What the Friends Brought About

Time flies by faster than one can comprehend sometimes, Nero Atosaki had just come back after having another photoshoot over at Crocus for Magick Monthly and he was just about to open the doors to the guildhall. But as he reached out for the door handle, someone else opened it from the other side. It was a raven-haired girl that he had never seen before, probably a new member, who quickly made a small jump when she almost walked into the man that had just arrived. She apologizing quickly and held the door open for Nero as he walked inside, the Phoenix Slayer giving her a slight nod as a way to say thank you before continuing inside the building. Once inside he removed his hat and took a look around, it had been two months since Stellara Nocte was officially formed by their Guild Master Gai Diyos and a lot had happened during this time. Plenty of members had already come and gone, the guild had been accepted into the Toveri Alliance and, surprisingly, even a fair amount of well-paid jobs was up for the taking. But despite all of this progress, there was still something that was bothering Nero and he wanted to discuss it with his Guild Master. He made his way up to the top level and knocked on Gai's office before making his way inside. It would appear that he was interrupting something as the Guild Advisor was currently in the middle of lecturing their Guild Master about the importance of sleep as he had apparently fallen asleep during his last meeting with the Toveri Alliance. "Am I interrupting something? I could come back later." Jin had given up and simply made his way out of the office. "I guess not."

Gai was sitting patiently in his chair, his face unchanged from Jin's scolding. He politely sat upright with both his hands on his lap, feet put together in front of him. There was something strange about Gai, this wasn't his usual behaviour especially after being told off by his grand guild advisor. He continued to stare at Nero unwavering as a single sweat tricked down from his scalp down the side of his face. An awkward silence filled the room as both the guild master and guild mage looked at eachother in confusion.

This kept on until it had reached about a minutes time, Nero finally breaking the silence by opening his arms to both sides as he asked his Guild Master: "What? Did I miss some kind of announcement or do I have something on my face?" Nero proceeded to look down on his suit if he had gotten dirty along the road, as he couldn't see anything he looked back up towards Gai. "I know that I wasn't on a guild job but I was expecting at least a "Welcome back" y'know. C'mon, talk with me here."

Gai lifted himself from the chair and bowed to Nero, furthering the confusion of the White Phoenix Slayer. Never had Gai ever shown some sort of respect like that before, so something very strange was up with this 'guildmaster'. "WELCOME BACK NERO!" a voice shouted from behind the door to the office before it was kicked open. Another Gai stood in the doorframe, clothed in his usual attire with a distinct smell of alcohol drifting from his position. The Gai who was sitting in the chair began to sweat nervously, his hand slightly shaking as a drunken Gai began to make his way into the room to Nero. "I honestly don't get enough for my job..." The nervous Gai whispered under his voice before the ring on his left middle finger glowed. His body began to vanish from Nero's eyes and soon all present life that was left in the room was the Phoenix Slayer and the drunken Spirit Slayer.

Nero stood bewildered for what seemed to be an eternity. He knew that he wasn't dreaming, he couldn't get drunk so it wasn't his eyes playing tricks and illusions doesn't work either on him. He opened his mouth as he if was about to say something before closing it again. Pointing towards the chair and then towards the door, and then back again before finally looking at the drunken man called a Guild Master. "I.. What.." He stopped for a moment again just to process everything. "Care to explain that?"

The drunken Gai burst into a short laugh before slapping his gut, "Of course I will, you've got to meet my new friend here." Gai said as he slammed the door behind him. A small eek could be heard next to Gai as the guild master reached and grabbed the thin air infront of him, "Nero. I'd like you to meet Atwell, my personal assistant". The Gai copy emerged from his invisibility right into Gai's outstretched hand, turning slightly to sort of face Nero with a weak smile. "Hello..." Atwell greeted Nero who was in the corner of his eye.

Still looking oddly at the pair for moment before nodding towards Atwell "Eh, yeah, hey. Nice to.. is thus the first time we've met?" Looking back at Gai and trying to get back on the reason for why he came up here: "First things first, I never thought you'd have a twin Dai. Secondly, we need to talk about something that has been bugging me." Before letting Gai get the chance to respond, Nero reached out to reach grab his shoulder and lead him to his chair, once there he put down the daily newspaper. "Did you know that the newspapers often talk about the big and popular guilds, do you see anything about us here? No, you won't find anything, I've checked." Nero suddenly drops down to all four as desperation had taken hold of him. "We haven't been mentioned since the guild Toveri, it's cruel." Quickly making his way up again and slamming his hands onto the counter: "Please Bai, sign us up for the next Grand Magic Games. It would surely make the public notice us." This was the first time that Nero actually begged Gai for something, even if he still couldn't get his Guild Masters name right.

Gai crossed his arms as he let Atwell go, smirking at the idea of joining the Grand Magic Games. "What do you mean we were never on the newspaper? Of course we've been on there, I mean haven't you seen the issue three weeks ago about the time Autumn was able to take down a robbery on that flying cruise ship?" Gai reasoned out smiling. "Oh yeah, she did take out the robbery as well as the cruise ship itself in the process..." Atwell mumbled. Gai walked up to Nero still crossing his arms, the smell of alcohol getting stronger with every step closer he took. "Besides, we don't really need the Grand Magic Games to get more attention from the public. So many dark guilds are out there are doing it right now. The Grand Magic Games are nothing but an excuse to boost a guild's ago and reputation. And why would we need to be popular? We'd get attacked if we were to be more known to this human world..."

"Yes, Autumn was in the newspaper. But you forget that they never once mentioned that she was part of this Guild!" Seeing as the chance for popularity wasn't working for Gai, Nero knew that he'd have to say something that could potentially get his Guild Master's attention. "Did I hear that right? You don't think we can so it?" A smirk forming from his lips as he put his hands up as if giving up a fight. "Fine, fine. I'll just go ahead and tell everyone about how much faith our drunk master has for us and that's he's afraid of a little popularity." Turning around and making his way towards the door.

"Nero..." Gai sighed with a warning tone, his hand ready to strike at Nero if he continued to make his way past the door. A black flaring arrow forming in his left hand as he signaled to Atwell to stay away from whatever the guild master was going to do next. "Fine. Alright I get it. Here's a deal, how about if you win then we can enter the Grand Magic Games for the sake of the 'popularity' of the guild. If I win however, then we do whatever I say and you have to get me a drink. Sound fair?" Gai tried to reason as Atwell ran out the door and down the hall.