Smuggling out

https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t5922-s-rank-where-is-the-love

The sun was rising as Luna and Amelia stood on the balcony leaning on the rails. It was early in the day as there was a tension between the non-human females. Taking on an international job was a long one, so renting a lodging would be necessary. Before they left Fiore, they warned Mai that it would be in her best interest to avoid mentioning she is a God slayer as much as possible, solely to avoid unwanted attention for the job. From what she learned, Slayer Magic is treated with respect, however there was a slight prejudice among some subcultures that is against God Slayers.

Upon entry to Bellum by a portal, Luna and Amelia were almost disgusted by how they were treated well. Bellum Culture values magic, and Luna, a Fairy of Life, and Amelia, a testament to the ability to create sentient life via magic, were almost worshiped as gossip spread after their passports were checked upon entering the Bellum country. Luna and Amelia set out for a town close to the border to Pergrande, and rented a two bedroom suite at a lesser known hotel. Luna figured it was better to rent a suite for everyone to stay in as opposed to everyone scrounging for lodging, making things easier.

Upon deciding to take a God Slayer under her wings, Luna knew that it was crucial to gauge the girl while trying to teach her more then brute violence to handle a matter, and to let the girl see what it's like to be against someone stronger then her. Amelia and Luna both shared great concerns about the progression of the girl. The two were communing discretely via Archive telepathy. "Raijin was never a smart God, or peaceful one. During Lightning Convergence he barely even looked at the humans that shown." Luna sighed, she recalled the little details she knew about the God Slayer's adopted parent. "What he did, regardless of intention counts as child abuse, starting at the very least the early stages of weaponizing a sentient being against their own species, and ultimately teed her up for a God Complex. So yeah, that's why, we're hear. A humanitarian job that might force her to think outside the realm of punching." Amelia shot Luna a glare, she didn't disagree with the point made but she was not exactly agreeing with it totally. However she decided to trust Luna's judgment. "This is going to be a long experience, neither of us are psychologists.


Luna and Amelia had woken up earlier that day and already ate, waiting for Mai to get ready or their argument to run dry. However the latter seemed to not come soon. 

WC 448

As exciting as it was for Mai to be travelling to a new country, Luna had to constantly remind her that this was for the purposes of work as opposed to a simple vacation. As much as she wanted to see the sights and take in the magical energy of Bellum, Mai had a job to fulfill. She was told to stay close to Luna and Amelia at all times, and, under no circumstance, mention that she was a God Slayer. Mai did not fully understand the reason as to why she had to keep her magic power a secret, but she listened nonetheless.

With the trio's entry into Bellum, the citizens immediately met Luna and Amelia with high praise, while showing little regard towards Mai. The story that Mai had to go with was that she was a simple lightning-using wizard, and nothing more. The citizens could sense that Mai had power, but she still was told not to mention her powers as a Slayer. The sheer magical energy flowing in the ground was tempting to the tastebuds, but, at a warning from Amelia, she was informed to try to avoid eating magical energy if she could prevent it.

They reached the suite that they would be staying in for the night, with Mai being too engrossed by the foreign and strange aesthetic of the new country to really bother with the logistics of where they were. Luna had mentioned that this town was where their client would be meeting them, and little else. Despite the balled up energy she had, Luna told Mai that rest would be crucial for this task. Mai reluctantly agreed to go to sleep early, though her excitement admittedly kept her up longer than she had hoped.

Come the morning, the sun shone brightly, high in the air as Mai yawned, slowly waking. Luna and Amelia had already been awake for some time, and presumably they were merely waiting for the small girl to get ready herself. A part of Mai assumed that she had overslept by a few hours, but she brushed those thoughts aside out of excitement for her first "real" mission. Kenna and Ryo had told her that she had tons of potential, and Luna thought much the same, and the three had agreed to have her come along with Luna to this mission as a "test of strength," as far as Mai paid attention to. After finally getting dressed and ensuring she had her Papa's necklace firmly clasped around her neck, she headed down to get herself some food before the mission would begin.

Munching on a few sweets, Mai tried to convince Amelia to share some lightning, though the two others warned against that, having to remind Mai once again that she was not to reveal her status as a Slayer without need. "I rested up all nice and good, Miss Luna! I'm ready to go and do some work!" She smiled, her excitement for this journey evident despite what she tried to hide it.

---

WC: 506

Luna and Amelia turned around, seeing that the young slayer was ready to go. Luna proceeded to walk back into the suite and approached the table where she left her tools. She was dreading this conversation as it might entail going into deep stuff that Mai was probably not ready to hear parts of it. She grabbed the Fire whip and attached it to her side before taking in a deep breath slowly. "Mai, I used to be a Guild Master, so I can tell you what wisdom I impart is crucial for the most part. I specifically chose this job for us because it cannot be solved on strength alone, and there are several crucial factors." Luna nodded towards Amelia, who snapped her fingers creating an Archive board and prepared to automatically list the points that Luna was going to make.

"A wizard has two main qualities for jobs, first is their capabilities that allow them to carry out the job which is very important in the short term gains, but there is something else that is still important to consider. Reputation, a Wizard's reputation is a critical function in the long term, as a Wizards action reflects upon themselves, their guild, and potentially their district the guild belongs to if you really anger someone high up the chain." Luna took a moment to let her words sink in. She grabbed Zygmunt, inspecting each of the blades before she moved them around her to be sheathed under her qipao in a discrete and safe manner.

"Reputation is how people perceive you, mostly by opinions of those that you take jobs for. Amelia darling make a T-Chart." On the Archive board a T-chart appeared with positive on the one side and negative on the other. Luna grabbed the small satchel containing a stone orb and put it in her secure pocket as internally she was trying to make sure she was ahead of herself so she didn't hit a snag. "Obviously, completing the job to the exact desires of the client, making a positive impact on the area and avoiding collateral damage are usually good, the most important aspect is how the client sees you. As if the client sees you as a respectful, honest and morally upstanding wizard, that can reflect well on you. However the opposite of each, doing the exact opposite of what the client wants, destroying their property and possibly even the property of others as collateral, and utterly being rude or awful to the client can have a bad effect on your reputation. Wizards of a bigger negative reputation don't suffer too bad responses, however if it gets too low they can be turned away from jobs. However Wizards of highly positive reputation do sometimes get to enjoy some perks. I get quarter off potions in the Mt. Hakobe settlements for inventing a penguin lure."

She took a rest for a moment as she picked up the Lightning Dragon Eye, a mythical ring and slide it on her left ring finger gently before a few sparks flew off it. "In other words, how you treat the client is very important. Normally Wizards can skate by since the average job is out of the sight of the client, however escort and other type jobs, how you act with the client, especially a scared client is very critical."

Luna shot Amelia glance letting her know that the screen was no longer necessary. Luna looked at the clock and noticed there was still plenty of time before their rendezvous.  "Alright, any questions? If not we'll cover the next part en route."

WC 603
TWC 1051

So Miss Luna chose this job to teach me stuff? Mai thought to herself. As good a student as she was with Papa, she was not particularly fond of learning, especially if it was learning that did not have to do with combat, which is seemed as if this would be for her. "So it's not always a good thing to just punch everything and fight through everything? Papa said something like that, but he also said that it's a lot easier to just punch and kick and blow things up!" After asking this to Luna, she began speaking her thoughts aloud. "But now Miss Luna is saying that I earn this 'reputation' thing for not just punching everything in the face, and she said that sometimes there are better ways to deal with problems than that. So with this 'escort' thing I have to be careful about 'collateral damage'?" She closed her eyes trying to remember Papa's teachings. Instinctively, she rose her hand to ask a question. "Collateral damage is stuff like blowing up buildings and stuff? Papa said not to worry about stuff like that because humans rebuild things really quickly and are really forgetful and stuff, but I'll do my best to not do that stuff when you're around, Miss Luna!" Her thoughts jumped back to another question. "So I just earn reputation by being good and not destroying things that aren't bad guys? But...Papa said he had a reputation for being really good at blowing things up and beating up bad guys. So they're two different things?" Realizing what she was doing, she squealed and quickly took a bow in apology. "Sorry, Miss Luna! I should wait for these questions under after the job! Just like how I'm not supposed to be buying things I'm not supposed to while I'm here or wandering off on my own, it can wait until after the job is done."

Mai smiled. Papa had taught her so much that the best way to deal with problems was to use brute force to destroy them with ease, but her time with Luna was giving her insights onto other thought patterns. Mai had noticed that, at times, she was forgetting about Papa and being more ingrained into the moment, and she figured it was mostly due to the fairy that had taken the child under her wing. The entirety of this job would be certainly something different for her, as she was numb to people being afraid of her and her magic, especially when Papa was around, but now she had to do her best to stray away from that path. Even if it were for a goal outside of simple betterment of self, Mai thought that having the welcome opinions of others was a good goal to reach for. Papa was always so proud of her for being a well-behaved child, and she thought that it would be for the best if she were to keep training that mindset in the circumstance that she were to find Papa once again. Of course, the prospects of perks was of course something enticing, with Mai slightly slipping into a fantasy of being surrounded by candies and sweets. It was a simple dream, and a part of her realized how unrealistic it was, but she did not care, focusing on how she could potentially get a sort of adoration and recognition, just like Papa had.

"Alright! Got it!" Mai shouted, springing to her feet and getting pumped. "Be a good girl, don't destroy property, don't be rude, and don't be scary! I can do this, Miss Luna!"

---

WC: 603
TWC: 1109

Luna was glad that her little protege seemed to be at the very least a great listener. Luna put faith into the girl that she would follow her words, just as much if not more that the girl had faith that Luna would not lead her astray. However she understood full well that she needed to be really careful when she could pick and choose her battles when she decided to contradict what Raijin had taught her. However she was glad that she had Amelia to step in for her in times like this. "Well, you see Mai, about your papa, he was a big meanie in the view of the humans, but that isn't totally his fault. Being good at destruction of human things isn't always nice, like your papa would probably laugh at destroying a bakery, but I know you wouldn't. To a lot of Gods, the needs and feelings of everything else don't matter. While items can rebuild, sometimes feelings can't, the work and feeling that goes into something can mean a lot more then the building itself. It is just a matter of bias and perspective. From your papa's perspective things happen quickly and don't matter, but he probably doesn't perceive time like everyone else. From what I remember, he was just feared."

Luna looked at Amelia with a slight glare, the emerald eyes seemed slightly cold, without the Archive telepathy Amelia knew what the fairy was saying without words. 'Too far', however Luna figured better to get things rolling without pushing Mai towards an outburst. Since this was not yet a life or death situation, Luna could afford to coddle the girl so long as they weren't risking any lives. "Alright, time to go, we got a lot of ground to cover." She said as she opened the door, however the Gynoid was confused. "But it's only a thirty minute walk to the rendezvous point?" Luna started to walk out the door and motioned for the other two to follow. "I meant on Wizard work with Mai. We still got the major component about international work."

