Nessa Cordelia Lux's Belated Birthday Bash!

Arcadia grinned equal parts mischief, mirth and relief, ”Glad you like it! My mermaid friend's performance woulda been hella boss, but hopefully that will do.” She lowered her voice a little, ”That's the original, so it can't technically be replaced, but if to meet an 'accident' while certain someones are around, just let me know. I had a small number of duplicates made in the interest of mass producing them for merchandising. Sadly, I don't think the fine print from participation in lat year's Fairy Festival covers using their likenesses for this... so they'd havta sign off on it separately.  They'd make a tidy fortune of jewel in royalties, but  I dun think they'd go for it.  So the duplicate stay in storage, never to see the light of day, unless you need a replacement of course.”

The pale blonde slayer's stomach grumbled a little at the mention of food, ”Now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry. Sure! But awm man, we gotta walk all the ay to the gift table? I can't  close my portals without ruining the waterslide.  ...and even I would fell silly snippng open a long distance portal for that. For the sake of the party... I will leave the waterslide going and walk the full distance of the stadium.”  Arcadia gave Nessa a cheesy grin knowing full well how much sh was hamming it up.

Along the way, she smiled brightly as Lina and Leo came along to meet and wish Nessa a happy birthday. Arcadia bowed to each of them, ”Hey Lina! Hiyas First Master! Hmm   Or Leo?  Just Leo seems to informal after the research I did.. I'll go with whichever you prefer! Uhm but remind later to go over some merchandising ideas I had! Keychains, iLac cases, figurines. The merchandise we sold of the Fairy Ring fighters last  year was a big hit! It's about time for a new line.”

Arcadia glanced over to Nessa, ”I love the smell of that palm wine. You should be careful when you poen it though. I think it's some strong stuff. It hit Muwa pretty hard when he had some.”

Watching the gifts float over to the gift table in starlight and waved again to Leo and Lina again, ”Hey, big sister. Could that starlight thing work on us?  I”m not that lazy o-” It was then Nessa heard someone calling her and said something about Markus. Arcadia caught sight of Johann across the way too.  Arcadia hopped and waved both arms, ”YO, MAHDUDE! Good to see you!!”

She hurried to catch back up with Nessa, her stomach still rumbly at thought of getting a bite to eat. Arcadia stopped short a few steps as she  caught sight of Nessa and Markus kissing. She was mildly stunned, but stunned enough to be stopped from grabbing her scissors and snipping open a portal back to her room in Fairy Hills. She reached into the portal, and pulled out her iLac, using it to play a *WOW* sound.

*WOW*!:

Arcadia glanced to her iLac and put it back into her portal to rest back in her room. The portal closed as she drew her hand back out and slipped her scissors back at her hip. ”Uhh... well... guess I dun havta keep that a secret anymore.”

WC: 550
Arcadia WC: 1,687

The party was incredible, Aven couldn't help but to lounge on the beach for a while, taking in the sights. Even without the waves of the makeshift ocean washing over his feet, he could feel the ebb and flow of magic power through the area: powerful auras abound, and created tides that were very soothing to the young man. Folding his hands behind his head, he wondered just how fortunate he was to be wrapped up in all of this, all because he'd met a young girl by the Canal one day. He chuckled softly to himself: his present probably wouldn't mean anything more than a fanciful ditty to Nessa, and a sturdy box, but his courage was rising. Maybe, today really was the day that he'd tell her how he felt?

That nagging sensation in his gut resurfaced, the same one he'd experienced every time he tried to come forward and say something. For the longest time, he'd thought it was just fear, a timid nature forcing him into silence. He'd even convinced himself, at one point, that it was because he didn't want to ruin their friendship if she didn't feel the same, and he still held onto that belief, to an extent; however, there was something deeper that told him that wasn't what held him back.

The party continued without Aven, of course: while he daydreamed, the wizards were at play, and before he even knew it, the alcohol had poured. There were God stumbling over their own shoes, and Saints falling from grace as far as the eye could see! Aven laughed, as he rose from the sand, brushing the granules from his back. He was sure that Nessa would be in the thick of it, knowing how much that woman could stomach, and he set off to join the fun.

