Two faries and one heart walk into a bar

[Cain Tova]

Cain stood at the precipice of Magnolia town wearing a weak smile across his pale lips. It had been two weeks now since the incident that changed the course of his life and forced him away from his life long home. In that short amount of time however Cain had already begun to feel homesick and although it wasn't the brightest or safest of plans considering his new affiliation, he decided to take a stroll back into town for the afternoon to stretch his legs and actually enjoy what could be his last time in the town for awhile. Unfortunately as with most things in recent memory, the smile was short lived as pale arms wrapped around his neck with golden ornate talons digging ever so slightly into his chest.

"You know Cain, I find it kind of adorable how you hold this place at such a high importance." Azazel spoke softly in that nerve chilling voice. He let out a small chuckle even as he walked through Cain and turned to look at him, walking backwards as Cain began to stride forward. "I suppose though I can't say I'm entirely without nostalgia, we did meet here." He commented with the slightest of grins. Already frustrated with his taunting Cain simply tried to brush the man to the side as he continued his walk down the bustling streets of Magnolia.

Sometimes Cain wasn't sure what was the worse part of the swords curse. The things it required him to do to survive, the constant and steadily increasing pain it shot through his body if he didn't provide sustenance for it or the damned phantom manifestation of it's will which taunts him endlessly. With a heavy sigh Cain finally cut his eyes over to the phantom which lingered over his shoulder. "What you call a meeting I call trickery. You know I wanted nothing to do with you." Cain spoke in a hushed voice as to not draw attention to himself, he was well aware only those in control of the sword could actually see or hear Azazel and the last thing he wanted was to seem like a crazy person on the street.

Azazel would only chuckle in response although he would, if only for the moment, fall back into the shadows and grant his host some peace. Although only a momentary pardon the short time of peace was enough to draw a happy sigh of relief from Cain. Now he could do what he came here for, food. Cain stopped at the next street corner and it was there he saw one of his favorite eateries in town, a small grill known as "The Fire Island Bar and Grill." Cain simply wanted his last meal in his hometown before truly starting his new life.

Walking through the old style doors, patrons would instantly be greeted by a retro styled ranch bar. Floors and walls opted to use wood instead of brick. Tables where round, the patrons slightly crazy (mostly drunk) and whatever the band playing was still playing a mix of jazz and faster folk pieces. To some it was corny, to Cain it was home.

Walking in he waved away the greeter, opting to sit himself at the bar, center chair. The bartender knew Cain by name after all this time so he already had his drink of choice prepared when he walked in the door, a white russian. Sighing he looked at his drink, lifted it and toasted to air. "Here's to hoping I suppose, for something a little less hellish." He muttered to himself before taking the first sip of many to come.

[Kotone]

Fire Island. The dragon slayer was apparently in the mood to torment herself. She hated the smell of alcohol, and she wasn’t the biggest fan of heat, being a creature of ice. But hey, after a tough training drill from a woman like her mentor, maybe a little spice would take her mind off the usual humiliation she suffered from the master wizard’s so called practice-duels. To think, a few months back, the girl wouldn’t have had to endure such things and would have been blissfully unaware of her own shortcomings. At the moment, she almost missed that. Even with all her newfound strength she didn’t come close to Sonata or the guild masters.

Inside, the place smelled exactly like the eighteen year old suspected it would. Whiskey was the drink of the day, apparently, and the scent blasted her in the face, causing her to nearly gag from the smell. What was she even- oh right, the food was good despite the spice. Kotone wandered over, sitting next to a guy who looked like a wizard of some kind, judging by the sword and the faint scent of magic she could detect despite the booze smell everywhere. “I don’t care, whatever you decide the special today is,” she told the bartender so that he could ring it up for the cooks to make. “And an ice water. Heavy on the ice.”

As the water along with a pitcher was shoved in her direction, she let out a tired sigh. She felt like she’d gone twelve rounds with that demon she’d fought back on Galuna Island. She shouldered her katana she’d gained from that mission as the memory struck her. When her left hand came out of her pocket, she brought with it a light blue ribbon, which she used to tie her long brown hair back while she sat at the bar.

