Wild Arms and Dragon Fangs [Group Mission Rank C]

The sun was beginning to set as the brown-haired dragon slayer walked calmly down the alleyway in the streets of Magnolia. She had her hands in her black jacket's pockets, and her posture was very relaxed, almost bored. The exciting part had yet to begin, after all. The night's air was cool, and cooling down rapidly. Kotone loved it, of course. It only made her feel more energetic and ready to get down to business.

She'd spent her time resting while the others had gathered what clues they could, since she'd used so much magical power when the giant of a man called Atrum had helped her finish Taiga's first request. Now she was back to full strength, and more than ready to use it.

The streets were near-empty in the cold winter night, at least in this part of town. In the distance, dogs could be heard barking at whatever made a noise. The lights flickered a bit in the alleys as the light-producing lacrima fluctuated in the lamp posts. She would be humming, but Kotone wasn't known for suddenly breaking out into a tune. No, that wasn't her style.

Finally, as she rounded the corner she caught the familiar scent of Hannah and Roejaster. It was time to find out what they'd discovered. "Any luck with the search?" Kotone asked as she rounded the corner, a small, cocky grin on her face. She raised her head to face them properly, adopting a more cool readied posture than her previous bored strut. "I'm ready to knock some heads."

Word Count 259/1500

Hannah flicked a stray strand of green hair out of her eyes as she stood in the alley, waiting for Kotone to show up. They had all split up for a bit to do some searching on their own and now they were regrouping. Hannah had on her black leather jacket over her green tank top to block the cool night air, and a pair of frayed blue jeans and her combat boots. She didn’t mind the cold, but preferred to be comfortable to cool.

Hannah had went out and asked around the less reputable parts of the town for any rumors about any dark wizards. She hadn’t managed to find anything great, but she had gotten in a bar fight when she got accused of being noisy by a drunken brute. Hannah easily knocked some sense into the man and got a little information out of him. She was happy to share it when their impromptu team, put together by Roejaster.

That was another thing, Roejaster. Hannah had caught herself thinking of him several times. He was cocky and the first introduction she had to him really was him jumping in the middle of a perfectly good fight and breaking it up. It had pissed her off at the time, but it had stuck with her.

Kotone finally showed up and Hannah couldn’t help but at least give her a small amount of teasing. “Took you long enough. Yeah, I’ve had a bit of luck. Talked to a drunk who said he talked to a shady looking and mean wizard who had a purple snake on his jacket. But that’s all the luck I’ve had so far.” She hadn’t asked Roejaster what he knew yet, she had just waited on Kotone to get her lazy butt there.

Word Count 298/1500

Rallands was leaning against the wall, one foot propped up, next to Hannah. He squinted as he looked on to the setting sun. Wearing his signature hat and long coat combo, he had one hand stuffed into his pocket. Squinting a bit as he kept his eyes on the sunset "One of my favorite parts of this town. The twilight skyline." He said with a soft look to his face, no smirk, just a look of memory across his face.

He had found a gang of thugs in one of the back alleys of the south end of town. Roejaster had a way of words with the local 2 bit gangs that riddled remotes of town. When you once ran the Outlands of Fiore, punks with slingshots and daddy issues, are terribly easy to get information out of. One of the kids mentioned that they were ran out of there "headquarters" by some new group that has been recruiting hard core around town.

Roejaster shifted his glance towards Hannah, he caught himself grinning as he glanced at her. There was something about her that Roe couldn't put his finger on, she was on his mind, the entire time he "questioned" the punks. Now that he was next to her again, he somewhat felt glad just to see her again. Enter the Ice Dragon Slayer. He tried to shake off his racing thoughts. "Well looks like we've got an icon to follow. Good work Hannah." he gave her a genuinely impressed smile "I managed to dig up our first spot. There's an old market building on the south end of town, word on the street is there's been a new tenant, and if I'm piecing this together. I think we'll find Hannah's purple snake." He stepped his foot down and rolled his shoulder loosening up a bit "Ass kicking ladies first."

