Over Yonder [Private]

MoRueran, the non-mage brawler and apprentice baker, returned from Talonia a few days ago after having completed the task he set out to do. The red-clad weirdo was one among a number of uncommon instances where a person without magic-- or assistance-- was somehow able to successfully take on jobs that were normally ever tackled by a group of trained militia, or a single wizard due to the potential dangers that could be encountered. The childlike fellow came back to Magnolia and, after having some paperwork finalized by the guild master, was officially recognized as a B rank by mage standards. When he came home, Mo and his boss Billiam celebrated by sharing pieces of the special Blood Moon cake they baked some time ago for special occasions. 

Waddling through the busy streets of Magnolia, Mo was going to get back into the swing of things by taking on a job that had the potential to involve combat. Like a recurring crime problem in a city, micro-wars happening in rurally isolated communities, or probably trying to take on a senile but still decently powerful retired wizard and safely escort them back to the care facility where they were living before they cause too much havoc in their delirium. The peculiar fighter felt up to the task whatever it turned out to be, which could be any one of the postings that were put up on the commissions' board.

As he browsed through the various freelancer gigs that were usually taken up by wizards of other guilds or guildless mages, Mo's attention and near-closed gaze were then redirected to a young woman with blazing red hair and a fiery drive to match as she swiped a random post describing slay a creature called a frost serpent that was found in a place called Mt. Blackpeak. Thinking of this as an opportunity to test his newfound strength, the eccentric marauder came up to the redhead with his simple proposition. "Fight much cold snakies, with you I go, yes?"

Miku, the mysterious woman who was a fairly recent join to the guild, was a complete and utter master of upkeeping a routine. She typically spent a few hours a day in the guild hall, careful to be able to avoid the master after their accidental encounter the first time she came in. She was playing a rather subtle game, one that gotten incredibly monotonous from her perspective. She fancied herself a chef as culinary works were one of the few passions in her life as she could always retain that experience, and it was quite the ice breaker most of the time. On days like this when the weather was bad, she noted a slight decrease in the average amount of bodies moving through the guildhall. Some members didn't arrive looking for work. She almost forgotten why a little rain and thunder like the weather outside would be discouraging, almost. Her curse wouldn't allow her to let things slip easily, she remembers clearly every thing she lost and endured, and fighting gods and demons made the rain seem incredibly pleasant.  She did work a few jobs now and then mostly to keep up appearances as a mage, as she was wary of who she exposed herself to for now. Some people she did recognize from her various times as a member of Fairy Tail. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone could put the pieces together and draw the connection she was avoiding.

However as Miku was in the corner with a glass of red wine, she noted someone rather interesting walked in as her eyes subtly followed the red haired woman as she walked in. She couldn't help but be intrigued by the woman as she could sense a fiery aura. "Not getting any Temporal dissonance, so haven't met her before... wait she does look like Charlie's mother, wait nope, def in the clear." She thought as she searched her vast memories before interacting with the woman. She kept her ears open in case the woman said something but kept her eyes to her drink as she sensed the woman walking towards the board.

Miku mentally took stock of her wallet and assumed that she could handle a job if the woman was indeed serious. While Miku was on a eternity long mission, the mission was in fact eternity long and taking other pursuits shown no sign of stopping her. As she reached into her pocket for her wallet, she started to hear a few words that intrigued her right away to avoid playing it subtly and address the woman dead on. "Frost Serpents Eh?" She said before noting that the magic inept brawler was already interested. However her interests were mostly self indulgent for two reasons. "Frost serpents, count me in, those are quite a rare ingredient to come by." She said paying off her bar tab before getting up and walking towards the other two.

WC 493

As MoRueran came closer to where the redhead was standing, he managed to get her attention as well as her immediate acceptance into joining whatever mission she planned to go on. According to what was on the flier, the reward for the task was quite sizeable if proof of fulfilling the job's parameters was delivered. Getting said proof might very well be a done deal, as Mo has been undergoing an internal metamorphosis where both his physical and mental strengths have been bolstered considerably since coming back from Talonia. He was essentially stronger, faster, able to process things more readily, and he used his newfound gifts to learn more about macaroni art and how to make a peanut butter donut. He wasn't necessarily smarter, considering as many of the things he finds interest in weren't all too intellectually stimulating, but that didn't hinder him from chasing after the next fun thing. "Oodles of jewels much good, fun candy times we get, yes." From seeing the amount of jewels offered, it surely boasted a handsome reward, enough for the simple oddball to buy a hoard of candy even if he was only given a quarter of the promised sum.

