[color=C2B280][h3][center]Fleo Plector – Guild Hall[/center][/h3][/color]

Smiling faintly, Fleo returned the hug for a moment before attempted to extricate herself from pink Ariel's embrace.  [color=C2B280]“Aww,”[/color] she said.  She had yet to decide whether the girl's various personalities allowed her to express different sides of herself, or if they were merely personas she was forced to act out, but gestures like these made her lean more toward the former.  [color=C2B280]“Thank you, Arie.  Never have I heard someone speak so highly of dust.”[/color]

However, she knew that in the hearts of others lay greater conviction and strength than hers.  The offer of Jarvis appealed to her reason and her emotion, a winning combination.  [color=C2B280]“That sounds preferable, master.  I'll sit this one out and join in next time, using what I'll have learned from this time.”[/color]  Nodding, and feeling more secure now that she wouldn't be letting anyone down, Fleo settled in to polish off her remaining oatmeal.

Damian's confession seeded new worriment in Fleo's heart.  For the first time she looked at the man she'd pulled off the street on her first day at Phoenix Wing not as an idol, but as a hollow, a shell made of pain and regret with nothing inside.  Instantly, the dusty woman scolded herself.  She knew better than to hear the words 'child soldier' and doubt a person's humanity!  Damian had killed, that much could not be denied, and she was definitely not okay with that, but first and foremost in her mind she thought of the swordsman as a hero.  So what if his spirit turned out to be more aligned with antiheroism?  To Fleo, it did not matter what a person had buried deep inside, but what they did that mattered.  Damian's blade, to her knowledge, cut ever toward the path of good nowadays.  A dubious past tainted, but did not spoil, that image.  Still, the deaths of two people, so recently too...

Unable to find any words of encouragement, Fleo was also unsure if Damian truly deserved them.  Plus, Damian's departure prevented her from finding the time to think of any.  Fleo rinsed down her oatmeal with a sip of milk and went to find the man called Karn.

[center][color=CCCCFF][h3]Joakim Fortinbras – Phoenix Wing Hall[/h3][/color][/center]

The smile that Joakim offered contained a surprising and ironic warmth for one so accustomed to cold.  [color=CCCCFF]“A fascinating idea...a guild where individuality, rather than unity, is the key.  I think I'll enjoy my time here.  You must be slightly mistaken, though.  The group here today is not, in fact, the representative team of Frenzy Plant.  With one notable exception, their services were best employed elsewhere today.”[/color]  During a momentary pause, Joakim shuddered, and tapped his ribcage staff beside his foot to refresh his cooling aura.  Instantly he seemed more at ease.  [color=CCCCFF]“You have my assurance that even if our finest soldiers don't reign victorious, they shall challenge your best within an inch of their lives.  I am Lieutenant Joakim Fortinbras, and here we have Privates Saxum and Rewman, and Corporal Xyster presiding.”[/color]

[color=CCCCFF]“Many people look at our guild's name and find it lacking,”[/color] he continued, getting into a storytelling mood.  [color=CCCCFF]“They say, what is a plant compared to a dragon, a phoenix, anything.  Certainly, a blade of grass may be plucked from the ground with ease.  But from its roots it will return.  No natural disaster, legendary beast, or manmade cataclysm can stop the plants from reclaiming the earth.  Seeds are blown by the wind, roots seek deep into the soil, and so the forests rise.  Nature finds a way, no matter what, and never stops growing bigger and stronger.  The same goes for us.  We may burn a million times,”[/color] he said proudly, watching Xyster playing rock-paper-scissors with knowing eyes, [color=CCCCFF]“But we will rise a million and one.”[/color]  He glanced at Jarvis, slightly embarrassed.  [color=CCCCFF]“Forgive me!  Stories are one of my great loves.  Thank you for your hospitality, good master.  We shan't plague your hall for long.”[/color]

[center][h3][color=E0115F]Zander Louvier – the Frenzy Fort[/color][/h3][/center]

The tension in the room shot to a precipitous high as Zander, for once unprepared for surprise attack, regained his balance.  With a guarded dignity he turned to face Gabriel, his hand close to his sword and a suppressed anger on his face as he looked down on the boy.  [color=E0115F]“That was...unchivalrously done.  Even the S-rank wizards of other light guilds would have beaten to the curb anyone foolish enough to trifle with them.  In the spirit of civility, however, I will forget that happened.  And...I will give you a second chance.”[/color]

On the other side of the room, the silent general nodded.  A smart commander did not allow people to get beneath his skin easily, but also didn't let them think that such passes were permissible.  He glanced briefly at Andrea, who seemed more than a little put out by Gabriel's total disregard of anything she'd said.  Sanders clucked his tongue once; it was hard enough to get the poor girl to interact with anyone but her own rock monsters.  A complete stranger ignoring her would likely set her back weeks.

Back on the training floor, Zander finished his thought for Gabriel.  [color=E0115F]“A soldier that turns aside new brands of thought closes himself to learning.  You've got a very interesting brand of thought.  Let us see how well it serves you, in a test of your own physical aptitude.  This guild has professional standards.  To get into it, a test is not optional.”[/color]

[color=E0115F]“Private...Beardo,”[/color] Zander singled out a heavy-set, red-haired man, but not without difficulty.  Somehow until now, Heisty Beardo had gone completely unnoticed by practically everyone in the room.  Beardo's remarkable lack of presence was infamous in the guild, but it was not his stealthiness that Zander would be calling into action.  [color=E0115F]“Please use your Smithing Magic to supply Gabriel with a weapon if he desires one.  You will duel him instead.”[/color]  It went without saying that if Zander had picked someone like Leixia or Virgil, Gabriel, unarmed and unwilling to use magic, wouldn't have stood a chance.  By granting Gabriel an opponent whose only magic was to create weapons, and who fought with his own weapons, the insistent boy stood a ghost of a chance.  [color=E0115F]"Do you accept these conditions, young man?"[/color]