...Or, so he thought.

As he made his way through the crowd, a shocking sight caught his eye, one he'd never imagined; his body froze, leaving him almost in a trance, as time seemed to slow to a crawl. The crowd was all but distant, the image of Markus and Nessa sharing a kiss stealing every ounce of his focus. Anger wasn't a common occurrence for Aven; though he'd admit, it'd been far more frequent, as of late. With the rise and fall of the magical tide around him, it was easy to miss the sudden surge of energy that surrounded the Circle Wizard as his emotions flared into a vibrant inferno. His shadow roiled as he lost control of his Dark power for a brief moment, the Music Box nearby on the present table shuddering in response, a large crack forming on the lid which split the symbol of Radiant Light in twain.

His composure came soon enough, his power settling as though nothing had happened. In the presence of so many auras, his outburst was likely lost, though he began to feel sick anyways, the sting of tears ripping from their slumber too much for him to suppress. A quick turn, and he made his way toward the exit. He'd embarrassed himself enough for one lifetime, thinking anything could ever come of feelings left in the shadows of his heart. He pulled the harrowing lyrics from his pocket, and with a painful clench of his teeth, hurled them full force against the wall, crumpled into a wad and stained with the sorrow of a broken heart.

___________________________________________________________________________


[Word Count: 571.]
[Word Count Total: 2497.]

OOC NOTE:: This thread has been handed in as a 100 year freeform from the beginning of the thread to post 42  which adds up to a total of 25,279/ 25,000 words. This only includes the wc's of those listed here; Nessa Cordelia Lux, Johann, Sivvy, Amalie, MarkusEldridge, Aven Alveron, Seaglass, Mura Kensho, Samira Nasser, Gisen Ceostra, Mythal Ragnos, Serilda Sinclair, Leona Jarnefeldt, Adalinda.

To make things easier the next hand in will be counted from post 43 onwards. Those who are not posting after this point won't be included.

Leona was still standing around like a lost puppy and had no idea where Sol had gone to. She was debating whether to take a seat at the bar and wait for him or just politely excuse herself and leave. The blonde was considering the latter when she finally decided to go and take a seat at the bar, even if she risked looking dumb in the process. She would go over to the bar and act like she belonged here even if she did not. She would just have to catch up with Sol later. Leona was her own person and did not need someone at her side to make decisions.

Having finally chosen her course of action, Leona had taken only four steps towards the bar when Adalinda began to act strangely; she attempted to take off her bikini top but was stopped by a floating cat thing that Leona believed she had met once before at the Tri-Guild Alliance beach party. The dark-haired woman then bellowed a challenge to everyone in attendance. Adalinda had boldly declared that she would take on anyone who wanted to fight her. Leona was not interested in the challenge because Adalinda was part of an allied guild and fighting an intoxicated ally at a birthday party would be wrong in more ways than one. The Wizard Saint of Courage would be glad to duel Adalinda at an officially sanctioned event like the Fairy Festival, where no one would be permanently hurt or killed and the fight was sanctioned by the authorities, but she would not fight at Nessa's birthday party unless there was an outlaw attack or other emergency.

Even then she would be superfluous because of the presence of Serilda Sinclair, Mythal Ragnos, Nessa Cordelia Lux, Markus Eldridge, Sivvy, Johann Von Weiss, Mura Kensho, Adalinda Ortinbras, and other heavy hitters of the mage world.

Just one of them could handle an entire outlaw gang on their own. It would take the whole criminal underworld of Earthland throwing everything they had at the party to challenge any of the guests here. Even then it would only be a fair fight if the targeted mage chose to fight alone.

Leona put that thought out of her mind and sidled up to the bar, taking a seat that was several seats away from Johann, Sivvy, Amalie, and the others. She did not want to butt in on their conversation because they were doing just fine without her. Leona faced the bartender and made her drink order when prompted.

"I don't drink a whole lot, so I'd like something that's not heavy on the alcohol." Leona requested. She did not want to look any dumber than she already did by getting obnoxiously drunk, so it was best to drink something light since her alcohol tolerance was not very high. The bartender nodded and began mixing a drink for the blonde. He got out the necessary glass and the right brand of alcohol, then scooped a small amount of crushed ice into the glass and went to work.