Amelia realized what she was hinting at, and figured Luna was right to get it out of the way. After getting out of the hotel, Luna looked around and started to walk north through the open street market. She noted the various stands of food, clothing, jewelry, tools, weapons, alcohol, and anything one would expect to find at a market place. However she did note that unlike before, she could not hide the little things, the way people interacted, belittling those incapable of magic."Mai, it's important you understand the background of a job as well. You see, Bellum is a completely different place from Fiore, and every country, every culture has their own sense of right and wrong. Fiore accepts everyone, with tolerance for all beings regardless of abilities or faith. Bellum on the other hand, is completely different. While home to many wonderful things with how they value magic, Bellum does have a dark side with how they value magic They view those that practice certain types of magic, and as such they are treated differently. While beings made of pure magic like me and Amelia are praised, God Slayers can be equated with evil by stigma. They believe that those who dare to slay gods are sick in the mind, however that does not mean they are right. Everyone has the right to their own opinions, remember that."

Luna discretely looked around, making sure that they weren't attracting too much attention besides the occasional glare. "However on the other hand, Pergrande, is a much different place. It is a place that has the opposite view of Bellum, they despise magic, they use their brains to solve problems. Luna almost ended up living there when she used to be human, but now she can't even set foot in there. Isn't it your cousin twice removed that lives there?" Luna nodded, recalling the fact that her father's ancestry has a lot of Bellum and Pergrande. "Well, due to tension in her family, she and her fiance are moving to the Neutral Zone in Fiore soon. Things have gotten bad since the accident. Same situation regardless, she still has the curse, and has no intention of breaking it. Anyways, Mai, due to the opposing natures of Bellum and Pergrande, the two are always at odds with each other. They've had a lot of battles, so after all the bad blood between the two, the borders are naturally tense."

Luna decided to take a quick moment to let the words sink into the girl. Luna figured that if she had so much to teach that this job might not have been the best choice, but it was too late to back out.

WC 801
TWC 1852

The words that Amelia had said about Papa were scathing to Mai's ears. She did not like any sort of slander towards her Papa, but she knew that she could not afford to speak up about it, as she figured this was a test from Miss Luna on how to have patience. While a part of her figured that it was not true, she assumed that thinking of it like a sort of lesson would help her in taking it better than if she simply let it slide. Nonetheless, despite her best attempts to bypass the words Amelia was saying, Mai's face had still morphed into a pout without her knowledge. She was not the biggest fan of the gynoid, largely in part due to the way she insulted Papa, but she knew that it would be something she had to deal with in order to make Miss Luna happy. That, and the lovely taste of the lightning that she could create. She would have much rather preferred if Neptuna were the more constant companion, but in the end it would be Miss Luna's choice.

Even if Mai wanted to counter Amelia's words, Luna had bid them leave from the debriefing before she could get a chance. There would be yet more lessons to be taught about international jobs specifically, as Miss Luna showed through their walk through the marketplace. While it took her time to notice the prejudices that the people of Bellum were showing, as Miss Luna continued to explain, she would gradually notice the changes in interactions. Her ability to sense magic power was not the greatest, but she could still get a general read of whether or not someone had at least some magical aptitude. Those who did not seem to have that aptitude were ignored, laughed at, and, in one case that she noticed, attacked. It was then that Miss Luna had mentioned how they would treat her and Amelia with praise and someone like Mai with scorn. Mai frowned, slightly irked by the thought that they would treat her so unfairly. She wanted to simply run out and start brawling with some of those people that would dare to be mean to her, but the glares coming from Amelia and Miss Luna, whether or not they were truly there, told her not to.

"Papa always told me not to worry about other people's opinions, because they don't effect me, but that's not really true, is it? Like those guys getting bullied because they don't have magic. Even if their opinions are wrong and only their opinions, they're still acting on them, right? Those people that didn't do anything bad are still being bullied because they're not the same." Her hand balled up into a fist. "And I don't really know how bad they treat people without magic compared to if it's someone like me who doesn't have a magic they agree with, but if it's anything like what they're doing to those other guys, then..." A tear slowly began to well up in her eye. "Miss Luna, can I just punch them? I don't like how they're being mean!" She took a deep breath, trying her best to calm down. If she were to go off and begin to fight the people of Bellum, Miss Luna would certainly have been angry. Mai was still not the best at controlling her emotions, but she had been using some of the techniques that Miss Luna had been teaching, whether that be taking deep breaths or thinking about something else. Mai had her hand clasped around her necklace, holding tightly to the memento of her Papa.

She took one more deep breath, focusing back in on what Miss Luna was saying about Pergrande. They had an opposite view on magic as Bellum had, prejudicing against those who could use magic. "Why would someone not like people with magic? Magic gives you a lot of power, and Papa said that magic is what makes the world work. I don't really remember much of why he said that magic makes the world work, but he said that magic is involved in everything, so why would they be mean to those who can use magic?" She pouted, crossing her arms. "I don't understand these other places. Fiore doesn't care about whether or not you can use magic and no one are meanies to those who can't use magic, so I think that these other places are stupid and dumb. I don't like going to these other countries! But...I'm here now, and you want me to learn some things, Miss Luna, so I guess I just have to deal with it." She smiled, punching the air. "Just gotta punch the doubt and confusion and problems in the face! Pow!" She giggled before quickly bringing her hands back to her side as a squeal emitted from her mouth. Her actions in the past few seconds had drawn the eyes of some of the people nearby, causing Mai's face to feel flushed and warm from embarrassment. "Sorry, Miss Luna. Can't just punch the problems, I need to learn how to deal with things outside of just a quick pow-pow to the meanies, and that's why you brought me to this job!" She smiled, continuing on her path with Miss Luna and Amelia.

---

WC: 889
TWC: 1998

Luna felt extremely guilty as she made Mai suffer by being the authoritative presence that was preventing her from acting on impulse, even when her impulses seemed right. However while she and Amelia were quick studies, Luna knew that she would need to put in the extra effort to help teach Mai self control and when to take the moral highroad. Although Luna knew that the restrictions she had in place were solely the reason that Mai was not going ballistic against the locals. Seeing how Mai reacted to Amelia was an excellent test to gauge against Mai's thinking capabilities, while never outright calling the thunder god a bad guy, she did bring up alternate view that were clearly unwelcome to the young mind. Amelia and Luna came to the conclusion that the girl was not a threat as long as she is on a psychological leash.

Luna however was glad that Mai had no problems expressing herself, although she was slightly annoyed by the glances she was getting from others in the street. While she was glad that Mai was embarrassed, showing signs of self awareness in relation to perception by others, however she decided that she should disperse the crowd to remain unnoticed and inconspicuous. "We're not from around here, I treated my niece to a bit of extra sugar while we're passing through, layover back to Fiore." After she said that, there was an awkward pause, then everyone started to mind their own business again, relatively quickly to Luna's chagrin. "Okay, that's a little too willing to believe, let's just assume they think 'niece by marriage to an older person' or something. But Mai, while honesty is good, sometimes a slight lie can do more good in the long term."

She made sure to keep an eye out as she was starting to see that Mai was seriously not cut out for jobs that require a lower profile. However since Luna really could not care about how she is seen in Bellum, this was a perfect training ground for Mai. "Also Mai, that was a great example of always being cautious of how people see you. While most jobs don't matter if you're flashy at first, we need to keep our cool so we don't draw any unwanted attention to our client. Like I said, as a wizard, you got to know how to interpret your clients wishes. Not to mention how you interact with people that believe something different then what you believe in."

Luna stopped as there was a massive crowd swarming into a church blocking the path. She figured that if she was going to teach her apprentice, she would need to see that not only was she not all powerful, but her mentor as well. "I am not above hating how things are in this region. I dislike being treated so well because I am a Nature Fairy. If I came here before I became a wizard, I would not be treated so well because... I used to be a magic incapable human. My mother is a fairy, but my father was a cursed human that had a magic inhibitor that was passed down from my great great great great grandfather who was ironically a Bellum warlord."

She let the rest of the crowd pass by and the weight of the revelation sunk in. Her past was not a comfortable subject for the most part, as she didn't want to discuss the fact that she was abused for so long. "Even in Fiore there was a bit of discrimination, but after the curse was lifted for me alone my fairy side took over. So I know how the magicless are treated here. But it's not our place as wizards to judge them, we can refuse to aid them, but that's about it. I have the power to destroy everything around us, but I hold back, since by the laws of this state everyone is innocent."

As the group kept going, Luna felt a jolt from an impact striking her rear. She almost jumped from the shock. In the shock she could practically feel the breath of the man that was approaching from behind. She glanced over at the creep who wrapped his arm around her and was almost repulsed by his breath and the pure strength of his cologne overdose. "Hey baby, how'd you like to get with the biggest stud in town?"

Luna tried to sense the man's life force, and she found that he was more like the most diseased stud in town. However she saw this as a teachable moment for Mai on how to deal with extremely uncomfortable situations without resorting to extreme and copious amounts of violence or drama. She quickly ducked out of the grip of the creep before she would continue walking. "Not interested, plus I got a kid with me, have some decency." She said with a bitter tone, Amelia snickered but the Creep was not yet dismayed.

He started to approach her again this time stepping in front of her path. "C'mon, no need to play tough pinkie, you know you wanna have some fun..." Luna sighed as she was trying to genuinely avoid the man. However she thought she would entertain him as she proceeded to spit right into his eye, he jerked back covering his eye. "You bitch!" He said before he would try to punch out Luna, but she stepped to the side as it would seem the man put too much force into the punch and ended up falling flat on his face before the sound of tearing fabric could be heard. The man's pants had ripped at the seem as he quickly moved his hands to cover his rear. "You were right, that was fun." Luna said before continuing to walk away, Amelia snickering at the sight before the group would continue.

"You see Mai, I could have punched him out, sliced him open, burned him, or a number of other things. But I didn't. I let the man make a fool of himself and didn't need to even do much of anything. Not all problems need to be dealt with, some deal with themselves."

Amelia nodded, she loved how Luna handled situations with a bit of finesse but this was in her opinion one of the better examples. "Honestly, not your coolest example of making people collapse over their own flaws, but it was pretty cool."

WC 1078
TWC 2930

Miss Luna's quick lie to disperse the gazes from the crowd was certainly welcome. She sighed, as if a weight were lifted from her shoulders. It was a strange feeling to Mai, being worried about such a thing. Papa had always taught her that she should not mind the opinions of others, but Miss Luna's instruction seemed to point to the contrary. Sidling closer to Miss Luna, she did her best to play into the lie that she would be Miss Luna's niece. She gave a quick look of desire for sweets towards Miss Luna, before realizing that it might draw even more attention and rather focusing closer on a glare towards Amelia. In Mai's opinion, it was Amelia's fault that she was having these strange feelings of doubt towards Papa's words.

