I guess I'm dreaming again, Let's be more than, This now~

While most girls would probably feel bad or be embarrassed that they had just more or less accosted their date with something too spicy for their liking- spicy enough for Artemis to dunk his head in a barrel of water and apples- Sivvy observed him with the same cool and clinical gaze she'd have while watching cells multiply or a failed experiment dissolve into goop. Making the mental note that he didn't react as well to spiced fruit as he did savory oysters, she slowly built her knowledge of what this man liked and didn't like. Why was she making it a point to remember? Frankly, she wasn't sure, so she didn't think any more deeply on the subject or else she'd really confuse herself on the deeper meaning of things.

Toddling along after him and looming nearby to watch, she munched on her spicy fruit that she officially had all to herself. Not one to eat slowly, the entire lot was down her gullet before the man even pulled his head out of the water. They weren't spicy to her at all. Well, she could tell they were spicy, but the slight tingle in her mouth and throat was pleasant in her opinion. 

"I'll remember your dislike of spice next time," Sivvy returned his side smile with a small one of her own, her eyes bright and surprisingly innocent given what she was capable of. She seemed to simply be enjoying his company and the festival for what it was, despite trying to murder him with the Scoville scale. There was something about the flush from the heat in his cheeks earlier and now the way he looked freshly drenched in barrel water that was appealing in some way, enough that she almost didn't pay attention to the carnival game employee when he spoke. But now she was more fully. Artemis wasn't a winner. So...this was a game? Since this was her first festival, she was unfamiliar with the popular game, and this had no idea what the rules were. However, she was more than happy to make assumptions based on what little she'd observed. The title 'Bobbing for Apples' was self-explanatory enough. The slayer was about to turn down the man's offer when the word 'teddy' caught her attention. There were things to win? Her eyes darted to the adorable stuffed creature behind his head. Yes, she'd very much like to win one of those. It was cute.

"Yes, I'd like to try," agreed the rosy girl, wasting no time shoving jewel into the man's hands and replacing Artemis at the barrel. Before the gamemaster could say anything more, Sivvy had shoved her head into the barrel up to nearly her shoulders! This girl had no shame or worry about her appearance as a result, being way more interested in winning this game to get that bear. She was talented at holding her breath underwater, so she was fishing around in the water for over three minutes. Just when the vendor was starting to get worried, she pulled her head from the water and turned to look at him expectantly, hair dripping everywhere. 

The vendor stared at her in disbelief for just a moment or two before smiling nervously. All that time and she didn't bring up a single one? The basket beside the barrel was empty! "Er...I'm sorry, miss. No apples, no win. Would you like to try again?" he blustered, recovering his salesman-like tone and grin. Her frown threw him off a little, though.

"But sir, I ate five while I was down there....how many do I need to eat to get the teddy bear?" Sivvy wanted to know, tilting her dripping head in confusion. The man froze, apparently digesting the information that the girl didn't seem to understand such a simple staple game at a festival and that she somehow ate five entire apples while underwater for three minutes. He squinted at her incredulously, unsure whether he should argue that she was supposed to just bite them and bring as many up as possible in one breath, or if he should just not believe her and move on to the less complicated customer. Curiosity got the better of him, so he whirled on the barrel and counted the apples within. Sure enough, five were missing. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.." he exclaimed, clapping a hand over his forehead and knocking his yellow and red striped tophat off. How was he supposed to deal with something like this? It was unorthodox. By not following the rules he should've just insisted she lost, replaced the apples, and moved on...but it was darn impressive. He couldn't deny that. "...Then...miss...I guess you're a winner?" he almost asked, mystified. Reaching up for a small-sized teddy bear, he held it out to her. She'd wanted a bigger one, but this one was cute, too. Taking the little thing, she gave it a squeeze before putting it into her bag for safe keeping.

"Festivals are wonderful!" she chirped at Artemis as she finally left the poor vendor alone, her hands hastily wrapping her wet locks into a bun atop her head. "What's next, Artemis?"


[1771/1500 || Event WC Complete]

Sivvy simpered slightly as he told her she'd done a good job and used that nickname for her nickname. The young woman couldn't put her finger on it, but something about it was appealing to her, and she'd definitely never turn down praise. That meant she was doing her job well, and that was always her primary goal.

