A Sabertooth Meeting a Lamia

Ryo smiled as he looked around Hargeon Town. Ever since he started traveling more he couldn't help but continue to be amazed at certain towns. It was clear that whatever town had a wizarding guild within its borders received a very fair life style. He had been to Magnolia town on several different occasions and that town was home to the Fairy Tail guild. Now he was in Hargeon Town and it played host to the Lamia Scale guild.

Despite this main attraction however Ryo wasn't really here to scout out the guild. He was happy with Sabertooth and loved being in the guild. Besides he felt rather special seeing as his guild hall was flying in the air rather than being stuck on the ground. He thought it best never to brag about such things as that just wasn't his style. What he was here for was something far simpler. He had new Tarot card decks and he wanted to give them a try. He wanted to see if they were still as good or as bad as his old ones.

He pulled up his briefcase and pushed a button soon it became a small table resting on the table was a unfolding sign. The sign read "Free Tarot Readings" Now some people like Ryo's teacher thought he was crazy for giving away fortune telling for free, but Ryo wasn't one to extort money from people like that. He pulled out the three new tarot decks he had purchased a short time ago and set them on the table while he himself sat down on a stool he had brought with him unfolding a chair to set in front of his little table. Now all he had to do was wait for someone to get curious enough to wander over.

Talen could not help but smile as he and Melissa walked through the streets of Hargeon Town. The past week or so had been very hectic for Lamia Scale, and it was nice to be able to just walk around the town and relax.

As the two of them passed a casino, Melissa grabbed his arm and tried to pull him inside. "Come on!" she said in a slightly whiny voice, "It has been forever since we were in a casino, lets clear them out!" Talen sighed and shook his head. "No, like I said, we live here now. If we get banned, we can't just go to another town." After thinking for a second, Talen added "Besides, doing stuff like that will get the guild in trouble." Melissa just rolled her eyes at this, she was not as committed to the guild as he was.

The two continued down the street for a few more blocks, talking about other things that they could do. The spirit and summoner soon walked in front of a man behind a small table with a sign that said, "Free Tarot Readings". Melissa stopped and said, "Lets get one." Talen rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself, he knew that her tarot readings were always interesting do to the fact that luck fluctuated around her. "Sure."

The Melissa walked up to the man behind the table and gave him a smile. "Hello, could I have a reading please?"

Ryo was just sitting there shuffling away at the decks he had brought with him. He looked up to see a girl and a young man in front of him. When the woman sat down and asked for a reading he smiled and pulled two of the decks off of the table and put them into his pockets. He then tipped his hat to her with a smile and proper greeting “Very well then miss. Name’s Ryo. I would be happy to give you a reading. Now then.” He placed the deck in front of him and looked at Melissa as he drew the first card. Being so close and a practitioner of the same magic Melissa could see the soft purple hue of magic running through the card.

He instantly placed it down in front of him and the card was “The Gambler” Ryo looked at the card with a wily smile on his face “Ah. I see you’re not exactly an every day person. The Gambler’s Spirit. You see the first card I play tells me who I’m reading. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Now then let’s proceed.” Ryo continued to draw cards and place them in a star shaped pattern around “The Gambler” card that was in the center. Once he finished he looked at the pattern with great interest.

He then spared a glance at Talen and smiled a bit wider “Well this is for the most part good news. The first card is the Fool. Someone you know, or someone you meet will act as a catalyst for the Ace of Swords, and the Ace of Wands to act. Forming a new relationship to form and if you act fast it can be successful. Seeing as how the Fool is inverted however it means that someone you already know is going to play the part. That is the future prong of my star. If you would like I can review with you the past and present prongs. The last two are questions that you’ve been holding in your mind. If you’d like to speak them out loud then I can tell you what the cards say, but something tells me you already know what they say.”

When Ryo acknowledged Melissa as the gambler spirit, her eyes lit up. It had been a long time since someone had recognized her as a celestial spirit, let alone respected her for it. She was used to humans treating her different because she was not human.