“You’re not from Fairy Tail,” Kotone informed the man. She wasn’t either, of course. Though she was almost an honorary member, considering her relationship with Taiga and his sister, who was also her mentor. “What brings you to Magnolia?” she glanced in his direction without turning her head, her amber-colored eyes appraising him instantly. She was dressed in somewhat casual clothes – a short, black skirt, a tan jacket that looked relatively new, a white, button-up blouse, and knee-high boots that matched the color of her skirt. The weathered katana was less casual. Her demeanor was one that hardly lacked in confidence.

[Nero Yamazaki]

It's been about a week since Nero had actually fully recovered from his....well you can say Ironic Brawl against Xeno. Though very heated it could be said that after leaving a message under the writing of the mysterious Kotone, Nero had decided to actually look around the city of Magnolia for Kotone.

"She looks kind of short, but you'll probably see her wearing her usual shorts or skirt with high boots and a white blouse." The words of the Nurse echoed in Nero's head as he was looking around for Kotone, mainly to thank her for dragging him and Xeno to the infirmary back the other day after a very disturbingly heated brawl. Thinking about his little mistake simply due to never testing or actually guessing what the Joker's Finale card would do in his Reversed state. It really started bugging Nero deep down, it brought doubts to how he can actually help others if he may accidentally destroy the city or guild with it.

"Maybe Kotone knows how I can get rid of these doubts...." Nero thought to himself as he subconsciously walked into a bar named "The Fire Island and Bar Grill" and actually took notice of two distinct people, one wearing all black and red like he was but his skin was pale, almost ghostly white and somewhat troubled actually; the other person Nero had noticed was the one he had been hoping to find, the girl wearing a Skirt with Knee High Boots and a White Blouse, though she also seemed to have a Katana that seemed weathered and, but it didn't seem to scare him off.

Casually yet cautiously walking up to the mysterious girl and pale skinned male, Nero simply sat down next to them both and told the bartender, "Can I get a Coke-Cola? No ice this round," he then turned his attention to the girl and essentially introduced himself casually but kinda feared her at the same time. "Hey....thanks for dragging Xeno and I to the infirmary last week, appreciate it a lot. By the way...my name's Nero Yamazaki, and yours?" Nero asked with a calm voice.

Nero did also introduce himself to the man wearing red and black like he was, though it was in a much more cautious tone because he had a bad feeling about him. "Something doesn't feel right about this man....he's not from Fairy Tail..." Nero thought to himself before speaking to the man, "I'll say it again in case you didn't hear me, I'm Nero Yamazaki," the voice directed towards the pale skinned male this time with unintentional hostility due to his thought processing.

[Cain Tova]

"An..Ice water?.." Cain thought to himself as he took a sip of his own poison of choice. It was slightly strange to see someone come into a bar of all places just to order some water. Perhaps a fan of the food? Shrugging it off Cain was about to allow his thoughts to drift back to both his drink and to what he should do with his current situation but, to his surprise the young girl whom sat by him and the one whom ordered the water started asking him questions. Well at least he thought they were questions, formed instead into facts and statements. Turning his head and cracking a feint smile as he met her eyes with his baby blues he'd calmly respond "Well, you're right. I'm not a Fairy tail wizard although I've always admired them."

Cain had to be very careful with how he worded things, he didn't want it to come out he was a member of Shadow Heart after all. Although Cain couldn't casually identify any markings on her, the question of hers made it clear she was some kind of wizard and on the chance she was a member of fairy tail the last thing he wanted was a fight. He didn't want to fight anyone, much less someone from the guild he once dreamed of being apart of. Placing the White Russian down, Cain extended his right hand out in a shake, the same gloves clasping tightly to his skin. "Pleasure is what brings me to Magnolia it seems. I was born and raised here but recently had to move. Was a bit of a rushed move so I thought I'd come back to my favorite bar to give my old city a proper send off, if you know what I mean. The name is Cain." He explained in a calm and casual manor.

