BEACH EPISODE!

On A Beach off the Coast of Fiore

Apparently, it was somehow coincidentally decided that all the relevant people in Fiore would take a beach vacation for some reason on Bastly's Beach Resort. Luckily, the beach had an immensely powerful Charm of Pacifism that would prevent any violence on the beach that Bastly had paid more than a pretty penny for to make sure anyone here would be safe and sound.

The first people at the beach were of the guild Hob House, given top billing for obvious reasons.
Guildmaster Bastly at the moment was tanning in the sun in beach shorts on top of a deckchair and towel, quite enjoying the waves of heat resonating through his tired body. He had brought a large parasol, a picnic setup, and plenty of cool beverages to make sure that once his guild and possibly others were done playing in the sand and sea they could relax without worry.

Alaric was wearing both beach shorts and a shirt, and had volunteered to set up the towels, umbrella, and the cooler for his guildmates in lieu of his Guildmaster. Bastly had predictably offered to set up everything himself, but Alaric emphasized that this was a time for vacation for him as well. Alaric wasn't as tired as his Guildmaster as he had more so been escorting Ibuki on her "adventures" as of recent rather than taking jobs overly taxing to his stamina.

Speaking of the Princess of Fiore, Ibuki was somehow even skimpier than usual wearing her custom-made bikini,and was currently tanning on a deckchair about 12 feet to the right away from her Guildmaster while drinking an expensive margarita with her signature look of smug superiority.

Seph had elected to spend her time building a massive and complicated sand castle using her multiple limbs and eyes to their fullest extent. If a historian was around they would recognize the castle as a near exact replica of one from 300 years ago, down to the tiny sand guards on their morning routine.

While the Hob's House was getting settled, the second set of guests had arrived, The Moons Watch. Guildmaster Father Mond had arrived in beach shorts, along with his now iconic mask. Father set up his towel in between Ibuki and next to Bastly and his parasol, clearly intent on conversating with his fellow Magicless Light Guildmaster.

Ciara was wearing a humble full beach suit and her signature massive witch hat. She set up her towel next to Ibuki's theorizing that if she was sat next to the Princess of Fiore she wouldn't be bothered much. Oh how wrong she was. She also could've sworn that she heard Ibuki mutter the word "washboard" under her breath as she was setting up her beach towel and deckchair.

Yam was wearing a wetsuit, though he also brought along his massive sword as well. He stood next to his "Chief" intent on defending him from harm, not really conceptualizing that violence was physically impossible here despite his Guildmaster's and guildmate's efforts. Though Mond was still very much appreciative towards the boy for his efforts, not wanting to make him upset in this day meant for relaxation.

Lanel had begun setting up the Moons Watch's own parasol and set of beverages. Lanel looked wistfully towards them along with the sun and the waves wishing he could feel their wonderful touch again. He and Alaric made then eye contact and nodded towards each other in some sort of solemn understanding of men who had lived through all life had to offer and then some. Then both went on with their tasks, at least ensuring that their guilds would have as much fun as they could if they could help it.

Cat Sid was currently flying alongside a ginormous feline across the beachline, though thoroughly avoiding any touch of water. He wanted to tell his wondrous tales of his glorious adventures to all who could hear, but somehow he got the feeling that nobody what was currently present wanted to hear them. Though maybe that would change with new arrivals, who knows?

Meliadne was currently in her tiny cat form, which was wearing a respectable full beach suit and skirt, which flew over to survey the area, and then had landed next to her Guildmaster and Yam to confirm that the beach was clear of people besides them. She then proceeded to tally up of all the things that both guilds had brought for the sake of clarity and diligence, a diligence that was much appreciated by all the members of the Moon's Watch.

