Tripping Traps

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade had been travelling for days. A week? Maybe it had been two weeks. Whatever it was, Kade was tired. He’d bathed in a river earlier in the day, but now it was evening. The light was fading off, and he had collected fire wood. The dark didn’t bother Kade, but that didn’t mean he preferred it. He could light up a room just with his shining personality alone. Also that his body turned into pure light… that helped too. Well, he couldn’t cook food on his personality alone, so he went to his hunting.

Firewood was stacked up in a pile, and Kade was wearing shorts and a wife-beater. His cleaner clothes were in his bag, hanging on a branch near the firewood pile. He went out hunting. A rabbit. He was going to have a big meal that night, because not only did he have the rabbit, but he had found several good apples in the woods. Sure, they were a bit sour, but he didn’t mind sour. At least they weren’t rotten, right? He returned to his things and hung his bow from a low hanging branch. Easily in sight. Sure, he could fight without it, but it was special to him, and he wasn’t going to leave it far away.

Kade circled the rocks around his wood and built a makeshift rotisserie. Sure, it was manually operated, but what did he care? He didn’t have anything better to do than watch the meat cook. He’d already prepared the animal, and he was sipping a canteen of water while he waited. He heard a slight crashing noise. Hm? he turned in that direction. His exceptional hearing allowed him to hear the breathing of animals to know when they were hiding, as long as smelling them, and hearing their slow walk through the forest. He heard a lot of movement, and the owls at night really liked to keep going. It lulled Kade to sleep more than kept him up though, so that was alright. He expected one of his traps had caught an animal. He didn’t need it, because he already had enough. His traps were not deadly, so he would just let the animal go most likely, not ending life if it was not going to prolong his at all. He left his meet cooking to make a quick check, bringing his bow along with him.

When Kade reached the trap he stopped, arched an eyebrow, and crossed his arms. A smirk formed on his face, replacing the arched eyebrow, at what he saw.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity walked in the forest enjoying the cool evening air blowing in her face. It was always nice to be directly in the breeze. Not like she didn't like sunlight and all but she found she tended to sweat less when she was cold for obvious reasons. That was definitely a good thing in her books since she was like a stereotypical cat who hated having a bath. The young wizard wore her standard attire consisting of a white sleeveless blouse and a pair of denim shorts with the added addition of sport shoes because even an idiot wouldn't want to go stampeding through a forest barefoot. To any passerby, they probably would have run away screaming once they smelt her since the 'aroma' of sweat accumulated from a week was just a pleasure to be around. Of course, Vera herself didn't bother and continued about her normal life as per usual. Her weekly bath was scheduled for the morning tomorrow and she had no intention of letting off anyone's nose. Maybe it would even give her the advantage in a fight should she get in one.

She was about to take a u-turn to return to her guild but before she did so, the scent of cooking meat wafted its way up her nose.

Mmmm...food

Just the smell of it made her stomach grumble. She hadn't eaten dinner yet. All the more reason to return to her house as quick as possible. Although now that she smelt food, she wanted to find out exactly what it was and if she returned to eat, by the time she came back, the smell would have surely faded. She sighed, tossing up her options. In the end, curiosity won and she ended up following the scent as best as she possibly could, in other words terribly.

A few minutes later, Vera was nothing but lost, trekking through the forest with near no light. It was a stupid decision on her behalf to find food. Oh well. No point regretting it now. Of course her stomach would beg to differ. FEED-ME-OR-DIE it seemed to say as it grumbled miserably. She was about to give up hope and just lie on the floor and sleep when her retina's screamed 'FIRE!' and caused her body to go into full I-don't-care-where-I'm-going-as-long-as-I-see-light mode.

That was why she didn't see the trap that was laid in front of her. On the positive side though, she didn't scream as she felt the ground collapsed beneath her feet and some kind of net thing fell on her head. Nothing like falling in someone's trap to awaken the weary mind.

Vera grumbled at her luck. She sure was a genius. Although, her position was kind of comfortable though and warm. Maybe she'd just sleep there.

Time ticked past and she found that indeed she was falling asleep. She probably would have stayed that way until the sound of someone approaching jerked her awake.

At first she decided she would ignore the person. She was this close to having a nice sleep. However, she realised that it was kind of uncomfortable if someone was watching her. She sighed in resignation before opening her eyes. Immediately, she was met with the smirking face of some person she didn't know. That didn't sit well with her. Her features warped into unfriendly mode.

"Hi. Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep."

Straight after the words left her mouth, she let her head fall back on her arm and closed her eyes. Hopefully the person would go away.

[Kade Lazarus]

Sass. Kade was met with a large amount of sass. He laughed. Was she really planning to sleep like that? Oh, who was he kidding, Kade wasn’t a guy to just stand around and ponder these things. “Are you really planning to sleep in my trap?” he asked her, arms still crossed. He could smell her from here, but he was going to ignore it. His strong sense of smell made it somewhat painful. He didn’t get motion sickness or anything of that nature, but his strong senses could be quite unpleasant at times. At times… like right now. Still, he maintained a generally friendly demeanor, despite her expression.

It was really rather funny to see. Well, she could sleep in the forest, on the ground, all she liked. Kade wasn’t going to waste one of his nets as a blanket for her, at the very least. He moved over to her and removed the net. He wrapped it easily around his arm. Without any concern for her general hostility or odd behavior, he began the slow process of tightly folding and winding the net up around his arm. His guild tattoo was quite visible in his outfit, but he didn’t think about that as it usually wasn’t so easily visible. Besides, whether she would care or not, he did not.

“So… if you really desperately want to sleep right there,” he began, not even looking at her, though he could hear her every move, “by all means. However if you want some food, I’m cooking some right now. Speaking of which, I need to get back to it, so… the offer is there,” he shrugged. He wasn’t sure if she was hungry, and if that was how she had ended up near him. Maybe she was just lost in the woods. He could help her out. The thing about it was that he didn’t know what to do with her until she cooperated, or at the very least, disagreed in more words. He could guess from there.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera was determined to keep her eyes closed. The unknown person, now known to be male, laughed at her and she really fought the urge to talk back at him. She heard him ask whether she was going to really sleep like that but chose to ignore him. He didn't need to know after all. Most likely she would have continued to ignore him if not for the fact that he took the net away from on top of her. At that she sat up promptly and glared at him. How dare he ignored her? Well, she guessed she practically was ignoring him. Whatever. The girl huffed but remained in her position, watching him fold the net up. She noticed that he had a guild tattoo and looked closer to see which one. lt was a Lamia Scale which he was a guild mage from there no doubt. That made her curious. If he was from that guild, why was he near Magnolia?

