Love is in the air.

"It sure is sunny and hot for being winter" A petite girl mumble under her breath as she tilted her hat a bit so she could see the sun, before tilting it back down so it could provide her with some shade on her face. She was wearing her casual attire, that consisted of a black jacket with a red arm band that had something that resembled a carrot, a red tipped tank top with the rest of it being white and a black simple skirt that went down to her knees almost. She had decided to drop the company attire on her visit to Magnolia as she heard that there would be some kind of festival, and she didn't want to really draw any kind of attention, her tattoo of the WTFC was also hidden by her jacket. She didn't mind the uniforms, but when she could use her more casual clothing, she would do it every time, the only thing she hoped for was not to get an ear full later about it by some of the higher ups in the company.

As she walked on the streets she looked in simple awe at all the decorations that were everywhere, balloons shaped in hearts, roses and other items that would resemble love and affection. As she was looking around a woman approached her, "Hello young miss, I see that you are quite interested in what is happening, we are celebrating the day of love, or how it is called Valentines day, if you have a special someone you can come and participate together in various activities, you can also come with a friend but, please note that you would be doing couple things." She said with a smile and handed Sara a flyer. The red haired mage sighed a bit as she had come alone to Magnolia and there was no one to go the event with. 'I guess I could search for someone' She though to herself, and the beast inside her instantly chimed in 'If you are going to look for someone that you don't know, please make sure to not find a creep.' She smiled a bit as the two had gotten closer and the beast started to look out for her more and more. 'I'm going to try.' She said and started moving through the crowds of people closer towards the event location as there would be more people there that were interested, as there was also a reward for couples. Now all she needed to do is find someone that would be interested in going with a stranger for it.


WC:438
@Rainer

Sara's appearance. :

Rainer too was out of his WFTC uniform, gladly using any excuse he could not to wear the ridiculous monkey suit. It seemed a bit excessive and snotty. Plus, it just wasn't his style. The blond boy had grown up hard, working in dirty mines with granite dust stuck in every conceivable place on his body. The roughness of his hands alone was enough to announce what type of man he was and what he was about. If it wasn't for the money, he'd have told everyone where they could shove the white suit by now.

Magnolia Town was far from his new residence and he still hated the area, but he'd had work nearby late last night and had been forced to stay the night. However, like heck he'd shell out jewel on one of these sucky hotel rooms with beds that were way too soft. He couldn't afford to waste his hard earned jewel on this garbage town. Taking to the woods on the outskirts, he did what he'd often done and climbed a tree, taking shelter under a sparse but faintly green canopy of beginning buds. The next morning he emerged, patting the wrinkles out of his thin jean jacket and black tank top underneath and begrudgingly reentering town to head to the post office. Sending the jewel he'd earned home was first and foremost, but then something to chase off the rumbles in his stomach would have to come next. If he was honest with himself, which he rarely was, he felt pretty weak from not eating yesterday, but he'd just dropped his jewel in the mailbox. Perhaps he'd just wait to eat back in Tolgalen.

Or maybe not. The scent of food was wafting from seemingly everywhere. If it wasn't a disgustingly cheery baker flopping his fat belly over the windowsill to swing his windows wide open to the warming air, it was from the huge hullabaloo taking place for some sort of holiday he didn't care about. Within just an hour of walking around as he decided the fate of his stomach, three or four girls had run up to him with flyers. Without reading them he moodily exploded them in his hands and let the ashes flutter back to each stunned girl, but the fifth one he got right at the edge of the event itself was the one he finally paused to read.

It was stupid. It was all stupid. He hated everything about it. Celebrating love? What was the point in a world like this. Love was expensive and wouldn't buy medicine for sick people or put food in bellies. Love definitely hadn't kept his dad around when things got tough. It was worthless. Spending all this money on love, be it a day out of the year reserved for sweethearts or a fancy wedding for the longer term, it all left a bitter taste in his mouth. With all the money people would dish out on a wedding and reception like the one this flyer was advertising and looking for volunteer demonstrators for, he could have moved his mother and sister out of his podunk town into somewhere safer and warmer with a proper doctor and hospital, as well as feed them properly. It was so wasteful, all in the name of love which would ultimately disappoint.

Despite the biased disgust on his face, he lingered at the edge. While he might hate all it stood for and implied, the company needed volunteers had already dished out the cash for it. He could see a ton of catered food inside. It would cost him nothing but time for a free meal. Well, time and tolerating another person's company, since he wasn't allowed in alone. Once he'd decided to take advantage of the situation, he started looking for some other solo person with a flyer who might want in. It didn't take long. "Yo, eyepatch!" he brashly called out, walking directly up to her with tense red eyes peeking beneath the downward spikes of his otherwise gravity defying upward ones. He towered over her at over a foot taller, and though most about to ask a favor would take a more polite approach, Rainer wasn't one for subtlety or to care about social graces. Everything was a means to an end and finding the quickest way to it. "I need a second person to get in. You're alone, right?"

wc/ 738/4000

Rainer's Appearance:

Sara examined the people that were walking into the event, most of them seemed like a couple or at least really close friends. 'You may want to start looking for someone yourself kid, its not like the snow down event where there was a specified area.' Umbra's voice was heard in her mind. 'I got it, I'll start looking around for someone.' She said, and looked through the crowd for someone that could catch her interest a little bit. She wanted to spent the time at least having fun, it would be a waste in her opinion if she didn't spend it that way. Now it was time to find someone interesting, her lone eye traced through the crown, but everyone seemed to be waiting for someone or was with someone already. She sighed, it was intended for couples in the first place, why would there be an area for people looking for a partner specifically to participate for rewards and the like, and also for a fun or entertaining experience at the least, she had finished quite a bit of work the past few days and decided to take the the off and do something a bit more fun.