"You'll want a lime margarita then. I'll go light on the alcohol for you. It'll be just a few moments." The bartender told her with a smile.

"I'm in no hurry." Leona answered. She probably should not even touch alcohol, but screw it. She would try a drink just to see what drinking felt like.

After about a minute-and-a-half of careful preparation the drink was ready and sitting in front of Leona.

"It's ready, Miss. You might wanna drink it slow since you said you don't drink very often." He politely suggested to the blonde.

"Thank you." Leona thanked the bartender. He nodded and walked away to await the order of another partygoer. She carefully picked up the glass and took a sip of the beverage. It had a mild hint of alcohol, but it had a pleasant taste. The blonde sat the drink on the counter and waited for the buzz to pass before taking another sip... she was going to take this slowly to avoid getting obnoxiously drunk.

[Post Word Count: 682]
[Leona's Word Count: 682] (Word Count Reset)

After Arcadia dismissed herself to go and greet Nessa, Mura just stayed in the spirals and arcs of the water pillar that spelled out the birthday girl’s name. It was a nice viewpoint where he could look at everyone present like guarding a tower, and watching him relax in the coaster-like amusement might even draw others to try it out. It was clearly a selfless reason that he stayed there…

…

Zzz…

After having taken a few dozen rounds, he slept in while still riding Nessa’s water-pillar name at the pool. And oh boy, he slept for quite a while, for the moment he woke up, his stomach growled. He needed a snack or something… people had massed up now, and he even saw Johann along with Nessa’s dad at the barbeque. He would’ve gone there at first if not for the nearby exit where a bunch of papers had been left wetting on the floor. Someone had just throw them there rather recklessly, and it appeared to have been Aven who had just exited… but why? He wasn’t the party pooper type…

The shaman quickly landed near the papers and picked some of them up, reading lyrics on them… and thus, he realized that he might’ve done better not picking them up in the first place. Oh well, too late now; he wasn’t able to go back in time. He stuffed one of the papers down his pocket and pretended to have seen nothing, in which he returned to the BBQ. Whatever Aven was going through, he… probably needed his space.

At the barbeque, there was a wine bottle filled with a purplish solvent with a strong and pleasant, fruity aroma. Maybe that would quench his thirst as he looked for some snacks to compliment on. He hadn’t drunk wine before, but he was of age - according to his own country’s rules - and thus, he didn’t see it as a problem to try it out now that he was, you know, a fully-fledged adult figure.

EXPERIMENTAL VULCAN TRANQUILIZER.

Mura’s eyes widened. He had conjured up his own wooden mug due to not having found the sample cups in time, but thank god for Nessa Cordelia Lux - she was such a trooper - for having warned him by shouting ‘tranquilizer’ to her dad with the drink’s name as well as the word ‘experimental’. There, the mug centimeters from his mouth, Mura eyed it in a slight view of horror before retreating the mug from his face, not really a fan of the ‘tranquilizer’ part in its name.

“W-Who the hell puts tranquilizers in a drink?! Is he trying to abduct us?! Nessa, what the flying fuc-”
“Hey, look over there… even Johann is affected. Come, let’s mock him…!”

The two ghosts left Mura’s side and fled over to Johann who was laying on the sandy surface in delight, pointing fingers at him and laughing.

“Hahahahahahaha! Would you look at him?! He’s having the time of his life just laying there! Hey, Johann! Get your ass up from the sand, we aren't having a siesta just yet…!”
“So he does have a limit! Drinks filled with drugs! I’ll write that down…”

WC: 517

Leona liked the margarita she had ordered. It had a pleasant lime taste and enough kick to it to taste good but not enough alcohol to get her drunk off of drinking one. It was the perfect drink for a lightweight like her, but she still needed to take it slow; just because it was light on the alcohol did not mean that it was safe to chug without consequence. Leona nursed the drink until it was down to the halfway point... maybe she could get away with ordering another.

