Wild Arms and Dragon Fangs [Group Mission Rank C]

Hannah was mostly just concerned with the money. Yeah, impressing the powers that be was good, doing the right thing was good, but she needed to feed herself and keep a roof over her head. So she was mostly just waiting to get paid when she wasn’t about to laugh at Kotone. She jumped a bit when Taiga addressed her. She straitened up and looked a bit nervous. Apparently she was supposed to keep an eye on Roejaster. “Um… sure. Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on him.” She would help watch out for him, definitely, but she found the request a bit out of the blue. Oh, well.

Apparently the cowboy and Hannah were a thing now, or at least that’s what Kotone said. “Yeah whatever you say hun… You’re not too bad yourself I guess…” She still wasn’t completely sure about that to be honest. “If you stuck around we could make more money I’m sure…” Hannah had never worked in a group before, but she was subtly referring to the group as a team now. She wasn’t opposed to teamwork, and it made more money. So she was hoping the three of them would stick together and make more cash. “And apparently I am supposed to keep an eye on you now.” She said turning to grin at Roejaster.

They had just got done with some serious work, and Hannah wanted to relax. “Well… how about lets go get some drinks and relax? I think we earned it. Come on.” She didn’t really leave it up for debate as she headed to the bar. She thought about challenging Kotone to a drinking contest, but figured that would not go well even if it was entertaining to ponder.

Word Count 2620/1500

Roejaster pulled his hat up and ran his fingers through his hair, before fixing the hat back on "Glad we got your icy stamp of approval" he smirked and perked an eyebrow towards her. He leaned against a pillar in the guild hall as the two girls chatted. Kotone hit him up for what he had going on now. Even Hannah threw a grin, and he smiled back.

That grin is trouble and he knew it, mainly because it sunk in deeper than he had honestly expected, though he didn't know why. All that thought out, he couldn't say no. Literally, Hannah went ahead and decided for them, she took the lead and sat at the bar. Roe just let out a chuckle and bowed a bit, and extended his arm out "After you kiddo." He then followed the two to a bar stool.

Roejaster sat at the bar in an almost instinctive fashion. Sat on the corner of the stool, leaned one arm into the bar, and kept his right leg straight (To compensate for the holster). He reached into this coat and dropped a bag of jewels on the bar "This rounds on me. Any type of non alcoholic beverage you like champ" he gave a Kotone a thumbs up and a big smile, clearly just trying to make her laugh. After the Taiga incident, he wanted to know how fast she put up her tough gal face. Roe held his hand up and called to the bartender "A cup of ice and a cup of ice cold Rootbeer for the kid, and two Clover Town Bourbons on the rocks for myself and Miss Jaymes." He made eye contact with Hannah and gave her a smirk and light eyes.

Kotone could recover much more quickly than most people thought, though it didn't mean she didn't like Roejaster as one of the few people who didn't drive her insane. She kept standing there as the other two went and sat at the bar. Of course the two adult types would want their foul-smelling drinks, eh? She was then told she could order anything she wanted. Non-alcoholic of course. Good to see he was watching out for her. She raised an eyebrow and walked to the bar, sitting on the opposite side of Roejaster as Hannah. Her legs didn't reach the floor.

"I thought you said anything non-alcoholic," she said as she took the rootbeer he'd ordered for her. She was giving him a hard time as well, though her voice was steady as if she might be upset. She wasn't. She took the mug of rootbeer and the glass of ice, popping the ice in her mouth like a snack (because for her, it actually kinda was) and drinking the rootbeer separately.

"I wouldn't call it a blessing, by the way," she said, a slight grin crossing her face as she stared into her mug. "You're a big boy now, Cowboy. You can make your own mistakes." As she finished the last sentence, she turned to face him, giving him an impish grin. Of course she couldn't resist pushing Hannah's buttons. Not if it also meant she got to tease the gunslinger at the same time. That was fun too.

Roejaster bought the first round and Hannah had no problem with that. Free alcohol was the best tasting alcohol. Of course Kotone wasn’t drinking alcohol. She should have, it would have made things more interesting, and maybe a bit more destructive and icy. Hannah wouldn’t mind, it would be more interesting either way.