The duo would soon become a trio as the two were then joined by another recent addition to the guild in the form of Miku, who might have been relaxing nearby which was evident by the slight scent of wine that came off of her. Despite being in casual clothing, she carried herself confidently, as though there weren't a single wall in existence that would stay standing unless she willed it. Her magic dealt in the manipulation of time, something that Mo was able to witness first-hand upon her joining, and her adept usage of it and her weapons of choice were certainly enough to justify her assuredness. As she came over, also voicing her interest to join in on the job, the apprentice baker pulled out a coupon-- the last of a few pages-- that Billiam told him to pass out to his friends and his guildmates as a way of advertisement on the heels of his store's grand reopening. Turning to face the gunslinging time-warper, the peculiar manchild offered the coupon in both of his hands, as Billi told the younger dough-beater that being super respectful to customers could help his business a little. "Gift for you I give, yes." It was a limited-time offer that would yield a 50% discount on cheesy jalapeno bread.

The eagerness the three would have for their encounter was only marginally dampened after the redhead Nymara said that the place where they were supposed to be-- Mt Blackpeak where the Frost serpent was-- happened to be a few towns away. Mo would always be packing quite a bit each time he left for a job, which was sometimes the case on the instances he did take on a job that didn't involve helping out his neighbors. Despite being in a guild, the red fighter found himself being drawn to Talonia for some of his business. Especially when it involved the Knights of Shaded Heavens and their nefarious activities being relocated there.

Miku noted she soon after got the intrigue of the fire dragon slayer, as Miku started to wonder just who exactly she was. However Miku could sense the heat emanating from Nymara and assumed that she was a practitioner of some form of pyromancy or other heat related magic which would pose as valuable assets for the particular mission. However Miku was wondering  Mo would be alright, considering his choice of being without magic. She would have some reservations about bringing Mo along, mostly out of concern for his own safety as he was the only one of the group without a clear natural resistance to cold. However she started to grow concerned, especially as he was about to offer her a coupon for a bakery of some form.

"No thanks... I appreciate the thought Mo, but coupons and chronomancers get along like Corgis and Sabertooth tigers." She explained to the man, not wanting to hurt his feelings or offend the baker's assistant by explaining she prefers to make her own bread. She didn't want to not to risk offending any small businesses or come off as flaunting her own abilities either.

She quickly glanced the job posting as she quickly analyzed the information while the red haired woman was still scanning the flier before realizing she was yet to introduce herself. "My name is Miku, I am a chronomancer." She explained as she slowly studied the body language of the woman. She wondered based on clothing choice, and body temperature, if she was a aggressive mobility based combatant. However she tabled any such thought for now as she learned the location of the job and she was not at all surprised. "Mt. Blackpeak? sure, that's about three hours by train if I'm not mistake." She said in agreement however she was not entirely sure why the radiating woman was slowly experiencing a form of dread.

WC 316

When the apprentice baker offered the last remaining coupon he had to Miku she, in as a polite a fashion as she could, declined and was quick to use a figure of speech to explain why. To any normal person, it would simply drive the point across that the Chronomancer wasn't all too interested in store-bought foods, which would have been evident given her stance on self-sufficiency that was reflected upon the versatility of her skills and weapons. To the mind of the simple MoRueran, who drew his hand back from shock and fear, it was as though he was given a dire warning that enabled him to prevent a total disaster from happening. Images of poor corgis being brought to heel at the mercy of a force of much larger and stronger sabertooth tigers was a terrible sight to behold. To think it was to the red fighter's great fortune that such a conflict that could end in overwhelmingly one-sided brutality could be averted by not giving his fellow guildmate a discount of cheesy jalapeno bread. Instead, Mo decided to offer the limited-time coupon to Nymara, who hopefully didn't come with the devastating condition of starting an all-out critter war.

