Tomoe was gearing up to leave the main area of the party, growing weary of the fake smiles and how-do-you-dos with facades as easily broken as plastic. His features curved upward when he closed his eyes for a moment to take in the exquisite taste in food and drink, however. Regardless of how sincere this gathering's intent was and the circle jerk and back -patting disgustingly littering every inch of the building, it was high quality. To a thug of little class, however, such events were his image of what nobility did daily anyway; standing atop the hierarchy, boasting of their accomplishments to others. That the other guilds would bow to such people? It sickened Tomoe, and he couldn't maintain his peaceful inner world for any longer. He opened his eyes, and snapped back to reality.

Just as vision returned to the world for the defiant rogue, he felt a force slam into him and moisture begin to dampen his chest and stomach. Before even looking at whoever it was that spilled all over him in the sea of people, his gaze drew downwards towards his stained clothes. Champagne pouring onto his red overcoat was not that big of a deal, but it was the various colors and disgusting juices mixed together on his grey undershirt that served to boil him. When the man responsible revealed himself, or rather once Tomoe bothered to look beyond himself, he found a man apologizing and wiping rapidly. It didn't do much to calm the Joyan's frustration, however.

"You son of a bitch! You'd better be prepared to either pay for these clothes or else get an ass whoopin'!", Tomoe boomed loudly enough to halt the conversations of nearby guests and cause them to give the pair some fair distance.

Unlike that cliche in the few fantasy and romance novels Tomoe had read, the music did not stop all of a sudden, but rather kept going as boisterously as ever. Those outside the immediate vicinity remaining blissfully ignorant in their own worlds while a potential conflict unfolded right before their eyes.

"You seem different from the other rich folk around here. You one o' them guild wizards, fresh and ready to lick some noble boots? Or did you get good enough to lick royal boots now?"

"With a tongue like that, it's royal boots for you. Gotcha. Nah, I get it now.", Tomoe retorted, clearly not convinced of anything the other man was saying or appreciative of his cocky attitude.

After confirming that his clothing was dried and cleaned to satisfaction, Tomoe made a 'shoo' gesture at the klutz before him to indicate that he wouldn't receive any more pity from someone who had already grown to hate his guts.

"We'll call it even at that, I'm tired of this shit. Don't pay me back. We're good, alright?"

With that, Tomoe wiped off the remaining crumbs scattered on his shirt and coat and shrugged his shoulders, content at the result. It wasn't perfect, but neither was he. The thug had cooled off somewhat, but was again fired up in the presence of a noblewoman entering their presence. At first the brigand was taken by her porcelain features and ice cold exterior, but once she began to speak it reminded him once more that she was a noble like all the rest. Despite his own unexplained dislike of the government in Fiore, though, he would try to compose himself to the best of his ability.

"It's not going the greatest, ma'am. Between the buffoon before me and the mood behind this party, things could be much better.", Tomoe spoke, delivering a small bow to the ice-woman before him.

Raising his head once more, he then stuck his hands in his pockets after running a hand through his hair. He internally debated about saying the next part, before proceeding to do so anyway in a lower tone so that as few people outside of the trio present could hear as possible.

"I'm also not sure what His Majesty is thinking, bringing out such a priceless relic for this party. The pretend boot lickers and suck-ups were one thing, but to give such power to anyone and everyone who showed up? It's utter madness, and foolish to trust even dark guilds to show up and receive this power. He's shooting himself in the foot to think that he could persuade villains to join his cause, honestly.", he spoke lowly, his features giving away the fact that he was obviously worried about the direction the country was going under King Reign's rule.

"And hell, what even is that thing, anyway? Do you know, ma'am? It's creepy as sin. Doesn't look heroic at all, if you ask me.", Tomoe continued after a brief pause, pointing towards the statue in the room with hands reaching towards an egg at the top.

"Gives me the shivers a little bit, if I'm to be completely honest, miss...? I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. I'm Tomoe.", he finished, offering his hand, and afterwards continuing to eye the suspicious and admittedly evil-looking statue.

It was nothing belonging to Her, was it? If it was, it belonged to the cult by rights. These were questions that needed answering, and if there was anything that concerned him here, he would definitely get to the bottom of things. If it required holding back his emotions even the slightest bit to get to the truth, he would.

"I think our differences are well and settled. We've found out who the bigger man is by now, I think.", Tomoe responded with a wink and a smile towards his social adversary who had elbowed him.

Admittedly the strike did hurt, but the Joyan warrior, as experienced as he was in combat, had grown accustomed to not showing pain in the face of his enemies. Whether he remembered his own past or not, the memories beat into his body by force were proof of his past deeds. At the moment, he was more interested in continuing an intriguing conversation than

"I think the world's full of fools from all walks of life. Being in such a high place as the king speaks little other than that he was born at the right place at the right time.", Tomoe responded to her in a matter-of-fact way that gave rise to his true feelings for a brief moment; not treasonous or in any way aggressive, but speaking as a realist rather than an optimist.