Traveling was something she always loved, so she had decided to board the first train that she noticed from Clover and ended up in Magnolia after she heard that there would be some kind of event the day after and if it was like anything she heard the people in Magnolia knew how to set things like this up quite well. The Inn that she had stayed in had quite the good accommodates and she woke up quite fresh, and decided to stay one more night there and left her backpack there with all of her stuff.

'If you don't find someone soon, you won't be able to get in.' Umbra's voice could be heard again as reminded her that she was getting of track. As she looked at the flyer again, she heard some steps come towards her and being called out as eyepatch. It was still a little irritating to her, but by this time she got used to it and didn't care that much about it, and felt that Umbra was more irritated then her at this. She had forgotten when the two were so distance and now that there was this close. Sara's lone eye went up and looked at the person that called out to her and that was already next to her standing a foot over her. He was wearing casual clothing with a mop of light blond hair. He looked like a brash person  and the way he spoke was also reinforcing it. "I am, Blondie, you saved me the time of searching for someone." She said answering his question with a smirk that later turned into a small smile, she wasn't one to act smug all the time and just wanted to slightly get him back at calling her eyepatch. "My name is Sara Ravencrest, West Fiore Trading Company, a pleasure to meet you." She said going back to her normal self and deciding to state her association as she could feel the magic power from the young man next to her. He may be guildless or part of another guild. She didn't know of any new people in the company but then again she hadn't gone to Tolgalen the past few days. 'Why do you always attract strange people.' Umbra spoke again in her mind as she brushed him off, he had a point, but she didn't know how to answer to him as she herself didn't know. She waited for him to introduce himself and would suggest that they get going. "We should move, before we miss out on the whole thing, i'm want to find out what they've got prepared, as I've heard that the people from Magnolia know how to do these events." She said and started moving, glancing behind her to see if he would follow behind and would stop if he didn't.

WC: 676
Total WC: 1114
@Rainer

Rolling for Outfitting activity.

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

---

'Monster Dice' :

His brows drew lower over his eyes when she tossed 'Blondie' back at him, but he did find himself a little impressed. Not many gave his thuggish attitude right back to him. Maybe she'd be interesting."Huh. We work for the same place. I've never seen you, though," he commented, still scowling a bit. He was always scowling or at least frowning, unless he was fighting. "The name's Rainer Niehous," he answered her, voice a little more even but still as brusque as always. Manners weren't his strong suit. Surely it annoyed his new employer, but he could care less as long as he got paid and fed.

The lone girl he'd now teamed up with to get inside wasted no time moving forward, a fact he liked right off. He hated it when people beat around the bush and took forever to accomplish the task. Though it irked him a little that he had to follow her, in this case the initiative was acceptable. Would he and this Sara Ravencrest just use each other to get inside and then split? Time would tell. He didn't care either way. As long as she wasn't annoying, he didn't mind the one-eyed guild mate hanging around.

As soon as the people at the gate confirmed there were two of them, they proceeded into a short line to begin being admitted. Each had to pass through a small dressing tent so they could make sure all guests were outfitted appropriately for a wedding event. Seemed pointless to Rainer. His own clothes were fine. Were they suggesting they weren't good enough to sit and watch a fake wedding? Screw Magnolia and all its snobs! He never stopped to consider that the event would be documented by a professional photographer so it could be used for catalogues and marketing, nor would he have cared if he did. Rainer grumbled as his turn came around, wanting to back out but also wanting the food found within.

His displeasure could be heard outside the flapping tent, as he threatened to use his exploding hands on whoever tried to touch him. It was a miracle they didn't throw him out, but the designers endured and with a poof of magic dust pluming from both tent openings and under the bottom flaps, it went silent for a few seconds. Then Rainer started coughing. Then he started yelling! This time it was less about being indignant over their perceived disrespect toward his outfit and more because his new pants were way too tight down there and squeezing everything. His growling voice rose in annoyance and pain and after a small explosion was heard, there was a puff of fashion magic dust again and he quieted. Stalking out of the tent, an irritable Rainer in a handsome dress pant and vest combo stalked out. The pants and vest were black except for a rose pattern on the sides of the vest, which was over a deep red dress shirt. An attendant with a sooty face followed him out to catch his breath and give the blond a dirty look.