Vera didn't really have a mouth filter and as such was about to ask him when the mention of food brought her full attention to him.

"Food? Sure definitely! What are you cooking?" she said vigorously.

Her eyes were immediately alight and all trace of her sleepiness disappeared. She got out of the hole as quickly as possible and stood up before she brushed off any dirt.

"Now where is this food?"

Food was one of her favourite things in the world. If anybody offered her any, of course she would become more friendlier. She didn't hesitate to smile and loosen her facial muscles.

"And I'm Vera by the way, what's your name?" At this she was reminded of her earlier question "And also, why are you near Magnolia? You're from Lamia Scale right?"

It didn't matter to her that he was from another guild and near hers. She only asked out of curiosity.

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade could put up with grumpy people, but he definitely enjoyed friendly people more. At first this girl was rather grumpy. She would rather sleep in a trap than talk to him, but that was fine. He had things to do. However when he pointed out that he had food, she immediately perked up. She stood up, dusted herself off, and agreed to food. “Rabbit is cooking. I also have some apples and water,” he explained. Some people would find eating rabbit unpleasant. Not because of the taste, but because they were cute. Sure, they were cute, and sure he had a friend who owned several, which Kade then had to feed. Thus his awkward relationship with animals. Sure, they were nice, and some could be friends… but if it came between him starving and an unfamiliar animal… well he was a trained hunter.

As she followed she asked for the food. It hadn’t been that long, so he noticed just how pushy she was about things. Perhaps not pushy, but impatient. “Bear with me, its right over here,” he said. He could smell the food. He could probably have closed his eyes and made it there with no trouble, but he didn’t. As they neared the food she introduced herself and asked him about his guild. He glanced down at his shoulder, “Indeed I am. Name’s Kade,” he said with a smile, “I am just taking a trip around. Travel is good for the soul, you know?”

He saw his fire now and moved to turn the rabbit, allowing it to cook more evenly again. “This will take a few more minutes to cook, then cool down. Do you want an apple while you wait?” he asked, gesturing to his small pile. He felt like he was hosting a guest in his home. Except he didn’t have a home, he had a room in a guild hall, and this was the forest far from home. “Are you from around here?”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity listened eagerly when the guy told her what food he was cooking. So it was rabbit. She could deal with that. Sure they were cute but they were also good to eat (which in this case beat cuteness since how hungry she was could contest with a whole lot of guests at a feast). Apples and water she didn't particularly give much of a thought into except that they were edible. She remembered once upon a time, she had an apple tree in her backyard and she would go there and cry every day. Happy days right? (Ha! Hear that sarcasm nasty friends of Kuroha!) Not that her mind stuck too long about the memory. It was always like that in her mind. Remembering something then shaking it off the millisecond later. The past was painful, the future, promising. That's what she told herself although completely forgetting about the past would be more damaging than useful since that's how she learned best. Besides, it wasn't like crying, Verity internally shuddered at the word, made her any more knowledgeable than she already was.

The rest of the way to her desired goal; food, was made with Vera internally grumbling about her hunger. Although, she did listen to the guy she was following.

"Kade? That's an interesting name, did you know one of the book characters I read about in a story was called Kade? He was a total loser. All he did was get tied up," she said amiably with a smile (no rude intentions at all, no sarcasm there), bouncing along as she could now smell the fire cooking.

She wasn't convinced about his explanation on being in Magnolia. Traveling was good for the soul? Sure it was but seriously? Just because traveling was good for the soul, she knew she wouldn't go gallivanting in other regions unless she had a more valid reason. So either he simply was telling the truth or he had another reason or even, he was telling the truth but he had more of a reason as well. The blonde probably would have continued thinking about this but the mention of food brought her back from the world of conspiracy theories.

"Oh," Vera's face fell at Kade's words, who was ready for immediate feasting, but it didn't last for very long,"Can't you just, I dunno, burn it with fire magic to speed up the process and then dunk it in water to cool it?"

Obviously, she hadn't put much thought into her choice of words but then again, she hadn't been serious (which showed in her tone of voice). If that had actually happened, the food would be virtually inedible or actually inedible. Either way, it wouldn't be much of food. A lump of coal maybe.

Vera looked around the little camp site and decided to make herself comfortable but first, she replied with a 'yes' to the apple question and took an apple before sitting herself on the ground. For no particular reason, she examined the apple before eating it with a big crunch while she multi-tasked by listening to Kade's question (and breathing, and heart beating and mind processing stimuli and...etc.)

Again she multi-tasked by opening her mouth to reply, eating and all the rest (the breathing and so on and so on)

"If you mean by in East Fiore than yes, if you mean by Magnolia, no," she said, crunching the apple at the same time but of course, with her hand over her mouth which was a stage higher than not doing so and still eating. "Where are you from?"

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade knew a lot of people’s food preferences. It was one of the perks of cooking for groups of people. He so enjoyed being around company, and providing for them, and cooking, so he often ended up making a big dinner for a lot of people. It wasn’t his fault that a lot of his guild mates were young and fairly inexperienced in the delightfully simple tasks of survival. They were teenagers, or younger, or maybe older, but whatever it was, they were more interested in adventure, and fighting, and making a name for themselves. Steaming broccoli? That didn’t quite make their top ten. So it fell to Kade, in his mind, to provide for them sometimes. Besides, he did have that orchard and vegetable garden out back. He preferred the light and airy tastes of fruit, specifically citrus, but many people preferred meat. That was fine, she just had to wait until it was done cooking.