Word count: 310/1500

Kotone held her tongue when Hannah jabbed at her for being a little late for once. She had heard what was going on from Taiga after all, and was happy to focus her aggression on people more immediately deserving of it. Both she and Roejaster gave what news they had. Apparently they'd both waited for her to share.

A man with a snake on his back, huh? That would certainly stand out if they came across him. Kotone nodded seriously, not speaking up as the other two shared their news. Roejaster gave them his usual ladies' first and Kotone took off in front of the two of them, her usual antisocial behavior causing her to not try and walk too close to them.

After a few moments she glanced back at the pair. "So, you two lovebirds stay out of trouble while I was gone then?" she asked them as a small grin crossed her face, mostly as a jab to Roejaster. Her eyes shifted back to the forward position. "Don't think I missed those puppy eyes you gave each other earlier. ugh." She was going to have to have words with Roejaster if he actually liked someone like Hannah. Words about taste and self respect. She'd also have to have a talk with Hannah about falling for mysterious men. She was sure Hannah would appreciate her protecting them from each other as much as Roejaster would. Oh well.

Arriving at the destination, Kotone eyed the market building door, waiting for the others to catch up and stand either beside her or behind her. Once they approached, she acted. Her hands never left her pockets, but she reached out and kicked the door in casually, walking into the dark building. She could see a lamp sitting on a crate, and a rather surprised man with a leather jacket recoiling from her. "Well well, looks like they were right about snakes infesting the building," Kotone told her companions with a grin on her face. "Good thing they called us to take care of it." Kotone strode forward, looking casual and confident, a ferocious glint to her eye that the man was sure to notice.

word count: 622/1500

Hannah had shared her information with the team and Roejaster had seemed impressed. A smile slowly drifted across Hannah’s face because of that. “Thanks” Hannah said with that smile still on her face. She had noticed the cowboy glancing at her and smiling and that made her feel all girly inside. That was something she did not often feel and it was weird to her. She tried not to show it though.

Roejaster had found a location to go to that he had a hunch would be a good place to start. It sounded as good as any to Hannah to start. “Sounds like a good place to start looking.” He let the ass kicking ladies go first and that made Hannah grin. “Why thank you.” She really liked when people told her how awesome she was, and she was pretty awesome, or at least that’s how she felt about herself. She let Kotone take the lead, this way she would be the first one in trouble.

After a bit Kotone asked if the lovebirds had stayed out of trouble. This actually got a surprised reaction out of Hannah. The comment was out of the blue and Hannah’s eyes got big for a second as her face turned slightly rosy. “We’re not lovebirds and I haven’t been making any puppy eyes…” She said as her surprised face turned into a slight glare. Hannah was being a bit childish, and she was well aware what Kotone said was the truth. However, she was going to deny it. Hannah was fine being called out for flirting with a guy, but lovebirds and puppy eyes just made her feel vulnerable for some reason. Hannah would not enjoy having a talk with Kotone on the subject. She would not enjoy it one little bit.

They finally arrived at their destination and Hannah was glad to have something to do other than think and walk. Kotone kicked in the door, cocky as ever. Hannah rolled her eyes a bit. The man in the jacket looked very startled by the sudden intrusion. Hannah piped up and said, “Dude, don’t run or fight, it will just hurt more.” He did not listen and took off running. Hannah sighed and asked, “Who wants dibs?”

Word Count: 674/1500

There it was, Kotone talked about the subtly happy elephant in the corner that was just stepping out by itself, on it's own time. Nope, she dragged it out with a leash. As Hannah started to turn red and get defensive, Roejaster realized that Kotone was absolutely right, he couldn't help but laugh. "Puppy eyes huh? I guess a dog like me can't help himself when he meets someone who got his tail wagging." he closed his eyes in a happy smile, definitely part nervous. WHY AM I NERVOUS?