Leona noticed that a red-haired young man had sidled up to the bar in the company of Nessa, Amalie, and the others and had waved at her. The blonde recognized him as Artemis Dagger, a fellow who was briefly a member of Silver Wolf before he had chosen to go his own way. Leona held no ill will towards him for the decision and calmly waved back at him. Artemis was certainly an attractive fellow with a certain charm that was hard to describe. Leona slowly looked away from him in case an intoxicated Sivvy was the jealous type who was inclined to defend her claim to Artemis with force.

Leona was not afraid of Sivvy, but she was afraid of the backlash that would come from fighting a high-ranking member of Dies Irae. It was a new guild devoted to finding and destroying Dark mages that counted among its membership Johann Von Weiss, the Guild Master and a formidable mage in his own right. Leona had known Johann since his West Fiore Trading Company days and wanted to stay on friendly terms with him. However, that did not mean that the blonde was going to take attitude from Sivvy if the latter deliberately started conflict with her. Leona would defend herself within reason, but she suspected that Sivvy would not go looking for a fight as long as no one made a move on Artemis.

Sivvy had nothing to fear from Leona, who was apprehensive about going anywhere near Artemis.

Leona faced forward and continued sipping from her drink until she heard Nessa shout something that made her face go pale. Leona had only heard the tail-end of what the Wizard Saint of Virtue had said, but it was something to do with what some of the guests had been served. It was something that was never intended for human consumption.

EXPERIMENTAL VULCAN TRANQUILIZER.

"Oh hell." Leona muttered with dread. She was not sure what exactly margaritas were made of, but if one of the components had Experimental Vulcan Tranquilizer in it the blonde was hosed. She would either suffer severe coordination issues or be knocked out entirely; both were bad outcomes. At least she was nowhere near the water, so she did not have to worry about falling in face-first and drowning while everyone was in a panic.

"Uh, Mister, what's going on here? What's this about Experimental Vulcan Tranquilizer in the drinks?" Leona anxiously asked the bartender. The man stopped to look at Leona and spoke to her.

"There's been a mistake, Miss. From what I understand, some of the guests were served a special drink called Vulcan Rum that's stronger than normal rum, but somehow it got mixed up with Experimental Vulcan Tranquilizer. Your margarita wasn't made with rum, only tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice. You're safe." The bartender assured her in a calm voice.

"Thanks, Mister!" Leona thanked the man for taking the time to assure her that she would be OK. The bartender nodded and walked away to start doing his best to manage the situation. Leona appreciated the fact that he used a calm voice to explain what was happening and did not make her feel dumb for asking the question. She would be sure to give him a hefty tip once the crisis was over. She shoved aside all thoughts of ordering a second drink and calmly stood up in order to go to Nessa's side and offer her help... if it was needed.

Leona walked calmly to avoid looking panicked or inciting panic in those who had accidentally consumed the tranquilizer. She was not sure if the tranquilizer was just a muscle relaxant or if it also induced hallucinations in humans, so she needed to proceed with caution. A gathering of Wizard Saints and Gods/Goddesses of Ishgar could get ugly fast if they perceived that they were being attacked by something they did not recognize.

"Is there anything I can do to help, Nessa?" Leona asked her hostess.

[Post Word Count: 758]
[Leona's New Word Count: 1,440]

The birthday girl, who formally introduced herself as Nessa, had a very charming personality, to go with the beauty she possessed, and was quite relieved to see that Fairy Tail is still home to people like her. Leo would bow and turn around to dismiss him and his daughter from her presence in order to check the facilities. What immediately caught their eye was the water slide made by Arcadia. Lina’s face gleamed and widened with joy and excitement as she was more than ready to experience the fun it would provide. While Lina was transfixed at the water slide, Leo was still looking around for any other interesting things to do, and perhaps people to meet. Both of which were not hard to find. Around them stood numerous powerful individuals, men with white hair, such as him, blue-haired women who seem to have a pinkette as a best friend, two people who look to be a couple who had just arrived right after them and most of all, rum. He smirked, knowing that there was indeed something for everyone at the party. His pondering however, would be interrupted when Lina would tug on his shorts, excitedly requesting that they approach the magnificent water slide and he would snap his attention back at her and give her a smile and a nod as they approached the slide.