Mai did her best to take mental notes of what Miss Luna was teaching, attempting to shove aside her other thoughts with varying degrees of success. Being cautious of other's opinions was certainly a tough concept for her to wrap her mind around. Miss Luna had told her that she could not simply beat up those who had a wrong opinion than her, as much as she wanted to. In the relatively short time that she had been spending with Miss Luna, she had already learned a great deal of information that seemed contradictory towards the teachings of her Papa. She quietly muttered to herself in frustration, giving several glares towards Amelia in the light tirade she had under her breath.

Miss Luna's revelation that she, at one point, was magicless came as a surprise to the young Slayer. Perhaps, however, what came as more of a surprise was "You were a human?" Mai squealed too loudly before retreating her voice back to that of a private conversation. Miss Luna gave an apology once more, owing it to an active imagination, when Mai continued. "Papa always said that humans were weak and if they couldn't use magic then they were super weak and could never get to be...uh...less weak." She wracked her brain over the revelation for a moment, before rationalizing an explanation in her head. "But now you're not a dumb, weak human, right? You're a fairy and that makes you really strong! And that means you could destroy all the dumb, weak humans, but you don't because you're really nice!" She hugged her mentor before quickly backing off, constantly telling herself, "Miss Luna said that I have to make sure people don't look at me weird," unaware she said it aloud.

Her whimsical inner musings were interrupted by the sudden intrusion of a man who had wrapped his arm around Miss Luna. Even taking the possibility of the two knowing each other in mind, Mai had her fist clenched tightly, small bursts of electricity jolting off of her small, enraged hand. Once Miss Luna slipped away from the man's grip, Mai released the tension in her hand, only for it to rise double when the man slipped in front of them. Both of her hands were balled in fists of wrath. Miss Luna clearly did not know this man, and his actions towards her were enough to send Mai into a rage. She felt her blood boiling, ready to leap into action and punch the man into the clouds before Miss Luna stepped forwards and spit in the man's eye. Even Mai jolted back in shock as the man burst forwards once more in an attempt to swing. Mai instinctively set her feet in a fighting stance, ready to counter the man's punch with a flurry of strikes of her own. To her surprise, rather than deflect the creepy man's punch and strike with a punch of her own, Miss Luna merely dodged out of the way. A tearing sound was heard and the man scampered off in an attempt to hide the shame of his oddly pink undergarments. The small crowd that had seen this confrontation snickered to themselves, Amelia joining in alongside Mai.

When Miss Luna explained her mindset, it sent Mai into a state of slight confusion. "But that seemed like it was a lot of thinking to do. I mean, the meanie made himself look really funny, but he didn't get beat up for it. Papa always said that people learn best when they get beat up. Papa would always point to bruises and other icky stuff on his body and tell stories about how he got them from a battle with a thousand dumb, weak humans and how they could only cut his fur. Papa always said that if you have a bruise or..." she pressed her knuckles against her head trying to remember the other word Papa used. ...scar? I think Papa said it was a word like that. Anyways, Papa said that if you have something to remember a fight by, you remember why you got into that fight and what you can learn from it."

She was prepared to simply let her dress fall off of her body, before realizing that it would certainly make a scene, which is what Miss Luna wanted to avoid. So, she drew Miss Luna closer to take a look at her back underneath her shoulders. Jutting around the youthful skin of the Slayer's back were dark scars haphazardly branching like a horrifying web. "Papa said that I should keep these burn-y things to remember how good I got at magic and how much I grew since Papa first started teaching me how to do magic! Oh, it doesn't hurt anymore. They're reeeeeally old and fun to poke!" She grasped her necklace tightly. "When Papa gave me this necklace, he said I should use it to never forget him, but even if some meanies steal it or some baddies break it, that I can still remember all the time that I spent with him and all the fun, boom-crash-pow magic training I got to do with him from this thingy!" She looked wistfully at the ground for a moment before turning her head up towards Miss Luna. "I don't like people leaving me or me not having anything to remember them by. I have the Sabertooth mark to remind me about Kenna and Ryo, and I have Papa's Necklace and the burn-y thing to remember him by...is there something I can use to remember you with?" She was surprised by the sudden bursting of emotion that she was giving. In a state of panic, she grasped tightly to Miss Luna's hand."I didn't like when Papa left, and I don't want to feel that way with you. I don't like being alone. It makes me really sad."

---

WC: 1114
TWC: 3112

The suspected dead god was starting to aggravate Luna from beyond the grave, should such a thing be truly possible. Luna had a feeling that if she were to meet this deity that raised Mai that she would almost get aggressive before she even had a chance to talk. While she understood that the God had his own views, she disliked how he nearly instilled a god complex into the young child. She was glad that there was some good in him as he gave a beautiful necklace to remind Mai of the good in him, however she needs to learn that not everything she was told was right. The only blessings were that Mai was young and still had time to learn, and that no one around seemed to react to Mai acting as though she wasn't human. She and Amelia felt a tense urge to just break the ice and tell Mai that she's human herself, as the two have had suspicions that she doesn't know she's human. When the group had just left crowded area of the open street market, Luna stopped and led Mai aside, resting her hands on Mai's shoulders gently. She knew Mai needed someone who was both able to tell her when she was wrong, and someone who was able to be the crutch she needs.

"Mai, about what you said earlier regarding humans; I never, and I mean never want you to call all humans dumb or weak ever again. Just because I am a fairy, it does not make me better then any human, not to mention that's the same line of thinking that drives the magic users of this country being able to treat the non magic users so badly." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. Amelia looked at Luna as she admitted to herself that Luna was more calm then she would be in that instance. [colorff66cc]"There are humans smarter then me, humans I can't beat as the opposite is true. All life is sacred, even though humanity makes the most mistakes, they have done a lot of good, right? Like sweets, and other yummy foods."[/color]

Getting the major issue out of the way, she knew she needed to resolve the girl's panic before they met with the client. She then adjusted her hands to hug Mai tightly. "But also I will never abandon you, I am not going anywhere, I swear by my blood you will never get rid of me that easily, you don't need moments of me so soon. I swore, I won't let you be lonely ever again, I haven't broken that promise yet, and I never will. I won't leave you, and as long as I am hear, you are safe. Please, as long as my golden heart still beats you shall never be lonely ever again."

"Luna, Sidebar?" Amelia telepathically communed with Luna through archive magic, trying to be discrete. "Sure, go ahead." Amelia was extremely concerned regarding Luna's apprentice. "Lulu, are we sure we can take her on a job like this? At this point she might be a lethal liability." Luna couldn't truthfully think Amelia was wrong. However they did take the girl this far and it would be worse to send her off. "I get that. But we need to show her how not to be, look the two of us can handle this job easily at a point where we are over qualified. We just gotta watch out for her, she needs to learn from example. Our example." 

Amelia knew Luna was not wrong, however the concerns stood firm. "Luna, you are one of a feminist and can put most housewives to shame with your skill in the kitchen and wizards on the battlefield, your example might be one of the best around, but we may need to re-examine her issues and history." Luna herself was most concerned of all after learning of the scars on the back of the girl, leading to a reconsideration of how she was potentially treated and raised by the storm god did raise red flags inside her mind. "First of all, I am an egalitarian, not a feminist. But alright, we'll need to talk to the guild master about this later, if I had Integration Magic I'd examine her past myself but for now we are stuck with the old fashioned way. She is a ticking time bomb if something goes wrong. For the meantime, she's our responsibility."

Amelia silently agreed with Luna, and Luna returned her focus back to the slayer child. "Anyways, keep your smile up Mai, we are bound to run into our client shortly." She said as she held Mai's hand and kept walking down the path.

WC 793
TWC 3723

Each passing day with Miss Luna was more confusing than the last. For years, Papa had always taught her the same things. How to use magic, how to have proper etiquette, the basics of speaking, and the core values that he thought should be taught. Do not worry about the opinions of others if it does not affect you, and, perhaps most importantly of all, that humans were something that should not exist. They make so many mistakes, and they ruin nature. Their greatest inventions are those to be used for war. Swords, guns, prisons, everything was created as means of rebelling against those that are more powerful than them, and rebellion was unacceptable. Humans needed to learn their place in the world, and their place was one of subservience and weakness. They needed to give their entire beings to Gods such as Papa, and not doing so was to go against the laws of nature itself.

Now that Mai had spent a few months with Miss Luna, she was getting conflicting messages. Where Papa taught that humans needed to be blown up, Miss Luna said that humans, despite their many, many faults, were not entirely bad. They had good to them, and they were not the weakest creatures in existence. Mai's mind raced in confusion at the thought of a human being able to beat someone as strong and as awesome as Miss Luna. When Mai would watch Papa deal with humans, they would be crushed in an instant. Papa always showed Mai just how weak humans were. Entire towns had no chance of dealing with Papa. Even when those meanies in the blue uniforms showed up and claimed themselves to be the enforcement of Fiore, Papa eliminated hundreds of them without even breaking a sweat. His stories of beating thousands of humans with barely even taking a scratch, everything seemed to line up, and Mai's own observations seemed to prove that. Before coming to Sabertooth, the humans she had seen were all weak and unable to use magic.  Even in her first few jobs, the humans had no chance of beating her up. They were all weak and pathetic, just like Papa said. But now Miss Luna, who seemed just as powerful as Papa, said that a human could beat her? It seemed impossible.

Of course, attributing the creation of sweets and other tasty foods was certainly a point of appeal to Mai. "Papa always said that sweets were made by a God and that humans stole them..." she thought aloud. As much as Papa had taught her to take everything at face value, Miss Luna's own teachings were much different. There were many types of sweets that Papa had never mentioned, and she had even seen the creation of candies with her own eyes, even in this town in Bellum.

Perhaps more importantly to her teachings, however, was that of Miss Luna's warning that Mai's mindset towards humans could lead to the exact same sort of actions that were taught towards the people who could not use magic here in Bellum. Seeing the person without magic get attacked by others enraged Mai, and Miss Luna suggesting that Mai could end up like those people attacking the magically inept human was infuriating to Mai. Not infuriating towards Miss Luna for suggesting such a thing, but infuriating that Mai could end up like those meanies. "It's because they're humans and the humans are always weak and meanies and have to pick on others, right? But...Miss Luna said I shouldn't act like that because then I'll end up like those meanies and I don't want to do that!" In spite of her best attempts to make a good reason, she could not fully get the thought out of her head.

Had anyone but Miss Luna tried saying these things, there was hardly a chance that Mai would have taken it into account. But it was Miss Luna that was teaching her these things. Miss Luna had promised that she would not leave Mai. Her explicit vow was touching to Mai, who hugged her teacher tightly, trying her best to hold in tears. Not even Papa had made such an explicit promise. Sure, Papa would get protective of Mai if the dumb humans tried to take her away, but Papa had never said anything of this sort to her. It was confusing to Mai's brain that someone could say something like this, especially someone who at least used to be a human, and seem to have both means and intentions to follow through. Miss Luna seemed to be the first person that connected with Mai on a deeper level. Papa had protected, raised, and taught Mai, but he always refrained from giving Mai promises. He had told Mai that promises were important, but he never made one himself. Miss Luna's vow was more words than Papa ever gave to her.