Curie and Esty decided to arrive at the same time in quite possibly the most unsutbtle way imaginable, a train made entirely of magic, horns blaring. Ibuki covered her ears while the two girls (They were both in full beach outifts, with Esty wearing her conductors hat) decided to stop once they reached next to Seph, demolishing her sand castle. Though Seph wasn't particularly upset as two of her friends had arrived! They had quickly decided to to set up a competition to see who could build the best structure out of sand. Seph had decided to build a life-size version of the largest castle she could remember, Curie decided to build a sand-based replica of the Moonbeam(The Moons Watch's superweapon), and Esty had rather predictably decided to build a new train entirely out of sand. The two Guildmasters for a moment wished that the three of them could that much enthusiasm into their guild work, but alas it was nice to see them having so much fun.

The Guildmasters started their conversation once all of their notable members had arrived. Father Mond started the dialogue with,

"It's good to see you old friend, I hope the guild venture has been doing you well."

Bastly looked towards each of the people within his guild with a smile.

"Indeed it has, it allows me to directly some help some of the more...troublesome of people within Fiore."

Mond chuckled.

"Its always the wizards isn't it? Perhaps the ancient theories of karmic retribution in exchange for power are true hmm?"

Bastly sighed deeply and gave him smirk-laden grimace.

"Not this again. We both know very well the good that magic does for people. It's why we're here in this wonderful beach with even more wonderful people to look over, instead of alone in a dark room deliberating on how best to use our wealth to help people."

Mond and Bastly shared a grin as the looked towards the sky in nostalgia, remembering fondly how the two had begun their journey from the mundane world into the magical. Mond then continued the conversation with a sensible chuckle,

"Remember the looks those fossils at the Magic Council gave us when we offered to sponsor our own guilds?"

Mond then proceeded to cough and tap his chest and give his best mocking impression of the Magic Councilman

"It's not that we don't trust you, its just that we're worried about the risk of using your wealth to corrupt perfectly good wizards."

Bastly was about to respond to his friend when Alaric tapped him on the shoulder.

"Whats going on Alaric? can't you see-"

That sentence was stopped right in its tracks as the the third important guest had arrived. An uninvited guest. An unwanted guest. Vera Escher. Bastly spoke with grimace and a deep-laced venom that was usually unheard of since his days in the militia.

"Speaking of corrupting perfectly good wizards with their wealth. Vera. What are you doing here? You know very well that I run absolutely no casinos or anything of the sort within my establishments."

Vera, who by the way was currently giving Ibuki more than a run her money in terms of the skimpy bikini department, sat her deckchair right to Bastly's left, right in front of Alaric, Yam, Meliadne, and Lanel who she knew very well could do nothing to actually stop her. Ever the calm yet poisonous woman, she gave a measured yet biting response.

"What, can't a girl go to her favorite old hangout spot with her new friends? What? jealous you got replaced?

Mond then interjected with venom of his own, growing more angry with every word said.

"We can both guess your endless appetite for hedonism and fucking with the two of us is reason enough. Then if I may be so daring, how are you here? This place is surrounded by several iron fences filled to the brim with Thunder Lacrima to keep criminals from vandalizing the beach. Meliadne also did a scan of the area and confirmed no intruders."

Meliadne decided to not bring up the Moon's Watch Swear Jar at this moment. Lanel and Alaric were somewhat listening, though in their experience it was best to stay out of interpersonal affairs unless they were directly involved. Yam kept trying to reach for his sword to no avail, with his body seeming physically incapable of doing so. Vera of course had her signature smirk across her face as she spoke.

"Well for the cat we just so happened to be lucky enough to avoid her gaze. And tell me? What was the fence made of again?"

Vera then proceeded to magically pull a piece of iron from within her cleavage, a piece of iron with massive chunks that had been seemingly bitten out of it by a large humanoid. Three guesses who's handiwork that was. Speaking of whom that was, it appears the giant of a man responsible was barreling down the beach. In nothing more than an orange speedo no less, screaming his names of everyone on the beach as if he was expecting a positive response.