As he led her to the Test of Strength, the clone quickly looked it over to get a gist of what was going on here. While social skills might not be her forte, she was quite intelligent. The nonsensical concept of bobbing for apples hadn't lent her much to draw from, but this was different. There was a tower of sorts with cheeky phrases at intervals, growing less insulting the higher up it went until the bell at the top announced the player's superior strength. The weight at the bottom atop the see-saw-like plank would rocket up as soon as someone used the mallet on the raised end. Seemed simple enough, though the science wasn't exact. If the plank gave and bent at all under however much the weight weighed, it could skew the results quite a bit. She'd have to observe closely. For something to claim to measure a person's strength accurately, it had to perform flawlessly. If it didn't, there would be people walking around thinking they were inadequate, when really the machine was just not crafted correctly. Along this way of thinking, Sivvy completely forgot that this was just a silly carnival game and honestly just an excuse for couples on dates to impress each other with feats of strength.

She was busy standing off to the side, analyzing the physics and functional components of the game machine when Artemis's change in tone caught her attention and dragged her eyes away. Did he need her help? Assistance was always her go-to. The sight the mage was met with was not what she expected. There was a creature looming behind Artemis, yet all she did was stand and stare at it. Honestly, she was afraid if she moved that it would attack her partner for today's activities. Her crimson eyes analyzed it just as she had the Test of Strength, trying to determine if it was just a mindless animal or if it had the sentience of a human. Artemis, however, whirled on the creature and promptly challenged it to a fight. He seemed pleased, so she didn't worry...until she watched him disappear into a tent.

"Artemis, that is horribly inefficient," the rose-haired girl called to him near the tent opening, wondering why he was wasting his time playing with the creature. However, it only now occurred to her that she'd never seen his magic before. Did he even have any? When Giri had had him by the throat with smoke, he hadn't used any magic to try and get free that she remembered. She might not have given him the chance, but he might have also been in very real peril. From the noises she heard, Sivvy very much wanted to go inside and provide help at his side, but her greater duty kept her outside. Just a little way up the path between tents she could see two mages starting to torch stuff...one of which was that lovely fruit vendor! "Not the fruit snacks!" she cried in horror, zipping off to kick some food-abusing troublemakers.

The uncertainty of the mages' alignments made this difficult for the metal dragon slayer. Just because she was the guild master of a legal guild that made a practice of killing dark mages didn't mean her natural struggle with morals had eased at all. Those she killed were on the guild's approved list of confirmed bad guys. This situation fell into the wide-reaching gray area that she navigated on the good ship Anxiety. Attacking a festival and causing terror amongst the citizens wasn't exactly good behavior, but they may have been misguided. 7 couldn't deny that she'd taken some jobs and committed some acts that her guild would view as dark, but she wasn't a dark mage...was she? Now wasn't the time to really delve into that can of worms. She decided she'd disable the enemies but not kill them. Besides, dead bodies in the middle of something as fun as this summer solstice festival might bring it to an end, and she wasn't ready to end the day yet. If the threats were gone and minimal damage was inflicted, the partons would return, right?

Now that she'd decided, the highly skilled clone made quick work of the two fire mages as well as two light elementals lurking nearby, effectively clearing the fairgrounds of any apparent threats other than the larger beast Artemis was playing fisticuffs with. The elementals perished and dispersed into tiny orbs of light to float away in the warm breeze, whilst the beaten and bloody mages were wrapped up in two metal kraken tentacles to hold them still until the Rune Knights could arrive. Simple enough. Turning back to the tent Artemis had disappeared into, her eyes were just in time to see the bull-like monster fly out. Wandering closer to the fight to watch, the experiment's eyes watched the garnet-haired man's movements closely. He was faster and stronger than a normal human by her appraisal. Perhaps enhanced physical prowess was his magic? He was bloody, but didn't seem too injured. He was also on the winning side of this fight and clearly enjoying himself. Even though it technically was nothing special and was honestly not the best way to do it as far as she knew, Sivvy couldn't help but stand enraptured while watching. It was a sight to behold. Artemis was impressive. That last kick brought a smile even to her face. The grand finale was even more entertaining, and without realizing it, the girl could be seen nearby grinning as the bell rang out and the man celebrated. Siv, as he called her, approached him and clapped her hands, bright eyes meeting his and remaining there. "That is certainly one way to do it," her voice lilted, threatening to giggle, though 7 didn't normally do such a thing. Her heart raced even though she'd had no part in that fight! How strange.


