Job: Retrieve my Beads! (Malm, Vivian, and Wyatt)

Job Description:

It was late as Malm made his way through the forest. It wasn't quite night yet, but day was soon coming to an end. Today he had a job to help an elderly wizard retrieve some special beads that were taken from him. He wasn't going to be alone on this mission however. One of his companions was going to be a woman by the name of Vivian, whom he had the pleasure of meeting once before. The other was a mage he had never met before though, so this job will definitely prove to be interesting.

Malm stopped as he came to the cabin they were suppose to go to and took a quick glance around to see if anyone else had gotten here before him. It seemed he had gotten here first though, so he decided to just wait for his other companions. He believed it would be best for them all to be here before they went to talk with the client. Besides, judging from what the job said, Malm might as well enjoy the peace and calm while he can.

Vivian half-skipped through the forest, eyes looking around. This was different from the forest from her childhood, or the forest in Magnolia for that matter; there was a sense of unease draped over it that Vivian just couldn't shake. She constantly felt like she was being watched; it was a feeling very reminiscent of the Mage's Academy she had gone to, along with her childhood friend. It was not a feeling she enjoyed, however.
She was here for a job; Malm had invited her along, as a way for her to get to know some of her new comrades. He said that somebody else was coming as well, although she didn't know him. It didn't sound like Malm knew him either, which was certainly strange; she would never have even considered inviting somebody she didn't know on a mission.
As she crossed into a clearing, she noticed Malm standing there, waiting. She ran over to him, Calling "M-Malm!" As she did. When she reached him, she bowed. "S-sorry I'm late! D-did I make you wait?"

Wyatt tripped over what had to be the fifty millionth freaking tree root thus far. He understood that it was a forest, but come on! He hadn't yet adjusted to his six foot five height, still feeling entirely out of sync with his body most of the time. This led him to be clumsier than most people might expect. And this forest seemed to be helping little. Which was odd, as Wyatt normally loved the forest. Yet despite this face there seemed something odd about this one, almost as if he was being... watched or something. He looked over each of his shoulders nervously and kept going through the forest at the best pace he could manage.

Today he was out on his first official job as a wizard. A D-Rank request for some old man, to retrieve beads he had lost or something. The flyer Wyatt had didn't give very helpful information, so hopefully the old man would. Also there was going to be two other wizards out on this job with him, he wondered what they would be like. Well hopefully they weren't the greedy type or incompetent. Wyatt passed through a thicket and entered a clearing to find two other wizards there. One a boy and the other a girl. They seemed to be greeting eachother, which meant he was the odd one out already. Greaaat. Well, better late than never. "He-hello there!", he tried saying loudly to the pair.

Malm smiled as he saw Vivian had arrived. "No, not at all. Your actually right on time." He happily told her after she had apologized for being late.

It wasn't long after this when another person came along and said hello to them. "Oh... Hello there sir. I'm guessing your the other wizard who had took the job." Malm said greeting the newcomer politely, "Well I'm Malm, and this is Vivian." He then said introducing the two.

Once all the introductions were out of the way, he took a quick glance at the cabin. "Well I guess since we're all here now, we should go and speak to the client." He told the other's before approaching the door. Malm had to be honest, he was a bit nervous about this. This was gonna be the first time he ever spoke to a client himself. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he raised his hand.

Knock knock

There was a pause after he knocked, which was soon followed by the sounds of something moving within the cabin. The door opened to reveal an elderly man. "Yes. What do you all want? I said this once, I'll say it again, I'm not buying anything your selling." He said in a deep, raspy voice as he looked at the group.

"Uhh... Sir. We're not here to sell you anything. We're actually wizards who took the job you posted." Malm told the man.

"Ohh... Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry that no one would ever pick up that job. So what can I help you with?" The man asked the group.

"Well could possibly start by telling us a bit more about the job?"

"Well I don't know what else I could tell you that's not already on the job flyer." He admitted as he paused to think for a bit, "It's pretty simple. All I need you to do is try to find those thieving pixies and get me my beads back from them. If I had to guess, they are most likely still nearby and holding onto my beads." The man told the group.

Malm nodded before looking at the group. "Do either of you have anything else you need to know?" He asked Vivian and Wyatt knowing that they probably have questions of their own they want to ask.