“Let me guess, you’re too young to drink aren’t you?” She was mostly teasing and wanted to see if she could get a rise out of Kotone. Hannah watched Kotone drink the rootbeer and eat the ice separately. Hannah had done that before, but with meals. She had eaten forks and knives and such after she ate her actual meal. She wasn’t about to do that around people though, since it kind of gave away things she didn’t want given away.

“Thanks for the drink cowboy.” Hannah said with a smirk she shot back at Roejaster. She would definitely have to spend some time with that man away from Kotone. She was being a major buzzkill at the moment. Hannah took a big drink of her bourbon.

“Don’t lie, you love us, and I don’t think he is making any mistakes. Roejaster seems to make fine choises from what I can tell.” Hannah didn’t know a whole lot about Roejaster, but she could tell what Kotone was trying to get at. The only way she could be more obvious was if she flat out told Roejaster to stop flirting with Hannah cause she didn’t like her.

"I never said you couldn't get something that'll give you a rush." He said gesturing to the ice and really having no idea what it felt like for a dragon slayer to consumer their element. He imagined it was something like drinking a cool drink of water on a hot day. Just revitalizing. He tipped his hat at the gratitude Hannah offered. She seemed to be on the same wave length as him, and that wasn't a bad thing at all.

Hannah stood up for him, rather quickly and frankly he was flattered. He sighed a bit and shifted his hat "I have made enough mistakes this lifetime. Having an extra set of eyes on me doesn't sound too bad."  He glanced down to his drink and spun the ice before knocking back a swig.

He reengaged his attention to the two girls and finished off his drink with another tip of the glass. He set the glass down and slid it down the bar to the tender, with a simple flick of his wrist. "Plus if I ever get too far out of line, I know the Hero of Hargeon will knock me around." He raised his hand in the shape of a gun and 'pulled the trigger' at her, with a smile behind it. He turned to Hannah "So Ms. Jaymes, I've got to admit your metal magic is impressive." He leaned back from the bar and made more of open conversation position between the three of them.

"Yeah... he made fine choices until he met you," Kotone grumbled, popping more ice into her mouth and angrily chewing. Hannah rubbed her the wrong way, even when she was being civil. She didn't even know why, she just knew she didn't want them to date. It was gross. Or something. Who cared? It just shouldn't happen. She'd only said anything to get a rise out of Hannah, and now she seemed to be taking it as a compliment.

Roejaster told Kotone that he'd made plenty of mistakes before. 'Enough' was the term he used. She wanted to tell him that if that were true, he should get up and walk away from Hannah right now. Whatever. Kotone took an angry swig of her rootbeer as well, setting it back down on the table a little too hard. At least nothing broke.

He was right though. She could knock some sense in to him if he got himself into trouble. He'd help her 'save' Hargeon not too long ago, though that whole hero thing hadn't exactly stuck. She got in trouble on her next visit and people quickly forgot the good parts. Oh well. It had been nice while it lasted. She deflated slightly, taking another drink as Roejaster complimented Hannah's magic.

Kotone thought her own magic was stronger, being a dragon slayer and all... but she'd already complimented Hannah, herself, so... She guessed he had her there. Even if she did want to say something else to poke Hannah at the moment.

Roejaster mentioned that he had made enough mistakes. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll help make sure you don’t make too many more mistakes.” Hannah wasn’t even trying to be flirty right now. She had agreed to keep an eye on Roejaster, but even if she hadn’t agreed to, she liked him enough to want to keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble. Well, all the trouble that wasn’t fun anyway.

He complimented Hannah on her magic, and she kind of wished she could tell Roejaster more about it, but she knew better. It would just complicate things too much. She knew telling people she was a dragon slayer was not the best plan. “Thanks. Your gunslinging is pretty impressive too.” She would have asked more or said more, but Kotone seemed intent on causing trouble.