With the location of their job happening to be a considerable enough distance away to necessitate travel via a form of transport-- in this case, a train-- the red-clad weirdo returned to his home to pick up the stuff he would be carrying with him. A first-aid kit, some dried foods, a hand shovel, a coiled length of rope, three changes of clothes, and a cookie (which he immediately ate). Just as he stepped outside of his home to take his leave, he noticed some movement out of the corner of his near-closed eye and went to investigate what it was, only to find an empty dead-end alley. Mo would meet up with his partners at the train station soon after he finished his packing, his enthusiasm at testing his newfound strength was such that he ended up arriving at the station much earlier than the other two, which gave him just a little bit of time to do some warm-ups and a little bit of preparation. Miku and Nymara, both of them being magic users and such, would likely use some method of circumventing the hazards of their mission location's environment as well as any advantage it would have given to their target. The wielder of an Unexplained Prowess was functionally different in that regard as it enabled an accelerated state of adaptation. Rather than bypassing hardship, Mo would use the harshness of his surroundings to make himself stronger.

The trio would eventually find themselves together again just before their train was to depart. MoRueran, the non-mage marauder of the group, was in the process of willfully metastisizing his own bodily tissues in order to form a natural armor of scaly carapace made of dense yet flexible keratin on his arms, legs, and torso, all while it was concealed underneath his clothing in the likelihood they all came under attack while in transit.

Spoiler:

As the trio left the guild and made their way towards the train station, Miku wondered just what was the fire mage's reluctance that they tried to keep hidden. Miku started to wonder what made Nymara feel apprehensive when she was just confidently talking about battling with a leviathan but the mention of travel seemed to ebb at her enthusiasm. On her way to the station she would stop to pick up various herbs that she started to mix around in a glass bottle as she had a theory on as to what the red haired woman's problem was. The chronomancer sorceress had all but mastered time management, and with her familiarity with the layout of Magnolia, she was able to do a lot within an hour. As she mixed the herbs together she would be approaching the station. 

As the group got onto the train, Miku stayed close to Nymara, not finding it odd as she took a window seat as that only proved the point Miku thought. Miku would sit close by Nymara before pulling out the small glass container and removed the lid, revealing the green paste inside. "Here, it's the toughest blend of medicinal herbs I could muster. Rub it along your gums and the inside of your nose, it'll counteract motion sickness. Should be safe so long as you're not part gecko." Miku said as she would hold up the glass container. It had a strong herbal aroma that at first seemed to be powerful at first before mellowing slightly down. "It's called the Dragon's Mellow, a blend of herbs that was said to turn a ferocious dragon into a pacifist for a few hours but that is folklore." She explained shifting slightly closer to the dragon slayer, hoping to prepare the woman for the arduous transit to the station closest to Mt. Blackpeak.

WC 309

The two wizards and the accompanying non-mage brawler were now well on their way towards Mt. Blackpeak. Having dealt with some hesitation on Nymara's part concerning the mode of travel and Miku's resourceful solution to the redhead's predicament, the ride to their shared destination would at least run more smoothly in a figurative sense. As for MoRueran, he waddled about on the train and settled on sitting somewhere close by so as to not lose them or, to put it more accurately, they wouldn't lose him. According to what he's learned from a few freelancers in Talonia, and from what Billiam has gained by being a willing ear listening to loose tongues, is that Ethernano gradually becomes more intrinsically linked to a mage's lifeforce. The more proficient a mage is in utilizing Ethernano, the more powerful they become as spellcasters, the more their well-being is intermingled and interchangeable with the very magic they use. There have even been some instances where mages who have become exceedingly powerful, like those who have accomplished almost godlike feats that warranted earning their Prestige, would sometimes grow deathly ill if their reserves of magic ran low enough. Only for them to wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next day as though nothing happened.

This wasn't the case for the childlike fellow in the red overcoat, as he was able to sense all life around him and what fell within the very limits of his sphere of perception. Miku's presence was like a constant rippling in a pond, self-contained and calm at the surface but had glimpses of unknowable turbulence. Nymara's presence was like a literal sun, straightforward with its intensity and scale. The other passengers, although much smaller, had quirks that hinted towards the nature of each individual. Of course, the ability to even discern such differences was due in great part to Mo's continued development as he grew stronger in the usage of his strange prowess. This also came with an unexpected detriment that has only now manifested itself in the form of significant strain to his mind each time he ended up encountering an extremely potent life force like Nymara's without having proper mental preparations in place.