And here they were, the market building was falling apart at parts. Boarded up windows, tag marks, and the occasional raccoon darting from here to there. Roejaster called Mercy into existence. Kotone definitely knew how to make an entrance, Roe couldnt' help by laugh at the "well played kid." The poor sucker who was set up at the door stammered to a fault and ran like a baby. Mercy just then appeared in the guslinger's hand. Kotone and Hannah handed down the detaining of the purple snake to him. Turns to Hannah "Pain it is I guess." He shrugs as a loud cracking gunshot echoes from Mercy's barrel. The thug screamed and spun to the right slamming against a wall. The man fell to the ground grasping his shoulder and cursing the mages.

As the man opened his eyes "You mother Fu- I-I-I-I" Roejaster was standing over him and long barrel staring him right in the face. "Now buddy, I recommend you answer these few questions, or I can turn you over to these very dangerous women." the purple snake suddenly gets 'tough' "You honestly think I-" Roejaster presses his barrel to the guys eye, digging a bit into his socket "You've got two options. 1. tell me where your buddies are and what y'all think you're doing? Or B. Try to to talk back again, where I can guarantee that you could think up the worst possible torture  and then multiply it by Frozen Metal, and then you have a fraction of a glimpse of what these girls have in store for you? So what do you say?"  
The man trembled for a second with his breath held, and slowly just pointed to a door to the right of the entrance, Roejaster cocked back the hammer "Come on now, don't be afraid to speak up." he said with his signature smirk, and sharp eyes. The man quickly and quivered as he spoke "They're down the stairs!" THWACK, smacked the guy over the head with the back of his large revolver. He stood up and dropped Mercy into his right holster "Alright, let's go clean up the clutter."

Word Count: 758/1500

MP 175/200:

Kotone made a "hmph," sound in mild surprise when Roejaster took the initiative and shot the man clean through the shoulder. It was obvious he wasn't hurt, though she could already smell the blood amidst the smell of the revolver itself. That thing truly was wicked. Kotone's smile had disappeared, though she didn't look unhappy. Violence was her thing, after all, and this man deserved it.

Instead she stood there. Her hands had never left her pockets. The fire from an impending fight had changed to what may have been a bored look in her eyes. She was honestly a bit jealous that the cowboy was the one that got to work the cowardly punk over. Wild arms shoved the gun in the man's eye, causing him to scream and stammer as Roejaster got surprisingly violent. It looked like she'd been right about him not just being a friendly cowboy type.

"Looks like your boyfriend's pretty good at this." Kotone commented quietly to Hannah as the interrogation went on. Or the threat of interrogation, more like. The guy panicked as the dragon slayer heard the gun cocked. "They're down the stairs!" he screamed in a panic. Thwack. Roejaster's arm moved in a near blur and the man was out cold. Probably with the threat of a pretty bad headache when he woke up.

Kotone's smile returned as Roejaster commented. Kotone finally removed her hands from her pockets, cracking her knuckles and grinning her fangy grin as her stance righted to a ready one. "About time. Now I'll show you what a dragon slayer can do."

Word Count 887/1500

Hannah wasn’t sure how to take what Roejaster said about getting his tail wagging. Normally she would have flirted back. But they were working and Kotone was here and making comments. That bugged Hannah more than it should have, and she was not happy about that.

Hannah chuckled a bit when Roejaster took the initiative and shot the man in the shoulder. It looked painful, but she warned him not to run or fight. Oh well, he deserved it. She was surprised at how violent the cowboy got, but she didn’t mind, violence was one of her favorite things. Sticking the gun in the guy’s eye still looked like it really hurt though. “Ouch, you should have taken the easy option man. I warned you.”

Kotone remarked about Hannah’s boyfriend being good at this and she knew the Ice Dragon Slayer was just trying to get under her skin. She shot an annoyed glare at Kotone, and said, “Not my boyfriend…” She was mostly focused on the mission, and trying not to engage the other dragon slayer in a fight of words. She really wanted to though. Normally comments like that didn’t bother Hannah, but for some reason this time they were.