Hannah downed the rest of her drink and slammed the glass down hard, but not hard enough to break anything. “Whats your problem? I’m trying to be nice and civil, and just enjoy a drink after a good days work, and you just keep being a jerk! If you’ve got a problem with me, say it to my face.” Hannah had kind of had enough. The earlier comments had been semi-subtle, but this was not.

He just gave a smile and wink to the green haired Iron wielder. "The requip style wasn't nearly as hard to master as you'd thi--" that's when Hannah railed into Kotone for her back bitten comment. Roejaster simply sighed and then stood between the two, before anything got so seriously out of hand .

"Alright Kotone don't bother answering, I'll tell both of you how this conversation is going to go. First Kotone lay off the girl for at least today, we all did a great job and deserve to be able to put aside our issues and just celebrate. Hannah, take what she says with a grain of salt for the next few hours. She  rarely gets close to people, so when she uses the word FRIEND, she'd take on the whole Magic Council to help them. She just has a funny way of trying to protect them. Frankly I think you two compliment each other quite nicely. The icy hot head, and the Iron slinging fireball. Alone you are powerful enough. Though together nothing could stop you." He leaned against the bar and looked up at the ceiling. "One thing I hope you can at least agree on is, that y'all at least enjoy a good fight. And a good fight that was, so lets enjoy it."

As his eyes came back down to the two girls, he was rather surprised he got in the middle of it. I guess he was really starting to make friends after all. It was only a matter of time I guess. "Now now I'm not saying y'all have to be best friends, as much as you like the fight. Try and enjoy the victory too." He just grinned again and relaxed a bit in his shoulders.

"... I'd take on the whole magic council anyway..." Kotone grumbled quietly. Roejaster probably couldn't hear it over the noise, but that didn't mean that Hannah couldn't with her enhanced senses. Not that Kotone knew about those just yet.  She rolled her eyes at Roejaster, but didn't argue, signifying that she did, in fact, respect him enough to listen. Which was probably a good thing. "I don't want him getting hurt." she said seriously, though sounding a bit put off at being lectured by Roejaster.

This was how things went with the ice dragon slayer. She wasn't as mature as she wanted to think she was, and she didn't know how to handle too much friendliness, especially when she irrationally disliked something about Hannah. Even she knew that the woman hadn't done anything wrong aside from making the foul tempered girl angry by poking where she hadn't wanted her to.

Kotone munched on some more ice and sipped at her rootbeer quietly, wondering if she should just escape Magnolia for awhile. Sure, Roejaster had defended her hostility on some level, but Kotone didn't need defended. She could take care of herself, at least in her mind. She had done so for nine years, after all.

Kotone reached into her pouch, pulling out a few jewels and coating them in a thin layer of slick ice so that they would slide easier. She slid the jewels over to Hannah, and they stopped smoothly in front of her. "Buy some more of your death drink," she said in a tone colder than the gesture suggested before looking away from the other two and glaring at some random guildies off to the other side.

Hannah was ready for another fight with Kotone, but Roejaster stepped between them and pulled out another inspirational speech. She watched and listened as the man kind of put them both in their place. Hannah knew she should keep her cool more. This was ironic since she was not the ice magic user. Yeah, they did complement each other, but Hannah didn’t want to admit it. She could see working together they were more affective, but she still wanted to personally be the best out there.

Hannah was taken aback by Rojaster’s intervention, but she wasn’t really settling down until she heard Kotone say she didn’t want Roejaster getting hurt. That was genuinely kind of sweet and it made Hannah sigh. She could get behind that, well kind of. She had never really had anyone she cared about a lot, but she always wanted to. So that comment struck a chord with her and she noticeably relaxed.

Alright, Hannah would take what Kotone said with a grain of salt, at least for a bit. “I don’t want him getting hurt either.” She said quietly as she drank more, then Kotone slid her some coins. She was told to buy some more death drink. It was a cold comment, but Hannah tried to let that roll off. She pulled out some coins and slid them down the table to Kotone. “Buy some more of your not death drink.” Then Hannah ordered another drink and took a big swig of it. She looked at Roejaster and her eyes said thanks for calming them down. She kind of felt stupid for getting so upset and losing her cool.