When Vera told Kade about a book character, he laughed. He probably wouldn’t have minded much if she was actually making fun of him. As far as he could tell, she was a child, at least by his definition. What did it matter if she teased him? Though right now it seemed that she was simply making an interesting observation, and thus, he laughed, “I’ve never heard of that. I love to read though, so I ought to go looking for that book. Maybe I can pretend I was named after him, then when I go around getting myself tied up I’ll have a viable excuse,” he said. Yes, that would go over well. It might lighten the mood if he got kidnapped, so that was nice.

The light dragon slayer wasn’t really like most other magic users. He was more grounded in many regards, but also more whimsical in some of his own. Usually in why he made the choices he made. He didn’t think too hard about it though, and was back to reacting to Vera when she spoke up again. Arched eyebrow and a skeptical but amused expression found their way to Kade’s face, “Um… well being that I cannot use either of those kinds of magic, no, that wouldn’t be an option.” He continued his slow turning of the meat, “Besides, it tastes better when its cooked properly,” he insisted. She might be one of those people who just scarfed the whole animal without stopping to taste a single morsel, but that would be a shame.

Vera was an odd young woman. Kade enjoyed odd people most of the time. He could tell she wasn’t a bad person, despite her earlier grumpiness, and he could also tell she wasn’t being serious most of the time. When asked if she was from “around here” Vera gave a specific answer. Not Magnolia, but yes East Fiore. “Ah, well that’s nice then,” he said, smiling at her. Well, she didn’t have perfect manners… but at least she seemed to be trying? “I’m from Cerulean town mostly,” he said, “So in the south.” He had lived there the beginning of his life, and near there in his older years, so it was the best answer. The meat was nearly finished, but they still had a short time longer, “So, what are you doing in the woods today?”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Vera was glad he didn't take offence to her statement about the book character. Some people whom she said references to book characters blew up. She didn't know why. It wasn't like she meant to be mean to them. Her smile grew wider when he said he loved to read (after all, anyone who loved reading couldn't be half bad).

"I'm sure your kidnappers would be very pleased to have such a prisoner. What's your favourite book?" she asked enthusiastically

She was curious about his next statement after she commented on dunking the meat in water. She knew those two were pretty common along with others so his magic could be some of the others (e.g. nature, earth, etc.). She'd keep that in mind for a later question. Eating her apple was her top priority at the moment.

Vera was getting the impression that Kade thought she was funny/weird/strange/odd to some degree as she continued to crunch her apple while he spoke. It was nothing about him and besides it didn't offend her in anyway; if people thought she was funny/weird/strange/odd, then that was her personality. She wasn't going to change it. It was just the impression she gave lots of people so she couldn't help but notice.

Her attention returned to Kade as he stated where he was from. She didn't know where Cerulean town was. In fact, she'd never been there before.

"Mostly? Well I was taking a walk in the forest. It's nice in the forest cause it's usually quiet and peaceful. It's a good place to think and reflect too," At this, Vera's eyes grew a little distant. Kuroha died in the forest. However, it was only for a split second before they regained focus. "Is Cerulean town nice? I've never been there before! Also...I'm curious, what kind of magic do you do?" Her voice was back to being bright.

She still had no forgotten her small suspicion about him and his 'mostly' part of his statement didn't particularly alleviate it. At the very least, he did seem genuinely nice; not like some others who she could practically taste the sickly sweetness of their words and actions and know it was false right off the bat.

[Kade Lazarus]

Vera was pretty simple in her intentions, it seemed. She wanted left alone. She wanted food. She wanted to make comments. She wasn’t some sinister spy about to ruin Kade’s day. It was very straightforward thus far, and even if she said odd things, he asn’t complaining. He loved company. Most of his recent company felt awkward about making small talk, so until she said he should really stop chattering, he wasn’t going to feel self-conscious.

He chuckled at the idea of a good prisoner. “Oh, certainly. I might complain when I finished my book though. I’m not much into being forced into one place all the time,” he shrugged. “I don’t think I have a favorite. I had a book about gardening that I really enjoyed… though it was practical more than entertaining. There was a series of books about old kings though, those were fun,” he offered. He didn’t remember the names. In fact, they’d been read to him more than he had read them. He didn’t speak the language. Maybe Celtor had even made it up, Kade didn’t know for certain. He simply knew he’d enjoyed the stories.

Kade didn’t expect that saying he didn’t have water or fire magic would really be that big of an issue. Apparently it was cause for quite a bit of curiosity. While he continued focusing on the meat, and she continued eating, things relaxed for a moment. Sure, he was talking to her about things, but apparently she was also curious about his comment on where he was from. “Yes, mostly, I live in the guild hall nearby. It’s a few miles away. And I understand a walk through the forest, it makes sense.” He arched an eyebrow at being questioned on his magic. Well, he supposed since he said two kinds he didn’t use… still, he always knew how to answer about his magic. “I use light magic. I’m sort of a flashlight,” he shrugged, smiling casually. There was nothing suspicious about his magic. He didn’t use his dragon roar if he could get away with it, so he kept his complete magic a secret, but being a light magic user? That was fine to tell people. “What about you? You use magic?”

[Verity Lohlepher]

So Kade liked this book about gardening. Interesting. She wasn't judging. Gardening did had the potential to be interesting...at least she thought. She never tried it before. Was it that thing where you trimmed your plants or when you cleaned your pool? Most likely the former. Pool cleaning seemed more like the viable name choice on the second option. Many people preferred fiction over non-fiction (obviously to Kade it didn't really matter). Mainly because it was more interesting and likely to captivate your attention. Verity liked both although she did have a preference to fiction. But it didn't matter really; She learnt new things either way after all. The second thing he said was more to her liking. She liked those kind of books. They were her fave. She'd read anything but the ancient stuff was always the best; practical or not. Maybe even why her magic theme was witches.

"Old Kings? What was that about?"

She recalled seeing Kade's Lamia Scale guild tattoo on his arm when he mentioned living in the guild hall. Lamia Scale was one of the other guilds. Best known for it's...leadership? Something like that, during the war. Unfortunate or not, it had never really been on her list of guilds to join. It was always Blue Pegasus (judging from the proximity of the guild to her original home town) and then it changed to Fairy Tail when her sister died. In fact, if her sister hadn't died, she probably would have joined Blue Pegasus from the simple fact she admired their inventions better than she admire Fairy Tail's reputation for trouble.