The man admitted the others were downstairs, and Hannah took point as she kicked the door in and went downstairs. Kotone made a comment about showing what a dragon slayer could do. Hannah wished she could make some comment about that. They didn’t know her secret though. “I am sure you will show them, now come on.” The stairs went down for a while until they finally came to a tunnel. It was a long wooden hall lit by the occasional lamp hanging from the ceiling, and was just wide enough for three people to walk next to each other. It looked like a mining tunnel that had been closed in boards. Occasionally the earth behind the wood was visible through the cracks between boards. The tunnel went on for a long distance and Hannah couldn’t see the other end through the dim lamp light. She took a few steps into the tunnel when suddenly the floorboards under her feet collapsed. Hannah managed to grab the edge of the newly created pit. She looked down and saw about twenty feet below her were a bunch of wicked looking spikes. “That looks painful…” She was glad she managed to grab the edge before she fell.

Word Count 1080/1500

Hannah took point leading the team down into the catacomb like level underneath the building. Kotone seemed pretty fired up, contrary to her magical element. Ready to show us what a Dragon Slayer can do, Roejaster chuckled a bit "It's always a sight to see."  The dimly lit area allowed for much to possibly go wrong. Roejaster could only assume something would be waiting for them, though not entirely sure what that may be. As they walked shoulder to shoulder, Roe did his best to keep his senses about him, his hand barely moving as it cautiously hovered over Mercy, ready to let rounds fly at any moment.

Just then a cracking sound echoed as the floorboards under Hannah suddenly gave way. Roejaster pivoted on his heel and laid out his body to the ground next to the cave in. His eyes were trailed on Hannah's hand as she fell, he quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist, just as her hand clasped the edge of the pitfall.
He looked at the same sight Hannah was commenting on "Yeah, that could ruin your day pretty quick" he sat there for a moment and then reached is other hand out to her "Come on, we've don't want to keep our dates for the dance waiting." put his feet underneath him and helped Hannah back to her feet "Can't have you clocking out yet." he gave a slight nod and a smirk. He then looked at Kotone and pointed down the hallway. "Something tells me this place isn't up to code. Mind bringing it up to specs?"

The team came up to two large wooden doors "Ten jewels says they're behind this door. Well let's go say hi." He summoned Black Hawk.

1,048/1,500

MP 150/200:

As Hannah fell, Kotone nearly moved to catch her, though Roejaster's impeccable speed and timing saved her from having to react much at all. "Looks like they're trying to make a point about visitors." Kotone nodded, stepping over to see the spikes. As Roejaster lifted Hannah up, he asked her to 'bring the place back up to code." She grinned. "No problem, Cowboy. Ice Dragon Roar!" she shouted, coating the place in ice in front of them. It might be slippery, but at least it should add some extra reinforcement to any of the cruder traps in the area.

The group walked to the door, which Roejaster claimed to be the one the group was most likely behind. Which made sense being the only door.  Kotone looked the door up and down, noting thet heavy steel. It probably wasn't reinforced since people used it to go in and out of this place. Reaching out her hands, Kotone figured she may as well be the one to make an entrance both times. keep up the status quo.

She flung the heavy doors open with surprising ease for her size. They hit the walls with a clang, and the large open room full of people turned to look at the intruders. "Knock knock." Kotone told them with a grin. The place had a corner with what appeared to be a bunch of lacrima, empty and filled, next to holder items, some of which had slots filled and some didn't. In another corner were people bound and gagged in a few cages. It looked like they were rather weak.

The leader, the one who had been speaking to the others, looked at the group. "So someone's found our little guild's hideout eh?" The punk had an attitude to match his purple mohawk and leather jacket.  He also had a scarf, strangely enough, and a wicked-looking Katana strapped to his back. Was he a holder mage? "What brings you to our humble abode? Hmm?"

Word Count: 1217/1500

MP 175/200:

Hannah was grateful for being caught. Those spikes really could have ruined her day. She used Roejaster’s arm and managed to pull herself back out with his help. “Thanks for the save. Don’t worry, I won’t clock out just yet.” She said as she got her footing again and dusted herself off.