Of course, there was work to be done in this country. It was not just a vacation to get good food and a lesson for Mai, but there was a legitimate job that needed to be done. Mai pressed her knuckles against the side of her head, trying to get focused. She beamed a bright smile at Miss Luna. "Got it! Big bright smile and it's like a bolt of lightning on a stormy night! Papa always told me that! It makes a really big light when you can't really see anything and it shows up a lot more than if it wasn't cloudy and dark! Plus he always said that they look really pretty, even if they're scary!" Her voice shrank as she began to think aloud. "He also said something about tastiness, I think..." Her head then shot back up in a smile. "Don't worry about it! Let's go meet this guy and go help him with what he needs help with!" Mai took Miss Luna's hand and began skipping along as they made their way towards their destination.

---

WC: 1000. Even. Noice.
TWC: 4112

Luna could tell there was a conflict within the young girl's mind, that her words were not being rejected but nor where they overwriting the toxic ones spoken by the Storm God. Luna knew she couldn't just overtake the damage Raijin ingrained into Mai, but she hoped she could at the very least help Mai through the brutal transition from toxic seclusion into being able to function in the world. While Luna and Amelia hated the prospect that Raijin was most likely dead and hated keeping the theory hidden from Mai, she did find a silver lining that she was in Mai's life instead of Raijin. She gave thought to how Mai would be should she had remained with Raijin instead of his untimely disappearance. "Remember Mai, those employed to do Wizard work or even use their magic for good have an obligation, a duty to be more controlled and responsible with their magic than anyone else. Not less, power must not be allowed to corrupt the heart."

Outside of town, Luna saw the mountain range and the barrier that runs along the border between the two enemy states. Mentally she was still formulating a pan of action, it was clear and overwhelmingly so that fighting the border guards even in a small skirmish would be nearly suicide for most wizards. Luna knew that she and Amelia could take them on and possibly get the client over, but if they had Mai, they were more worried that the girl would end up getting herself injured gravely or worse. Luna knew that if a fight were to break out, she might need to choose between Mai and the client, so she would need to be more devious and clever to complete this job, which was precisely why she wanted to take Mai on this job.

Expanding Mai's horizons and tool kits for dealing with every aspect of life was a hard project, and she felt that Mai seeing how she handles a variety of situations where Mai would normally use violence would help expand the young girl's thinking, and today was nearly perfect so far. Luna figured the examples set out on the way would set the stage for what was to come.  Luna saw the large tree that was agreed on for the meeting point and could see the young man sat against the tree with a duffel bag beside him. Luna took a moment to sense the life force around the area, and she could only sense plant life aside from the girls and the young man. 

Approaching the man, Luna searched her memory for the code phrase and taking a mental note to teach Mai about how to handle before meeting communications with clients, especially when the job involves discretion and sensitive issues. "The grass is moist today." He said as the group got close, a clear lie. There was clear weather for the past few days and not a cloud in the sky. Luna nodded, and remembered the counter phrase. "Cloudbursts are common today."

The man stood up and lifted his head as he looked at the group and seemed slightly disappointed. "So, you're the Sabertooth Wizards? You seem a little... less intimidating then I thought." Amelia scoffed, she had been working in this field for many years and she was used to this line of treatment. "Were you expecting a bunch of older and gruff armored wizards that carry around a strong presence all the time?" The man started to look nervous at the jab. "Oh, um, maybe? Sorry!"

It was times like these Luna seemed to be bothered by Amelia's lack of consideration for the fact that individuals who lack magic also lack the ability to sense magic. Luna figured she should redirect the conversation back to a more productive direction. "Anyways, I am Luna Mira, Nature Fairy.-" She gestured to Amelia. "- Amelia Thorn, my Gynoid partner.-" Lastly she gestured to Mai. "- Lastly, my apprentice Mai Stormchild, God Slayer."

The man nodded and seemed to calm down a bit. "Thanks, as you know through the communications, I am Maxwell Schmidt. Thanks for agreeing to take on this job."

WC 695
TWC 4418

Miss Luna's first few words to the man were strange, to say the least. Even if Mai did not have the advantage of her Slayer-heightened senses, the grass certainly was not moist, nor were there many clouds to be seen in the sky. However, this seemed to set something off in the man, who correctly assumed that the trio were members of Sabertooth. That said, he seemed slightly disappointed, and Amelia's words, for once, seemed to accurately align with Mai's own thoughts. She figured that, since Miss Luna was the leader of the trio, it would be best for her to take care of the words needed, though Mai was still quite lost in her own thoughts from the lessons of earlier in the day. Regardless, she managed to capture in her mind the disappointment of the man, and Mai pouted for it. As much as she enjoyed people acknowledging her cute stature, this did not seem to be such a case.  Rather, it seemed as those this man was underestimating their abilities. While Mai was not particularly fussed about the disrespect shown to Amelia, even though Mai herself acknowledged the falsity of the statement, any disrespect shown towards Mai or Miss Luna seemed unforgivable. She tightly clenched her fist for a moment before remembering both that this was Mai's client and that Miss Luna had told her that not everything needed to resort to violence, as easy as it would be.

"Yeah! Like Miss Luna said, we're members of Sabertooth! And we're really strong!" Mai's frustration was barely veiled, if at all veiled. In a way, it almost seemed to be at the forefront of her thought processes, with her pouting face, refusal to make eye contact with the client, and crossed arms. "And like Miss Luna said, I'm a God Slayer, which means that I can eat storms and stuff! I bet you can't do that!" Mai looked up at Miss Luna with a bright smile on her face, expecting her to look proud at Mai's attempt to stand up for herself, only to be met with a look of mild disappointment. Mai scrambled her thoughts briefly before returning to speak to the man, doing a very mildly better job of hiding her attitude. "We're here to help you out! Miss Luna's got a great plan that'll help you out for sure! Right, Miss Luna?"

Mai's bright smile beamed up at Miss Luna, lightly bouncing on her heels from excitement. This was the first big job that Mai was on with Miss Luna, and her first, as Kenna had put it, 'S-Rank' job. Kenna had warned that these 'S-Rank' jobs were usually really tough, and Mai was looking forwards to the challenge. Miss Luna had been able to see some of Mai's combat talents in training, but Mai was bursting with energy to show off the extent of her abilities. Papa had always said that Mai was a natural in a fight, and that she was really good at beating up baddies, and Mai's urge to get in a fight was beginning to bubble. She could never discount the time that she spent outside of a fight with Miss Luna. After all, it was Miss Luna! How could anything ever go wrong with Miss Luna? At the same time, however, her time with Papa taught her that she was always to be eager for a fight. It was the greatest way to, as Papa put it, "blow off steam," and Mai certainly had a lot of steam to blow off. Mai had to work hard to not punch those people that irritated the girl, because then it would make Miss Luna mad or sad or disappointed. She wanted to get in a fight, and from what Kenna had warned, there would be certainly strong foes to fight, and Mai was, in a way, antsy. Mai was inconsistent, trading between the high energy happiness as she bounced on her heels when waiting for what Miss Luna would say and the veiled-thinner-than-paper disappointment at the client.

---

WC: 677
TWC: 4779

Luna was glad that Mai didn't seem to be outwardly aggressive, pouting, but at the very least she was not being hostile towards anyone as of yet. As far as Luna was concerned, so far in regards to client interactions Mai was doing pretty well but could use a few extra lessons in body language. However Luna and Amelia were well aware of the girl's drive to fight, which was precisely why she decided to take the girl on a job where fighting would prove to be difficult on many grounds. However as Amelia predicted earlier, it was not just Mai but the client himself that presumed they would fight their way to get the man to Pergrande. "If you don't mind me asking, but do the three of you really possess the power to combat the full army of the border guards?" He asked respectfully. and slightly scared for his life.
,
Luna shrugged, as that was a arguable subject. "Possibly, Amelia and I can definitely take them on, Mai isn't strong enough yet so she'd probably get seriously hurt during an attempt. I've done my research, the Bellum border patrol is the strongest militaristic organization for miles. " Amelia agreed with Luna's assessment, even though Luna was disregarding the fact that they wouldn't be walking away easily either. "The soldiers are a formidable force as is the barrier that divides the nations. It also blocks out teleportation, portals, and phasing, really don't recommend phasing."

The man was starting to sweat a bit as he was looking visibly worried after hearing the list of possibilities he imagined being crossed out one after the other. "That leaves out everything imaginable! What is left?" Luna calmly spoke to the man, trying to get him to calm down. "Take a breath sir, I am an experienced Sabertooth Wizard, I used to be a Guild Master, you're in good hands, I have a plan that is nigh full-proof of success." The man slowed his breathing before taking out a rag to wipe his sweat, regaining his balance. "Alright, I trust you."

Amelia turned to look at Luna, who then returned the gaze quickly. "Luna, I think if we want to actually go through with this, we should get the preparations out now then explain. We got an opportunity with no one watching, as for Mai, well the old saying goes it's better to do and ask for forgiveness later." Luna would have preferred at the very last the latter part of that to be said through Archive link, but she agreed with the point nonetheless. Considering the conditions at were ideal, Luna agreed that it would be best to start preparations. Luna reached underneath her qipao and pulled out the wand strapped to her back while Amelia pulled a small glass bottle from under her sleeve.

Luna pointed the wand at Mai before gently channeling her own magic energy into it, before a sparkling aura would surround Mai. "Don't worry Mai, this won't hurt one bit. You might get slightly dizzy but I'll explain why I'm doing this once everything is done." After the sparkling aura covered her full body, it began the intended effect that first appeared as if Mai was shrinking, but in actuality it was the clock of time being reversed as the ages fell of the girl, regressing Mai into a child of four years of age.

Meanwhile as Luna was using the fragment on Mai, Amelia opened the glass bottle and out came a green cloud of smoke before it took the shape of the Elemeanie Charlene. The jade haired woman looked at Amelia who handed the elemeanie a written note. "Hey Charlene, here, we wrote this this in advance." After the note was written, Charlene gave Amelia quick glance. "Are you sure?" Amelia nodded, since Luna already began it was too late to turn back now. She snapped her fingers and all of a sudden a cloud of mist surrounded Luna for a moment. Aside from the Thunder Dragon Eye, all of Luna's magic gear: Zygmunt, the Fire whip, and the stone orb flew out of the cloud and Amelia caught the equipment.

Luna was coughing as her silhouette through the mist seemed to disappear for a moment, before going silent until the cloud of mist dispersed, revealing the alterations Amelia had ordered the Elemeanie to make. Instead of the fit young woman in a attire fitted for the way of wizarding life, stood a young woman who appeared to be close to motherhood adorned in a elegant black long dress and shoes. Luna slowly opened her eyes, her vision still coming back to her from the sudden blindness of being in the center of the mist. "Well, how do I look?"