"Is Lamia Scale nice?" she asked out of curiosity.

The guild never entered her thoughts much but now it was mentioned, she was curious. She listened as he said his magic type was light. Yay, she loved light magic. When she was learning magic she always remembered light magic as the magic the one that absolutely enjoyed making fun of her possessed. Ha. Ha. Besides her little grudge though, it was a decent magic she guessed and awfully strange in concept to her, like dark magic was too.

"I've always wondered. For light magic, does it still appear like really bright in day time just like night time or is it different? Cause you know, it's lighter at day. And I use re-quip magic." she said proudly at the end. She liked that fact about herself since when she finally learnt it, everybody had stopped making fun of her (including the light magic user).

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade liked a lot of books. He pretty much like anything that involved him being able to learn. It was learning more than sitting down with a book in his hands that brought him joy. He could do it just as easily talking to people, but there were individual aspects he enjoyed as well. The smell of a library, the feeling of flipping a page, being alone with a subject while he tried to take it all in. Also hearing people talk, hearing himself talk even, and just socializing. Kade certainly wasn’t the most picky man around. He was a very happy person, but he tried to keep that from boring or driving people off. It usually wasn’t a problem.

“About their rivalry, and their families, and a few wars. I guess all people fight over foolish things, but its more obvious when it’s a king… except then people pretend there was really a good reason, because why would someone ruling a nation be so easily swayed by silly things? Probably because they’re human. That was one of the themes of the story I believe.”

Kade was learning to just accept the questions from Vera. If she was curious, he could definitely relate. Besides, he enjoyed talking so there was no harm. “Well I think so. I’ve been living there for like seven years, so its pretty well home for me. The people are nice and fairly varied, but we get along,” he said. He could give the big guild sales pitch, sure, but he didn’t think it was necessary in this conversation. He loved it there, but didn’t everyone love their guild? Shouldn’t everyone love their guild? He joined Lamia Scale because they were near where he’d grown up, and they had been responsible for him not dying as a child. He’d never even considered joining a guild before he was back at Lamia Scale, so it just fit him.

The dragon slayer wasn’t much for bullying. It would probably bring out aspects of his personality that he disliked. He considered dark mages bullies, in their own way, but mostly he just hated dark guilds. Vera asked about how his magic appeared in the daylight. Well, it was stronger because he was stronger in the daylight, but he didn’t mention that part. “It has a natural glow to it even in the daylight, yes. Its more obvious at night, but it is lighter than just basic sunlight. I assume that is because it is focused on one spot. Its much more obvious at night, or in the shade, or anywhere away from another light source, of course.”

And she was a requip wizard? Well that was rare. “Oh? That’s impressive. What sort of things do you requip?” he asked, immediately sounding even more curious. He stopped cooking the meat, pulling it off and letting it cool.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity merely nodded her head at Kade's explanation(ish) of the King series of stories he mentioned. In her opinion he probably couldn't make a living out of making blurbs for books or writing a synopsis. Terrible summary. Deserving of a grade 'D' in her mind. But no matter, she was still interested in reading that book.

"I'll have to try and find it. Sounds like it has interesting..." She paused, trying to search for something he described that sounded interesting "...themes," she finished.

"It's funny cause you know how books always have their themes, I always wonder, why don't they make different themes from other people? The amount of similarity between genres borders on horrifying sometimes,"

Her statement wasn't really funny but it was just a habitual thing she said sometimes. And it was true anyways. One day she had gotten 5 romance novels and found herself practically snoozing by the third book by the supposed 'climax' of the story. That was due to the same things she was reading over and over again. "Oh save me Mohammad!" perhaps Book 1 would say and then Book 2 would say "Oh save me Bob!" and of course by Book 3, she was thoroughly through with all the "Save me's!" she was reading and stopped paying attention.

Verity listened as he discussed Lamia Scale and was taken aback at how long he had been there for.

"Geez! 7 years! You must be old!" At least in a comparative to her, she found him to be an old member of the guild judging from the lengthy time period he had been there for. "Your guild sounds nice but I do prefer Fairy Tail,"

She bobbed her head up and down in understanding when he said his magic worked better at day. It sounded logical to her at the very least.

"Is it possible to change the colour of your light?"

The blonde was pleased that Kade seemed a little surprised that she was a re-quip mage. She was proud of her ability to use the magic so she tended to like it when others were surprised because of it's rarity. She shrugged her shoulders at his question.

"Random stuff like brooms. The theme is witches but anything abnormal can count. I can't really do that much at the moment," she replied.

As soon as the meat was off cooking, her eyes wandered to where it was cooling. She sighed. Why did food have to be prepared in such a long time? She almost wished she had access to water magic so she could actually drench it in water even though common sense told her that would achieve nothing for her purpose.

"How long do you think it'll take to cool? My stomach is eating itself from the inside,"

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade wasn’t going to get a job describing books, so that was fine. It was a long time ago. He hadn’t even seen the man who told him the story in nine year. Man, dragon… same thing really. He didn’t think she needed such a huge description of it in any case. “I believe so,” he said when she said it had interesting themes.

“I suppose it is because books are formulaic. You see what works, and you do that. The names, the characters, the setting, that can all change, but it doesn’t mean you are being original. People don’t even realize it. They think ‘this is how these stories progress’ and so they do that. Readers are the same way… you want comfort, you want to know where things are going, and we might say we want different, but if its too different people complain. Or different for difference sake… but then again, I’m not an author, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.” He probably said far more than enough anyway.

Kade laughed when she said he must be old, “I’m twenty-two. Sometimes I feel pretty old in the right company… but I’m pretty sure I’m not that old,” he explained lightly. He was old enough that he had good examples of life out of a guild, and in a guild. Mostly his examples were on an island with a dragon, but that was good enough for him, by far. “Ah… well to each their own,” he said, regarding her preferring Fairy Tail.

Now they got to the topic of their magics. “Yes, I can change the color if I want. I generally just keep it to white light, but… I guess it could come up,” he shrugged. As far as her themed magic, is sounded quite interesting. “It sounds like you could do some very interesting things with that. And all things come with time, you’re pretty young still,” he told her with a smirk. She’d basically called him old, so he figured he could call her young.