"I thought I'd get a break from that dumb monkey suit," the rough boy fussed, tugging on his vest as he walked back into the open air. First his crimson eyes hunted for the food table, though he knew full well he wouldn't be able to sneak anything from it until the reception started. And to get there, he had to endure watching some people get fake married. If he hadn't been so hungry, this would have been way too much stupid to put up with. Upon his approach to the seating area, he vaguely looked for Sara. Might as well sit with her through this instead of alone or with people what were slightly considered more strangery than her. At least he knew her name and that they worked for the same place. Whether he found her or not, he'd seat himself to get through this pointless display, chomping at the bit to get to the food.

wc/ 1413/4000

Sara looked a bit surprised when the blond boy mentioned that they worked for the same place, it was a nice surprised though, most of the people she had already met withing the company were weird but interesting people and he may be joining them as she had noticed his constant frown or scowling it was one of the two. "I've been away from Tolgalen and the HQ, as I went to visit my hometown, it may be the reason you haven't seen me." She said, before Magnolia she went to visit her adoptive father in Clover and to eat one of his majestic noodle soups. She shot a smile at him as he introduced himself "Its nice to meet you Rainer, if you don't mind me asking when did you join the company." It was about a week or two since the last time she was there, and didn't really read any newspapers if something had changed. She would most likely go back in a few days and do some work, or even after the event depending if there was any means to getting there by the time it was all over with. There was a chance she could travel back with Rainer, but that would be if he was also going back to Tolgalen after this.

The blond boy was strange, it looked like he was constantly annoyed by everything around him, and would rather be doing something else then going to a Valentines day event, so she wondered slightly the reason for him wanting to participate in the first place.  Whatever she found out or not she didn't care much, it was a chance to get to know another person from the company, they could also turn out to be friends in the end, only time would tell. They also looked like polar opposites in some aspects, she was calm, well mannered and smiling while the blond mage had a more rough attitude accompanied by a frown at all times, at least that didn't stop her from wanting to get to know him more, there was always something underneath that a person could rarely see from the get go.

As the event personnel confirmed that they were together for the event, they quickly went in and were guided towards a lane with separate tents for dressing them. It was explained to the participants that they would be attending a made up wedding and that they would need to be changed into appropriate clothes with the use of magic. Said close would disappear afterwards but they will feel as if they were real. Sara herself was interested in this as she had never participated in something formal. As her turn finally came she entered the tent and there she was met with two women as they started thinking of what they should make her wear. It was long before they used their magic to change her clothes, now she was wearing a bright green formal cocktail-length dress that ended just above her knees. To say she was displeasure was an understatement it didn't look good on her at all, and the two stylists thought the same when she voiced it. After a bit of tinkering they finally were able to fix the problem and after another puff of magic, she was still wearing a cocktail-length dress but this time in a peach color with Ankle-Length boots that made her look a little higher.

It took a bit more time for her to get out of the tent as they also had to fix her hair for the occasion as they couldn't leave it as messy as she had left, it suited her casual attire but not for a wedding. They had quickly went ahead to fix that for her with a few brushes and other things that she couldn't see as they wanted to do it quickly, being a line of people still waiting. Since she had quite the long hair they styled it into a multiple braids and when she looked at herself finally in the mirror she blushed slightly, to finish the look she had also told them that it was fine to remove the eye patch, revealing a small scar that went through the middle of her eye that started slightly above her eye brow and ended slightly above her cheek, also showing her red slitted eye.  She had gotten used to her dual colored eyes and even the slit, it was something from her childhood that had left a mark but as she got closer to the beast inside her, she started to care less and less about it and even thought about dropping the eye-patch completely

They said that they could add a few things and maybe change the dress but there wasn't enough 'time' for that, not that she cared, it was good enough for her and she walked out  of the tent and scanned the area for her 'partner'. It didn't take her long to find the frowning boy in the seating area already found a place. She quickly went to him and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, taking in his new appearance. "Its looks good on you, they did quite the good job, except that you are still frowning at the whole thing, they didn't fix that." She jokingly said the last part, hoping as well that it wasn't a bit too much for their first meeting and seated herself next to him.
 
Slowly more and more people started filling the area around them all dressed semi-formal for the 'wedding', couples conversed between each other and she could hear some of them say that they would like their wedding to be something like this or similar. "The whole idea of a fake wedding sounds weird, don't you think? Especially as the couple was chosen at random from what i got, it could have also been us." She said as she finished looking around and looked at Rainer. It would have been awkward for her to be played out, more so as the two had just met and barely knew anything about each other except their names and that they worked for the same company, other then that they knew nothing about each other.

"I think its going to start soon." The petite mage spoke up as she looked around again to see the whole area filled up with 'guests' and such, even bridesmaid were chosen and groomsmen were chosen and they were most likely couples as well. "Wow, they are really trying to mimic it as best as they can." It was slightly fascinating to her about all the dedication that went into everything even for a faked wedding that was planned for the event.