"OIIIII BOSS!(Vera) BIG MAN!(Bastly) MASKY!(Father Mond) BONESY!(Lanel) LIL' MAN!(Yam) OLD GUY!(Alaric) PRINCESS!(Ibuki) WASHBOARD!(Ciara) SEPH! STITCHES!(Curie)!CHOO CHOO!(Esty)"

Predictably, there were no enthusiastic responses. Vera sighed out of embarrassment. Father Mond and Bastly sighed out of disappointment for what Vera had let this man become. Lanel and Alaric didn't really care, too jaded for this nonsense. Yam again tried to stand on guard with his sword but couldn't. Ibuki just deeply sighed and growled in frustration for the inevitable trouble that was about to come her way. Ciara wasn't all that insulted by the nickname, more so that her theory was wrong. Seph, Curie, and Esty were far too busy with their immaculate sand structures to care all that much.
Though, Father Mond did have a gripe with the barbarian that just had to addressed.

"Marak, why are you wearing a speedo?"

Marak then responded in kind.

"wuzzat?

Father Mond then sighed, just now remembering how the man in front of him had reduced mental capacities. It seemed Vera had apparently done an acceptable job of keeping him put in Balsam at least. How anybody ever managed to communicate with him in anything but the briefest interactions seemed a still mindboggling mystery however. Simpler and more direct terms were needed, hoping that he would understand. Bastly then asked the question.

"Why are you wearing that underwear Marak?

Bastly then pointed at his speedo, instinctually drawing people's eyes to where they least wanted to go. Though Marak seemingly got the memo.

"Ohhhh dis? Ye, dat wuz Amare's idea! Said I looked reall mooscular in it, I dunno wot dat means, but he gave me a thums up! which means its good!"

Father Mond, Lanel, and Yam were confused about that, as Amare hadn't yet interacted with the Moons Watch Guild. They didn't have the exquisite privilege of meeting the flamboyant hedonist in person. Though that would change soon enough as the rest of the Hags Hex Guild had arrived.

Axel was wearing a full beach suit, ever the respectable gentleman. He took his place next to Vera much like Lanel, Yam, and Alaric did for their Guildmasters, giving Vera a reason to be psychologically seen as an equal amongst the three, a sentiment that Vera silently nodded at. Axel also brought along Marak's Centuple X Moonshine bottle just in case. The pacifism field may prevent physical assaults, but not mental ones.

Hilda was also in a full beach suit unlike her Guildmaster, and really just wanted to take a swim, so she went to the coastline in order to get swimming. She thought about destroying the sand structures that Seph, Curie, and Esty were in the middle of making, but one look at Seph quite handily dissuaded that notion. Thus, she just got to have a relatively relaxing time for now, a rare commodity for Hilda.

Luckuv was wearing a bikini as well, though not nearly as scantily clad as Ibuki or her Guildmaster. She went with Hilda to take a swim as well, enjoying the relaxing beach that she illegally entered to it's fullest. Now having to do any of the myriad tasks that she was assigned to at the Hag's Hex was a breath of fresh air to say the very least for the many-talented woman.

Amare was wearing a neon pink speedo, though unlike Marak he was being much more....Amare about it. Amare decided to set up his deckchair right next to Ibuki, much to the princesses chagrin. Though Ibuki wasn't particularly concerned about him perving on her due to his...mannerisms, she still had strong dislike of him after the whole Sorcerer's Weekly debacle a couple months ago. Which Amare knew, but still of course struck up a conversation with her.

"Hello Princess, how does this absolutely delightful weather do you today?"

Ibuki was more than ready to make her frustration known to the brazen man in front of her.

"It would be much better if Vera and her gaggle of jail-bound, mentally deficient crooks didn't RUIN MY DAY AT THE BEACH!"

Amare decided to play this how his Guildmaster would. Calm and sarcastic, with his own flair of course.

"My my Princess, it appears you're using your oh so noble education in order to insult and belittle a downtrodden and humble casino worker, oh why does my future Queen have to be so cruel?"

Ibuki however was still royally pissed and didn't really care about the argumentative trap she was falling into.

"I don't know, why do you have to sound like a Gods-damned pedophile whenever you talk?!"

Amare got her. Hook. Line. And Sinker. Now to let the magic happen. Amare chuckled to himself,

"Oh my Princess, those are some accusations you're throwing about, especially when you of all people should know the inner-workings of the Fioran Nobility."