She asked about the food and he examined it. His finger turned to light and he cut the meat in half, separating the stick as well. Sure, he was now getting far less food than he’d expected, but it was fine. He preferred company. He handed Vera her end, saying, “You can use your judgment on it. I’d wait, but its all up to you now.” His hands were back to normal as he waited for the food to cool a bit more, poking it with his finger to check.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity supposed he had a point in saying that people just copied what other people did because they thought that was how it was meant to be like plus there was an added fact they liked familiarity. However, just because she saw his point didn’t actually mean she agreed with it. Difference was better than repetitiveness. It got old fast. Too much difference wasn’t altogether that good either so she guessed moderation was what was needed in a way. But then again, she didn’t plan on becoming an author or someone who wrote books; that’d be a bit of a pain. She already had problems reading on some days due to her dyslexia so writing 24/7 was a bit of a farfetched dream. She preferred being a guild mage though. Beating up baddies always trumped trying to write.

“I guess so, although I don’t necessarily need to like it,” she said, her face squishing up in slight disgust before it relaxed into its normal position again.

The young mage tilted her head when Kade laughed and said that he was 22 and not really that old although sometimes he did. Technically, she hadn’t meant it that way but it was a bit funny that he thought differently from her intention.

“Well I didn’t mean old as in old old, which would be 72 years old. You don’t look old. But if you feel pretty old sometimes then well I don’t really know. Maybe your soul is old like 2000 years old or you’re some really old person in some younger person’s body that you abducted.” she said frankly with a wide smile on her face.
He didn’t seem thrilled that she said she preferred Fairy Tail but who would be. It’s not like she expected someone to bounce up and down on the spot just because she said do.

Verity eyes sparkled when he said he could change the colour of his magic. “Ooh! So can you do like purple light? Or black light perhaps? Or even a rainbow light!” she said. Magic was awesome so obviously she was enthusiastic about it. It was something mysterious since it was different for each person. She loved demonstrations of magic. She’d probably just sit there examining their every move. Kind of like a stalker. Stress on the kind of part. Not really.

“I can except it’s sometimes a pain to figure out how to cast spells. Like one spell, to cast it well, I need to sound like a lunatic. And I’m not that young, I’m 17 which is only 5 years younger than you. It’s not like I’m 12 or something!” she said with a slight huff.

She watched him as he cut the meat and noticed his finger turning to light. Well that was new. She’d never heard of a light mage who could turn into literal light. For a second, she forgot her hunger and refocused on her former conspiracy theory ideas. But then, her moment of squinting eyes and spy glass disappeared as her thoughts were consumed by food. Victory was in her hands…literally. She decided she would call the dead rabbit she had never known ‘Victory’ just for the purpose of internally saying that.
“Yay food! I think I’m just going to eat. I haven’t eaten since….lunch today so I’m hungry,” she responded to him before biting the piece of meat and chewing on it. Many people assumed from her eating habits that she devoured the whole entire thing but really, she didn’t. Enjoying the separate flavours of food was what she liked best. As she chewed, she remembered seeing his finger turning to light.
“Is it normal for light mages to be able to turn into light?” she asked after she swallowed before eating again.

[Kade Lazarus]

Whatever Kade thought was better or more appealing hadn’t quite made it into his comment about why people stuck with familiarity. What should be and what was rarely matched. “We never have to like our situations,” Kade said. He knew the issue of repetition or newness in writing wasn’t her personal problem, but the statement applied to many things. Still he wasn’t trying to get deep with it.

Kade’s laughter remained as chuckling when Verity explained he might have an old soul. “Perhaps that’s it. It wouldn’t really surprise me.” he’d been raised by something quite old after all. Plus he found himself surrounded by delightful and high energy mages. It made sense to feel old around them, but then again, he did act more subdued in general. “Not so much the abduction thing. That sounds tedious.” And also insane, but that went without saying, right?

“All the colors of the spectrum. Light is, after all, giving us all colors. Its just about what sticks and what doesn’t,” he mused. He might have looked at his hand, but he didn’t. his hands turned into light. They didn’t just generate it, they became it. Part of being a dragon slayer. It was the only part of his spells that he couldn’t disguise, but he didn’t think anyone either knew or paid enough attention. “Or a laser pointer for cats, that works quite well,” he said with a smile.

“Well any magic is difficult to master. We just have to stick with it and keep growing. Never master anything, because there is always more to learn… that’s what keeps it interesting,” he said with a relaxed smile. “Seventeen is a good age,” he told her casually. Honestly it was a pretty good place to be. You could play to becoming an adult, but still being a child. Plus things were new. Then again, when he had been seventeen he’d been a bit different.

Kade felt oddly scrutinized as he cut the meat. Maybe he just shouldn’t use his magic around her. At least if she was going to stare. It made him anxious, and he was rarely truly anxious. When he handed her food she was immediately entirely interested in that. He smiled, “I’m glad I could make you happy.” With that he took a bite. It was a good thing he was so composed, because when she asked about mages turning into light his mind filled with dread. No, its fine Kade. Don’t even worry… just chill out. He wasn’t a liar, necessarily, but he never claimed he manipulated people…. And he did when necessary, so maybe he was closer than he thought. “I’ve never met another light mage, actually,” he told her with a shrug, “I figure everyone uses their magic differently though.”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity nodded her head when Kade said it sounded tedious to abduct someone and then steal their soul etc.

"Yeah, if you had to abduct someone, you'd probably have to find someone you liked first before doing the whole process of exchanging bodies!" she said enthusiastically, a grin on a face.

It was reasonable enough to her that Kade said he could do all the colours in the rainbow since it was light that made colour. But then, if the light was darker, was the spell less intense? About a million questions began to spring up in her mind but this time she decided to keep her mouth shut instead of ask another question. She'd find that out by herself later. There was, after all, no real purpose why she couldn't find out about it later.

"That's handy if you have a cat; or any other creature really," she said, smiling as well.

