RyuHll

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Leo glanced towards Ricard skeptically. "We don't need her help to do this," he argued again. "I can take the bandits myself if need be."

Ricard waved it off. "I know we can, but it doesn't hurt to have a beautiful woman along, now does it?" he asked with a small grin, though it was more tame than his usual ones. Not that anyone could tell the difference on the face of this bandit. "Okay, here's our plan then. You guys will hide a fair distance from us. I'll wake them up and they'll lead me right to the bandit hideout. You two will trail me. Once you get there, we rout them completely. I'll aim for the bandit leader while you guys take care of his followers." He crossed his arms, smiling a bit at Saya. "You have every reason to not trust us. I'll make sure you don't regret giving us a chance, though."

"This is a waste of our time," Leo grumbled, passing this off as another one of Ricard's fancies interfering with the mission. "Just don't slow us down. I want to be done with these bastards as soon as possible." He started to walk away, pausing only to lift the bandit up again, dragging the body away. He kept his eyes averted from the rest of the group. He didn't trust the woman, just as she didn't trust them.

Ricard let out a small sigh. Leo was too protective sometimes, but it wasn't always a bad trait. "Try not to fight with him too much," the man said softly. "He's abrasive and argumentative, but he means well. You don't trust us. He doesn't trust you. He'll warm up to you if you hang around long enough." He offered a small shrug, moving to sit where the bandit had been laying before. "He's just being protective."

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

I agree. We'll try to keep communication open between the two of us in the future.

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Leo's frown deepened. "No way," he replied. "First of all, you have no way of finding the bandit leader unless he seeks you out. Secondly, I refuse to do this for free. Our guild can't live on charity, as much as I want to help these-"

Ricard's hand came up in front of Leo, causing him to pause in his tirade. With a small sigh, he bowed his head to Saya. "What my friend is trying to say, miss, is that our guild needs money to function. If we did this kind of stuff for free, our guild would collapse. Especially when faced against these larger, more prestigious guilds that do things for extravagant payments." He paused a moment, glancing at Leo before regarding Saya again, his look softer than it had been when he flirted with her more openly. His over the top antics had been shelved for this purpose. He couldn't have their guild defamed for this incident and he didn't want Leo to start a fight with the girl who more than likely had the most experience with the bandits and this village. "The villagers only stooped low enough to request our help a week ago. They were overcharged by other guilds in the area and didn't even request our help until they were out of options. Leo and I were returning from a mission two days later and accepted the job immediately. They are offering a very small sum, considering the number of bandits we're up against. Our intention was to take half of the bandits' earnings for ourselves and give the rest of the village to make up for the payments. We have no intention of overcharging the village for our services. However, we simply cannot do this for free if we hope to continue to thrive as a guild."

Leo looked over Ricard, a mixture of confusion and surprise in his eyes. However, the heat died down within them as he turned away, crossing his arms and not adding to the explanation. He was getting too frustrated. Ricard was in the better position to negotiate here.

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Okay. That makes a lot more sense to me. I know Leo was kind of writing her off, but he figured she was only doing it because guilds refused to accept the requests. He saw it as her getting let off the hook to let the guild deal with it. That and he's supposed to be the foil to Ricard. Ricard doesn't care that her magic is dark and Leo is hesitant precisely because of her magic. I'll get working on my response.

Just one thing I do want to mention. I realize that my response, upon reading it again, was kinda short and aggressive on that point. I apologize for that. Pretty sure I had just woken up and was not in a great mood, on top of being concerned about where this was going. Usually, if I make a point like that, I am only trying to clarify concerns with how the RP is going and open up communication so that neither of us are trying to corral the plot to only our specific characters. I've had partners in the past who would do that and then lash out very badly when I tried to steer it a separate way for both of our characters. So, I do apologize for this incident, I just ask that you have some patience with it in the future. I understand why you responded more aggressively to me, but my response was going to be entirely different until I let it sit for a while and thought through what I wanted to get at.

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

How am I being passive aggressive? I was just trying to address the issue I saw. We haven't really talked about how the meeting would go. You're right, I don't know your characters, but that's why I brought up this concern. My characters would react by refusing her proposal. However, I didn't know if your character's threats would be legitimate and just screw up the entire guild from there.

I'm sorry if I came off as rude. The attitude just came as a surprise to me. I was just trying to address the issue I had with it so we could talk about it. Nothing more.