Amare smirked as in the corner of his eye Axel nudged the relaxing Vera and briefly shook his head towards the conversation, and they both smirked as well. This was gonna be good. Now to let Ibuki dig her own grave.

"What do you mean by that?! Answer me NOW!"

Axel and Vera were listening closely, setting up the punchline for this little prank of theirs while they let Amare cook it up.

"Well you see, Vera has some connections or more accurately blackmail on some very powerful people, and they have some....regrett-"

Now it was time to spring the trap. As Ibuki was listening more intently to the man in front of her than she thought she ever would about supposedly very important matters, Vera yelled across the beach,

"AMARE, NO SPOILERS!"

Within the Princesses' mind, she was originally considering everything Amare was saying as complete bullshit from the start, for obvious reasons. Vera's interjection however, added a thin yet very uncomfortable layer of validity to his outlandish claims. Just as Amare planned. He continued from the "impromptu" break in his speech.

"Oh sorry Princess, I must stop here, it appears my habits of being a chatterbox has once again gotten me in trouble with my illustrious Guildmaster. She still says that every time I say something I'm not supposed to ever since I spoiled a Film Lacrima she quite wanted to watch once upon a time."

The Princess remained resolute, though there was a creeping distress in the back of her head. Amare then signaled to spring the final, orange haired trap. As Marak as subtle as he ever was said out loud something that sent a shock through the princesses' brain.

"Ye, real shame there's a buncha noble nonces runnin' about."

Ibuki was distraught. She stared listlessly onto the beachfront as her mind was riddled with paranoia, unable to tell a cruel joke from an even crueler reality that she may or may not be a part of.

Bastly gave a pointed look of disappointment towards Vera and Axel, like a father who just watched their older child manipulate their younger sibling. He then sighed deeply, knowing that he now had an extra helping of Ibuki-related troubles to deal with once they got back to the Hob House after their "vacation". Alaric for his credit remained stoic, even though he would have to take the brunt of whatever nonsense Ibuki had just gained within her psyche.

Father Mond also shared the look of disappointment with his friend towards Vera, though was secretly quite relieved that he nor his compatriots would have to deal with an irrational and irate Princess of Fiore. Yam couldn't really comprehend the social intricacies of the situation, but tried his best to look tough in front of his "chief". Whether or not the boy succeeded is up to interpretation. Lanel was of course exuding an ever-present aura of apathy towards the situation. In his mind such a thing was temporary and fickle, as most things were to him.

On the Hag's Hex side of things, Axel, Vera, and Amare were having the time of their lives. They were openly chortling, with even the ever-professional Axel sparing himself quite the bout of laughing. Marak was of course clueless, but he felt a simple contentment towards making The Boss happy by following her orders.

Then Marak saw Cat Sid and a simply ginormous feline running across the beachline with stars in his eyes. Within his regrettably child-like mind he saw only one "solution" to this "problem", he had to snuggle with the giant kitten no matter what! So he went barreling down the beach after the duo with his hands flowing overhead because he just didn't care. All the while bellowing,

"BIIIIG KITYYYYYYY!"

Amare knew damn well he was not on Catch The Barbarian duty, so he donned a smile that rivaled Ibkuki's in smugness and snuggled deeply into his deckchair. Axel meanwhile had the opposite reaction, knowing he would have to go after the brute. He walked ever so depressingly towards the beachfront muttering,

sighhhh"At least this will give me an excuse to go swimming with Hilda and Luckuv."

And of course Vera had to add with a shit-eating-grin and a slap on the back,

"Go get em' champ!"

Axel of course responded by flipping the bird with both hands towards his Guildmaster, who now was in a full laughing fit. Though that changed right quick with the next guest on the beach. In fact, all the people in the back of the beach silenced themselves and looked backwards to see who was coming.

C'THUNK

C'THUNK

C'THUNK

C'THUNK

There was the next uninvited guest. Quite possibly the current most dangerous man in all of Fiore, Sebastian Stone. The man was encased in extremely advanced magitech armor, covered to the brim in technology that none sans Curie and Esty could begin to comprehend. Though his eyes were also covered, the Guildmasters and their accompanying people currently having their bout could feel his scrutiny upon them. But alas nothing violent would come of it. The Pacifism Wards on the beach worked on even Seph and Lanel, who rivaled and perhaps surpassed Stone in magical power. But he was still a force to be reckoned with, as he still retained his dangerous weapon. His ingenious mind.