WC 795
TWC 5213

Luna:

Charlene:

With a wave of Miss Luna's wand, Mai felt her body shift and morph. As far as she could feel, she merely had just gotten smaller, but the truth was much different. Mai had completely regressed in her age. She was never the tallest anyways, but now seeing Miss Luna and even Amelia be so much taller than her, it felt...strange. It was not a particularly bad feeling, but neither was it a good feeling. However, Mai had determined that it must be the right thing to do, because it was Miss Luna's plan and Miss Luna always knew best.

"I could totally beat up those meanies!" Mai barked, continuing to pout. Her words, even when she was unaffected by the effects of Miss Luna's wand, were far from threatening to the naked eye, but they seemed even less threatening with Mai in such a state. She felt herself grow increasingly saddened as she sniffled. "I wanted to show Miss Luna how strong I got..." She felt herself grow onto the verge of crying before she pressed her knuckles against the side of her face. "But...Miss Luna has this as part of her plan, and if that's what Miss Luna wants to have happen, then I'll listen to Miss Luna!"

She snuggled up close to her mentor before realizing that Miss Luna's own appearance had changed. It was not nearly as drastic as the change that Mai had undergone, but there certainly was a single change that was much more noticeable than the rest. "Miss Luna, your tummy is really big now!" She giggled slightly for a moment before gasping in shock at a thought. "D-Did you eat a bunch of candy without me?" She sniffled once more, distraught at the possible loss of candy. She did her best to glare at Amelia, still pouting, as she had already come to the conclusion that while Mai was lost in her thoughts, Amelia had given a bunch of candies to Miss Luna without letting Mai have any.

Mai's emotions already were highly subject to rapid changes, even when she was older, but now it seemed as if the change in her stature not only affected her height and appearance, but began to affect her psyche slightly as well. Mai was still certainly herself, but her emotions flickered doubly more so than they previously did. She leaped from happiness to sadness in mere seconds, as opposed to slightly higher amount of seconds that they would before, but nonetheless Mai still had her personality and she was determined to show Miss Luna that she was the best girl in the world. Even if there would not be an opportunity to fight, Mai was laser-focused on impressing Miss Luna.

Mai pulled on Miss Luna's hand for a moment, gathering her attention. "I think you look really pretty, Miss Luna! Even more than usual! Even if you have a big tummy like Papa always had, I still think you look really pretty!"

Mai beamed a bright smile at Miss Luna. At a moment like this, the only thing that was gathered in Mai's mind was that of Miss Luna. The job at hand mattered little, the disappointment at not being able to fight any meanies had dissipated. All that Mai could care about was Miss Luna, this woman who had taken in the lost child. Her Papa had done the same, as far as Mai knew, but something felt different about Miss Luna. Perhaps it was the fact that Miss Luna was a girl like herself instead of her Papa, perhaps it was the kind attitude that she had taken towards Mai, something just felt right. A storm bubbled and brewed in every fiber of Mai's being, crashing and turning and tumbling every waking moment, but with Miss Luna, there seemed to be something that could at least slightly quell those storms. It was a strange feeling for the God Slayer. She had grown so accustomed to fighting and brawling and Papa only telling her that the best idea was to punch and kick and fight everything. Now, Miss Luna had been telling her that fighting was not everything. This conflict certainly still brewed in the back of Mai's mind, but at the moment there was no focus on it.

Mai simply saw Miss Luna as the kindest, greatest person in the world, and Mai was hellbent on not letting anyone harm Miss Luna. Papa had always taught Mai that the number one priority in life was to protect him. He was her Papa, and he had been the one that raised her, protected her, and trained her. It only made sense for Mai to have just the one obligation of laying down herself for the sake of Papa. Now, that same teachings had shifted. No longer was Mai determined to protect her Papa above all else. That fervor - that determination to protect those Mai cared greatest about - had molded into the figure of Miss Luna. After Papa disappeared, she was alone until she met Miss Luna. Miss Luna had come to protect her, and Miss Luna was there to care for Mai, just like Papa did. It felt only natural to give that same determination towards keeping those she cared about okay to Miss Luna.

Mai hugged Miss Luna tightly. "I'm always ready to beat up meanies, but if you don't want me to, Miss Luna, I guess I won't!" Mai felt a pout grow on her face as she finished her statement, but it was a fleeting feeling as she beamed yet another smile at Miss Luna.

---

WC: 936
TWC: 5755

Mini-Mai:

Luna could hear the ever changing attitude of her regressed apprentice, going from pouting to happy and upset in a shifting mood. Luna had guessed that regressing had some effects on the already hyper mental state within the young slayer. Luna looked down and tried to embrace the child but over her enlarged midsection. She was struggling to look at Mai in the eyes but she stepped back slightly so she could get a look. Hearing the younger voice and witnessing portions of the sheer cuteness of the blonde girl made Luna smile with awe.

She tried desperately to avoid calling the threats of violence adorable, akin to a puppy barking rather then a dog growling. However near the end, Luna paid close attention to the aura of the storm god slayer, normally she would give off a vibe like a storm, but as Mai got closer to Luna, she started to sense the now much younger Slayer's aura seem to calm and mellow out. "Seems like I am starting to get through to her, at the very least having her open to me. Damn thing is outright precious."

Luna wanted to bend a bit to look at Mai, but she knew that wasn't a good option as she felt as if she were to bend, she would fall and not get back up if she could even make it that far. She adjusted her grip to grab Mai and slowly lifted her up. "Let me get a good look at you." She grunted a bit under her breath as she was struggling for a moment in her present form before she was able to hold Mai in a single arm. She mentally remarked at how light Mai had become. "By the stars, you are extremely cute Mai, you were cute before but even as a four year old, just stunning cuteness."

Amelia had gotten closer to Luna as Luna was slowly walking into the shade, Luna nearly stumbled slightly while she was having slight difficulty adjusting to the new form and carrying the weight of the small child. Amelia had grabbed Luna by the back and helped her walk over. "Yes, yes, both of you are stunning, Mai would not lose a pageant if you put her in one at the moment and the glow of motherhood really suits you Luna; let's get both your skin out of the sunlight and go over the plan since the major parts of preparation are over."

"So I feel it's safe to say that you really are trying to avoid fighting considering you just made yourself appear pregnant and regressed your apprentice out of the double digit ages." Maxwell said after he managed to recompose himself. He was slightly lost but he had a general idea where the plan was going at this point. Luna did her best to try and hold the child in her arm steady. "Yes, first things first, Mai, I will explain it in detail later but pregnancy is, well, when a mommy and daddy want a child, the mommy usually goes through a process called pregnancy where the baby grows inside the mommy's tummy for a while. Amelia sent a wish to Charlene, my Elemeanie-" She gestured towards the green haired Elemeanie who waved at the girl, letting Luna handle the explanations. "- who altered my form to appear as if I am pregnant, while I used my wand to turn you back into a four year old." She gave her apprentice a few moments to let Mai come to terms with what was just explained.

While Luna was explaining things, Amelia had taken Charlene aside and wished for a large travel case on wheels filled with appropriate clothing for the three girls, and created a large envelope filled with documents before returning within the elegant glass bottle. "As for how we're getting Maxwell across the border, Luna's going to pose as the current head of a family run house ware company that has a manufacturing agreement with a company in Pergrande but a complication requiring in person mediation. Luna's charade isn't in a good mood either, 8 months pregnant with a baby daddy that has been long since gone, a brother that was 'conveniently sick' when needed to step up, and a babysitter that literally canceled at the last minute, causing Luna's charade to need to take her four year old daughter with her as well."

Maxwell nodded as he was starting to understand the general concept of the plan. While the two nations never saw eye to eye in many regards, it was not uncommon for labor to be outsourced to Pergrande from Bellum companies, especially for non-magical goods such as furniture. The sheer manpower capabilities made up for the lack of magic and were considerably cheaper then using magic production, especially for fabrics and other crafted goods. "I see, so she is pretending to be in charge of a company that has deals with a Pergrande manufacturing company and needs to go for a sudden checkup, and is not having a good day. So am I to pose as her servant? I heard they actually don't check servants in most cases. What about you miss Amelia? Who are you playing?"

"You're stuck playing the menial grunt and muscle servant, while I play the role of the magical one that attends to her personally and gets treated much better. Mostly attending to her herself while you are relegated to menial duties, such as transporting luggage and heavy lifting." Maxwell nodded, feeling slightly disappointed but figured that this was the best way across the border. "Gotcha. So devalue me so bad that they won't even really care during the return trip across? Why did you even need to regress the kid?"

"Three reasons. The first being she has little to no expertise with deceit, and is so sweet she can't even keep a lie straight easily, so if she says something that might blow our cover, I can easily brush it off. The second is, I was in no mood to try and pose as a thirty year old and I can get by pretending to be twenty, and couldn't exactly use a eleven year old as a daughter, so regress Mai to a more believable age. Lastly, in case things need to be expedited or a subject avoided, just need to signal Mai to be fussy." Amelia snickered slightly as she had a feeling there was an additional reason. "You sure you just didn't want an excuse to see how cute Mai was at that age? Anyways, once we get across the border, we get out of sight of the border guards where we will part with Maxwell, as he's safely across the border, we wait a period of time and then return across the border. Should anyone ask about Maxwell, we make something up like, he was caught in an injury and we couldn't be bothered to pay or wait for him to be able to moved back to Bellum' or 'he was terminated', something along those lines."

Amelia took a slight pause, checking the surroundings in case someone was going down the path. "Alright, any questions?"

WC 1203
TWC 6416

The explanation Miss Luna gave for why her tummy had suddenly grown big was confusing for Mai, but she accepted it nonetheless. She had no reason to not believe it, after all. The more pressing matter was how much Miss Luna was doting on her. She felt herself seem to melt at Miss Luna's admissions at Mai's cuteness. It felt incredibly nice for the young girl. She was certainly not accustomed to the strange feeling of being younger than usual, but she could certainly get used to such a feeling if it meant Miss Luna treating her like this. Papa had on occasion mentioned Mai's cuteness, but never to the extent of what Miss Luna was doing. Even when Papa would pick up the God Slayer, it did not quite have the same feeling as what Miss Luna was doing now. Papa would often pick the girl up with a single hand and place her on a shoulder to run around and play, or if Papa needed to show Mai a town that had wronged them. Miss Luna's seemed more caring - more soothing. Mai could easily get used to this feeling.

As full of energy as the girl usually was, she felt herself suddenly lose her energy to run around and do much of anything as Miss Luna held her. Perhaps it was an effect of the different feel of having Miss Luna hold her as opposed to the only other person to do so in Papa. Mai, as restless as she usually was, felt as though she wanted little more than to just sleep. Her mind bounced back and forth between the desire to sleep, the desire to be in the presence of Miss Luna, and the desire to prove that she would be able to undertake such an important task as this.