[WC: 1046 || Total 2nd WC: 1317]

Artemis grabbed her. Sivvy didn't resist. If anything, her body seemed more than willing to be pulled against him, though her emotions emptied to the equivalent of a gravestone, utterly neutral and devoid of warmth while remaining unbudgingly strong. Just like that, her guard was up. That thick door of iron that locked her budding feelings up like gold in a vault slammed shut fast enough to give someone whiplash. She was ready for it, but it never came. The kiss the clone expected, having observed this adrenaline-fueled celebratory behavior (though less warranted since most dates didn't fist-fight a literal monster into oblivion) in many of her dates before, never came. Now that surprised her. His adrenalin and heart rate was almost palpable to her, but the man seemed intent on simply keeping his arm around her and walking on. Though she was unaware of it, the cautiousness slowly lessened as they went on, allowing her to accept that perhaps Artemis hadn't expected amorous behavior from her and return to her usual self.

Sivvy was actually in search of food-- she'd worked up an appetite fighting-- when the pair was approached by the vendors. Gratitude was something the girl wasn't used to, so it took her aback. Her eyes grew wide and blinked into each of their faces, taking a moment to catch up to what was going on. Sivvy had only done what the situation had called for. There had been jobs in her past much bigger than this and no one had thanked her or whoever she was paired with for it. It'd been expected. Was this the treatment a legal mage received? She'd only been one a short while, only a few months really, so this could be responsible for the change. Now that she thought about it, in addition to being in the dark on what magic her companion might possess, she was also unclear whether he was even part of a guild. Mage or not, there were guilds of all types in Fiore. She didn't really know much about it at all, did she?

Feeling it was quite a strange notion, the slayer initially wished to decline their reward. Gratitude wasn't necessary. There had been a threat against innocent people, and by her guild's creed, it was her duty to put a stop to it as quickly and decisively as possible. It wasn't for praise, though she couldn't deny that her obsessive need to please and be useful didn't revel in it a bit. Dr. Raelin had never praised her, yet how he programmed and raised her caused her to crave it. Sometimes she got it from her mentor, which reinforced her behavior to a degree. Sivvy was glad when Artemis seemed to feel the same and began to refute the offer before she could. However, one simple word turned it all around. Banquet. Banquet. Food. Possibly Sivvy's only true weakness! As soon as the woman said the word, her body tensed in his grasp, reacting immediately to the exciting prospect. She'd been scanning for simple vendor food before, and now she was being offered limited access to special food? Yes. This was something she could get behind, and again, Artemis seemed to pluck the words out of her brain before she could even form them and accepted for them both. Her gleaming red eyes turned up toward him, her smile beaming like the sunlight the celebrated into his face. She didn't need to say anything. He probably already knew, and if he didn't, the rumbling of her tummy did instead.

After being escorted into the tent, her gaze flittered around in the pragmatic ritual she always did when entering a new place. Get a good idea of the layout. Identify all exits. Get an approximate headcount and a physical profile of all occupants. Assess for threats. All of these things happened in a matter of seconds, but always happened no matter where she was. Nothing stood out to her, so as they were seated, she'd simply order water and peer over at Artemis with a curious expression. While she was wondering how long it'd take the food to come out and what goodies there would actually be, her question wasn't about food. Though she'd peered at every single person in the room, she found she recognized only a couple of them. For someone who prided herself on knowledge, famous individuals were beyond her scope. A royal from Fiore was easy enough to know from her studies, but celebrities? Nah. "Who are these people?" Sivvy asked in a low tone in an attempt to be polite. What the girl had been expecting was up for anyone's guess, but she definitely expected there to already be an abundance of food waiting and to either be joined by other heroes of the day or maybe even some mages from other legal guilds from her travels. What constituted a VIP status other than saving lives? As did a great many complicated things, the clone found herself mildly puzzled, but ultimately unbothered. Artemis was pleasant company enough, so if she never spoke to the other twenty-seven (was one person late?) people under the extravagant tent and merely ate another delicious meal with the garnet-haired man, Sivvy would be happy all the same.