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Ok. Slight problem here. I feel like you're trying to undermine my characters, first of all. Second of all, why would my guys ever accept her terms? Guilds need job money to get by. I have a feeling if they refuse, though, you're just going to steam roll it to the point of the guild being worthless.

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Leo returned her scowl. This girl was going to jeapordize their mission if she kept things up like that. "A few points," Leo retorted. "We've been searching for four days. Just because the bandits are more likely to come out to a seemingly harmless lady over two mage doesn't mean you were here first. Second, who gives a crap? People are being hurt. We're going to stop it. You said it yourself. You stepped in because the guilds wouldn't. Well, our's is willing to." Leo didn't drop the thug during his rant, holding the body towards Ricard. "Do your thing."

Ricard hesitated, looking between the two. "Why do we need to fight about this? We could work together," he suggested. Even as he spoke, he touched the thug's face, a spark coming from his fingertips. Slowly, his own features began to change, shifting until he looked exactly like the man he was touching.

"We're going to trick the bandits to lead us to their hideout. Leo's our only fighter, so we could use the help." Ricard's voice had shifted as well, matching that of the unconscious goon.

Leo's frown deepened. "We don't need her help," he replied. "These bandits are worthless. Besides, it's our jobs. The villagers submitted it to us themselves."

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Leo snorted in response to her comments about the Guilds. It was true that no one had done anything, but it was likely the large name guilds writing off each of these incidents as beneath them. Villagers wouldn't find help with mundane tasks, especially those that didn't pay well, unless they lowered themselves to the smaller guilds. "It probably helps that our guild isn't very...large," he commented. "We only received this job..." He paused a moment, considering it. "Four days ago? This was the first sighting we had." He shrugged after his explanation, glancing towards his partner before regarding the woman before him again. "My name is Leo. The idiot is Ricard. We're both from Fairy's Blossom." The guild was not very well known. It only had a handful of people in it, not enough to take the major missions that large, well known guilds would take. In this area, though, it was known a little bit. They were trustworthy in their sincerity to help, just not in their abilities to get the job done.

Ricard didn't help matters on that end, harassing any woman who came in to make a request. "These words are very hurtful, Leo," Ricard said, crossing his arms. "You know very well that I would have been useful if we followed through with our plan."

"A plan that can't work with a group of four here." Leo paused in his retort, looking down at the four men. "Mm...maybe it can still work." He grinned a bit, looking over at Saya. "This isn't the full group of bandits. We'll finish up the mission from here, though. You can rest assured that the guilds are taking this seriously now." He reached down to lift up one of the thugs, hoisting the large body effortlessly in his one glowing arm, seeming to dismiss the girl in order to continue with their mission. After all, it wasn't her job to do this. It was their's.

Light in the Darkness (Ryu and Elvenqueen)

"Brave or foolish," Nathe pointed out with a small smile. "After all, this is my reward." He patted the wound at his side, thankful for the numbing effect of the medicine now as he sat there. "At least your people don't grow violent with those beliefs. I just have to prove to them that we're not all bad. Nothing will get solved without an example of peace. I just don't want to let this sit until it grows into actual conflict." He leaned back again into his seat, stifling a yawn as he explained. "Honestly, I'm surprised you're willing to give me the benefit of the doubt without any proof give of my sincerity."

Fairy's Blossom (RyuHll and AirBender) [Fairy Tail RP]

Ricard's smile didn't falter, placing a hand to his chest as he bowed his head slightly to the woman. “Oh, but I beg to differ. I distracted him so my colleague could take him out with ease!” he said, though it wasn't clear if he was joking or not. He sounded serious, as if it were a real contribution.

“Though, you could have clearly taken them yourself,” Leo cut in, giving his partner an exasperated sigh. “I apologize for my partner. He likes to think he's more important than he is.”

“On the contrary!” Ricard turned to Leo. “I like to put the people we intend to save as the most important.”

Leo just shook his head in response. “You can ignore him, miss,” he stated. “He's an idiot.”

“Your words hurt, Leo,” Ricard said, a mock look of pain on his face as he clutched his chest, though it was clearly all for show. “You cannot slander me so in front of the beautiful maiden. You'll ruin my stellar reputation.”

Leo just placed his head in his hands, clearly not wanting any part of this behavior that Ricard seemed insistant on putting forth. “You ruin my reputation with your behavior,” he mumbled, deciding to heed his own advice and ignore him after this. He looked up at the woman. “I apologize for our intrusion. We did not realize that the people of this village offered this job to another guild.”