"You can always ask me to do anything you need me to do, Miss Luna!" Mai attempted to shout, her usual enthusiasm having been completely erased by a yawn. "I'm the best girl, right Miss Luna?"

Mai yawned once more, nuzzling against the side of Miss Luna's neck. She tried to make herself as comfortable as she possibly could in Miss Luna's arms. Perhaps it was the relative lack of sweets, perhaps the excitement of going on a high-rank job with Miss Luna, perhaps it was Mai's reduced age, perhaps it was the feeling of Miss Luna doting on her so much, or perhaps it was a combination of all of them, but Mai was overcome with a wave of tiredness. Mai just wanted to take a nap. Miss Luna's grip was just too comfortable to the small girl. "Wake me up when we have to beat up the baddies, Miss Luna..." Mai mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.

Even with the world in total darkness at the beginning of the realms of sleep, Mai was still all too aware of the warm embrace of Miss Luna. It washed over her like a flood, the heat filling up every fiber of Mai's being. Even in her sleep, Mai would still continue to attempt to get herself in a comfortable position within Miss Luna's arms, even while she was unaware of it. Of course, with a girl that was as immature and youthful as Mai, it would be impossible to simply stay in the dregs of a dreamless sleep for long. Almost as soon as she had fallen asleep, she began to wander into a realm of dreams. As she drifted to sleep, she began to snore lightly. Each exhale of a snore burst out a small cloud of tempests, no larger than a light bulb.

Yet these dreams were so unlike those that Mai had experienced in the past. The first was one that she had seen so many times before. It was one of her last experiences with her Papa, a time simply in their home when Papa was teaching Mai of combat. The big-bellied, white-haired appearance of her Papa was...different somehow. Rather than the form she was used to, he looked...hairier. Ratatoskr had mentioned creatures called "monkeys," and Papa looked strangely close to this. It was confusing to Mai. In the months since Papa disappeared, Mai had this dream every day, but this was the first time that Mai's vision had changed the appearance of Papa. Some of it may have been effected by the perpetuating feeling of otherworldly warmth, that lingering presence of Miss Luna that seeped and flowed into Mai's entire existence, blurring and overriding rules and teachings that Mai once thought to be set in stone for eternity.

"Papa!" Mai barked, running up to her Papa.

Papa turned towards Mai, giving a light smile. "There's the kiddo!"

Mai leaped, trying to hug Papa, who merely blocked her advance with a hand. He set his massive hand on the ground, letting Mai clamber up on top of it. He then slowly raised his hand to his head, letting Mai dismount from her Papa's hand to grab on the top of Papa's head. He gave a laugh. It was not a pretty thing by any means. The low grumbling caused the very trees nearby to shake and shift, sending a flurry of birds flying off in fear. Squirrels rushed away from Papa, and Mai could see the nests of some of the recently-fled birds as they were sat high in their canopies. But even now, Mai could feel something was wrong about this situation. While she had spent all of her previous experiences in this dream wrapped in the excitement of getting to see Papa again, there was an unfamiliar experience to this.

"What's wrong, kiddo?"

"You don't feel as warm as Miss Luna..."

Papa carefully grabbed the girl between two fingers, setting her on the ground. "Miss Luna? The fairy?"

"Yep! She's a really nice lady that's caring for me now that-" Mai stopped herself in her tracks as she went to continue on her words. "...now that you're not here anymore."

Papa struggled to lay down, trying his best to get to eye level with Mai. "Don't worry about it, kiddo. As long as you're safe, that's what matters, right?"

"Y-yeah, but..."

Papa exhaled through his nose. A burst of wind forced Mai's hair and dress to flutter. "Just remember what I taught you, kiddo, right? I'm sure we'll meet again."

Mai smiled, despite the tears beginning to fill her eyes."I don't want you to go again!"

Papa laughed. "It's gonna be alright, kiddo. You've got your Miss Luna now, right? Just like I was your Papa, you now have her as your Mama, so to speak."

Mai was about to retort with something when she suddenly was faded from the realm of dreaming. She was very tired, but nonetheless awake, hearing Miss Luna talking about something. Half-asleep, she muttered, "Mama?" before tightly snuggling once more, further into Miss Luna's arms. While there was certainly work to do, Mai had to try to keep it in her mind to remember this dream. Despite Papa's different appearance, Mai was convinced that it was actually Papa. Similarly, she was convinced that this was not a dream, either, not truly. It felt like Papa truly was there, truly talking and truly telling Mai to listen to Miss Luna. Even with Miss Luna's tutelage, she still had many uncertainties. In the end, Papa was her Papa. One of the first lessons he had taught was to listen to him at all circumstances, and if there was something that was uncertain of whether or not to do, it should be brought to him to find out what to do.

Everything in that dream felt real. The leathery feel of Papa's hand, the soft, cushiony feel of his fur, the wind brushing her hair and dress and the smell of rain coming from his exhalation. It was more than just a simple dream. It was more, so it seemed. Mai had never remembered Papa entrusting her to anyone. Even when a Spirit of Thunder had come forth to offer to watch over her while Papa had to do something, Papa had refused. He said that he would never give Mai to anyone unless...

Mai did not want to remember the last of his words. It felt too real of a possibility. Papa had taught about it, warned about it, even showed Mai different ways about it. But he always said that he could never fall to it. He was a God. It meant that he could avoid the rules of nature if he pleased.

Papa could not be dead, right? Papa had always promised that he would make sure Mai was okay, make sure that no one laid a hand on her unless he was dead. He warned that it came to all in the mortal realm at some point. He was a god, so it was impossible for him to die. That was what he always said. He would prove that things could die so often. Hunting deer and bears, destroying villages, he said that after a life was snuffed from the realm of mortals, it was no longer his domain to worry about. Things die and are reborn, he said, and that was why a God could not die. A God cannot be reborn. If a God were to die, it would throw nature away.

"I don't want you to die, Miss Luna..." Mai mumbled, still half asleep as she hugged tightly against Miss Luna's arm.

She spent a few moments contemplating whether or not she wanted to get up. She was not active, nor was she wanting to return to sleep. She did not know how long her nap was, but it must have been a long ways, as the landscape around her looked vastly different than that of when Mai was reduced in size and age. Finally, she decided to wake. She indicated that she wanted to run around for a bit, but she promised that she would still stay visible. Before an answer towards her permission could be made, Mai had already began to run around. She felt herself invigorated by her nap, and wanted to run around to release her pent-up energy. Papa always said that it was a wise idea to not store too much energy. If it weren't released, he said, it could make you explode. Mai did not want to explode, so she always used what energy she could whenever possible, as Papa never said how much energy was "too much" energy.

While she was still far from used to her shortened form, she nonetheless found much good in it. The first and most obvious good to it was Miss Luna's appreciation for the small version of the God Slayer. Papa always wanted Mai to practice being cute, though he would never quite explain why, and now Mai had a means to be even better at that without even trying. The second was that her shorter legs meant she could seem to run further without truly going as far in physical space as expected.

She lost herself in her imagination, pretending that she was hunting after a jaguar. She would mock swinging through the trees, jumping from branch to branch to get a good spot so a chase would not be in order, eventually when she had found one, she would prepare to pounce. It perhaps looked weird, for this small girl to suddenly decide to go from running, skipping, and jumping to preparing herself on all fours, changing her speedy dash to a slow, methodical crawl. She would then prepare energy to pounce, wiggling her body slightly as if to charge an engine, before leaping like what felt like a mighty tiger, but truly looking like a frog. Of course, the pretend jaguar was amazingly good at avoiding being eaten, so it managed to dodge out of the way of the wannabe ferocious girl. It began to dash on the forest bed, Mai chasing after it as it conveniently ran in circles, making sure not to stray far from Miss Luna, aside from the one moment where someone had pulled her back, though the jaguar conveniently also seemed to move backwards at this moment. The chase lasted for what felt like hours, but in truth was likely only a few minutes, before Mai got tired.

"Tempest God's Bellow!" she roared, content with not punching her fake jaguar. She roared, letting a mighty roar go, the tempestous clouds billowing, completely enveloping the beast as it fell to the ground. Mai was then removed from her imaginatory hunt, only to be disappointed when she saw no jaguar and that her mighty roar was no larger than a handprint, and only managed to slightly singe a nearby rock. Mai looked around, trying to find her jaguar, when she noticed Miss Luna, skipping over to her, though she did trip on her way back to Miss Luna, smacking her head on the ground.

"Did you see me there, Miss Luna? I hunted that beastie real good!" She smiled, grabbing Miss Luna's hand as she ignored the comedic lump that had grown atop her forehead. "This job is a lot of fun, Miss Luna! I get to spend it all with you and I get to beat up baddies with Miss Luna right next to me!" She snuggled against Miss Luna's left arm once more."But I really wanna beat up these baddies! Are we there yet?" The girl looked up expectantly at her mentor, desiring either to be ready to beat up the meanies that were being mean to the weak, magicless client or to be gifted a snack for her vicious imaginary hunt. With her excitement from her recent "hunt," she had completely forgotten about the dream that she had during her nap, though there was an inkling in the back of her mind that there was something she needed to ask about, but it was of little concern, as Miss Luna was there and all was well.

---

WC: 2339
TWC: 8094

Luna could sense the fluctuating energy in the child in her arms. She figured Mai was falling asleep during the whole speech and it would easier to just inform Mai of her part as the group arrives closer towards the border which was still a walk away. Luna had stroke the young Mai's year, brushing some out of her closed eyes while Mai's face was buried into Luna's neck. Luna could feel the small girl seem at peace, definitely more so then when the two first met. Luna gave Mai's back a gentle rub. Meanwhile Amelia was at her side and Maxwell was pulling the large travel case that was wished for. Luna couldn't help but enjoy the serenity. She couldn't help but wonder, why did this child ever leave the comfort of her own mother's arms, would that woman even be alive?

From what she knew, Mai must have been incredibly young when she was found be Raijin, she struggled to imagine what sort of parent would stop looking for a lost toddler or young child, unless there were other circumstances. Such as the biological parents were captured or worse and Mai was able to flee the scene somehow. Luna did try to do some research into Mai at one point, but Amelia and Luna estimated she had been held by the god of storms for around half her life, and even then not all young children are recorded by many places. Luna and Amelia had not even her biological parent given name to erect a search, and to make matters worse, "blond hair, blue eyes, young girl" was a common criteria in most missing people. She knew the odds were a long shot, but she thought she had to try.

A dark thought had started to dwell within Luna's mind, she was glad Raijin and her biological parents were no where to be found or located. Holding the regressed Mai seemed to draw her closer and more protective of the lost child. Mai's innocence seemed to shine brightly, especially in this form even through the wicked teachings of Raijin and the pain of loneliness she had to suffer. Luna wanted nothing more then to protect Mai from any further pain. "Even if hell itself calls, I won't let anything harm this child."