[WC: 884 || Total 2nd WC: 2201]

Sivvy followed along with Artemis's explanations for the people they shared the tent with, committing their names and faces to memory in case it became important later. So far most of these people seemed unimportant to her, so the social construct that made them better than anyone else was lost on her. Still, it was interesting to see so many flamboyant personalities together at once. Everyone seemed to be in a strange dance, somewhere between being competitive while not seeming competitive. Now, striving to be the best was something the clone could understand, though she'd prefer to accomplish it with skill and knowledge than whatever this bizarre ritual was. It was like observing animals in a zoo...who was the ultimate apex predator?

To be honest, in the most literal sense of the term, Sivvy was the apex predator in the room.

The show and tell part of the event ended with someone that made her date's demeanor change in the blink of an eye. A girl had just sat across from them, and the metal dragon slayer hardly needed verbal confirmation that she was a relative. That red wine hair was identical to Artemis's, which wasn't one-hundred percent confirmation of familial relation, but it was a good indication since his exact shade wasn't a super common one. Soon a man with the same hair joined in and it seemed she now had a collection of Daggers. While Sivvy wasn't one to make snap judgments, something about these two was unlikable to her, which was a shame. Their gaudy dressing was right up her eclectic alley with just a few modifications, but on these two, it turned her off. Perhaps the vibes the man at her side was giving off was affecting her own reactions in some way. Without much thought, her hand reached over and cupped one of his flexing fists as if to reassure him that everything was alright. Amalie wasn't really touchy-feely, but the rare comfort she remembered from the blue-haired woman seemed to rub off on her in a positive way.

"My name has always been a single word," the girl blinked innocently into Michaela's face, trying to grasp all the nuances of the situation. However, she didn't go on as she normally would have. Her mind frantically leafed back through all the books she'd read about various social settings and what was appropriate for each. Explaining the complications of origins and thus her 'name' at a high-brow dinner table was probably not the right course of action, yet she could offer no surname as they wished. The easy way out would have been to maybe adopt 'Raelin' for the time being, but just the thought of that twisted her gut and made her feel strange. "I don't know who those people are, but I do enjoy singing and music, so perhaps you are correct. Just Sivvy, like a singer. However, if more words are needed, 'Ambassador of Dies Irae' might do?"

Gabriel's continuing predatory gaze had not escaped her understanding. In fact, her face hardened in the same way it had when Artemis got too close, the same way it always did when she anticipated having to step in and be exactly what they wanted. The look was all too familiar, and something she deadened herself to. Sivvy was under the impression that she did this so she would perform to the best of her ability, but perhaps it was something more instinctual than that. Like she was protecting herself by locking the newest and softest parts of her humanity away for safe-keeping, so maybe it wouldn't break. She did manage a small smile, though, since that's what men expected.

Moving on from the name debacle, the clone's crimson eyes examined each of Artemis's relatives faces before looking over the tent once more. It was all done up in an elaborate style she'd seen in history books. Molded metals in the shapes of suns were hung from above in the peak of the tent with some aesthetic lacrima lights and foil streamers, all gleaming down at the table as air moved them. The warm glow of the sun outside diffused by the tan canvas sides of the tent lent a natural summery feel, as did the band playing upbeat and cheerful songs nearby. The wait staff in their old-timey costumes, the thick ornately-carved wooden table, expertly crafted wooden place settings, and barrel-like beer mugs. There even appeared to be a cooling enchantment on the air inside so the occupants would be comfortable. Colorful clowns didn't hesitate to play the fool in favor of entertaining the small gathering, which she found way more civilized than the historical alternative. What had they been going on about regarding civility? Artemis's unending discomfort was noticeable even to someone as occasionally dense as her, so perhaps these people were the uncivilized ones. Perhaps how they were making her friend feel was the reason they both left a bad taste in her mouth. "Even civilized events let beasts out of their cages to join in. Traditionally, these types of things would be entertained by not only these jesters, but also wild bears in chains. Jesters would put their lives on the line to both incite and distract the beast so the attendants of such high-class gatherings would be rapt at the edges of their seats while gorging on foods and meads. I see you've worn your chains," she paused, referring to Michaela's excessive jewelry, but then she turned to Gabriel. "But where are yours?"


[WC: 922 || Total Exam WC: 3123/3000- complete || 123 words left over]