The summoner and spirit listened intently as Ryo explained what he saw in the cards. When he was finished, Talen looked back at Ryo, saying "That sounds like a very interesting fortion, but I'm not sure what you are saying." Talen had never been very good at understanding what fortune tellers said.

Ryo smiled up at Talen as he admitted that he really didn’t have any idea as to what Ryo was saying. This wasn’t unusual for him Ryo was often very bad at speaking plainly, but it was something he was working on. So he simply leaned back and took his hat off for a moment. Now that his hat was gone his Sabertooth Guild Crest could be seen plain as day tattooed to the right side of Ryo’s neck.

He pointed to the cards with a smile “Well you see. The fool card says that something you are going to do will form a relationship with a person. That’s where the ace of wands comes in. If you act fast it will be a successful relationship and it will benefit the both of you greatly. The Ace of swords warns that like any relationship it can become a bad thing, or it can be a good thing. This is her fortune as much as yours because you are both connected. That is what the future prong of the star tells me. The rest is all easy to decipher and I’m sure she can figure it out being the Gambler’s Spirit and all.”

Ryo leaned back in his spot and looked to Melissa at this point “If you wish to know what the rest of the star says for sure I could tell you, but it would be information you already know. So if you will both be so kind as to tell me how long you’ve known each other. You see I don’t meet Celestial Mages often, and I have to confess I’ve always had a great respect for them.”

Melissa raised an eye brow at Ryo when the fortune teller said that he wanted to know their past. With a smile, Melissa said, "I have know Talen here for almost his his entire life. My previous contract had just ended, and I was just waiting in the spirit world for a new human to find my key. One day I finally found my being called to this world, however, instead of a mage, it was some little kid about 5 years old who looked lost." Talen smiled sheepishly as Melissa continued, "I tried to help him find his parents, but they were no where to be found. I decided that I would protect him until I could find his parents. All these years later, I am still protecting him."

"She and my other spirits are the only family I have ever know. Well them and Lamia Scale." Talen pulled up his sleeve and showed Ryo his green guild tatoo.

Ryo looked at Talen’s tattoo and smiled a bit wider “I see. That is a very interesting story. As for you mister mage I am glad to see you are a fellow guild mage.” Ryo lowered the collar on his clothes to show his Sabertooth guild crest more clearly “I’m a member of Sabertooth. As for my story well my parents died when I was very young, and the only family I’ve known was my teacher, and my guild as well. It is good to see that we have similar stories as well.”

He looked to Melissa with a soft smile “Well you’ve done a rather fine job keeping him safe it seems. After all he’s still around after all of this time isn’t he? So tell me how does one exactly become a celestial mage? Is it something you are born with or something you can obtain?”

"Oh no, anyone can learn it." Melissa said, "But not everyone should." "What she means is," Talen added, "not everyone treats their spirits well. She has told me horrible stories about such mages." "And I made sure that Talen Knew never to do anything like that to us. But it still happens to other spirits. Once a spirit signs a contract, it is very hard to get out of it. You are stuck with the mage most likely until they die or retire." Melissa suddenly had a very cold look on her face. "People like that do not deserve to learn celestial spirit magic." After a quiet moment, Talen asked, "So... what is it like in Sabertooth? I have not met a mage from another guild in quiet some time."

Ryo made sure he listened very carefully to what Melissa said as she spoke. He wanted to make sure that he would never think about doing anything like that. He turned his attention to Talen and smiled shuffling the cards back into the deck he brought to read his clients " Life in Sabertooth is wonderful. To be honest I can't remember a time that I have been as happy as now that I'm in Sabertooth. I used to be alone, and then me and my teacher. Now I have a whole guild full of people to help me out. Sabertooth magi look out for each other."

Talen smiled at the way Ryo talked about Sabertooth. "I feel the same way about Lamia Scale. It is the first family I have know other then my spirits." "And if you ask me you spend to much time with them." Melissa added. "You were the one that wanted me to join in the first place." Talen countered. "But that was when I thought that you were going to make a lot of money there, and you hardly make any money."  "Im still making more now then before I joined." "Yah, but we don't see you as much, Especially Artemis, and she is always complaining about it." "Well she made the contract, not me." "I know but I have to hear about it when I'm at home." "Still not my fault." Talen turned back to Ryo and said, "Artemis is another one of my spirits. She does not like humans so..." "Ha! that's an understatement." Melissa interrupted. "So her contract says that I am not allowed to summon her inside of cities."