On their way towards the structure, made of portals and water, they would be greeted by Arcadia happily. What surprised them both however, was that she was aware of Leo’s true history and suddenly feared the consequences of what could happen were other people were to find out. Leo’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, as his face would have an involuntary reaction to the shocking news they had just heard. Quickly, looking around, he saw other people within earshot that potentially heard the whole thing but were going about their own business. Perhaps it didn’t matter to them, or none in the area was particularly interested in the information, all the same he wished to be careful and politely gestured his finger over his mouth as if to say `keep quiet`. “I'd rather you keep that information to yourself, Arcadia. And I will talk to you about how you found that out.” he whispered to her before she went on her way. However, the stress induced by the fact that someone or essentially anyone can just figure out who he was suddenly made him want to have a drink and maybe have some fun. He would look over to Lina and smile saying “Why don’t you go on over there with Uncle Lizard-man Mura and have some fun.” quietly. The young child in turn, smiled at her father, surprisingly understanding of her father’s dilemma since he had been trying to not get noticed since the day they got back, but failing miserably at it with Arcadia’s revelation. “Hihihi. Don’t have too much fun, ok dad? I see people dropping already. And don’t forget you still have another gift for Nessa.” she replied happily and skipped her way towards the water slider.

When she got there, Lina saw that her favorite uncle was sleeping happily on the slide. Immediately, she had a mischievous grin come up on her face, reached behind her and popped open the cap of a black permanent marker, drawing on a mustache and round rimmed glasses, after which she would hide behind her, patiently waiting for her prank’s pay off while she was giggling, even continuing to do so when Mura got up to do something which Lina didn’t know yet but followed anyway.

Leo on the other hand, remembering the other gift he had, pulled it out from thin air. How he was pulling it out however was a bit different and searingly painful. Normally, Leo’s magic swirled in dark magical smoke, but this time, it shined with bright white light, owing itself to the nature of the gift. It was a white rapier, on it’s guard was a star shaped design colored in gold, as well as the butt of the hilt. Leo then turned around and walked back towards Nessa. However, when he got anywhere near her, she yelled “EXPERIMENTAL VULCAN TRANQUILIZER” he stopped and thought to himself, perhaps this was a bad time, and simply left it at the table with a note “To: Nessa; Happy Birthday! Almost forgot I had this for you. It’s a rapier with a star on its guard. Owing to your abilities and apparent preference to white, I made this myself because I wanted to give you something more personal and meaningful…” He stopped writing for a bit, because he was having thoughts. Thoughts that he considered to be overboard since he was beginning to feel like an absentee father. Nessa is from Fairy Tail, and he still considered Fairy Tail to be his family, with this being the first time he would attend his kid’s birthday, but it doesn’t matter. He wasn’t supposed to be found out, and it was bad enough someone already knows.  “From: Leo” he continued to write, ending it abruptly as he wouldn’t want to get carried away and say more. Now he could really use a drink as he is being emotional again.

However, when he caught on that it was regarding the liquor everyone seems to be enjoying and wanted to try out for himself and really bad now at this point. He thought he could perhaps wait for Nessa to calm down and reason out to her that the people were simply enjoying themselves. He waited near the tables and chairs, watching the enjoyment people are having. The other white haired man was seemingly dancing to the effects of the liquor, the other one was making a rather… interesting scene that he had to look away from. Nearby were the people he saw earlier, such as the couple looking duo and people from seemingly other guilds. They were all seemingly having conversations of their own, and wouldn’t want to disturb them, but should any of them give Leo a look, he would simply look at them nicely and wave, greeting them with “Hi, I’m Leo.”

Suddenly after a while, a woman approached Nessa, politely saying "Excuse me, for a moment." to anyone he would be conversing at that moment and went on towards the birthday girl asking if he could help regarding this whole tranquilizer misunderstanding. Thinking that it would be a good time to butt in as well, he approached the two ladies and offered his help. Mostly his advice, and possibly even convince them to keep some of it because he wanted to have a go. “Yes, perhaps we can be of assistance?” he said politely and softly as he could.

Post WC: 1,131
Leo WC: 2,599