Kotone roared and covered the tunnel with ice. That would probably clog up any more traps, at least until the ice melted. Sadly Hannah was not a fan of walking on ice and slipped every now and then as they went. Finally they made it to some large wooden doors. Kotone felt the need to make another entrance. Eventually that would come back to bite her. Hannah shook her head a bit at the display.

Looks like they had found the right place. The room was full of people and magic items. The leader of this little rag tag group of dark wizards looked cocky. Purple Mohawk and a sword, and an attitude. Yeah, she was going to have to teach this guy a lesson. “Well, we don’t really like dark guilds in our town. So, I guess we are here to shut you down. So if you all could just give up, that would be great.” Hannah said, trying to match the cocky leader’s attitude with her own.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. If you could just turn around and leave, that would be great. Thing is, we couldn’t let you do that, since you found our hideout.” The members of the dark guild were preparing for a fight and slowly moving toward the team. “So I guess we will just have to kill you. Get them!” Their leader yelled as the gang of dark wizards attacked. A pair of them who also each was wielding a sword rushed Hannah. Luckily she was able to activate her Iron Hide spell first. The first one to get to her swung with a powerful downward arch. Hannah blocked it with her left arm, her iron armor able to absorb the attack. The second one wasn’t on her yet so she figured she would keep it that way. Hannah turned her right arm into a cannon, using her Wrecking Ball attack and launching a cannon ball at the charging mage. He wasn’t fast enough and caught the cannon ball in the stomach. It knocked the air out of him and sent him flying backwards.

Word Count 1485/1500

MP 175/200::

As the deceptively strong Ice Dragon Slayer flung the doors open. Roejaster's hunch was right on the money. Kotone seemed like she was a bout to go feral, it made Roe chuckle a bit at her. Hannah on the other hand, kept a cool anticipation about her. He adjusted his hat as he scanned the room, dark, dim, purple and black everywhere, a whole group of idiots, then it caught his eye. The cages of people who seemed to be very weak. Roejaster's eyes became cold though his smirk faded for a moment, then popped back up. His one eye on peering through a notch in his hat.

His two weapons hanging to his sides "The lady has a point, but I need to thank you. Seems I won a bet." As the gang of dark guild underlings made at the team of wizards, their leader sat back with two of his bigger lackies. Hannah took a frontal blow from one of the thugs, but seemed to throw up a defensive spell in time, then countered with one hell of a blast. Roejaster saw that as his opening, he dashed forward and tailed behind the cannon ball "Come on Kid, follow the leader!" he called out to Kotone. Darting down the path that the cannon ball had cut through the group, The Gunslinger held both of his arms out to his side, both guns facing outward and unleashed Quick Draw, locking onto 6 figures to the right, and comboing with Under Fire, letting a storm of bullets fly from Black Hawk into the group on the left. The poor thugs were peppered by the attacks. The leader and his two lackies were dead ahead. He made eye contact with the head honcho and then suddenly broke to the left.

Roejaster skidded to a halt right in front of the cages and posted up "I've got the civilians covered! Let a rip girls!" He raised up his guns in preparation to lay down cover fire.

1,382/1,500

MP: 115/200:

Kotone took Roejaster's cue and kept behind him as he followed the wrecking ball's path. Roejaster kept the thugs the wrecking ball didn't wreck away, and when he finally jumped to the side, Kotone had made some major headway into the group of cultists. She stopped, a practically feral smile on her face.

"You people are sick for whatever it is you're doing to these people." she told them in what seemed to be an entirely too calm voice for her body language. It was obvious, however, that she was more than ready to get into the action herself as she cracked her knuckles while people surrounded her. "I'm going to enjoy beating each and every one of you to within an inch of your life. If you're lucky." By then, one of the thugs had charged up behind her, and she simply spun around, kicking his leg out from under him. He thudded on the ground. Hard.