Ryo couldn't help but smile as he watched the banter between the two in front of him. if this is what it was like to have a spirit then Ryo knew that he definatly wanted in on that action. Still when it was his time to speak he did so "Well I can't Say I really blame her. After all most people in the world nowadays aren't very nice, and i know that cities are disgusting and filled with the most diseased humans imaginable. So there is no need for her to waste time in their unworthy presence. Still I can see how deep the bonds between you all must run. I'm a bit jealous to be perfectly honest."

"Well," Talen said, "I could try and teach you Celestial Spirit Magic." "WHAT?!" Melissa shouted at Talen, "You just met the  guy!" Talen put his hand up, saying "I know, I know. But , I have a good feeling about him, he seems like a good person." "So?" "And you are with me, so meeting him was either good or bad luck, and I think it was good luck. Besides, it is still up to you guys if he learns it or not." Talen smiled at Ryo, "What do you say?" Talen knew this was a risk, but the last person he trained had worked out so he was hopeful.

Ryo blinked as Talen made his offer. He was so stunned by this that he really didn't know what to say do or think. Instead he just stood there as if in a daze for the longest time. He didn't even hear the little banter between Talen, and Melissa. Instead he only responded at the last of it. He looked up and nodded his head once taking his hat off of his head placing it over his heart and bowing slightly "I would be honored if you would do such a thing. That possibly was forever beyond my imagination. I promise to be the best pupil I can be."

"Not so fast, in the end it is not up to me." Talen said, "for the most part Melissa and my other spirits will be teaching you, and if any of them say that I should not teach you, I will not train you." Talen was very clear with that part. It did not matter how much he approved of Ryo, if his celestial spirits did not it would be over.

"Oh," Melissa said,"Are you going to see what Artemis thinks?" "Maybe, I was more thinking Medusa, but I am still not sure." "Well I had better be one of them." "Of course, you were the one who taught me after all." Melissa gave a mischievous smile before saying, "Sounds like fun.

Ryo put his hat back on his head with a smile as Talen explained the rules "Oh I fully understand and I fully accept that condition. After all I don't want to step on anyone's toes or anything." when he heard about Artemis he wished he had brought Gora with him. This sudden thought caused him to look around and sure enough he saw his partner's gleaming golden eyes in the shadow of an alley.

Ryo turned his attention back to the banter and spoke up at the end of it "Well if you were to summon Artemis I think we might have to leave the town for that one. You did say she didn't like people so I doubt she lets you summon her in towns or cities."

"No, she does not like to be summoned inside cities. My contract with her even says that I can not summon her in cities." "That is such a stupid contract stipulation if you ask me." Melissa added. "No worse then taking half my pay check." Talen countered. "I don't really care where we go for the training. Is  there anywhere outside of a city that you want to be trained?" "Really?" Melissa asked, "Why do we have to do it away from a city? It is so boring out there." "You wanted him to meet Artemis, and this would be the only way." Talen faced Ryo once more. "So where do you want to go to train?"

Ryo thought about it and then nodded his head with a soft smirk coming to his face "Well there is a small forest on the edge of town. I'd imagine that is the best setting we could have for not only some privacy, but also for Artemis to feel more at home." he turned and packed up his things before he looked over at Talen with a smile "Shall we then?" with his items in hand he walked out of the town towards the location he mentioned keeping his stride slow and steady so he didn't leave Talen behind.

"Show the way." Talen said as he started to follow Ryo. The summoner had not excpected to be a teacher today, but the idea excited him. "What? we are just going to start right now? We were hanging out, cant this wait until later?" "Why wait? besides, he is not going to be trained by you or me first so we can hang out then." "Fine, but we are playing cards then." "Alright then, lets get going." Talen and Melissa followed Ryo out of the harbor town and into the forest.