"The world's finest? Please. Scum of the earth are litterin' these halls tonight. The king doesn't have his head on straight if he's allowin' just anyone to walk in here. If you ask me, maybe those angels weren't entirely wrong when it came to humanity's destruction. If we keep goin' like this, the entire fight might have been for nothing."

Tomoe took a breath, becoming stressed thinking about it. The country was going to hell with the incompetence of its ruler, and perhaps change was necessary. What kind of change would it be, though? The Joyan was visibly in thought after his words, going silent for a moment.

"I also think that there's another type of foolishness out there that works out though, if the right person has it: bravery. People who want to make great change can't do it without bein' a little bit brave, y'know?", he finished, allowing others time to speak.

He would then look across his conversation partners, eyeing them and gauging their reactions and responses while shrugging.

"I think the nobility are the kind o' people that could see a lot of good done if they were given the chance. Or a lot of change, for better or worse. Someone just needs to give them a chance, I think.", Tomoe responded, delivering a subtle wink to the Countess before receiving his glass.

Raising the glass to his lips for the toast, the Joyan scoundrel lowered it for a moment to speak his next words first.

"I also think that someone who isn't of royal blood would best serve to rule over others.", Tomoe spoke in a sing-song tone, sounding content despite the topic of conversation.

With that, he took a gulp of the drink, absorbing its taste and admiring its crimson color. Something that the man would withhold is his distaste of nobility and their standards so high up their own asses that they couldn't enjoy anything anymore. Despite that, people like that were cautious and intelligent enough to rule without freely giving power to national threats and blatant criminals. Tomoe himself couldn't talk, having recently stolen from orphans, but his dislike of other criminals was honest and true.

Sighing and setting his glass down on the table, he then shrugged.

"A person can be brave and smart simultaneously. People like me, who can do plenty of good if given the chance."

Turning to Margret, Tomoe nodded his head with an honest smile.

"In that regard, despite different social standing, we're the same in that one aspect, right?", he finished his words with the true and honest belief that he possessed within him the ability to be useful.

For a brief moment, Tomoe felt a pang in his chest just feeling this unknown feeling. Unknown, and yet so familiar. He couldn't place it, and thus discarded it for the moment to be thought on for later.

Tomoe looked on in concern at the mage next to him, patting him on the back roughly both out of a sadistic desire to see the man suffer just a little bit, and to legitimately avoid a death on the cathedral floor. That would be a genuinely humiliating way for a guild wizard to die, choking to death from the words of a covert cultist. If ever the Joyan was to go down in the history books for such an occasion, he'd certainly allow it to happen. With doubt in his mind that he would ever become somebody worthy of that, though, he aided the man in evading death.

A death glare was shot at the mage quickly after once he recovered. Tomoe's rough gaze then quickly faded and was replaced by a softer smirk upon making eye contact with the man. With a sigh and a shrug, he responded plainly.

"I'm kinda a drifter, to be honest. I'll just go wherever I want, whenever I want. Money talks, y'know. And loyalties are up in the air, especially in times like these. Who knows who could use a good sword and shield to protect them now? We're at the end of a goddamn civil war, after all.", Tomoe responded, clearly concerned and looking over his shoulder briefly to ensure the Lich he had seen earlier wouldn't be bothering him.

That, of course, was merely a gesture. Due to Tomoe's amicable status and selfsame allegiance with that very Lich, the Joyan would have nothing to worry about. In truth, the power scaling was likely skewed in favor of villainy at the party at this very moment.

The dark mage population visibly around was enough to make Tomoe consider simply starting a fight by lunging at the guild mage that moment, but refrained upon realizing quickly how stupid that would be. In part because of the guards that would surround him with no guarantee of backup, and because the boot licker next to him had grown on him. Enough to not kill him first, anyway. Perhaps a waiter or something - those dunces never knew how to get the food and drink to where it needed to go. Tips? Please. They needed the tip of a sword before anything to do with the monetary kind. In HER world, Tomoe imagined, there would be no such thing as server tips.

The ronin then accepted Margret's goodbye gesture and bowed to kiss her hand. He thought that was how they did it, anyway; his knowledge of nobility in Fiore was admittedly still on the rocky side, but just assumed based on novels he had read recently that his way was correct. Bold and confident despite his uncertainty, he delivered another wink to the noblewoman alongside a goodbye statement, assuming Ri had nothing to add to keep her in their presence.

"It was no time at all. Please have a safe trip home, My Lady. And while you're at it, please keep what I said in mind. Danger could lurk just about anywhere, so don't be a stranger if ever you're in need of assistance with anything.", Tomoe finished, allowing her to leave if she had nothing more to add with a coy smile on his face.

The Countess watched the two of them bicker back and forth some more, it was amusing at first but started to weigh in on her patience.  Tomoe seemed to have an allegiance with them, but Ri was harder to read. His answers more of a deflection of her questions, or he chose to remain silent on the issue.