WC: 1131
Total WC: 2245/4000
@Rainer

Rolling for Cake Eating

The member 'Sara Ravencrest' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Normal Dice' :

The aforementioned new hire for the West Fiore Trading Company looked up at the girl as she rejoined him, blinking for a couple seconds before he realized it was the same girl. Eyepatch wasn't eyepatch anymore. He'd assumed her eye was missing, but no, it was just weird. He had to resist calling her Weird Eye. He vaguely wondered what had happened, but didn't care enough to ask. Other than the shock of her slitted and scarred eye, the rest of her looked good enough. "Yeah, yeah," he waved off her compliment, though his grown alleviated into something more like a smirk for just a split second when she quipped him about his frown. A lot of things pissed him off, and most of the time it was unpredictable. However, her spunk was enjoyable in some way. Most people avoided him and walked on eggshells when they couldn't, but she was primed to give it right back to him. He wasn't so inhuman that he couldn't appreciate that. It was a break from the norm. Slouching in his seat, he decided to toss some words back at her. "It was probably hard on 'em, but they must be miracle workers, I guess. You turned out alright, somehow," he shrugged. His aloof tone expertly covered up his awkwardness with taking and giving compliments, and just like that that conversation was over.

Waiting for the wedding to start was a shiny new ring in hell. Rainer wasn't used to talking much, especially not to someone calm. Most of his conversational skills came from jeering burly men in the granite mines and the occasional words with his ill mother and sister, which weren't as many as he'd wished. The more he was out of his little town and forced out into the rest of the world that turned as if his own personal world wasn't a crumbling, dying mess. He hated it out here, but he also hated it at home. He hated everyone and everything, his situation, the cards he'd been dealt. Rainer was a bitter and angry young man that felt wronged at every turn, but he still fought to make the best of it the only way he knew how. Screaming at it, blowing it up, or sucking it up. "Everything about this is weird," he grouched, slouching so far into his seat that his legs hung open and the back of his head rested on the top rung of the chair's back. His face angled toward the sky and he stared into it as if it'd make time pass faster. "Love is weird, so weddings are dumb and wasteful and Valentine's Day is a sham. If you love each other, you don't need to drop all this money on something stupid like this. Anything to scam the last jewel out of someone," he ranted quietly to his date. He glanced at her. "I'm so glad we weren't chosen. I'd have said piss off, you know?" Rainer said, shaking his head. "Ain't doin' it. I ain't never doin' this." Sure, this only reinforced her likely confusion about why he was even here, but he wasn't as mysterious as he seemed if one paid attention long enough.

Her fascination with the detail the fake wedding held fell on deaf ears. He remained slouched into his seat, alternating staring at the sky and closing his eyes to enjoy the warmth of the sun on his face. He couldn't have been less interested. The change in music indicated the bride had probably appeared, but even then he ignored it. Rainer didn't look up until the priest brought the services to a close and the two were to kiss.

Why he chose to look up at this moment was unclear, but his expression darkened a bit as a result. The bride was pretty. She reminded him of his sister, which was a sore spot. The poor girl was so sick that, if he faced the facts, he knew she'd likely never reach this day. She'd never even been on a date, and as much as he refused to dwell on it or even entertain it, if he didn't make a lot of money soon, his mother would never live long enough to see either of her children start a family, and his sister would never bare the children she always wished for. Imagining against his will that his sister was well and standing where that bride stood was a sharp, hot knife in his chest. Luckily, the awkwardness of the kiss brought him out of it all and he was left sneering. Poor suckers. It was clear they were indeed chosen at random and didn't know each other at all. Rainer thought for just a second that he wouldn't wimp out like that pansy groom and would have given Sara a real kiss if it had been them, but in the end that'd have been impossible because Rainer would have been on his way out of Magnolia by now if that had been the case.

The reason he had chosen to attend this dumb Valentine's Event soon became abundantly clear as the ceremony wrapped up and headed into the reception. The boy, despite all his muscles and spiky hair and abrasiveness, was famished. He barely made it through the ceremony. Beady red eyes now kept darting toward the food table, which was mysteriously devoid of cake, but he didn't give two craps. All the tables he could see were lined with things that were edible, and that was enough to make this worth it.

"Alright! Ladies and Gentlemen!" a suited host of the event said into a mic from the corner of the fenced off area that indicated he reception. "Normally this is just for the bride and groom, but in the spirit of a demonstration, everyone will feed each other cake as if you've just walked down the aisle with your won true love! Please! Direct your attention to the dessert table!" the slick-looking blond woman boomed with grandeur, motioning to the center of said table as if she was a magician revealing the climax of her trick. However, as all eyes, including hers, directed there, it was indeed empty like Rainer had noticed forever ago. "A-A-Ah!" the host stammered, looking around in thinly veiled panic for someone rushing in with the cake, or at least someone to blame. Nothing. This was a disaster! A wedding with no cake! Their marketing was obliterated. The prospective customers were starting to murmur in concern. How to save this....what could she do?