Lying was not one of Cain's strengths since he generally didn't believe in it. So he figured he'd tell the truth, just leave out incriminating details. Still, he couldn't help but stroke the scabbard of the weapon at his side with his left hand as he remembered why he really left. He didn't even realize he was doing it, it was just how his body remembering. It was at the very end of his own introduction that a fairly nervous looking man had walked up and introduced himself. He was some what odd looking truth be told although it was clear that both the man and Cain himself shared an affinity for black and red. The oddness however didn't come from his looks it was more his manor, how the man carried himself and spoke. Perhaps it was the (as far as Cain could tell) unwarranted nervousness. Once the man introduced himself for the second time, Cain gave him a smile and friendly nod of approval. "Pleasure is mine Nero. I'm Cain." He repeated to which he'd also offer his hand.

Although Nero had offered his last name Cain wasn't so willing. Although there was very little that could incriminate him since he was homeless up until this point, he didn't want to risk the very slim and off chance that they knew or heard of him off the streets. Cain just wanted to say good-bye to his old town without incident. However, figuring it be odd not too, Cain decided to continue with the conversation. "So, you two know each other? You two work together in fairy tail?" Cain asked while keeping the normal smile on. It seemed innocent enough but the question should at least tell Cain what he was dealing with. He took another sip of his drink while he waited.

[Kotone]

Kotone nodded to Cain’s explanation, sipping her ice water and chewing a bit on the ice. Ice had a certain… unexplainable appeal and flavor to the girl, for obvious reasons. Or rather, they were obvious if one knew anything about dragon slayers. She did, obviously. As Cain introduced himself, Kotone turned her head to partially face him, feeling a bit standoffish simply because she didn’t know him. She’d thought she was getting over that, but as it turned out… not as much as she’d felt like before. Not if this guy was any indication of it. Still, she’d been the one to do the talking, so… “Kotone Hoshino,” Kotone answered in greeting. As she said it, she flipped her bangs out of her eyes with her hand that was further away from Cain.

That was when someone else arrived. She recognized his scent immediately; she’d gotten plenty of it dragging him and the pale one to the infirmary in Fairy Tail. “Don’t worry about it,” Kotone told this ‘Nero’ with a shrug as he thanked her for getting him patched up. “If I hadn’t, someone else would. I actually wanted to punch you a few more times for breaking the guild hall I worked so hard to help fix.” She’d endured a nightmare of a man who’d nearly gotten them both killed several times on a mission for not nearly enough money.

She decided to address Cain again when he asked how they knew each other. “I’m not with Fairy Tail,” she told him. “I only know him for the reason he stated. He and his friend had knocked each other out and blown up part of the building while they were at it, so I dragged them over to get patched up.”

[Nero Yamazaki]

Nero could see the girl keeping her face partially turned towards the main Cain who had introduced himself to both him and her. It was clear in Cain's face that he had something off about him, but it was better to not ask anything until later on when they've become better acquainted. Though that was when Cain had asked the random bulls-eye question, "So, you two know each other? You two work together in Fair Tail?" Nero could only look down a little in embarrassment from that question.

"Wait what? Am I that much of a knuckle head Kotone?" Nero had asked Kotone after mentioning the urge to punch him and Xeno a few more times since they had almost destroyed the guild.

That was when Kotone had said what he didn't expect, "I'm not with Fairy Tail." Nero's mouth somewhat dropped in surprise and then she had mentioned the reason why she knew him and he vaguely knew her in which he chuckled slightly out of slight guilt and actually had a small blush appear on his cheeks. "Yeah well...on the bright side of things, nothing insanely dangerous occured....but then I've been thinking Kotone..." Nero stated as he began trailing off as it grew weaker and stammered slightly due to his emotions building up.

"Sorry....I think I need to get some fresh air..." Nero said slowly with his voice in a much lower tone than previously when he first started talking to Kotone and Cain. Leaving the pay for the Coke-Cola next to the glass, and started walking towards the entrance while taking out the card that made him begin his doubts, Impact Card: Joker's Finale. A small amount of tears began rolling down his face with some coughs that sounded like hard kept crying within it.