He couldn't help but soften up a bit when he heard how the two girls felt. It was touching it really was. He hadn't heard those kinds of words for a long long time, at least directed at him. The tension was still there, but it didn't feel like a bomb was about to go off. I mean sure a duel is always good fun, but frankly Roe didn't want to see Taiga walk out of his office, while the girls managed to break one of his precious plates of furniture. Last time the wizard ended up stuck in the ceiling... We may or may not have forgotten about him until he woke up 4 hours later.

Roejaster Slouched into the bar as he leaned against it. He watched the exchange of Jewels as the coins bounced and slid on the hard mahogany, he simply gave a large exhale and then cracked a grin again "See that wasn't so bad was it?" He said with a smirk. He waved off the next round and just started chewing on the ice. It was a rather refreshing feeling "So Kiddo what's your plan after this? You know there's always an extra cot for you around here." Then he raised his empty glass spinning the remaining cubes.

"What about you darlin?" He asked gesturing to Hannah "Since you call this home, you have anything lined up after this?"

Kotone hadn't lightened up like Roejaster had. Mostly because she took rather badly to being scolded, even when she knew she deserved it. The effort was sincere, however, and she enjoyed her second rootbeer on Hannah's dime, even though she'd passed more than that to her for alcohol. A second glass of ice was set next to her, but she ignored it for the moment. "Taiga says the same thing, you know." she shrugged. Her stuff was in the girls' dorm building anyway. She usually stayed a week or so when she visited out of convenience and the fact that Fairy Tail was always exciting.

She pushed her rootbeer away slightly as well, turning her purposefully cold stare she usually wore on the other two members of their temporary team. "I've spent a long time in Magnolia," she told them, having already decided to skip town within the next day or so. "I can't always let the heroing come to me, you know. Some of us travel for a reason." Not to be tied down or overly persuaded to stick around certain people was one of those reasons. The other was the one she was hinting at though. She had to go out and protect people. It was in her nature to do so.

Hannah was glad Roejaster seemed to relax. That and everyone relaxed. Fighting was fun, but getting pummeled by Taiga did not sound like a blast. And Hannah was destructive, so getting into a fight indoors tended to damage things. It was probably for the best things were simmering down. Kotone seemed to get invited to stay a lot, but never took the chance. Hannah was definitely getting the feeling the girl liked to move around. Hannah wanted to point out that if heroing was coming to Kotone, then she must be the problem, but she didn’t want to stir things up.

“I mostly play things by ear. I don’t have anything lined up after this.” Hannah took a casual approach to working. She did a job, got paid, enjoyed life, ran out of money, then worked again. So far it worked pretty well. ”What about you? Got any plans?” She asked Roejaster. She figured he did. “And what about you Kotone? Where you heading out to?” She was playing nice and figured idle chit chat would be a good way to do that. She honestly wanted to spend more time with Roejaster, and not around people that would blow up at any idle flirting.

The gunslinger nodded and tipped his hat to the little Ice Dragon Slayer "I get ya kid. Well you can't say we don't always have a good time when you're in town" he gave her a wink to align the compliment. He then started chewing on another piece of ice. It was soothing a bit, he could understand why Kotone did it.... Wait... Nope, she ate because she is magically attuned to it.... Well... She might like it as just an appetite kind of thing. This would take a little more thought... His thoughts broke away as he started listening to Hannah ask about his plans and explain her own. He was really even starting to like the way her voice sounded. There was a weird bug in the air and he think he came down with it. "I was thinking about picking up another Money Maker, but I hear something on the wind calling an adventure."

Kotone seemed restless, it looks like she really was heading out. "Well kid where ever you end up. You know me and the big man got your back if you ever need us." He gave her a thumbs up with a smile behind it.

Kotone made another ‘psh’ noise when Roejaster told her she couldn’t say she didn’t always have fun in Magnolia. “Yeah, if you call being Taiga’s personal errand girl fun,” she responded, though it wasn’t very convincing. Not that she was trying to be.  Roejaster’s attention turned to Hannah for the moment, and she, in turn, had a moment to think about what she would be dong next. She would leave in the morning. After today, she was a bit too tired to pack things up and leave. Besides, Sid was having a great time napping in her guest room and she hated to take him from it without notice, right?