Even Kotone wasn't one for talking too much when she got into a proper fight, and as she socked another guy in the face, she also used her hail shot, spitting out a ball of ice at another one, who stopped as she knocked the wind out of him and doubled over for the moment.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" the leader screamed as the thugs fell to the assault. He unsheathed his katana, which was immediately identifiable as a wind-enhanced weapon by the breeze that blew when he drew the blade. Kotone looked up just in time to see a blade of wind flying in her direction,and narrowly dodged the lightning-fast attack as her right sleeve tore from the wind's velocity. She was getting tired of having to fix her favorite jacket. "Damn." she cursed as she realized how much that would have hurt if she hadn't moved.

Word Count: 1527/1500

MP 165/200:

Hannah had cleared an attack path for Roejaster and Kotone. That was good because she totally did not intend to do that. Hannah had planned to let the thugs rush them and take them down as they came, but the other two went into the thick of things. Good thing they could handle it. And handle it they did. Roejaster unleashed a flurry of gunfire and Kotone let her fists and ice do the talking. Hannah was impressed and it made her want to try harder and do better.

Hannah still had one thug on her so she figured she would deal with that idiot with her Chain Sword. Her arm turned into a vicious chainsaw like sword. Hannah’s sword locked with the thug’s sword and after a couple seconds of grinding and straining, the thug’s sword snapped in half. Hannah smiled and punched the man in the face, taking him out of the fight.

Now she had an opening. She ran forward, past defeated minions, making a beeline for the head boss. She wanted to be the one who took him out, but before she could get there, one of the two bigger thugs rushed her. He pulled from the ground what appeared to be a large club made of stone, almost like using a broken stalactite as a club. Hannah was caught a bit off guard, but she still managed to dodge, if just barely. The club made an indent into the ground where she had just been. Hannah took her sword to the man. “Don’t get in my way!” she yelled angrily as he fell to the floor.

She hadn’t been able to get to her target before she was so rudely interrupted, but she figured she could still try and hurt him. Hannah was much better in melee, but she took another pot shot with her Wrecking Ball. The cannon ball flew across the room but was deflected by the leader’s sword. The leader let out a small mocking laugh, and Hannah nearly snarled back at him for it.

Word Count: 1828/1500

MP 155/200::

Roejaster kept his eyes on the entire group, scanning the thugs for an advantageous position. His teammates were handling themselves quite well. Lucky for them his first run did quite the number on the poor excuses for mages, some of them were down for the count, others were stammering to their feet, and the occasional few were actually managing to muster up some fighting spirit. Kotone came at them like a freight train. She dropped one of his bodyguards like a limp fish. Hannah made her move simultaneously, rushing the leader, with the other bodyguard getting in the way. Roe had the oaf in his sights, he took a swing at Hannah, before his green haired team mate dropped the man with a quick slash. Roe smiled at her and without even moving his eye line, nonchalantly fired a bullet at a guy trying to shoot her in the back.

The head of the goon squad had just as much bite as his bark. That sword he was slinging was no mere trinket. He nearly took down Kotone, but thanks to a lucky dodge she glanced it. Though he easily glanced Hannah's cannon ball. Roejaster kept the idiots left in the room dancing and ducking behind crates. Most of these guys really couldn't take a bullet to the leg. Pansies. He tried to figure out if there was anything he could do, he quickly scanned around the area near the guild leader.

He had an idea. "Is this all that you damn guildies got?! This is pathetic!" Roejaster threw Black Hawk into the air and it disappeared with a golden glow. He slipped Mercy into it's holster and stood in a draw stance, legs parted, shoulders facing his target, head down, and hands just above his hips. "Kotone bring this guy up to code! Hannah darlin, rush him and jump when you hear the gun shot!" He waited for Hannah to make her move, just then with a flash he was pushed back into one of the cages from the force of the shot. A kickback shot flew through the air and made contact right underneath Hannah's feet.

1,500/1,500

MP: 100/200:

Up to code, eh? Kotone hadn't recovered enough energy to use her ice dragon roar again, but she still had her fair share of tricks up her sleeve. Rushing the mohawked man straight on, she jumped into the air, getting there just about the time Hannah was launched. "Wings of the ice dragon!" her wings of ice crashed into the man, who stumbled backward into the nearby wall.

