As Tomoe left the guild hall, he knew he'd be in for it. Right from the start he was informed that Aegis would be going on the job with him, and that was a problem right off the bat. Unlike normally, Tomoe would be unable to pull any trickery or use any disguises, and would merely need to deal with the job as himself. He couldn't risk anyone finding out, after all - that would defeat the entire point of it. Weapons were off the table as well, as who would have need of those with what he was doing?

It was theater once more that called the Joyan to action. He wasn't a huge fan of plays, but he did admit to being a good actor himself once it came down to it. He wouldn't be able to assume the role of good ol' Salazar Worthington or anything of the sort, so he needed to be a good boy for today. He'd still get paid, so that was his motivator to get through the day.

Tomoe looked at the clear blue skies overhead as he stood outside the theater, awaiting his questing partner. He would keep an ear out for the loud clashing metal noises and heavy footsteps, as that was always the sign that Aegis would soon arrive. Tomoe himself was wearing none of his usual combat gear, only black leather armor with a small side cloak. There would be no need for combat in such a location... right? The mere thought of that was ridiculous.

---

WC: 257/1,700 [15% reduced]

Sure enough, the armor would cling and clang as Aegis approached. It was in contrast to the Joyan's own careful, often cautious steps when moving about so drastically that there was nothing to be done about it. It was a fine sound though; one that Tomoe felt confident in saying had grown on him somewhat. He could never have imagined the lanky klutz from earlier days would walk so tall and proud. Though at the same time, he'd also never have imagined himself growing younger, so perhaps life was just full of surprises. Rather than yelling, Tomoe would wait for Aegis to draw closer before speaking.

"Yo. You ready to go in? I've got things to drink 'n people to fuck, so a job well done good and fast would be nice.", Tomoe spoke first, setting the tone that he very much wanted to see the quest come to its conclusion promptly.

Venturing inside for the 'first' time, Tomoe would give his introductions to everyone involved and the employer. It was the owner of the theater, who Tomoe had never met, but Salazar had surely left an impression. The owner would spout some things about the theater needing more supplies from various places and that orders had been put in all across the town. Delivery from each individual store would cost substantially more than hiring people to pick up each order, apparently, and thus was where the pair of guild mages would come in.

Once they were ready to venture forth into Marigold to start the job properly, Tomoe would sigh once exiting the theater and turned to Aegis.

"We ain't a goddamn charity, man. You'd think the pay would be higher for all the lifting we're gonna need to be doin'. Here I thought we'd be leading easier lives once the guild got formed. Can't have it that way, eh?", Tomoe exclaimed, finishing on a somber note with a resigned sigh, knowing that whining about the task at hand wouldn't get it done any faster.

"Guess there's nothing to it, though. Lead the way."

---

WC: 602/1,700 (15% reduced)

Tomoe nodded along at Aegis' optimistic attitude. The Lich didn't take any more enjoyment in such tasks than Tomoe did, and he could see that; it was plain as day on the towering man's... skull? It was certainly a ruse. The task was neither engaging nor exciting. There would be no fighting and there would be no level of 'fun' to it besides the money and by extension the strip club visit that would follow soon after. Being surrounded in babes and liquor was the true fun, and the current mission was merely a means to that end.

"Higher ranked missions? Why, whatever could you mean? Nahhh, no way we'd be deserving of higher. Not even after one of the most dangerous men in Fiore walked up to our front door and then jumped off a bridge, presumably in fear.", Tomoe sighed, lifting up the share of boxes that were presented to him as he made his way for the door, making sure that Aegis was fine on his end. "Nope. This is the level we're at. Combat's too dangerous for us rookies still."

At that, Tomoe kicked open the door of the establishment they had visited and wandered outside, boxes in hand. They weren't all that heavy, which was a blessing that the Joyan was thankful for at least. The packages were light enough that he figured they could probably make a few more stops before dropping off the first batch. It'd give them time to talk and catch up, anyway. For the amount of things that it felt as if Tomoe had gone through, it seemed to him that there was an imbalance in the amount of things that happened to the amount of things that were discussed once they met back up to create the guild months ago.

"You wanna discuss any of that, by the way? We haven't really had any time to really talk about ol' Odin a whole lot. That shit was weird, right? To be honest, it might go a bit deeper than some asshole wanting to burn down our guild."

Tomoe ensured that Aegis was keeping up with his end of the supplies before he continued on his way, waiting to gauge the man's reaction and see if he was open to discuss such things.