“Who knows where I’ll end up?” she said, winking back at Roejaster.  “I’m cursed with good looks and a knack for trouble. I could be anywhere this time tomorrow.” She stood up from the bar, closing her eyes and popping some more ice into her mouth. Ice was great, because not only did she love it, but it was usually a free meal if she didn’t want to spend money. Too bad she couldn’t eat ice created from her spells. “I’m rather beat though, so I’m gonna go get some rest. It’s been a busy day.” She opened her eyes and looked at the other two with a slight grin. “Metal Head,“ she didn’t sound like she was actually trying to be insulting… or at least not very insulting. “Take care of the old guy alright?”

Roejaster wasn’t actually old, but even he wasn’t immune to Kotone randomly deciding to poke at him. She had allowed a cool grin to break the icy expression she’d had earlier. “And don’t burn Fairy Tail to the ground while I’m gone. I’m not the only one who trouble follows.” With that, she took her leave, walking out of Fairy Tail to head for the girls’ dorms as she waved goodbye without looking back.

-Exit-

Kotone seemed intent on leaving, and Hannah might even miss her a bit. It was kind of nice having someone around to fight with who could fight back. Even though that caused all sorts of problems. Eh, problems could be fun. On second thought maybe them being apart for a sometime wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“Well, next time you are in Magnolia give us a shout. I’ll take care of the old guy.” She teased Roejaster a bit, finding it fun. “And I’ll make sure he doesn’t shoot too many holes in the guild. Take care Ice Queen.” Even though they fought, she really didn’t want any harm to come to Kotone, so that at least was genuine. Hannah sighed and finished her drink once Kotone was out of sight. She contemplated ordering another one, but she didn’t, not yet anyway.

She turned to Roejaster and leaned against the bar. She remembered he said he had something about an adventure. “So, got an itch for an adventure do you? Got room for some company on that adventure?” She was not being subtle about this at all, and the tone of her voice changed to be a bit more flirtatcious now. Kotone wasn’t there to rain on the parade.

There it was. Kotone was being true to her Kotone self. He settled into his heels, when he saw the little gal turn around and wave them off all he could do was smile. That little Dragon Slayer had one thing going for her to say the least, tenacity. "Go get'em kid" he said under his breath.

As the large doors shut behind the Ice Dragon Slayer, Roejaster turned and just look into Hannah's eyes. Just silent for a moment, enjoying her deep purple eyes. It was really the first moment had a chance to really look at Hannah. The whole time he was just smirking. Finally he spoke up "Yeah the wind is calling for a good time." He said with a cocked smile. Roejaster leaned in close to Hannah, keeping eye contact the whole time, until finally he kissed her on the cheek. Pulling back from the peck "Meet me at the gates tomorrow at sunrise. Let's go see what Fiore has in store for us."

Roejaster "Wild Arms" Rallands walked out of the Guild Hall and through the all too familiar doors. As he walked out the sun was setting. Seemed oddly poetic. Sunrise he we come.

Roejaster turned to Hannah after Kotone had gone and he just looked into Hannah’s eyes. At first it wasn’t too bad, but after a bit Hannah started to blush without thinking of it. She didn’t often feel girly, but she did right then. It wasn’t even a bad kind of girly either. Hannah was going to say something but she got interrupted with a peck on the cheek. It wasn’t much of a kiss, but Roejaster could put on the charm. She felt all bubbly inside from the kiss, small as it was.

It took Hannah a second to refocus and say something to Roejaster. “Alright, I’ll see you at the gates bright and early. Goodnight cowboy.” She watched him walk off and enjoyed the sight of it. This would be interesting. Hannah never traveled with people, and Roejaster wasn’t just someone. That much was abundantly clear now. She had orders to watch him closely, and she would definitely be doing that. She would be watching him very closely.

After that, Hannah got another drink and downed it before she headed back to her room to pack. She would pack light, just the essentials and clothes. Anything else she needed she could get on the way. It was going to be hard to sleep that night, she had a lot on her mind.