"Ahem!" she called attention back to herself, straightening her suit jacket. "Times have changed people! I bet you all were looking for a boring old tiered cake? Not from our company! We keep up with the times, shake up boring traditions! Notice the elaborately catered dinner table!" she used the same grandeur as earlier to indicate a thankfully full table of piping hot offerings. "Why feed each other cake when you could feed each other dinner? I invite you all to get yourself a plate! However, don't think you can get away with not playing along! The dinnerware is enchanted so that at least the first bite must be from you to your date."

"Oh, what the f--" his furious cursing was lost in the excited rabble of the crowd. Now Rainer was normally the type to scream screw this, flip a table over the embarrassing and pointless thing being forced on him, and moodily stalk off to find an easier way that would waste less time. However, even though his angry expression indicated he was just about to do just that, his stomach rumbled loud enough for probably anyone in the vicinity to hear. He leaned forward and a hand clamped onto the vest fabric over the rogue, treacherous belly that dared tell on him. As if to escape his embarrassment, and so no one would see the very light blush threatening his cheeks, he hastily stood up and went straight for the table, grabbing up a plate and loading it with mashed potatoes, chicken, and whatever else he could pile onto his plate.

Finding a seat at some round tables indicated for guests to eat at, Rainer would impatiently wait for his 'date' to seat herself next to him so they could get this asinine task over with and he could scarf down a decent meal. His spoon was already loaded with mashed potatoes, ready to strike and shove it into her mouth at the first possible opportunity.

wc/ 2839/4000

Sara's eyes darted from person to person as they waited for the wedding to start, it was quite boring honestly, people were conversing quite a bit about it and what would happen. The boredom was increasing with every second as she wanted to do anything, if she was on her way to Tolgalen she could take a request tomorrow and go out to fill her pockets a bit more, not that she had little jewels, the S-rank requests she had started taking made sure of that as well as the company, but that didn't mean she couldn't get more in case she needed it for something, as there were things that could get quite expensive, especially magic items. Her eyes looked back at Rainer as he spoke about love and how this was weird. "Well love can be weird I can agree on that, but a wedding doesn't need to be a scam, you can do it with just friends and not something as huge as this, without all the extra decoration and such, and Valentines day is just made to celebrate love, you don't have to do anything extravagant, a simple flower can do its job." She said as she looked back at the podium, it mostly depended on the person, but she was also talking about herself, it would most likely feel good to go on a vacation and such just to relax for a day like that, but she didn't mind skipping it, she was a more simple person towards these things. "I'm glad as well, it would have been so weird." She said and glanced back at him, before looking back towards the podium, he was still a mystery to her on what he was doing participating in the event.

Her date had completely ignored her comments on the wedding and from the looks of it he didn't even pay attention to what was going around him, choosing to look at the sky instead of what was going on in the fake ceremony for the 'newly weds'. The priest was talking something that she had completely ignored after the first few initial words as it was getting quite boring for her again, and talking currently would most likely rude and the blond boy next to her seemed deep in thought about something and she decided not to disturb him. After sometime the bride finally came into the picture, and Sara could see that they went all out for the girl as she was wearing a beautiful dress, that was white as snow. In her opinion the girl looked amazing, her eyes darted towards the groom and from the place she was sitting he seemed quite nervous, she couldn't see the bride as her back was faced towards her. As the ritual finally began and the couple was now just waiting to 'seal the deal' she noticed that Rainer had looked up at that moment with her peripheral vision and stole a quick glance at him to see his expression darkening a bit, before looking back towards the couple not paying much attention to it, as she didn't want to bring it up, at least not now.

She idly if there would be a point in her life that she would marry someone, or better fall in love with someone and spend her time with him. Not much thought had gotten into these things before, as she mostly wanted to start of in the world, learn more about her magic and the beast inside her, Umbra, and she had yet to know more about him. She would have sighed if she was alone there was still much to do and she was here spending her time on a Valentines day event, some would say that it could have been used better. As the couple kissed, Sara sweat dropped at the awkward kiss between them, the people around the cheered but it seemed as Rainer didn't care much and she laughed slightly at his antics. As everything got wrapped up and cheering was over, she followed behind Rainer as they headed towards the reception. Food tables were lined up and dinning tables as well for the participants to sit and enjoy their chosen meals. One thing was missing and that was the big old cake that every wedding had. Maybe they were going to bring it in later? She thought before the booming voice of a hostess could be heard, as she explained what was going on now and started revealing her next trick that would supposedly show the  cake.. but it didn't and Sara looked back at the hostess only to see her panicking and thinking of what to do next. The petite mage placed her hand on her forehead and shook her head slightly. The whole thing was a disaster and while the ceremony was well prepared, nothing other than that seemed to look like it was done correctly. The outfitting looked like it was going to be a disaster and now the cake was missing. Luckily the hostess was able to save the situation by saying that they won't go with tradition and you would just have to feed your other half something instead and afterwards you could dig in.