[Cain Tova]

Listening to both of the girl known as Kotone and the depressed man, Nero, speak and ultimately walk off, Cain couldn't help but get the feeling the reason Azazel left so early was single handedly due to that man. With how depressed he's acting, he alone is giving Azazel a nice little snack. In a way, Cain was wondering if Azazel was making it worse. Shrugging it off however he turned back to his drink, sipping the last of it away before pushing it forward and tapping the empty glass as a sign for the bartender to refill it.

Still, although he did try to ignore it at first due to the weirdness of it all, once the sound of held back crying entered Cain couldn't exactly just let the question go. Cutting his eyes over Kotone and followed by a some what audioble sigh, he asked "Is he..always like this? Kind of a downer." Cain asked in a some what hushed tone in an attempt to not be heard by the crying man. He was already feeling weird, the last thing he wanted to do was make it worse and thus the situation even weirder.

Around that time was when the bartender finished pouring the second drink for Cain who would instantly take a sip from it.

[Kotone]

Knuckle head? Kotone wasn’t really familiar with the term. Then again, she wasn’t the most up on humans with all the time she spent alone in the wilderness. Sure, she had some friends, and a guy she was dating, that helped with a lot of her normal antisocial behavior, but that didn’t mean she’d heard everything, even if it was considered common. She only shrugged when he asked the question about being one, taking a sip of her ice water and chewing on a piece of ice. “I would have just said stupid, but then I don’t know you. Maybe it was an honest mistake. But considering how long it took people to put Fairy Tail back together, it was pretty inconsiderate. Especially to me.”

Nero made some excuse about nothing insanely dangerous happening, though she’d heard he and this Xeno guy had decided that they’d nearly destroyed the guild hall. Both statements couldn’t be true, so she made a skeptical “Heh,” noise, albeit a bit of a grumpy one, as her only response.

Nero had been thinking, apparently, though the thinking seemed to involve getting up and leaving mid-sentence, which made very little sense to the dragon slayer. She turned her head a bit more, blinking at him confusedly. “Er, yeah, nice talk?” she answered quietly as Nero left. Cain felt the need to ask if he was always a downer. “Beats me,” she told him. “Like I said, I don’t really know the guy, or why he felt the need to come find me.” She was a bit mad at Nero in general after hurting the building, so she didn’t follow. If he wanted something badly enough, he’d be back.

[Nero Yamazaki]

Nero could only think of what was going through his mind, how he actually began to break down in front of Kotone and another person randomly, though it began with the entire mentioning of destroying part of the guild. "How....how can I actually be a strong wizard if I can't fight against my own mistakes...." Nero thought to himself as he actually wiped off his own tears, he could only assume that Kotone and Cain were probably briefly speaking about the random break down Nero just had. Though because Nero has to ask something to Kotone specifically, mainly about getting ready to train and whatnot, it only makes sense that his nervousness coupled with the mistake forced a temporary break down.

"Okay...I need to actually just shift gears...I need to become stronger." Nero thought to himself once more as he got turned around from the outside and slipped out a card, specifically it was the Impact Card: Joker's Finale. "I need to get stronger....to properly use this card in the future, not now." Nero said to himself in a low whisper; walking back inside the Bar, Nero ends up going back to where Kotone and Cain were sitting and ordered a Coke-Cola, and slightly heavy with the Ice. "I do enjoy very cold drinks, they somehow refresh one's mind and cools down any doubts." Nero said in a tone that only Kotone could hear, enough to discretely not let Cain know that he just had some doubts in his mind just now.

"Neh Kotone, I need to ask a favor from you....since I've been hearing that you're a pretty strong wizard around here." Nero started with a calm tone, though he was somewhat nervous because he didn't know how to actually say the request. With a gulp down his throat, Nero could only bluntly say what was on his mind at that moment: "Would you...be willing to train me......so I don't end up making some stupid mistakes like I did against Xeno the other day?" Nero asked meekly and ironically, with a humble tone that essentially had a little desperation in it.

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