She would offer her hand to Tomoe first and he graciously bowed and kissed the back of her hand, a charming display, but one that Margret didn’t really care for, though she hid it well, and chose to not dispute it.  Her hand retracted afterwards “you are very right; good protection is hard to buy now a days.” She said weighing in on his statement before, before saying “I apricate the thought, but I have good body guards, but if I ever find that changing, I might look you up. “  

She turned towards Ri, she leaned back for a second and grabbed something from her bag, before shaking Ri’s hand. As she shook his hand it would be pretty clear she placed something in his palm. “For your time, enjoy” she would say as she started moving away from them with a smile, “ it was a pleasure talking to you both.” She would say as she walked towards the dance floor blending into the crowed.

As Ri looked down at what she might have placed within his palm it would seem that a considerable number of jewels were placed in his hand. If he was to stop and count it, the total would come out to roughly 150,000 Jewels.


But she was out of sight by the time this could be realized, and likely onto the next people to converse with

[EXIT]

It seemed as if the Joyan's attempts at a pay raise had failed. At the very least the woman was cordial in her rejection, but Tomoe could tell that she was the type to keep all of her nasty and awful thoughts to herself. At the end of the day, nobility couldn't be trusted and he could tell that Margret was no different in that regard.

Ah well, can't blame me for trying., Tomoe thought to himself, letting a smirk visibly show on his face.

After she had left, the thug's eyes jumped to the objects of interest in Ri's hands, and a smile grew across his face giving a clear sign that he was preparing snark. He crossed his arms as he met Ri's gaze, and gave a tiny shrug.

"Who knows? For bribe money of that level, I'm sure someone'll attempt assassination eventually if ya keep it out in the open like that.", he spoke in a tone speaking of things theoretical yet all too possible at the same time before pointing at the money in Ri's possession.

Looking around with a look of obviously fake concern, Tomoe followed up with a second look of obviously fake panic as a man in black robes and his hood up strode by.

"Like that dude over there. Y'see him? He could shank your shit at any point for a mere ten jewels I'd bet. Probably did it before coming here, what with how many criminals, dark mages and scumbags are present for this gathering. Especially scumbags.", he blurted out casually with a more serious expression, unafraid of anyone that might overhear him.

He raised a thumb to point at himself with a wide, toothy grin and then cracked his knuckles while returning to a posture less suited for chit-chat with nobles.

"Ya never know - I could be one of 'em, for all anyone knows! The way the king's running things, who would even care? Heh.", Tomoe spat out, letting loose a laugh from his gut with reckless abandon.

When Ri dismissed the cloaked man walking by, Tomoe couldn't help but shrug and nod his head in agreement.

"Yeah, you're probably right.", he replied, knowing full well that even if the hooded man was some kind of killer, they'd likely pale in comparison to the Lich moving about the ball or the Holy Knights who once fought on the front lines.

Or at least, that's what the Joyan wanted others to continue to think. In truth, power was something unknowable in Earthland. Anybody could be a god in human form, and the most intimidating sons of bitches stomping about could be quite easy to defeat. With magic being the great equalizer, nobody could truly claim to be the strongest with so many variables. That was how he liked it, since that was how he had survived for so long.

He was asked about his companionship at the event. Truth be told, there wasn't anybody in particular who he knew. Whether that be at this event, outside of it, or even himself. His memory was mostly a blank slate, only attending as HER servant and watchful protector. In that regard, there really was nobody for him. Not that he had any issues with that, though.

"I'm pretty alone, to be honest. Not that I really mind that all that much.", the Joyan spoke reflectively, then returned to a jovial disposition.

Noting the time from a nearby clock on the wall, Tomoe's features grew sharp. As the night grew longer, he knew that it was almost around the point at which he'd need to get a bit more serious. His entrance here was admittedly for fun, but he'd quickly need to change his tone to make real change at this event.

"If you'll excuse me though, I gotta be goin'. Hit me up in Astera if you're ever in town, yeah? Can't say I like ya, but if we ever met outside of this place I'd maybe give you another shot. Who knows?", Tomoe continued, doing his best to wrap up their conversation in the absence of a noble to unite against or fight for the affection of.

"And hey, I'll give you one thing. You aren't the worst light guild mage I've ever come across. There are many others who could claim that title. As a former member of Fairy Tail, I can say that much.", the Joyan spoke his last sentences lowly so that only the two of them could hear, finishing with a sly wink.

Afterwards, Tomoe made directly for the exit as he waved goodbye to his conversation partner without looking back. Perhaps he had said a few words too many, and too many of those words being true. His memory had come back to him slowly over time, and the more he remembered of his old Fairy Tail teammates, the heavier his heart grew.

Nevertheless, he was HER servant now, and would carry out HER will forevermore. No amount of interactions attempting to contradict that could ever budge him from that path, not even in the most lighthearted of moments like his interactions with the boot licker he joked with tonight. Yet if even a little bit, Tomoe gained a small amount of respect for the way that those aligned with light guilds lived their lives.

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- Exit -