She heard her 'date' screaming in frustration and cursing the whole situation, but she was fairly certain that it would be about him having to wait for the food rather then the missing cake, and soon it was confirmed as she could hear the rumbling on his stomach and it all became clear to her, he came to the event for the free food that was mentioned in the flyer and she  giggled both at the reason and his rumbling stomach. She followed behind as her date started going towards the food tables, but they parted ways as she saw some food that caught her attention. Grabbing a plate, she started filling up with cherry tomatoes and lettuce, steamed pork and rice, and dripped the steamed pork slightly in Barbecue sauce. After pickup some chopsticks she searching for the blonde male and went to him and sat herself next to him. "At least the food looks nice after the whole fuck up." She said as she grabbed some of the steamed pork with her chopsticks. Putting a hand below said food in order for the BBQ sauce to drip everywhere and potentially stain their clothes she guided her hands in order to feed him. "Open wide." She said and waited for him, after feeding him she would open her own mouth to wait for him in order for them to be able to dig in afterwards.

WC: 1111
Post WC: 3356
@Rainer

Rainer hadn't been exposed to very many different foods in his life. His village had always been poor and a bit out of the way. When things had been at their best, they'd had simple farm foods. If it didn't come from chickens, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, one of their byproducts, or some sort of simple and cheap crop, it was unfamiliar. So while he recognized that she was holding pork out to him, the sauce was strange to him. There hadn't been a lot of sauces back home. Just homemade gravies. The tangy smell had him wrinkling his nose and scowling. The chopsticks were weird, too. He knew what they were, but couldn't use them to save his life. Rainer was the rough type that could cut and eat just about anything with a knife alone.

The young man also wasn't super fond of this whole feeding each other thing. It seemed incredibly personal. Intimate. Not something to do with a stranger. Sure, it was innocent, but the last time someone had fed him anything had been when he was much younger, back when his mom and sister were healthy and his dad hadn't flown the coop because things got tough, dumping all the crushing responsibility on his shoulders. Rainer was a very closed off person, so even opening his mouth for someone else to put food in it was too open for him. But hey, if he wanted to eat the meat and potatoes on his plate, he was going to have to step out of his comfort zone.

Begrudgingly he leaned forward to meet the drippy meat dangling from the two sticks, opening his mouth and quickly snatching it like a dog suspecting the food would be yanked away at any second. Obviously he knew that wasn't the case, but the analogy stood. As he quickly leaned back though, his expression suddenly grew alarmed as he chewed. "Mmph..?" The explosion of unfamiliar flavors threw him for a loop. His tastebuds weren't sure what they were supposed to do. Did he like it? Did he hate it? It took a few more seconds of tense, confused chewing before he decided it wasn't disgusting and wouldn't spit it out, but the taste was powerful. He'd have to get used to it, if he decided to try it ever again.

Now that he'd recovered himself, he now put his spoon of mashed potatoes into her mouth as quickly as he could without hurting her, seeming acutely uncomfortable in a grumpy, bothered, and slightly embarrassed sort of way. He didn't blush or anything, but his penchant for sharp eye contact faltered and he looked away as soon as it was safe to do so without either missing her mouth or gagging her with the spoon.

Thank god all of that nonsense was done now. On to the whole point of this disaster.

Even with how hungry and generally ill-mannered he was, he managed to eat like a human being and not an animal. Rainer absolutely wanted to shove everything on his plate down his gullet as quickly as possible so the hunger pangs would stop, but he had more self-respect than that. The spiky blond was funny like that. Some things he'd just literally blow up and ram through like a feral beast, while others he'd take the time to do in a more civilized way, almost methodical as if by some sort of self-discipline. One thing that seemed to be too big of an ask, though, was getting him not to look angry or at the very least snide.

Once half his chicken and mashed potatoes were gone and he was feeling better, he slowed down even more to cut into the thick steak he'd crammed onto the plate, swirling a piece into some gravy and mash mix before putting it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, appreciating how good the good was. He could tell it was high quality. It was something he wasn't used to. This was rich people food. "It tastes good, too, I guess," he admitted to Sara, though he seemed pissed off that he had to admit it. Crimson eyes peered over at her plate of veggies, obviously knowing those and the pork, and even now knowing the sauce. Strangely, though, he didn't know what the rice was. "What's those li'l white bits? Is it some sorta grain?" he asked, trying to figure it out for himself. Rice hadn't been grown in his village, so he'd never tasted it. He might have seen it elsewhere in his recent travels, but hadn't taken the time to ask about it let alone try it. Most of the time he'd been hunting his own meat and cooking it over a fire in the forests, since that was free.

wc/ 3639/4000

Sara giggled slightly, watching the different expressions that went across his face. It was evident that he had never tried it before and the strong flavor was getting to him, at first she thought he might yank away the meat from the sticks and be done with it and even thought he would spit it out due to the flavor being too strong, as it wasn't a little sauce on the pork as she made it more to her liking. She took a napkin and cleaned her hand from the sauce that had dripped on it while she was feeding him, now that her part was over, it was only left for Rainer to feed her and they could devour the rest of their dishes. While Sara waited for her bite, she noticed that Rainer had gotten grumpy a bit and after he put the spoon in her mouth he had looked away, the taste of mashed potatoes was felt, and to her, they needed more salt in her opinion, but after helping out in the restaurant when she was little, she had gotten quite good at cooking and developed a peculiar taste, but at least she could ignore it and wasn't that picky about it.