What he said about sticking to a magic and never really perfecting it did make sense to her as well. She in fact agreed with that statement wholeheartedly. There was always something more to discover, something more to find out, so as such, there was more you could learn about something even if everyone else thought you had it perfected. And she definitely agreed that 17 was a good age. She felt anything was able to be done when someone was at that age. 26+ to her was just way too old and then anything younger than 15 was too young. But that was just her opinion.

"I agree," she said with conviction

As she sat down with her food, eating, she couldn't help but feel as if something was a bit off with Kade's mood after she asked him about finger-turning-to-light thingy. He looked composed but all her instincts were telling her else wise and she usually listened to what she felt more than what she thought. Thinking was sometimes too complicated.

She knew that if she wanted to find something out, it probably wouldn't be wise to stare intently at the object in question. So, in part of keeping with what she thought was good, she didn't stare at him profusely, merely observing him from the corner of her eye discreetly. However, subtlety wasn't ever her strong point, so to over emphasise her not looking at Kade, she lifted her food and ate facing the sky. Very subtle (not).

It struck her as weird that he had never seen another light mage. They were pretty common in her opinion. She turned to face him from her facing-the-sky position.

"Really? Never? I thought they were pretty common!" she said. It was true though that everyone used their magic differently but she did know that each magic did have their set of rules and limitations and although she wasn't a light magic user, she had read in a book about it that all of the elemental magic users, while they produced their element, couldn't become their particular element. But then again, it had been fairly outdated so what did she know? Still mysterious though and if there was something she loved besides food, it was a mystery. Especially since his statement didn't seem to match his character that she had been given the impression of.

"So what do Lamia Scale mages do?" she asked to change the topic slightly

[Kade Lazarus]

Verity was an amusing girl. They were casually discussing how to properly abduct someone, and he certainly hadn’t expected that. He wasn’t complaining, it was fairly amusing, but it was still on the odd end of things. Kade really didn’t mind odd. As far as the inner workings of Kade’s magic, he didn’t generally get into them. It wasn’t that he personally didn’t enjoy exploring them. He did prefer exploring them, but not telling people about it. Since he had to be secretive with his magic, he was limited in a way.

“I’ve never actually kept a pet, but I have a friend who has a bunch of rabbits…” he said, glancing at the meat he was cooking, “I don’t think I’ll ever keep a pet.” This was exactly the reason. He hunted animals, and his relationship with them was a bit odd. Beyond that he travelled enough, and he preferred the company of people to that of animals. Oh well, maybe he could get a lizard, they could lay in the sun together. It would be fun. Still unlikely.

Verity agreed, with conviction even. Kade probably didn’t see eye to eye with her on the majority of things, but they found a few where they could agree, and that was nice. He enjoyed agreeing, but he sometimes learned more from disagreements. Still, he certainly wasn’t complaining.

The girl decided to… stare at the sky while eating? He wasn’t sure why she was doing that. It was after she asked him things she really shouldn’t, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that. Dwelling was bad, and it could get people in trouble. She emphatically told him that light mages were pretty common, but he shrugged, “I’ll take your word for it.” He hadn’t been lying. He saw more fire, lightning, ice, martial arts styled, shadow, manipulation, illusion. Whatever it was he saw, he somehow didn’t run into light magic users… except himself. He knew that only dragon slayers turned into their element when casting, but he didn’t know anything more specific regarding another light caster.

Now the question was easier. What did Lamia Scale mages do. Well… “Oh, some of anything. I mean, we’re just mages who are affiliated with that particular guild… so I don’t think its much different from elsewhere… except we are overall more laid back. I know a lot of us travel quite frequently, or love taking on jobs. Back a few months ago in a big rain, we all had a mud fight. Or I guess almost all of us, some people weren’t involved,” he said with a smirk. He’d enjoyed it… some other people avoided it because they didn’t like mud, or people.

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity was puzzled as to why he glanced at the rabbit meat before saying he'd probably never keep a pet. Pets were awesome. Not that she ever had a pet. Although she did want one. It'd be something cute and nice company. Despite the fact she didn't really mind her life, she would admit she was a little lonely. She momentarily grew quiet, completely stopping her chewing of food. Even before she came to Magnolia, the only real person she had been friends with was her sister. Her parents were nearly always fussing over their business and when they moved to live with their family friend, he had been obsessed with the war and wanting to join it, in the end never really having time to properly look after her and Kuroha before finally leaving to actually do something. She knew he had promised to come back after he had done his bit but he never did. It was kind of hard to do so if he were dead. Vera shook her head out of her thoughts. There was no point being sad about it. Now she had a guild and they were plenty company.

Kade didn't really seem like he enjoyed discussing his magic so she decided to drop it for now. He didn't seem like a crazy ax-murderer anyways. It was a bit curious and Vera did love a good mystery but it didn't help to make someone who let someone else eat with them for free be uncomfortable. Maybe if they continued to talk, she'd find out more.

She switched her attention back to Kade when he answered her question on Lamia Scale. It didn't take long for her to float away from the conversation though. She murmured in agreement slightly when he said it wasn't that different from anywhere else. From his description of the guild, he seemed to like it a lot. It definitely seemed like Fairy Tail mages were more high-strung though. They were raucous and generally considered as trouble-makers. To some people, that was a turn-off, however for her, she liked noise and mischief.

Her focus did snap back though once he mentioned them having a mud fight. Her face immediately lit up.
"A mud fight! How did that turn out like? I love mud fights. I wonder why people wouldn't want to join in something like that!" she enthused.

As soon as the last word left her mouth, a faint drizzle began to start dripping from the sky, causing the mage to look up (yet again, although this time not eating). Verity didn't know whether she liked rain or not.

"Don't you think when it drizzles, the sky looks as if it's weeping?" she said in a far off voice before snapping herself back to reality and looking back down at her now getting wet food before back at Kade. "Well, I guess if your meat's still hot, it can be drenched and cooled by water for real," she said jokingly before frowning up at the rain again.

"Do you think this will get worse?"

She hoped not. Although she liked getting wet (her excuse for not having a shower), she also didn't like getting completely drenched nor did she want to return just yet. Mild showers were definitely okay though.