To help alleviate this, Mo would adjust his sitting posture as much as he could in order to get the exact position down before stilling most of his movements-- his breathing excluded. With his eyes now completely closed, his mind focused on the moment that he was present. The various sounds that were in his immediate environment. The chatter of the other passengers, Miku giving Dragon's Mellow to the now-relieved redhead, the clang of steel against steel as the train moved along the rails, the whistle and wail of the winds hitting against the windows of the train. The young boy would count the many sounds present and lose himself in them, becoming one with his surroundings as he meditated. This moment in which he lived was one where he felt that time had no meaning and that the peace relaxing the stress in his head would deliver him to clarity.

"If you want but this really isn't a remedy you'll want to take more then necessary as it's basically inhibiting all the parts of your brain from realizing you should be motion sick in addition to settling your system. As a side effect it can dull reflexes by a minor margin,  make it hard to lie, induce random bouts of creativity, and can interfere with any danger reactionary instincts." Miku would say as she listened to Nymara seem to enjoy the prospect of being free of motion sickness, but she would also have to explain the potential side effects of the mixture. She could tell that the scarlet haired woman was already feeling better by her sudden shift from looking ready to collapse ill to slowly beginning to bounce back albeit nothing changing about the situation itself.

From the corner of her perception she took notes of Mo, the magicless man as he would fidget around. At first Miku started to wonder if he too had motion sickness. However she started to dismiss it as the childish and easily excitable nature of the magic inept man. As the train was moving Miku took mental stock of what was going on around as she wanted to maintain some awareness of the situation around even if she hides it behind her usual carefree demeanor. She learned long ago maintaining tension only leads to more problems. "Hmmm, quiet." Miku said looking around, keeping one hand relatively close to a holstered gunblade as something about peaceful train rides always seemed to ebb at her.

WC 260

From nothing came everything, and to nothing is where all creation would return. MoRueran was eventually successful in solving the little problem with his life-sensing abilities, the technique to lose himself in the midst of the sounds of life worked quite effectively. A little too effectively. In wanting to lessen the mental strain that would accumulate from using his extrasensory ability, he ended up slowly drifting away from the waking world and beyond the bounds of awareness. In the realm of dreams, the childlike weirdo would be visited by a cryptic vision of what was, what is, and what could be. Images and events would flash across his mind and be gone as suddenly as they came, a myriad of possible truths mingling confusingly with nonsense. While they were currently incomprehensible, Mo would eventually grasp what they meant when his due time would come.

His childhood memories played out before him, a small toddler scurrying through the fields of soft grass that shimmered in their everchanging, multi-hued colors. His mother and father, vagrant nobodies whose pasts were long lost, sought to make a future for themselves in the Eden that was found in the strange yet lush plains close to the Amorphous Forests. A mysterious place that became the home to two wanderers, legends of a fully sentient realm drifting aimlessly throughout all of existence, a creature of immeasurable size and bounty. Mo would run through those familiar plains again, but it was to do battle against a multitude of faceless enemies clad in pale-blue, near-white armor. Feelings of strong obligation and untethered rage would fuel each of the red fighter's heavy blows, his adversaries pouring through a strange and massive ring-like structure. Behind him was his original home that was no more, and the happy family that was blind to the flood of enmity that the non-mage marauder was just barely able to hold back on his own.

MoRueran would awaken with a jolt, a swing of a sword coming to strike him down being the last sight he saw before his surreal yet lucid dream would conclude. His face was wet with sweat and tears, confusion still lingered in his simple mind that frustrated him. After a moment spent alleviating his inner turbulence, the otherwise unimposing manchild curled his hands up into fists as he began emitting a shimmering heat haze, he was determined to get stronger and reaffirm the reality of his might.

It was with a sniffle and a sneeze that Mo then returned his attention to his two teammates and waved his arms in their direction with cheerful enthusiasm, his spontaneous nature an ever-present source of worry to some and possible amusement for others.