into the microphone with a hint of a smile on her face.

Even if Garnet didn't utter a single spoken word during the panel, with the help of his phone and Dea's Fire-making he conveyed his thoughts on his anxiety about coming to the event and how he was afraid of water, though he didn't explain that part into too much detail. There were two other mages there aswell and they presented their stories, too. Garnet didn't even notice how fast the time went by, before their time was up. The crowd gave them quite the applause and the three mages exited the stage, leaving it for more presentations. Garnet was red in the face from the mental exertion. "That was awesome! Nice job, guys!" Dea jumped for joy when they reached the back of the stage. "It most likely wouldn't be possible without your undeniable charisma, Dea." Severa said and Garnet couldn't help but agree. The Inkling would type out a message on his phone once more. Thanks for adding the flair with your flames, Dea. Also thank you both, for putting up with me. He would lift up his phone for the two mages to read as he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm glad everything worked out and that I could be of assistance to you!" Dea gave a pat on Garnet's shoulder. "As sappy as it sounds, we did it together." Severa pat other Garnet's shoulder. It felt strange. Even though he met both of the mages just little over two hours ago, he felt like he had known them forever.