[Kade Lazarus]

Verity seemed like a nice girl. Even though she definitely threw Kade off in their interactions. He wasn’t used to that degree of questioning about his magic. He’d have to be more careful. Even expressing more curiosity about her could be a bad idea. Then what would he do if she asked about his life? His parents were dead. He was raised by an adoptive father. Sure, that was fine, right? Well, unless she asked more about it. She seemed to pick up on the slightest avoidance of a topic, and he didn’t want to risk it.

He laughed at her immediate interest in the mud fight. “Well, we really tore up the grounds, but it was worth it. I think one of them was because she’s afraid of people… some other people just didn’t want to get dirty. There’s a girl there who is from a really wealthy family, and always in big puffy dresses and things. She’d look out of place in the mud… but then, you have to relax and just have fun, right? And you look like someone who can appreciate that sentiment.”

It started to rain slightly and Kade sighed. He was going to get soaked if it got worse. Why? Because he was living outside on his trip. That could be problematic. “Weeping, hm?” he asked, looking up at the sky, which was fairly concealed by the trees. “I suppose in a way. I like rain, but it makes me feel like relaxing… or playing in the mud I suppose,” he smirked. “I hope it doesn’t get worse… sleeping outside kind of hampers on part of the fun of a downpour. And I don’t want my bag getting wet,” he shrugged.

He took a bit of his meat. At least it tasted good, and it would stay warm, even with the drizzle. “When did you plan to head home? I’d hate for you to catch a cold if it starts raining too much.”

[Verity Lohlepher]

Verity smiled when Kade laughed at her obvious interest. She didn't understand it sometimes when people wondered how she still could be entertained by kiddy seeming things and voiced it in a rude way. Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail didn't seem so different to one another as a whole. They both destroyed their guild sometimes, they both had a variety of people and even so, they still managed to get along like one big happy family. She wasn't so sure about Blue Pegasus but she would bet that they were the same way too. She stared wistfully at the ground whilst Kade was saying she was someone who could enjoy that sentiment. She definitely could. It was just that she never had much fun before. The only time she had ever been happy was for that time period where nobody teased and even then she didn't really have fun because everyone was scared of her or just didn't like her. Now, it was kind of like probation period in her guild. She didn't know anyone yet but she was determined to make sure she did soon.

"Mmhmm," she murmured in agreement before looking back up at Kade. "It doesn't really matter if you look out of place right? Just so long as you do it cause eventually then, you'd become a part of it. I hope that girl in the puffy dress has done something fun like that. Either wise she definitely would be missing out. And that other girl who's scared of people, gets over that fear or has already. People need people."

She continued to stare up at the sky as the rain drops fell gently to the ground, listening to Kade at the same time. "I do like rain too although not in the way you like it. I used to play in the rain with my sister...but not anymore." She looked back down when he commented on not wanting his bag getting wet. She smirked. "I would have thought getting wet in your sleeping bag constituted as fun. Cause then, you can sleep in the canopy of trees while letting the fall of rain drive you to sleep! Who knows, maybe you might start having a mud fight with yourself during your sleep." She got back to being serious. "If it does get worse though, maybe you should come into the city instead of sleeping outside. It should be drier. Walls and all." She suggested. She knew he wasn't an idiot so he probably might have thought of that already but she also guessed no harm came in still saying so.

She mused about his next question. While the rain wasn't pouring too hard, she was content on staying. "Probably when I feel like I'm getting close to tired if the rain continues like this or soon if it gets all thunder-stormy like. Getting wet is one of my favourite past times and I don't get sick that often too. What are you going to do if it gets worse?"

She noticed that the slight drizzle had begun to strengthen. It wasn't quite full on rain but it wasn't as nice as a gentle drizzle anymore.

[Kade Lazarus]

Interest was interest, and who wouldn’t be interested in a mud fight? Really? Exactly. Kade would have agreed with her thoughts on the guild. They were families. Even if one group actually called it that, and the others were simply close. People worked together as siblings, or cousins, or whatever else they all preferred. There was no reason to nitpick and cause problems for each other, but that didn’t mean they always saw eye to eye. Whatever attracted someone to their specific guild, there wasn’t actually anything wrong with the others. At least, Kade hoped so. Except dark guilds, there was definitely something wrong with the dark guilds.

“I like being a part of things,” Kade said in respond to Verity’s comment. “I’ve spent a lot of my time being secluded, and although I have spent a long time with my guild, I haven’t lost my appreciation for it. And as far as the girl, Ava…. I don’t know exactly. She’s a very… classy young woman. The other girl… yeah, I don’t think so,” he said seriously, shaking his head. It was sad, truly. He wanted to help her, but it just didn’t seem to be happening.

Kade listened to her comment about getting wet. “I don’t think so….” he said with a smirk, “Being wet is great… but not in survival mode. With the comfort of a dry room later, it is great… but when you are stuck with that gear, no so much. Besides, why would I have a mud fight with myself? Having company is at least half the fun,” he said with a grin now. She suggested he go to town if the rain got worse, “No, I’ll find a way to survive. I haven’t had to do so on my own in quite some time… but I want to. At least for now.”

“Fair enough,” Kade said. He liked that getting wet was a favorite pastime of hers. It amuses him slightly. “If this gets worse…. Oh… just make a shelter out here I imagine,” he admitted. He chewed his meat, noticing the worsening of the rain. … Great.

[Verity Lohlepher]

People wanted what they had never got and so it made sense to her that he hadn't lost appreciation for his guild. It was a nice thought. His connection to his guild was something she wanted to feel with hers. Although Verity wondered why Kade had spent a lot of time secluded by himself. To her, he didn't seem like the unsocial type. Maybe he was isolated when he was younger. She didn't know. She guessed people change and most likely Kade changed. Much like everyone else really. No one was ever the same as they where when they were a two year old. It made her curious to find out why but Verity wasn't that hyped up anymore. She'd find out eventually and she knew people liked their privacy. It didn't hurt to make people her enemy by asking them probing questions but it hurt less when they gave it up on their own free will. She didn't think Kade would start pouring his life story out to her by the time she went back to Magnolia but she didn't need to put him off either.