As Hannah flew at him, she jumped back to escape the impact, using a man's head to cartwheel over and kick him in the back of the knee. As he yelled and fell over, she elbowed him in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. She grinned a cocky, fang-filled grin as she heard another thug getting up behind her. Her foot shot down hard on his back, pinning him down with a loud yelp. Finally, she turned back around to see what damage was done by Hannah and Roejaster. "You always were one for putting on a show, Cowboy." she grinned as the dust cleared to reveal the aftermath. She knew the man loved his flash, and secretly she liked that about him. It was rather refreshing to see someone who enjoyed the art of fighting as much as the fight itself.

1750/1500 words

MP 155/200:

Hannah nodded at Roejaster and took off in a charge at the leader. She also turned her other arm into a Chain Sword while she sustained the first one. She didn’t know what Roejaster had planned, but he obviously had a plan. Suddenly she was hit with a powerful blast that laughed her even faster at the poor fool in her way. She held both her arms out like a spear and spun up the weapons.

Kotone got there just before she did and softened up the boss. Hannah didn’t care. She was having so much fun she almost yelled “Weeeeee!” as she flew into the leader of the gang. The impact was very powerful and her and the leader made a large crater in the wall. Good thing Hannah had on armor.

Hannah walked out of the rubble and dust choked hole in the wall, dusting off her jacket as she did. She let her arms go back to normal and her skin faded from iron to its natural state. “I like your style cowboy.” Hannah said with a devious grin. She enjoyed that display of violence far more than she should have, oh well. “You too Kotone. That was fun.” Hannah rolled her head around and cracked her neck. “I think we got em’ all. Those people okay?” She asked about the poor people they had in the cages.

Word Count: 2060/1500

MP 140/200::

The girls caught on, and executed perfectly. A quick audible by Kotone and an even quicker faster take down by Hannah, that's a recipe for a serious headache later. Roejaster could do nothing, but smile at the amazing display of teamwork from the three of them. Even though he used to run in a pretty thick gang, after branching out by himself for so long, he had to admit it felt pretty great having some allies with him.

Roe knew he was toast. He looked over to Kotone and gave her a nod and grin "You kicked some serious ass back there kiddo. Didn't expect anything less." As the dust cleared from the impressively sized crater, Hannah walked out nonchalantly with an almost entertained smile on her face. "I can say the same to you darlin." he graced her with a grin and a wink.a As she asked about the civillians, Roe turned around and smashed the lock on one of the cages "Good question. Y'all alright?"

Roejaster dropped the sword of the leader on Taiga's desk "I don't know about you pops, but I'd say it's a Request well done." The large legend of a man was signing a mound of compensation forms. Taiga looked up from his paper work with a cold warriors stare.... He took a moment and looked each one of them in the eye. Practically seeing into the depths of their souls. A strange chill ran up Roe's spine. Then within the next split second he had Kotone in the air in a large bear hug. Roe perked up his eyebrow and glanced at Hannah while he shrugged and laughed it off. "I knew you all were the kids for the job!"

1856/1500

Kotone kicked in the air as her arms were held down and she was lifted into the air by Fairy Tail's guildmaster. Why he did these things to her specifically she had no idea, but she always complained, and they both knew she was complaining more for show than anything else. "Put me down put me down!" she protested, though she was hung in the air for a good ten more seconds before he did.

Kotone looked a bit more ruffled than before, panting slightly from her kicking. But if you looked close you could see her eyes were practically grinning behind that indignant facade. She brushed the wrinkles out of her shirt and adjusted her short skirt and the loose tie she wore, and tried to look as composed and quietly angry as possible. The Guild Master knew better, probably even better than her.