But ever the gambler, Vera decided to take a leap of faith when interacting with the metal giant that stood only a bit shorter than Marak and was thousands of times as smart. She pulled out Marak's Centuple X Moonshine bottle, and wished to confirm the rumors and Marak's assertion that it was he who made the item so integral to keeping one of her most powerful assets in check. And so she started a dialogue while waving the bottle in question,

"So Mr.Stone, a little bird told me that you're the one who made this nifty little bottle in my hands, would that rumor happen to be true?"

Stone looked upon the Guildmaster of the Hag's Hex with an air of unrivaled arrogance and superiority that blew Ibuki out of the water. He however was in a more relaxed mood than usual, after all he did come here to luxuriate himself. Endless scheming and building does grow quite tiring after a while.
So he decided to humor the mobster of a Guildmaster with an answer and a chuckle.

"Yes I did indeed make that insignificant trinket you are holding. I made it to kill the idiot after he had the gall to challenge me to a fight and bit a chunk out of one of my lesser machines. It was a bit of impromptu poetic irony you know, "Live by the bottle, Die by the Bottle" and all that."

He paused for a moment, sighing while looking towards Marak and his pure idiocy of chasing Cat Sid and his familiar like a dog on two limbs, but he had to give credit where it was due.

"It seems that even I have my lessons to learn about the staggering physiological tenacity of Slayer-class wizards. They're annoying anomalies (he looked specifically towards Seph while saying that) that are anathema to everything I stand for as an individual. Empowered and fueled by excess of irrational emotions and other such intangible and nonsensical thing-"

As they all sat there and listened to Stone's ranting as quite frankly nobody had the cahones to stop him, little Esty came by with a tray of sugar cookies. These beautiful confectionaries were lined up like the cars of a train and were coated with frosting that resembled her, Curie, Seph, Stone, and Zeno riding on each of the carriages of the train, with Esty of course being the conductor. She then began talking to Stone in a tone far sweeter than any cookie she could ever make,

"Hey Mr.Stone! I made the cookies I promised for you!"

Esty took out the one that had Stone on it, with his facial armor being contorted into a gaping smile as it showed him having the time of his life sticking his head out of the carriage like the rest of them. She was practically beaming with light as she gave a him a large grin of pure and wholesome joy towards the armored behemoth.

Everyone present sans Alaric, Lanel, and Stone broke out into an almost instinctual bit of smiling and cooing towards the sheer adorability of the scenario in front of them. Even then it took almost all of Stone's considerable willpower to not do the same thing. He began slowly taking the cookie and putting it in the proper place, his armored body shaking as he tried his damndest not to embarrass himself in front of quite possibly the most influential group of people in all of Fiore who were all looking towards him. After a quite prolonged sequence of Stone raising the cookie to his "mouth" and eating it while Esty was almost bouncing around in anticipation, she began talking to him and beaming anew,

"So did you like it Mr.Stone?"

Even within his cold, quite possibly mechanical heart he likely could not possibly find a way to to insult the girl in front of him. Luckily the cookie was actually quite delicious, so he was relieved wouldn't have to devote his mind towards working out that particular conundrum. So he reluctantly gave into his baser urges, ruffling Esty's hair (while making sure to not knock over the conductors hat of course) and giving her his "professional" review of the item he just ate.

"It was quite delicious, thank you Ms.Fontpale."

Esty pouted and told Stone off.

"Don't call me that! I left all that fancy shmancy nobility stuff behind a long time ago! All my friends call me Esty! So call me that from now on!"

That struck a chord deep within Stone's soul, in a place of childlike joy he didn't even know he had. Esty then continued her tirade upon any and all dignity that the man possessed.

"Oh yeah! speaking of friends, we're having The Ultimate Sandcastle Competition, and you're invited! cmon!"