"Mmmm~" I slight hum came out her mouth as she finally swallowed, she had gotten quite hungry herself through the whole marriage thingy as it had lasted way longer then she would like. Now she could finally dig into her own plate, grabbing her chopsticks again she got some of the salad and put it in her mouth. A blissful expression came across her face, as she could finally get some food and it was good food, some things could be better in the event such as having an actual cake or the outfitting part that was a little rough at the start, but at least they had fixed it and the food was good so she couldn't complain much. She stole a glance from time to time at her blonde date, and was surprised to see that he wasn't completely devouring his food and was eating normally, especially after the rumble she had heard from him as the hostess announced the details for this part of their little event. It was nice, free quality food, not that she didn't have the jewels to buy it, but that didn't mean she wouldn't pass up on it, and waste money later.

She looked at the blond as he mentioned that the food was tasted good, and she nodded a few times. "It does, indeed, I could go for a bit more even." She said as her plate was half empty as well, she had less then him on her plate in the first place, but it tasted so good that she could go for more. As he asked what the little white bits were. "Its called rice, and yes its cereal grain. I like it quite a bit." She said and pushed her plate towards him as she still had some left. "Here try it, its not anything special in my opinion, but you may like it." She decided to let him take it on his own this time, in case he wasn't really conformable with the whole ordeal and it wasn't necessary any way.

"Are you going back to Tolgalen after this?" She asked as she finished her plate. "Since I was going to go back to it, I was thinking that if you were going back we can travel together, its better with company then without." It wasn't like she didn't have someone to talk to on her trip back, that being Umbra, but it was a great chance to get to know the the other Company Member more, that and the beast inside her had the tendency to fall asleep on her and ignore her half the time they were traveling. She was enjoying the rough boy's company so far and wouldn't mind traveling with him, thus why she extended the offer him.

WC: 671
Total: 4028/4000
@Rainer

As much as he also didn't like eating off of other peoples' plates-- another side effect of growing up poor with limited food-- Rainer did steal a small fork-full of rice to give it a try. "Hm." Definitely a grain, yet it was soft and pleasant. It was also pretty bland, which he didn't find to be a bad thing, but he could also now understand why the sauce on the meat from earlier had been so strong. He didn't thank her aloud, but did nod his head in a vague appreciation. After that he went back to his own food and had it finished in no time, sopping up whatever was left with a dinner roll so that his plate was squeaky clean.

Leaning back in his chair with a full stomach, he resisted the urge to pat it. Maybe he'd have done so if he was by himself, but in this case he was far from comfortable enough to do such a thing. Also, he hardly had the protruding belly he felt like he had due to all the muscle tone in his torso. Sara spoke once more, asking him if he was going back Tolgalen. ""Yeah, hoppin' the cheapest train I can. Magnolia can suck it," Rainer mouthed, making no mystery about how he felt about the town. He sincerely wished work would stop sending him here. "As long as you're cool wi' that, fine." Of course Rainer couldn't just come out and agree traveling with someone might be nice. He had to be a ruffian about it, act like it put him out a little, make a 'tch' sound as he leaned the chair back on two legs and looked away moodily. If she hadn't been a coworker, he'd probably have turned her down flatly and rudely. However, the porcupine head was no dummy. He needed money and to keep his job, so he couldn't piss off everyone he worked with to keep them away. Besides, though he would never admit it, Eyepatch wasn't so bad. He couldn't tell if it was good or bad that she had yet to get pissed off at him. "When're we leavin'?"

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"I don't see why you dislike Magnolia that much, its a good town." She said, it may have something related to the event that or something entirely else, still she couldn't see the problem, but didn't pry in much other then that. As he asked when they were leaving she stood up and stretched. "Now, I guess I want to get back as fast as possible honestly." After taking a quick look around she turned towards him. "Lets meet up at the train station in a bit, I have to go get my stuff from the place I was staying at." She said and started walking towards the tents to get changed back and go to the tavern, a short wave was shot towards the blond boy and soon she disappeared in the crowd of people that were also leaving. As she entered one of the tents, her clothes were quickly reverted to the ones she wore before, and after untying her hair it was brought back to its previous state, putting the black beanie hat on again she started making her way towards the tavern to take her backpack with stuff.

Approaching the train station Sara looked around for the her 'date' as she was now carrying a backpack with her. After not seeing him at first, she went ahead towards one of the booths to look at the trains, and to her surprise only one was left in their direction and the seats were almost taken. Quickly she went ahead and both two tickets that weren't expensive, he would most likely fume at this a bit, but she didn't care, she would rather catch the train then miss it and stay till morning. Going back to the central part of the train station she waited with two tickets in her hands, for him to show up so they could board the train.