She cleared her throat. "Of course we were the right ones. You've got a dragon slayer and two of Fairy Tail's stronger wizards in an alliance, right?" she answered, still maintaining the fake unhappiness, her eyes mostly closed as she frowned and she refused to make eye contact. She moved to the back of the room and leaned against the wall.

word count 1956/1500

Hannah was normally a solo act. She worked by herself and she liked it that way, but this time, working in a group definitely paid off. The company wasn’t bad either, but she still remembered Kotone was a jerk back at the café and wasn’t just going to forget it. However, Hannah knew she wouldn’t have gotten the job without the group, and even if she had, she couldn’t have handled all these jokers by herself. She was cocky, but not stupid.

Oh, a wink and a grin, he wasn’t even trying to hide the flirting, and Hannah was fine with this. She smiled and winked back at him but quickly moved back to the task at hand.

Back at Fairy Tail, the group turned in their successful job with the boss. Hannah felt nervous when Taiga looked her in the eyes. He could be an intimidating man, and him staring her in the eyes made her feel uneasy. Then suddenly the tension was broken as Kotone was crushed by a hug. Hannah looked at Roejaster and raised an eyebrow and shrugged when he shrugged at her.

Hannah almost busted up laughing when Kotone protested and flailed about, but she didn’t. It was very funny though, watching the tough dragon slayer turned into a little girl. “Of course we were perfect for it. Those jokers didn’t even stand a chance. They had some people captive, but we saved ‘em” Hannah wanted to ask for a bonus, but figured that would be too greedy. "So, you need anything else from us boss?"

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Taiga always had a way of breaking peoples defenses, Whether they liked it or not. To watch the indomitable spirit of the mighty Ice Dragon Slayer reduced to something as intimidating as a kitten was pretty entertaining. When Roe glanced back at Hannah, she looked like she was about to bust a stitch in laughter. She kept it wrangled in, which was probably for the best. Once Ranor set her down, he picked up the sword and examined it for a moment "Hmmm... " He didn't respond to the questions just sat in thought for a moment. He set the sword on top of a table underneath his window with care, and then sat back in his large chair behind his desk. He took the request form off his active request wall and stamped it with his personal Fairy Tail seal. He handed it to Roejaster "Here you go Rallands. You know the drill. Don't worry kid you will be aptly paid for your job well done." He said with a hardy smile on his face. He picked up his pipe and took a puff or two "And Jaymes I'm proud of you. Do me a favor and keep an eye on this cowboy." He remarked as he went back to paperwork and waved them out of the room.

Roejaster tipped his hat to the boss and turned around to leave, he grabbed the door and held it open for the two girls. As they started to leave Taiga spoke up again, much more hardened voice than before and was looking straight at Kotone "Be careful out there." His eyes were hard and serious, but his face was softened with worry.

They were now out in the Grand Hall of the guild house. "Seems Taiga sees a storm brewin."

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Kotone stayed glued to the wall for the rest of the interaction, a mix of proud and embarrassed by the old man, despite what continued to be a surly-looking expression. Taiga handed Roejaster the request form for the three of them to get paid, then seemed to decide to get back to work. But not before telling Kotone specifically to be careful, an expression far more serious than she'd ever seen this man have, even when he was in a serious situation. "You know me," Kotone shrugged, sounding casual. "Careful's not in my nature. But I promise I'll be fine. I always am." She let the others file out first, mouthing to Taiga as the left "I'll try, Taiga."

Kotone once again had her hands in her pockets, her expression and demeanor acting as if the encounter with Taiga never happened. "Maybe you Fairy Tail types aren't so bad," she shrugged offhandedly, still looking determinedly cool and aloof. "At least not in a fight." She looked at Hannah specifically when she said that, and it was hard to tell if she was glaring or not, though she certainly wasn't insulting her at first opportunity like before.

She looked to Roejaster then. "Well, Cowboy, unless you've got plans with your new girlfriend exclusively, I've got a few more jewels to spend now. I suppose I could keep you company for a bit." It was amazing the difference in her personality with Taiga and everyone else. The difference showed off the many mental barriers she had towards being close to people, though she was likely less aware of it than the people who paid attention to her.

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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.

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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.