Amelia had watched Luna with concern, she sensed a slight ominous and protective feeling the fairy was giving off, however with how close she held Mai literally and in heart she could understand why. While Amelia never really had a emotional understanding of the relationship between parent and child, despite witnessing generations of one family. However she knew Luna's history and how worse off she was when she had no parents at a critical point so she kept herself silent on the matter at hand. She trusted her partner to remember that no matter what the dynamic of their relationship is, that Luna remember she is Mai's mentor. Maxwell meanwhile was on the opposite side of Amelia, silent as he was trying not to inquire about the nature of the relationship between the three mages. He was merely grateful that he had capable mages with a solid plan to smuggle him through the city.

"So, why did you three need this elaborate disguise? Surely you could've just walked right through simply with the fake passports."

Amelia was sifting through the fake papers in the envelope, verifying that the passports and business permits were all correct. She remained calm as she spoke to the client. "Mages have pulled this scheme for ages, they tend to dislike border jumping non Magi paying magic wielders to get them across the border. We did our research prior to arriving in Bellum, the clerks at the halfway point are mostly Bellum reservists, the most common of which are typically mothers or veterans. As explained earlier Mai was regressed simply because she is too inexperienced, pure, innocent, and just a total sweetheart to keep up deceit for long so in case she slips up, Luna is able to disregard it as childish nonsense and even blame a bad influence on Mai. Also it helps appeal to working parents, especially mothers. As for why she's pregnant, well, to help reinforce the image she isn't a combatant and any combat strength I have is purely as her guard. Also it gives her persona reason for a bit of attitude and sympathy. This all in all increases the probability of success. It was either this or take you on a seven day trip around the border."

The man nodded, as he did not fancy the prospect of a seven day voyage risking the wrath of not just the border defense force, but the dangerous creatures of the waters around them. While Maxwell thought a full week would be an overestimation, he did admit he had to concede to the mages knowledge regarding stealth and assessing risks. "Alright, I trust your judgment, and dealing with one front is preferable to two, especially at sea. Unbeknownst to him, Luna and Amelia were more afraid of Mai going out of control in a setting where she would have no problems accessing Force and where Luna would not be at an advantage. Testing out the girl's self control required a setting where Luna had some trump card just in case Mai would snap.

Luna could feel Mai's breathing shift patterns as she started moving. She gently brushed aside any hairs in the slayer's eye with the back of her finger. However the first word out of the small child made her heart skip a beat. "Mama? I am touched and honored." There was a flurry of emotions sent throughout Luna's mind and heart. Hefaring that word alone made her want to hold Mai tightly, but she did not resist when it was clear Mai wanted to be put back down. Luna let Mai down and made sure she was aware to remain within visual range.

Luna rubbed her arm, while Mai wasn't particularly heavy, especially in her regressed form, Luna did get a cramp from carrying the girl without trying to suffocate her. She performed a small act of Nature's Mercy on herself to sooth the pain. Luna kept an eye out for Mai, watching as Mai seemed to be chasing an imaginary critter. It brought Luna immense comfort that Mai was able to use her imagination, she already knew Mai had an imagination but never saw her fully embracing it. Luna could understand the pain that must be lingering within Mai, to feel abandoned when a parent is no longer around. When Mai returned, she knelled a bit so she could rub Mai's forehead, casting her Nature's Mercy healing spell to heal any damage before she would brush off any grass or dirt on Mai's dress. Mentally she was taken aback when Mai returned to addressing her as 'Miss Luna', she felt a wave of sadness come from the back of her mind after she was downgraded from 'Mama' back to 'Miss Luna'. However she managed to prevent a physical reaction, although she did want to at least shed a tear but for the sake of Mai, she restrained herself. She picked up Mai and balanced her on her right arm this time. "I did! Good girl Mai, good girl. Now try to keep tidy, we are approaching the border soon, remember we are trying to get Maxwell past the border, without fighting. We are going to play pretend, I don't know if you heard, but what you need to know is in this play pretend, you are the little girl that is my daughter. Your role is to play cute but when I squeeze you three times fast, I want you to cry or cause a disturbance. I am pretending to be a lady that really shouldn't be up for a journey but has no choice, and isn't very happy about that. Amelia plays, a maid/assistant I think we never really covered that, and Maxwell pretends to be the basic servant."

Luna tried to explain to Mai slowly, realizing that this might screw up with her ethics. "If they knew we were wizards, that might be a problem to take them across, but this way everyone is happy by the end of things. Maxwell gets to go to Pergrande safely, the border guys don't get hurt, and we get paid, everyone happy with one little lie. This does not make lying good all the time, just, this is a case where it is justified. Otherwise Maxwell doesn't get to live a fair life."  Amelia nearly keeled over laughing before regaining her composure. "Little? Only little thing is how small you made Mai, you regressed her to under half her age and made yourself eight to nine months pregnant and came up with an elaborate family company backstory. We literally could not make this lie any bigger unless we say we are related to the Queen of Seven-" Amelia stopped herself as she recalled Luna's Fae nomadic tribe has roots in Seven. Luna shook her head anticipating the question in advance. "Nope, no royal blood in the Vishda itself, unless it hails from a foreign species."

Amelia sighed relief. She could not handle that surprise if was true, meanwhile Maxwell was just slightly confused. "Miss Thorn has a point, you really can't make this more elaborately believable if you tried." Luna silently conceded however the point was irrelevant. She hoped that once Mai could see the border that she would think twice about whether or not she would want to resort to punching as a solution. "Mai, I know you really want to punch things for this job, but this plan is to show you, punching is not always a good answer. If you really want proof that it isn't an option, look over there."

Luna said as she pointed towards the border barrier which was now only a mere three kilometers away. The transparent, glass like magic barrier extended fifty meters above the tallest mountain along the border, with dozens of squads everywhere scattered, even from a distance one could make the number out to be close to a thousand, giving off a strong magic aura. The path the group was on was leading towards a small building that seems to exist on both sides and through the barrier, the checkpoint station the group had talked about earlier. "All of them, are skilled magic users, with combat experience and immense training coupled with a variety of tactics at their disposal with a numbers advantage, even your papa would break more then a sweat trying to get through as that barrier looks like glass, but it has been made and honed for over a thousand years, even though there might be cracks to slip under, it is very difficult without the border patrol noticing. That is why we are going to be smart and use our heads, by playing pretend to get Maxwell across."

WC 1836
TWC 8253

END OF S RANK, JOB CONTINUES AS 10Y

While Miss Luna did a lot of explanation towards the work they were doing, and what the role of everyone would be in this job, Mai felt much of the explanation bounce off her ears as she was fully ingrained in one of the first things that Miss Luna had said. "I get to be Miss Luna's daughter!" she squealed. Her excitement knew no bounds, as she had to expend as much of her energy as possible to prevent herself from jumping around. "Wait...so, I can call you Mama?" For some reason, it seemed slightly familiar for Mai to call Miss Luna "Mama," but she was unable to put a finger on exactly why. Before even waiting for Miss Luna's permission to be called "Mama" by Mai, she had already been bracing her legs for a majestic leap, screaming, "Mama!" as she flew through the air. The smallness of her transformed state was helpful for sure, as it left her able to rest her head on the top of the transformed Miss Luna's belly as her arms feebly tried to wrap around her waist.

Following that, Mai had once more asked to be picked up and sheepishly asked for Miss Luna to go over the plan once more, as she was distracted by the prospect of being able to call Miss Luna "Mama." At the mention of having her hand squeezed three times, Mai tried to count on her fingers and, despite it taking an ironic three attempts, she finally managed to get the count correct. Even so, the mention that Mai was not supposed punch anything made her sad. She pouted, dismissively saying, "I bet I could still beat those meanies up. I'm a big girl! I'm big and strong!" As if to immediately contradict herself, as soon as the words "big girl" left her mouth, her eyes tracked in on a butterfly, which she quickly caught and promptly ate. Looking up to Miss Luna and surprisingly staying quiet with her talking, she said, "So that human gets to be our servant? Yay! That'll show him his place as a dumb, stupid human!" Opening her eyes from her smile, she saw a slightly cross look on Miss Luna's face. Mai slightly panicked, quickly stammering, "I-I mean...uh...he's not a dumb, stupid human! He's...uh...a tool for your super awesome plan?" Mai seemed satisfied with that answer and snuggled deeper into Miss Luna's grip.

Mai took another look at the magical barrier that split the two countries. She pouted slightly, mumbling to herself, "Papa could still punch through that." She grumbled a few more nonsense words under her breath before another wave of tiredness washed over her. "Mama, can you wake me up when we get to the meanies? I wanna punch them good..." She slowly slipped once more into sleep, though she still uttered a "Mama Miss Luna has a sleepy-sleepy spell. Mama Miss Luna really comfy. I like sleeping by Mama...she's nice and warm and nice." A deep yawn cut off her "inner" musings, as she slipped once more into a light nap. Even when she was at her normal age and size, she had not fully understood the concept of "using energy makes one tired," so her final thoughts before accepting sleep boiled down to two possibilities: either the young age made her really tired, or Miss Luna had a spell that could quicken the time that one would fall asleep. To Mai, clearly the latter made more sense, so she slept once more, a smile painted across her face as she lightly snored, each puff of accidental Tempest God's Bellow painting the air with a dark purple mist.

---

WC: 610

Luna was glad to see Mai feeling excited about getting to portray her daughter. If anything the prospect did make the job feel more worth the attempt for her, and less like she was trying to commit essentially identity fraud among a list of crimes. However the second Mai didn't even hesitate to refer to Luna as "Mama" Luna was feeling a lot better about this plan. Amelia noticed that the client seemed to ease himself as he saw that Mai was learning, however he looked a bit pale when Mai was excited by the prospect of a human slave. "I suppose you're not the lesbian couple that recently started raising her and she accidentally picked up a few bad habits from a racist and sexist individual?" He whispered to Amelia, who shook her head although she could see where he was coming from. "More like we're the possible lesbian couple that took her in after she was abandoned by a non human parent and trying to help her."

Meanwhile Luna did not want to be the bad cop with Mai, which was a major reason she had Amelia be her partner in trying to mentor the young slayer, she was glad all it took was a glance for Mai to remember the lesson and she smiled and patted Mai's head shortly after. "She really burns herself out so quickly, maybe because Slayer magic's physical enhancements innately draw on the user's magic too much when they are young? Explains why she's taken so many naps so far." Amelia said still perplexed. Luna laughed slightly as she took Mai back into her arms, carefully adjusting the small slayer. "Amelia, she's just a young child, they always burn themselves out quickly, moderation doesn't come until seven years for hyper children." She said rubbing Mai's back lightly, feeling the relaxed breathing made it easier to continue. "Her Life Force is stable, it's just the poor girl doesn't understand she has a limit, so when the limit is smaller..."