((So here's what I'm thinking for this job. Any pixies we happen to come across during our search will have one of the beads. If we don't have all three beads once we're finish with the dice rolls however, we can either continue til we find the missing pixie, or just stumble across any of the beads we're missing. So what do you all think? Does that work for you?))

Vivian shifted from side to side, looking around nervously. "I'm f-fine, thanks," she muttered, not really having any questions for the man. It seemed like a simple enough job; hunt down the fairies, get the beads, come back. Fairly easy, too; it didn't seem like magic would be in large use during this mission, which was good for the currently Pact-less Vivian. 
Speaking of Pacts, there was something on her mind; her eyes shifted from the client to Malm, then back. Malm seemed like a nice enough young man; Wyatt did as well, but he was large and imposing. Plus, she had met Malm before, so she was more comfortable around him. Not only that, but he was in Dragon Fang too; getting to know one of the members in-depth would help her, as well as keep her in the group.
It was decided. Before the mission was over, Vivian was going to try and make a Pact with Malm.

((Seeing how I haven't heard anything from PotatotheKid for the past two weeks, so I'm going to skip him in the job for now until he returns.))

Malm nodded as neither of them seem to have any questions. He then turned back towards the man with a smile on his face. "Thank you for your time sir. We'll get you your beads back as soon as we can." Malm told the elderly man who thank them before heading back inside.

Malm sighed in relief once their client had left. He didn't believe he has been so nervous about talking to someone in his life. At least it seemed to go well. Now to focus on finding those beads.

"So I'm thinking we should probably split up in order to cover more ground. That way we'll be able to locate these pixies alot quicker." Malm said as he turned to the pair, "Is that alright with both of you?"

((Hey Chaos. I'm thinking we should just pretend that Wyatt had decided to go with Malm's suggestion and search by himself. I'm sorry, but I'm just uncomfortable with bunnymodding someone elses character. Especially in the off chance that Potato Jr. makes a reappearance.))

OOC: ((That's fine. Also, sorry for taking so long; school/Band Camp started up, so I got super busy suddenly >.<))

--

Vivian listened as Malm talked to the client a bit more, then watched as the client walked inside. "I-I think splitting up would be a decent idea, yes," she said in response to Malm's question, watching as Wyatt went off on his own. She quieted down a bit as she continued; she didn't want Wyatt or the client overhearing them. "B-but first, I want to a-ask you something. Y-you see, I'm a little s-short on Pacts right now, and I'm n-not sure I'll be able to fight l-like I am right now. C-can you make a p-Pact with me? It's a s-short process, and it'll h-help us both in f-finding the beads. I-it's fine if you d-don't want to." 
She watched Malm cautiously, blushing. She didn't usually offer Pacts to people that she hadn't known for long; that was more of Vi's turf. But she was getting desperate; aside from Emilia, she had no Pacts she could count on for fighting. She needed something that could help her with more than just fighting hand-to-hand, and Malm's plant magic would work very well for that. Plus, he seemed like a nice person, and Vivian wanted to get to know him better.

Well, it seemed everyone agreed with him, but there was something one of his companions needed from him before they split up. When Vivian had asked him to join a pact with her, he had to admit that he wasn't sure what to do. Afterall, something that's called a pact isn't exactly something should just take lightly. Still, if it would help Vivian, he'd guess it wouldn't hurt to go through with it.

"Uhh... Sure. I must admit that I'm not sure what exactly these pacts of yours are, but if you believe it'll help you, then I'll do one with you. Just tell me what you need me to do?" Malm asked as he prepared himself to commit to this pact. Hopefully his trust in the girl wouldn't end up costing hum.

Vivian smiled gratefully. "T-thank you!" She said happily, reaching into her bag. After a few moments, she pulled out a worn book and a sheathed knife. She carefully placed the bag on the ground and lay the book on top of it, not wanting it to get wet from any dew or such. After making sure the book was perched as flat as it could be on the bag, she unsheathed the knife, revealing a stainless steel blade that glimmered in the light that filtered through the trees. 
She cautiously brought the blade up to her free hand and sliced a cut onto a scarred finger, letting the blood drip onto the page. She looked up at Malm, smiling slightly. "N-now it's your turn. You d-don't need to use the knife if you h-have another way of drawing b-blood, but the c-ceremony requires a few drops from b-both parties." Suddenly, she realized something. "I-I'm sorry if this is weirding you out a-at all."