Esty proceeded to drag Stone around via holding his hand with surprising strength. Of course he could've more than stopped her, but didn't really feel like doing so. All the people in what was unofficially dubbed the "Guildmaster's Section" of the beach just gave a little giggle towards the antics and their animosity towards one another was lessened by the sheer childlike joy around them.

Stone then saw what the others were working on, and even he had to admit it was extremely impressive. Seph was about 1/3rd of the way done with making a living, breathing castle from a time period even he didn't know of that was fully animated with her magic down to the minute expressions on each of the guard's faces. Curie was making and improving a working model of an extremely complex magical superweapon out of the sand, which Stone silently thanked the Pacifism Ward for preventing the thing from firing and likely turning this beach into glass. Esty of course made the Engine and a couple cars of a fully functioning (and quite comfortable to ride in) luxury-class train.

Whatever competitive flame that Stone replaced with pragmatism long ago within his mind was reignited! Stone then began formulating just how exactly to build a massive fuck-off robo-kaiju out of sand.

The next set of uninvited guests arrived soon after Stone began what he called "The Sphinx", though it was quite a bit less intense as Stone's entrance was.

It was Buster Henri along with his wife and child. The large and very muscular patriarch upon seeing the large hole in the fence and commotion within it, decided to check it out along with having an excuse to spend quality vacation time with his family. Afterall, Buster is the owner of the organization that provided the metal and lacrima for the fencing in the first place. So he calmy walked over to the Guildmaster's Section of the set up a deckchair for his son, his wife, and then himself. He stared towards a certain orange-haired menace gleefully chasing a monstrous cat, then Vera with a stern look about him and spoke,

"At least I know who's gonna pay for the fencing."

Vera would normally try to weasel herself out of paying for just about anything with her looks, charisma, blackmailing, and sometimes magic. But Buster was both a happily married man and an immensely talented fighter who could go toe-to-toe with Marak in all-out brawl. Knowing 100% that he would not fall for her bullshit, she reluctantly pulled out a large bundle of Jewels from her cleavage and handed it to him. After counting the Jewels he then relaxed with a smug grin,

"Thanks for doing business with Henri Incorporated."

Buster knew Vera was an incredibly petty person when she wanted to be. Luckily if she tried anything financial to screw him over, he could more than handle it with the help of the two other very influential gentlemen sitting right next to him. And even Vera wasn't gutsy enough to dare try anything with his family, so he was sittin' pretty. He also was the only one there without any "bodyguards", being fully confident in his own merit amongst the imaginary totem pole that was forming within the Guildmaster's Section.

The next set of guests arrived, with the Saintress of Mana and her two best warriors happily strolling onto the beach, with her setting her deckchair right next to Father Mond. Misstress Fist and Garl The Gallant also stood behind her, taking their place as her "bodyguards" though they mostly were there to establish a psychological edge amongst her contemporaries. Mistress Fist was in her usual robes and mask, but had elected to wear a bikini that somehow managed to fit on her bulky frame and not her usual combat outfit. Garl was wearing a black speedo, but still had his helmet on along with his sword.

The opinions held about the Church of Mana were...mixed within the Guildmaster's Section. Father Mond and Bastly know of the many good deeds that they have done, at the same time they also understand that she is limiting her people's potential and taking advantage of them. Vera is more than pleased with her and appreciates the hustle, albeit she's much more interested in financial gains than magical ones. The ever-prideful Buster despises them, believing that someone should reach their fullest potential with their own merits and their own merits alone.

Then the next and last set of guests currently not affiliated with a guild arrived. An odd pair that quite frankly had nothing to do with each other, yet arrived at the beach at the same time. These two enigmatic individuals were Lucius McShade and an odd woman who was only known as Seeker.
Lucius was wearing beach shorts and carrying around his massive modified anchor, clearly not content to leave it at home. Seeker had decided to wear a full set of magical armaments and stood next to Vera, likely trying to seek the Hag's Hex Guildmaster's approval for something or other. Lucius merely just said hello to Yam and flipped the bird to Vera as he went for a swim.