"It's great that you feel that way for your guild. I think it's admirable to have a connection like that," she said, a small smile on her face as she looked back down from the sky. "And you'd think classy people who joined guilds would be able to let go a little, have fun maybe. I guess though that this Ava girl might have a different idea of fun instead of a mud fight. Or maybe she just liked watching it. Some people are like that. For that other girl, maybe she just needs a little push? I don't believe in giving up on people,"

Vera returned to gaze up at the sky when Kade was talking but looked back at him by the time he got up to asking why would he have a mud fight by himself. He seems to know a lot about wilderness survival she mused. It was expected though seeing as he said he traveled a lot. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Only at least half the fun? Well I guess maybe if you had a mud fight with yourself, any passerbyers may think you've gone a bit crazy," she said with a smile. She nodded in understanding when he said he wanted to survive out in the wilderness as he hadn't done so in a while. She got that. Wanting to do something he had done before. "Nostalgia?" she asked before finishing her piece of meat. "That was good, thanks by the way,"

She laughed slightly at his expression when he appeared to notice the rain falling harder than before. "Would you like help to make that shelter?" She asked him before standing up "Because I can. And I want to. Sounds interesting. Repayment for free food perhaps?"

[Kade Lazarus]

Verity was a strange little creature. Most people were… most? Okay, all people were strange in their own way. He just felt like she was a bit more obvious about her oddities. Not that she did that on purpose necessarily, but some quirks were subtle, and hers probably not so much. She was not a subtle young lady. That wasn’t a bad thing, as it seemed to work for her, but some things about Kade needed to be subtle. Such as his shifts away from discussing his magic. People may remain curious, but if he were to suddenly say he didn’t want to discuss it, that would make people more curious. He did not need that. He was happy to discuss his guild instead. “I think it only makes sense to grow fond of the people you’re around for that long. You work together, eat together,” he shrugged.

When it came to Ava and Ren though, he had stronger opinions about them both. “Yes, she has her own version of fun. Mostly reading, or collecting keys. And as far as the second girl…. I talk to her. I’ve even asked if she wanted to play, but she doesn’t. She might actually, but she won’t,” he explained in short. She also took to hiding from him when she suspected such questions. Or did she just hide from him in general? Either way, he did find her often enough.

“I’m sure I can come up with other reasons for people to think I’ve gone crazy,” he suggested. As far as him camping for Nostalgia, “Yeah, that sounds about right. Connecting with my childhood and all that stuff. You’re welcome,” he told her when she thanked him. He worked on finishing his before she offered to help with the shelter. “Oh… hm… alright sure. I need to collect a lot of sticks, and bigger leaves if we find them. I can built it between these two trees,” he added, pointing to two nearby that were close enough for what he wanted. He had some rope and a surface that was water resistant enough, if he absolutely needed to use that, but he liked building a base regardless.

[Verity Lohlepher]

The Ava girl seemed to have an alright sense of what was fun and not. Reading she could understand. Reading was the best. However...collecting keys??? Vera wasn't as certain. For the Ren girl, she still wasn't that convinced. Although she did sound like she had a pretty severe case. As for her suggestion about making passer byers think Kade was a little crazy, he said he was sure he could think of better ways. Well duh, anybody could. One way was to talk to yourself. Another way was to dance like a monkey. Of course there was always the option of singing in public places at the top of your voice. Personally, Vera had never tried any of these things but she was sure some people would probably think you were crazy but the end of your act.

She was glad Kade accepted her offer of help. She would have helped anyways whether he wanted it or not. She paid close attention to what he was saying. Sticks and big leaves. Sounded easy enough. She came to the forest a lot so she was fairly confident in her abilities to find those two things without difficulty. She then looked at the two trees to gain a rough idea of how big those leaves would have to be before nodding. "Okay, I can do that. I'll be back soon," she said before walking away to find sticks and leaves.

Once she was a few metres from Kade's camp site, she stopped and looked around the trees. She took a deep breath and sighed. When the woods were wet, the smell was always nice. At least in her opinion. After her little break, she went around on the floor searching for sticks and leaves. She found quite a fair bit and decided to store some in the other dimension just cause she could. By the time she took a break again, she had collected quite the stockpile. Roughly 100 sticks, various sizes, 5 massive leaves and quite a few other big leaves. She leaned against the tree to stretch her back and looked up at the sky. Still raining. Getting heavy too.

She closed her eyes only to be awakened by a loud clapping noise a few seconds later. It hadn't started pouring yet but it was a possibility. She had experienced thunder before when it was near dry. It was a strange occurrence but possible that it came without heavy rain. Vera made a split decision. She could stay out a little more to find sticks and leaves; she hadn't been away from Kade's campsite for too long, maybe 10 minutes, 5 the minimum and 15 the max. But she felt it would be better to get what she had just in case it started pouring and so she started walking back from wherever she was.

[Kade Lazarus]

Kade suspected that said Ava girl had stronger conviction than he did. She didn’t have the experiences to back it up, but she sure was willful. As for her collecting keys, it made sense to him, being that it was for magic. He didn’t think about Verity not realizing that, oh well, a mistake on his part. Kade had little interest in making people think he was crazy. At most he might want that for a job, but otherwise, he’d pass.

Kade would have thought it rude to turn down free help. Besides, what was wrong with a little help? Nothing, as far as he could tell. Unless she messed things up, but he didn’t expect that. Vera agreed to his directions and headed off on her own. Kade looked at his fire. He shouldn’t leave it along, but he really didn’t need it out. It would be colder with the rain, so he left it be. He headed off to find rather large sticks. From that he started cutting them, notching them so that he could make a bar between the two trees, and a frame to hold it up. Why wouldn’t he use his magic for this, after all?

Verity returned while Kade was putting a bit of mud on the edges of his frame. It covered the clean edges of his cutting, but he merely did it to give some added stability. “Hey, got anything?” He didn’t see her carrying anything, so that was strange. He really wasn’t overly familiar with her kind of magic, and didn’t think much of it. The rain was getting heavier, and his fire was starting to appear as if it might go out. He considered shielding it with his magic, but he thought that he should focus on the structure instead. Especially with the lightning he was sure he heard. Water, lightning, fire… these were not his elements.

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