Malm smile slowly faded as he saw Vivian pull out her book and knife. He watch curiously as she sat the book on the ground and unsheathed the knife. Malm wished he could say he didn't knew where this was heading, but he couldn't. It was more then obvious what he was going to do.

He flinched slight as she cut her finger, not being one who likes seeing others hurt themselves. The blood dropping on the book more or less proving that his guess was true. This was going to require blood from both parties. Something that was supported even further by Vivian telling him just that.

"It-It's okay." Malm said as he took the knife from her, "I'm just... Not use to something like this is all." It was obvious the teen was nervous about this. Who wouldn't in his position.

Malm wiped what little blood off the knife with his shirt before taking a deep breath. "Well here goes nothing." Malm said as a last attempt to gather his courage, or maybe he was just trying to draw this out a little further? He didn't really know. Then he took the knife over his green stained index finger and quickly cut it. He winced as he felt the sharp pain ring through his finger before holding it over the book so a few drops of blood fell it.

Of course, all his worrying proved to be for naught as there was still enough sunlight out for the small cut on his finger to quickly close.

Vivian watched nervously as Malm took the knife and hesitantly cut himself, only for the wound to close. Her eyes widened as it did. "I d-didn't know you could d-do that," she said to the plant mage. "St-still, I think that was enough for a p-Pact; th-thank you." Vivian took a seat behind the bag, facing the book; after a few seconds, she closed her eyes and began concentrating for the ceremony. A small, pink magic circle appeared above the book; it began to fire a small beam at the book, engraving a symbol onto the page between Malm and Vivian's blood. After a few minutes, a magical design lay on the paper. When the design was finished, it glowed slightly for a second before dimming; the magic circle disappeared as it dimmed. 

Vivian finally opened her eyes, looking up at Malm with a shy smile. "Th-thank you," she said gratefully to the plant mage. "Y-you're the second Pact I have right n-now. I w-wonder what I got f-from you? I g-guess I'll find out." She closed the book carefully, placing it gingerly back into the bag before standing up with the bag. "I guess we sh-should split up now?" She said to Malm.

"I guess there was still enough sunlight for me to heal." Malm said as he carefully observed where the cut on his finger was. He then look over at Vivian as she started the ceremony. It amazed him as he saw the pink beam appear seemingly out of nowhere before engraving a symbol on the paper. He couldn't quite tell what the symbol meant, but guessed it had something to do with the magic Vivian had gained from him.

"No problem Vivian. I'm happy to help." Malm then said with a smile in response to her thanks. He did grew curious about who her first pact was, but decided to keep his question to himself. They had a job to do afterall, and shouldn't distract themselves with such things.

"Only if you want to. It was more of a..." Malm began to reply before noticing something in the distance, "What's that?"

The member 'timmir1' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Vivian followed Malm's gaze, her eyes finding what looked like a cloud in the distance. "W-what?" She muttered; it was far too close to the ground to be an actual cloud, but it didn't look like anything else in particular. Upon closer inspection, however, she realized what they were: Beetles. There were a large number of them, all flying, which is why they looked like a cloud. Vivian began to focus, concentrating; maybe Emilia's form would let her get them out of the way in one fell swoop? Or maybe she should try-
"Vivian."
Vivian's whole body stiffened immediately, shocked. What was that she had just heard? She knew that voice. But he was dead; there must be something going on. Sweat beaded on the girl's forehead as she racked her mind for some way to-
"Vivian, get over here."
Another burst of sound broke her concentration again. She was visibly shaking now; something was very wrong here. What was going on? Her subconscious slowly began pulsing with sound, with voices of him and other people long dead. Her eyes flickered from one place to the next, not really seeing. Vi was saying something, but it was impossible to hear over the din in her head.
It was a sudden moment of clarity that brought the answer. Vivian's eyes locked onto the one thing that could be causing this - the beetles. They were almost on top of her and Malm now, buzzing incessantly. They must be the cause of her predicament. There was only one solution apparent - run.

Vivian took off into the woods, not caring which direction she fled in as long as she got away from those horrid beetles. After a while, the voices died down, and Vivian began to slow as well; before she could stop, however, her foot snagged on a tree root, causing her to hit the ground. She lay there for a moment, panting, before she heard another noise; she bolted upright, standing completely still as she waited for this new challenge ti appear.

The member 'Vivian Carmello' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :