[right][h3][b][color=firebrick]Blaike Fremont[/color][/b][/h3][/right][hr][b]Location::[/b]	Ferris Woods, Deep Woods => Alexandria Hunters Guild Headquarters, Meeting Room
[b]Date::[/b]		21st Sun of Ondine
[b]Interactions::[/b] Artemisia, Avaddon, Balder, Edgar, Ianthe, Luna, and Mitra[hr]
Well then, that was convenient.

Blaike couldn't help but elicit a sigh of relief as his hand continued to glow with bright red, flickering flames, only to be snuffed out as quickly as he clasped his hand. Even with their battle against the Malboro in such a tenebrous place, Blaike slowly began to unravel his hand, this time with smaller embers prancing around as he observed the atmosphere with a careful eye.

Only when he saw the plants begin to unravel and return to a lighter and much more natural state of vegetation was when he began to ease up, especially with a beam of line shining through the thicket upon this gaping hole where the creature fell. Eventually, the small embers flickered and died, wasting away like a Minibro as he noticed one falling to his side, practically rotting.

Blaike relaxed, his much more outwardly austere behavior vanishing the moment he witnessed this all; it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders as the once daunting atmosphere of the forest declined. With a smug, self-assured grin the moment he was [i]certain[/i] there was no other monsters lurking around, he twirled his sword in his hand before sheathing it, all while tipping his back as his cape flowed as a result of his magical wind.

[color=firebrick]"Quite true due to the phenomenon, but nevertheless, that t'was not a difficult challenge for us; helped that we had quite the skilled mage in this group,"[/color] he chuckled in response to the other magi's observation, before winking at her with a mischievous grin. [color=firebrick]"Oh and you as well, Artemesia,"[/color] he teased with a toothy smirk at the woman before glancing over to the nervous priestess and giving her a much more pleasant smile as he changed up his coy tone for a much more comforting one.

[color=firebrick]"Looks like you were able to muster up your courage and take the plunge,"[/color] he gave the girl a soft smile and a light, yet approving sigh, [color=firebrick]"after all, there can be no courage without fear. Nice work there."[/color] While her contribution wasn't as much as the others, at least to him, he wouldn't be the one to claim that.

However, her striking that black crystal [i]did[/i] divulge some important information to him, something he would take advantage of in the future, especially since there were no recordings of a Malboro with crystals inside them. Speaking of black crystals.

Just as Blaike was about to check up on the others as he pivoted around, he witnessed something so profusely stupid that it caused the color to drain from his face. [color=firebrick]"Drop that now! You don't know if it-"[/color]

Too late. For all his bluster and serene attitude a couple of seconds ago towards Luna became quickly replaced with a pang of anxiety and worry as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated as he cried out towards the lad. [color=firebrick]"-sss volatile or not,"[/color] despite how intense his command was, the damage has been done and he had visibly deflated. Gods, of [i]course[/i] Cid's apprentice was just as reckless as him.

Shuffling on over swiftly to the downed lad, Baldur was surprisingly spry for someone who was just knocked out of the fight and injured, and even quicker to comment. Whatever the case was, Blaike, gave the two a cocksure smirk as he held both of his hands out, [color=firebrick]"Or I could just do this."[/color]

Following that statement, the Red Mage murmured something about 'cure' under his breath as his hands began to glow a gentle light, which engulfed both their proctor and the engineer in a soft glow as small twinkles of light formed around their body. In a couple of seconds, most of the injuries incurred, whether through carelessness or a vine whip had all but dissipated.

[color=firebrick]"Jus' don't forget who healed you both up when you're doing evaluations, alright,"[/color] he joked with a large grin, warily eyeing the black crystal chunk Edgar had dropped. Part of him wished he could collect a sample, but a part of him couldn't help but worry about the properties it might have on him, especially with his current condition.

[color=firebrick]"Hah, maybe there's more than meets the eye~."[/color] After that comment towards Artemisia, he would offer healing up the rest of the party if any of them were injured before they started the trek back. There was a lot to think about.
[hr]
Blaike flicked the bronze badge up into the air with his thumb as if it were a coin before letting land in his gloved hand as he continued lauding praise to the group, with their oh so great leader soaking it all up. Still, he focused intently on the bronze badge, focusing on it as if it were treasured keepsake and nodded to himself. Now maybe, just maybe he could find away beyond the miasma-laden lands as he pocketed the badge.

Now, the payment. Greasing this group up with a bonus worthy of their success, eh? Well, it was part of the payment as he snatched up his share of the gil before nodding to himself. It was a fair payment. Honest work for 5000 gil, though he didn't look relatively impressed, rather lax about it all as he stuffed the 5000 gil somewhere into his coat and shrugged.

It wasn't until Edgar spoke up about the sample that was on the table. Yes, that. He wasn't surprised and the relative speed of retrieval for this dark crystal; if anything, he was musing to himself about how slow they were this time about gathering this anomalous material with a huge grin on his face.

Still, it was curious that other beasts with black crystals were popping up, making his mind wander on the possibilities of what this material might be, if it wasn't just corrupted Aldite.

Which was his first guess. Regardless, the moment the contracts were distributed, he began reading over his before clicking the roof of his mouth and nodding to himself. Well crap, he was gonna have to report in to be on leave for a while at the labs, unless they had something for him to do up in Belinus. After all, it was as Baldur stated - they could be gone for a while.

Sitting straight up, he murmured the details of the task to himself before storing the parchment with the rest of his gil. As much as Artemisia's idea sounded good, there were more important things he had to tend to at the moment as he glanced over at Ianthe, [color=firebrick]"Hah, lucky you! Sounds like my type of mission; getting to learn more 'bout these crystals while traveling with a charming girl."[/color]

He grinned and winked at Ianthe, [color=firebrick]"'course, this mission is just as good as well."[/color] Sitting up, he glanced over to his other compatriots, but not before his gaze landed on one a familiar dragoon.

[color=firebrick]"Nice work on the last mission; your skills are sharper than ever Mitra, but more importantly,"[/color] Blaike stated as he leaned on over, he rubbed the bottom of his chin with his index finger, [color=firebrick]"it's good to see you again."[/color] Yeah, there was that as well. At least they had the down time to talk now without a giant vegetable trying to devour them, as he had a ton of explaining to do as he began to retread the back of his mind over where he would start.

Standing upright he rolled his wrists around in a circle before pointing to the door, [color=firebrick]"I've got some errands to run, as well as shopping to do to before the morrow; care to join me?"[/color] Blaike gave the girl a polite, inviting smile as he stood there, awaiting her answer.

Knowing her, she would probably decline or something, but the Red Mage could only pray she agreed to this excursion. There was so much to catch up on after all and so much he probably had to explain.