"She reaches it faster. Right... We may need to stop to eat afterwards once we're safely across the border..." Amelia said to Luna, who grimaced in silence for a few moments. Maxwell was confused as he was getting nervous. "Is... that a bad thing?" He asked not sure what the answer could mean. He was beginning to see the group of girls as an unstoppable force. "Can't you make some with that Genie thing you used to make yourself pregnant or pregnant like?" Amelia shook her head as Luna took a deep breath. "Well you see, to pull this off, we have sealed most of my equipment inside a concealed part of the case you're dragging that should conceal them from most detection but can't be opened for a few days. Even if not for that it's too late."

Amelia gestured towards the border patrol, and pointed at a few noticeably large light blue lacrima crystals. "Those are sensory crystals and both sides of the border patrol are outfitted with what can be described only has immensely powerful scopes. So even if we wished for a stock of food, they'd see the bottle, which would cause a lot more problems trying to get past the border immensely difficult given the standards of transferring magical items across." Maxwell nodded, it seemed to make sense to him, although there seemed to be one contradictory fact.  "What about that ring and wand? Surely those would be equally problematic."

Luna nodded, seeing where his line of thinking was going trying to understand the situation. "Not entirely true, while Pergrande hates magic, they aren't monsters. They do have minor exceptions, mostly for disabled, pregnant, or mothers with young children that are visiting the country are permitted so long as they aren't intending to immigrate. It has happened in the past and the Lightning Dragon Eye falls within the limited purview of allowed defense. The wand can be passed off as a children's toy." Luna explained, showing just how in depth she and Amelia researched both Bellum and Pergrande law and the border process. "I wouldn't bet against you three then..." Maxwell said nervously.

"We're not infallible, clearly, since you know, we forgot about food. Problem is if we even had access to the bottle, they'd find out about it in thirty seconds, before we could even wish for anything both sides would be onto us, and you by proxy. We'll just have to find something across the border, hopefully before Luna get's any weird cravings." Amelia joked but Luna wasn't totally amused. "You're lucky we're within sight of the border and I have a sleeping child in my arm."

The group stopped shortly before the entrance to the large structure that had a door on both sides. Amelia adjusted the clipboard in her hand before Luna looked around. "Alright. One last check, so are we good to go?" Amelia nodded while Maxwell sheepishly said "Sure..."

WC 825
PWC 825
TWC 1435

A dull, distant sound rumbled through Mai's ears as she found herself deep in the throes of sleep once more. This was such a new experience for the small child. With Papa, he never would coddle or carry Mai around, rather indulging in her more primal instincts towards the hunt. Everything about this situation was new and unexpected. There were little to no beasties in this part of the world, and Mai had found herself at the whims of Miss Luna and her insistence that she not be too rowdy or fight. Miss Luna and Amelia acted so differently from Papa, Mai found. Papa would have rushed ahead to this border and crushed the army with ease, barreling in headfirst with fists flying and the wrath of an angry god to smash through anything in the way. There was no strategy, no risk of failure. It was just Papa against the world. Papa and Mai against the entire world. That was how it always was. Anytime that stupid humans encountered Papa, they would try to kill him. Papa never lost, and Mai had an amazing talent for striking down those that dared to raise a hand against Papa, all thanks to Papa's teachings.

Now was different. Miss Luna and Amelia thought through strategies and ways to get through without fighting. With Papa, it was always one fight to the next. Even in the boring times of instruction, there would often be a break for a hunt or an interruption by a group of human hunters stumbling across the duo. Miss Luna's size in comparison to Papa was also a new feeling for the God Slayer. She could ride on Papa easily, with him able to move about unhindered when carrying the girl, but Miss Luna was much occupied with carrying the little ball of energy. Perhaps the strange thing that weird creature did to Miss Luna's tummy was an affect towards that as well.

Mai slowly flickered her eyes open, rolling ever so slightly and seeing the imposing building ahead, just as Amelia asked on the status of the quartet. Mai wriggled herself free from Miss Luna, her energy restored. "Yay! All good to go! I'm ready to beat up these meanie bad guys real good-like for you, Miss Luna! Wait...I get to call you Mama for now!" Mai hugged the leg of Miss Luna tightly, repeating the mantra of "Mama" a number of more times quietly. "Wait, did me getting really small make my magic weak? " she asked, pouting slightly. "How am I gonna show Mama how good of a puncher I am now!" She looked up at her mentor. "Mama! While you were out on jobs and I was really sad and all by myself at Sabertooth, I trained with Kenna and the weird Candy Lady and I made sure that I practiced real good with my magic-y stuff on that meanie Imai! I can show you that I'm really strong! See! See!" As if the world was dead-set on contradicting Mai at every turn, her attempt at a Tempest God's Bellow striking the ground left little residue on the ground from the tempestuous magic. It seemed as if her small stature did truly have an effect on Mai, causing the little child to have tears slowly well up in her eyes. "Mama, can you get that weird green creature-y thing to make me big again? I can't beat people up as goodly if I'm small like this! See! My arms are too short!" As if to prove her point, she began flailing her arms in Amelia's general direction. "Can I pleeeeeease beat them up? Pretty, pretty, preeeeetty please? Not beating people up is really boring and dumb and boring and stupid!" Her eyes instinctively darted to their human companion as if to say "like him," though for once the thoughts in Mai's head remained trapped in their permeable cage instead of being blurted aloud. It was a faint hope that she would be truly allowed to do such a thing, and she knew it. At the inevitable denial, she sniffled slightly, pulling out a small candy cherry out of her hair that she honestly did not know the origins of and ate it, hoping to at least feel slightly better about life following the taste of a sweet treat.

Mai took a deep breath and clamped herself tightly to Miss Luna's arm, accidentally pulling with all her might in her excitement, for what little it was worth in her smaller, weaker state. "Alrighty, Miss Luna! I'm ready to go!" the announced, holding her chin up comically high before singing slowly and quietly to herself, "♪ I get to call Miss Luna Mama! Mama Miss Luna is the bestest Mama Miss Luna in the wooorld! ♪ " Despite the off-key nature of her song, Mai cared little for the respite of those with even the slightest notion of a musical ear, merely absorbed in her happiness to be holding onto Miss Luna's hand as they approached nearer to their first destination.

---

WC: 844
TWC: 1454

Luna thought she couldn't be astonished or dumbfounded by much at this point in her life. She had risen from being a powerless and barely average standing girl to a fairy wizard with the power of nature at her very command. When it came to the original adopted parent of the God Slayer, their lack of parenting skills seemed to be the gift that kept on giving. Luna had assumed if he truly cared for the girl he would teach her about limitations and consequences, but the blonde child seemed to have a reckless desire to solve problems through combat. Luna did not want to intentionally scare Mai by traumatizing her, but she thought that if Mai were to look at a small army that she would be at the very least hesitant to fight. Luna and Amelia were greatly concerned that Mai's self awareness and reflection skills seemed to be lacking in critical areas.

As Mai seemed to realize her own physical state in proportion to the army, Luna seemed to see a glimmer of hope. Luna was glad to see that Mai didn't suffer from a complete lack of self awareness, and was aware that her smaller stature and reduced power meant fighting was a bad idea. Luna held the girl close to her consoling the small slayer as she couldn't stand to see Mai hurt or crying, however it was good to see Mai's mood suddenly shifted too a happy tone as she felt Mai cling to her arm. "Good girl Mai. Remember this is to teach you that violence cannot be used every time, and sometimes being smart and clever can do jobs much easier then using fists and lightning. Sometimes a problem can be solved better with words instead of fists."

Meanwhile Amelia was off to the side trying to reassure Maxwell that things would be going well. "So, are life and death matters usually used for training exercises on young ones or is this a abnormal case?" He asked slightly concerned as he witnessed Mai interacting with Luna. Amelia calmly shrugged as she herself recalled training through life and death matters. "Actually pretty much, but even then with Mai regressed and Luna's temporary physique, Luna and I could handle whatever goes wrong. Well once we get inside I could handle whatever goes wrong, I'm a skilled Lightning mage, once you get me inside a confined space you're screwed." Maxwell's confidence seemed to raise again as Amelia's confidence and experience was inspiring to the man. "But if you're such a skilled user of magic, how come you're so shor-" He tried to ask but a glare from Amelia shut him down. After existing for nearly a century, she heard every short joke imaginable and was not found of most of them.

Maxwell backed off nervous and apologetic. "I'm sorry." Amelia sighed. "Alright, well, we're close to the border." Luna held tightly onto Mai's hand as she approached the building, noting the squad of soldiers guarding on both sides of the path. Luna took a deep breath as she remembered her facade for the meanwhile. She thought she would need to pretend exhaustion but at this point there was little need to pretend. Luna approached the large doors and looked at the two large men guarding it with a slightly annoyed look. "Rough day?" One of them asked. Luna stared right back at him with a brutal stare. "No, I walk my young daughter twenty kilometers away from the nearest town while in my last trimester for fun." She replied sarcastically. The guards chuckled nervously before opening the doors for the group. "C'mon Mai." She said as she started to walk into the building, walked down the hall, noting the various guards and staff coming in and out of the room until the made it to the end, and walked into a large space.

The room had plenty of chairs along the back side and was empty. On the opposite side was a large door with no handle, the back wall appeared to be thick and dense as it was designed to block out most attacks and penetration. Off to the side was a small window for a desk with a clerk behind it. Luna and Amelia's research into the workings of this facility showed that most of the non combat duties were relegated to Bellum's reservist force, mostly occupied by elderly or those who otherwise could not regularly commit to the military. An interesting fact that Amelia found was that it was primarily mothers and grandmothers of young children who took up clerk duties, which is where Luna decided to gamble for sympathy.

Luna looked over towards the window where she saw the clerk stationed at the border today. She looked at the dark skinned, plump, middle aged woman with shoulder length black hair reading a magazine behind the desk. Upon hearing the sound of people stepping in she put down the magazine and looked over, waving the group over. "Hey, I'm Janice. I can help you over here!"

Luna nodded and approached the lady slowly. Amelia and Maxwell stood back a bit. "I take it this is a business trip?" The clerk asked as Luna started to lean slightly on the counter for support."How could you tell?" She said trying to keep a joking tone. Janice chuckled as she looked over at the group. "Well Pergrande ain't yer typical vacation spot, a single pregnant woman with only one magic inept servant and another one, only carrying only one large case indicates a sudden trip." She looked down to see the child clinging onto the pink haired woman. "A very sudden one if you had to bring this little cutey with you."

Luna smirked as she had to admit that this woman was good at her job, she could read people like a book. "Damn, you're good. Literally a last minute emergency had come up and today has been a day from hell." She said in a slightly exhausted tone of voice. Janice nodded sympathetically. "Mhmm, I hear that. I've been busting my hump all my life, hell some people believe me when I tell them my first words were 'I need to get back to work'. You look great despite the mountain of stress you must be going through."

Luna nodded before gesturing to each of the group . "Girl you got no idea. At the moment I need a glass of wine but unfortunately can't have one. I'm Elain Necrone, this is my daughter Mai, my aid Helga, and one servant."

WC 1098
PWC 1923
TWC 3382
TWC