@Rainer

"Eh, I have my reasons," Rainer prickled, scowl deepening. He didn't have to explain himself and seemed like he wouldn't, yet he proceeded to as his irritation level rose. In truth, Magnolia had done nothing to him. He was just bitter and didn't seem to care if she was listening or not. "All the people in my old town just took off for a chance at a better life. Most of 'em came here. Because they abandoned those of us that couldn't leave for various reasons, it screwed us every way but up. My home dried up even more while we were trapped like rats to feed on nothing but garbage and with no work to get out," he grumbled through a tense jaw, standing up as if his own words reminded him that he was absolutely done being here. His stomach was full and it was time get out before he did something stupid. "Now they all live their pleasant little lives in comfort..." he trailed. There was more to that sentence, but he didn't feel like bringing up his sick family stuck back in the dead village. They were the reason he was even stooping to coming here. Jewel was jewel.

They both headed for the tents, changing and heading their own separate ways. She had to get her stuff and he was to wait for her. Rainer wasn't a patient man, but he'd already agreed. Stepping into the bathroom to waste time and splash some water on his face, he mentally prepared himself to for over the jewel for a ticket. There would always be expenses. You had to spend money to make money, as they always said. His hands were shoved deep into his jean jacket pockets when he emerged again, jaw jutting out moodily. Despite the fact that he'd obviously spent the night nearby to have been here at the time he was before the wedding, the porcupine boy had no luggage. He'd just set his mind to leave without her when he saw Sara waiting for him. Red dots darted down to her hands. His brows lowered with the narrowing of his eyes. "Yo, what's the big idea?" he wanted to know, agitated. What did she think he was, a charity case? He wasn't so weak that he had to rely on others! A sharp inhale indicated he was about to lay into her when the loud speaker crackled on and the departure of the last train to Tolgalen was announced to be leaving within a couple minutes. Rainer didn't have enough time to make her return it so he could buy his own!

"Ugh," he grunted, snatching his ticket and running toward the train car with seats left. Once they were boarded, he'd turn to her again, pulling a few jewel from his wallet and holding them out to her. "Here, this is what you paid, right?"

Sara smiled when she saw the blond boy approaching her, he was right on time the train was about to depart soon and they would be right on time. Unlike her, with her backpack that held some of her stuff, the other WFTC member had no luggage with him. He saw how his eyes trailed down to the tickets in her hands and sighed mentally as he spoke up. She guessed that he would most likely dislike the idea of her getting the ticket for him and from the looks of things she wasn't going to be able to explain herself first before he would let out on her for doing it. Luckily it was announced on the loud speaker that the last train to Tolgalen would be leaving soon and they were both quickly on their way towards it as he snatched his ticket. Sara followed behind him and sat herself next to him as the train was just about to depart, her attention being brought to him as he pulled out a wallet and took some jewels out. "Look I only got the tickets cause we were going to miss it." A lie, she would have gotten them either way. "Seeing as your going to be even grumpier If I don't take the jewels, I'll take em." She said and took the jewels and nodded when she counted them, indicating that they were enough for her.

As the train departed, night had fallen already and the light emanating from the lacrima lights in the train was reduced, making it look a little dimly lit in order for people that wanted to sleep be able to without it bothering them. The petite red haired mage was looking at the side, where there was a window and beyond it, the mountain ranges and forest, oh what would she do now to be on the window seat and just gaze through as they rode. "What made you join the trading company." She asked, hoping that the blond boy that was her date a few hours ago wasn't asleep. Boredom was getting to her, she could always get her mothers dairy that was in her backpack and read it, but it was a chance for her to get to know him a bit more. "I joined because of the previous CEO, we met by chance on a request, and he helped me with a few things while we completed it, and since i didn't know anything about guilds, I decided to get to West Fiore, since being a guildless mage made some things more tough and I already knew someone." Sara shared her story, not caring if he was sleeping or even listening to her, her voice quiet in order to not wake him up  if he was indeed sleeping.

If was only recently that he'd discovered an unfortunate trait about himself. He couldn't sleep on moving vehicles. It wasn't that it made him sick or anything, though the couldn't necessarily say he felt the greatest. Riding on things was just so strange for him. He'd never traveled before he left home. The closest to anything motorized he'd been in was the digging equipment and occasionally driving the trucks full of granite up the road to be processed and shipped out. Once he'd had no choice but to leave, that was when he took his first train ride, his first boat ride, first car ride, all of that. And no matter how long he was traveling in one, no sleep would come to him. His body was on high alert. Even now, the muscles in his arms were taut as if he was ready to bust out of the train car at any moment.

"Mm," he hummed, still a little grumpy over the ticket thing though most of his prickliness had waned once she accepted his money. Maybe he wasn't even miffed about it anymore, but rather having to pay at all when his funds were so low. Money was a constant source of stress for the young man. Of course, she wouldn't know that, though after he answered her, she might have a better idea. "Money," he huffed, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "All the other jobs I had paid jack crap nothin', and I have... responsibilities," Rainer elaborated. It always seemed like talking about himself was touchy, like a clam barely opening only to spit a bit of sand out before clamping shut again. "I heard WFTC paid much more and treated its employees with at least a little respect. Didn't know that respect came with a dang monkey suit, though..."