Here he was, the man of the hour. The alpha of awe. The brute of brawn. The cultivator of class. The duke of domination. The emperor of eloquence. In truth he was none of these things. Zane was up to his usual tricks again. He hadn't checked into the Fairy Tail guild hall in literally 2 years at this point. He was overdue on his taxes. He had spent months doing literally nothing except wandering around. In a way, he had become nothing but a delinquent. But Zane still found a way to pull it together. If nothing else, he managed to be lovable despite his massive list of flaws.

Napping on a park bench in Oak, Zane quickly realized that this town was full of thugs who would not think twice about pulling a wallet from a sleeping man's pocket. Exhaling in relief as he realized the money he had just saved himself, Zane walked forwards toward a nearby shop. Jason's deluxe spices. It seemed to be some sort of shop dedicated to the selling of rare and expensive spices that were often used in only the best examples of fine Fiorian cuisine. Seemed interesting enough.

Being a cook himself, Zane was impressed as he admired the spices in the halls of the shop. There were many others in the store, all folk that looked much richer than Zane. It was probably true too - looking at the prices, he'd most likely lose all of his savings just to get a couple grams of any of the items in the store. His hand touched on one of the spices encased in a glass tube, sighing. It was as if he was a maiden in a play, forced to have her love interest so far away that she felt like his face would never yet again be in her hands. Zane quickly realized he actually didn't want these spices that bad, pulling his hand back.

That was enough window shopping for now. Nearing the exit to the store, Zane reached in his pocket for his notebook, only to find something else was missing. It was his wallet. Somehow, someway, he had gotten his wallet snatched while in the spice shop. He was certain he had it on him when he entered. There was a bell on the door that rung each time it was opened, and he had not heard it ring since he got in here. That could only mean one thing...

Moving towards the exit door and covering it, Zane held his hands towards his mouth and raised his voice. He had gotten sick of this city already, with it's many crooks and scoundrels. They were all rascals, every last one of them Rascals, with no respect for mages!

"I know one of you is a thief, so you better come ahead and give me back my wallet! I'm not coming outta here until I get it back!" he said, as the employee at the till seemed to be unphased, napping her shift away. Zane couldn't blame her. If he had to work at an expensive spice shop and deal with rich snobs 24/7, he'd probably need a hell of a nap too. Zane certainly wanted a nap right now as well... but the wallet had to come first.

Zane had been wondering where some of the smoke in the shop had come from, and he'd soon have his answer. It was a man that he had not yet noticed in the store, though one that would certainly be hard to forget currently. Moving his hand forwards a bit, Zane started by peacefully taking the wallet from the man's hand. Zane stood in the same spot, an annoyed expression on his face. So this guy thought that he could just steal ZANE's wallet, then act all sly about it, while smoking something, while moving in such a suave way, while having a nice haircut. Zane was... well, actually, he couldn't really be all too mad about it. This dude was cool as hell!

Zane's face quickly changed to that of a smile, as if he had just been pranked by the funniest man in the world. Hell, he had pretty much forgotten this man had quite literally robbed him - Zane had truly been charmed. "You know what, it's alright! I get it, things ain't going too well here." While Zane was more laid back now, he made sure to put his wallet reallllllly deep into his pocket this time. While he hoped it wouldn't be stolen again, he had learned over time not to underestimate the thieves of this city. "I suppose you have a point, I clearly need to invest in better pants..." Zane moved a bit left of the exit, no longer intending to keep people in the store. He instead leaned against the storefront window to the left, putting his hands in his pockets while talking to the stranger. A move that was mostly intended to look cool, but also brought about by a desire not to lose a wallet full of money again.

"Smoking? Only during special occasions, honestly. I suppose there's no harm in it now, though. It wasn't like I was doing much today anyways. Hand me whatever you've got." Holding out his hand, Zane wondered what exactly he'd even be smoking. Hopefully it wasn't that stuff they sold in Marigold... that shit was wacky. Realizing that he had not yet learned who this man was, Zane thought to introduce himself before accepting a smoke from the stranger. "Name's Zane, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"New guild, huh? Is Phantom Lord still around, by any chance? I haven't been to Oak in quite some time." The world often seemed to move too fast for Zane to process sometimes. There were moments where it felt like every moment was as long as the next, but on occasion weeks and months would fly on without Zane noticing their presence. At this point, Zane was more of a drifter if anything. Not a serious, cool, mysterious drifters like in all the stories though. He was more of the comedic relief of this tale if anything.

Taking the cigar from Erebus, Zane lit it with finesse. As someone who traveled so often, he was used to using a lighter for just about anything. If you didn't have some sort of fire magic, it was hard to go on the road without one. Tossing the lighter casually yet precisely towards Erebus once more, Zane exhaled a bit of the smoke as he listened to Erebus about the new guild. "It's the first I've heard myself... I guess I can't say much about them, only knowing their name and all. The name's definitely a bit tacky, if I had to admit. But hey, tacky things have their charm too."

The conversation with Erebus was a nice change of pace for Zane. He talked with many people, being a wanderer and all, but not many gave him as much substance in a few back and forths as Erebus did. A perfect way to get rid of the boredom of the day. After all, it was this or continuing to look at overprices spices. When Erebus asked of Zane's birthplace, he was happy to oblige the details, perhaps even more than he would oblige most people.

"I'm from Baska. Parents were some farmers who worked there. It's a nice place, really. I know some people from other areas wouldn't wanna go to a place like that - I remember all the folks in Crocus and Era calling it a hick town for a while. But I think it was pretty cool, really. Haven't been there for a while though... I've changed on both the inside and the outside. Not sure if I could just waltz in on my parents like that, especially since I've been MIA to them for years anyways." Zane's voice still sounded fairly casual, even while speaking of the subject. Perhaps he had gotten used to vanishing. He hadn't gone to the guild hall in forever either. "Nowadays I mainly just wander around and whatnot. I had a couple of goals for a while, but I kinda lost sight of them. It's so easy to just go with the winds sometimes. How about you, Erebus? You got a plan in life?"

Zane's eyes wandered to the clock as he spoke, his memory on something quickly coming back. He accepted that one request at the castle, right? He was going to be late if he didn't leave soon! He couldn't believe that he forgot that... he supposed he was probably just fooling around too much the night where he agreed to do so. Still, he had to make a break for it, and fast. This Erebus guy was super cool, but Zane just didn't have the time to chat right now, despite previously thinking otherwise. "Sorry bout this, but I just realized I'm late for something. If you're ever in Magnolia, stop by Fairy Tail, you might find me there!" Zane hadn't mentioned his guild in a long time, but he supposed it was the best place to find him. In fact, maybe he should go and try to head to Magnolia soon sometime... it would be interesting to see the current state of the guild. He hadn't heard much of it in a while...

Running out the door, Zane realized he had more important things to worry about at the moment. He needed to jolt for the castle quick, lest he want to receive a scolding on being on time. His legs had to get moving, and moving they did as he ran through the streets of Era.

EXIT