---

WC: 985/1,700 (15% reduced)

Tomoe would dwell on the idea that Odin's retreat was a ploy for a long while as they left. Since ultimately nothing happened, that couldn't be the case, right? They would've seen the results of it by now if there were some kind of scheme behind all of this. There was only a particular type of plan that would take longer to see the results of, and Tomoe's eyes sharpened at the realization he had come to.

"Back when I was in the Midnight Cult... me 'n him did meet at one point. We didn't know each other very well, but the 'me' from back then did agree with him on a lot of stuff. And back then...", Tomoe paused, thinking on Kusanagi and confirming to himself that it would indeed be a common link.

"Back then, I had Kusanagi. During our fight, I still had Kusanagi... I look completely different from when I met him, obviously, but both back when I first met him and when he approached us at our guild, I had Kusanagi on me in both occasions. The cult hunts down deserters, so if he recognized me, he'll be back with reinforcements.", Tomoe explained, a grim expression crossing his face.

"Either that, or to somehow report to the nobility that a former cultist is in Penumbral Guard. In either case, that's not good at all, man.", Tomoe finished with concern in his voice, shrugging his shoulders at the idea of a wanted murderer and cultist in his own right selling out another cut from the same cloth; it would've been funny to the Joyan if it weren't such a scary idea at the same time.

He would await Aegis' take on things before continuing, setting down the boxes at the theater before making their way to the next location. The idea that their guild could face serious consequences for Tomoe's mere existence made the man's stomach turn as they walked to their next destination. What would happen if knights showed up at the door demanding Tomoe's head? What would he do? There would be no ideal response in that situation, really.

"I didn't find anything of the bastard, either. Looked all night that night, but couldn't find a thing. That's just the way it goes sometimes, I guess. The motherfucker's definitely in pieces, but he'll put himself back together, I'm sure of it."

Tomoe didn't wish to talk about the absence of his weapons. For whatever reason, he found it difficult to merely hold them without thinking of the cult now. After that sleepless night pursuing Odin, the Joyan had returned exhausted and without weapons or armor. Lost in the chase, he had claimed. Nothing that could be done for it once they had washed away in the stream from above the clouds.

In truth he couldn't pick up such destructive weapons without flashes of the cult and of HER love flooding his mind. It was fear. Pure and simple fear as to what he could become again on a whim if the wrong sequence of events took place. Truthfully, he abandoned all that made him who he was as a warrior simply because he hated the idea of waging the wrong war. These were things that, of course, he kept to himself and planned to keep to himself for the foreseeable future as well. Nobody could know of the affection he still felt for HER.

As they stood outside the next delivery location, Tomoe awaited Aegis' response to his own thoughts. It was certainly a dire situation to be in.

---

WC: 1,580/1,700 (15% reduced)

Fortifications, guild attacks, public perception... it was all too much to worry about. Thinking back on it, Tomoe never had to worry about those things while as a wanderer or while in Fairy Tail. Times were so much simpler back then, when he could simply be who he was without fear. Even when he was in the Midnight Cult he didn't really need to worry about public perception since he was already the biggest piece of shit one could be. Only now, in the current day and age of Fiore, did he need to worry about all those things. He understood, of course. He just didn't like it.

"Fuck the cult. Fuck the council. Fuck 'em all. We'll just do things how we do 'em, yeah? We need to get you a bit more recognized because I'm gettin' tired of the guild master thing here.", Tomoe blurted out, clearly tired of pretending to masquerade as a guild master.

The Joyan was never the type that enjoyed responsibility on any level, much less the responsibility of leading a guild. It wasn't the sort of thing he was giddy to accept. As they went to retrieve more supplies, Tomoe found himself looking over his shoulder quite frequently. Who would strike? And when? It was unclear.

"Sorry, but I can't think straight right now. I'll do what I can with ya, and then I'm gonna get on patrol or somethin'. I gotta make sure nothing fucky is goin' on. You draft up some fortification plans and we'll go over 'em a bit later."

Afterwards, Tomoe would deliver a few more runs of supplies alongside Aegis. Once he had done his part, Tomoe would then get suited for patrol on his own, wanting to be alone with his thoughts and to have the reassurance that cultists weren't after him already. Or knights at his door. Or any other number of awful situations. He was starting to get tired of needing to run from his past mistakes, but was powerless to change them at the same time. He had no weapons anymore, so anyone who tried to fight him would have the upper hand by default. Nevertheless, the Joyan pressed on anyway, needing to stay focused.

---

WC: 1,700/1,700 (15% reduced)

- Exit -