Tales of Alidaire: The Corruption Disc 2

It was then that someone entered the room. The group turned to see who it was...only to discover a freshly cleaned K with his normally styled hair and bright smile. He was wearing a frilly white apron and carrying several plates at once, all of them with a small stack of pancakes on them. He strode over to the table and placed a plate before each party member sitting. Only Lily's had some blueberries in them.

"I didn't know what the rest of you liked, so I left them plain, but," he broke off and clapped his hands. Two more assistants in white aprons brought out bowls and dishes of fresh fruit and honey. "I figured you could just decorate them however you wish. I also invited the guest I mentioned earlier to speak with you about the next request. I bid you my leave for now; a guildmaster is always busy you know," he said in a rush, bowed, and departed.

As he left, another man entered the room. He was a bit taller than K, and he did indeed have spiky, blonde hair. His eyes seemed to glow a bluish-green which became more distinguishable as he approached the table. On his back was an enormous sword, a bandage wrapped around the hilt and two holes with some jewels in them on the blade just above the hilt. He eyed all of them before speaking.

"I believe we have met before," he stated simply, a smile forming as he caught a glimpse of the element striker. "The name's Cloud. Cloud Strife."

The trickster raised his hat in greeting, as he wasn't wearing it at the moment. He dropped it under the table, not wanting it to get dirty with table scraps. "A moment sir. Do you like pancakes?" As usual, he gave the question a serious tone, probing this Cloud man for an answer. "And before you answer that, I'm sorry you lost your field. But don't worry, the flowers still grow there." He nodded and then began to cut his pancakes with painstaking care.

"You do r...realize she will kill you the f...first chance she gets..."

Sonia had been quiet throughout everyone else's' reactions. She found their conversations to be almost interesting, the thing that peeked her interest was K as a housewife. But as Annon said, "Get your mind out of the butter", so she quickly tossed the thought aside. Though she did find the thought of K in a fluffy apron would be funny.

And then it happened. He brought in the pancakes in a frilly apron, a smile setting on her face. It was absolutely hilarious, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle it. As the man stepped in, she couldn't help but stare at him. She felt as if she knew him, but she couldn't possibly, the others knew him though, somehow. Reaching for the syrup she awaited the man's response to Rosetta.

Cloud nodded to Rosetta. "A pleasure to formally meet you." He then turned his attention to Annon and nodded to him as well. "Your words are...senseless, but the meaning behind them is palpable enough. I appreciate it," he replied solemnly.

Valincar looked up and realized that he had wound up in a battle quite a while back against this guy. If he remembered correctly, he was a fierce fighter, stronger than any he had seen previously. They were lucky to have Rosetta on the team. Otherwise, they would have suffered a defeat.

As the man spoke, Lyra couldn't keep her eyes off of his hair. Her eye twitched slightly. Is he using mana to keep his hair that way? What a vain usage, she thought and huffed. Magic was meant to be taken seriously to her, not to make yourself look cooler, even if the style did seem to fit him.

Zero poked at her pancakes with a fork and poured a bit of syrup on them. She hesitantly took a bite, to her suprise, she didn't puke. Not that there was anything to puke out in the first place as Zero barely ate dinner last night. Apparently the guildmaster wasn't a bad cook either.

She turned to see who the guest was only to see the man who knocked her out back in the colosseum a while back. Not sure if she should mention that fight or not Zero turned with her usual apathetic expression.
"I am Zero, and my last name is of no importance." Zero said.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Cloud walked over to Rosetta with his slow gait and sat down next to her. "Competent at fighting, but not at eating pancakes," Cloud stated, picking up a fork and a knife before cutting some of Rosetta's and piercing the cut piece with a fork. "I think that's all there is to it," he said and offered the fork to Rosetta.

Valincar smiled. It was indeed a pleasure to have this guy on the team instead of having to fight against him. He couldn't believe Rosetta didn't know how to eat the pancakes. Then again, he couldn't eat at all. He stared at the empty table directly in front of him, but shrugged off the thought. He hadn't eaten in decades, so he was fine with it.

"Rose, " Annon said, finally finishing cutting his pancakes. "The pancake isn't bland. You're not tasting the secret ingredient." In complete irrelevance to his statement, he placed a peach on her plate. The trickster stared at it for a moment, then shrugged. "Coconut wouldn't go well with these pancakes. Find the syrup first." He pushed the little pieces of his own around the plate, like he was looking for something.

Lily's eye twitched, staring down the table at Cloud,, Rosetta, and Annon. Her mouth opened slightly, "I'll be back in a bit." She muttered to Lyra. Lily would finish her pancakes later, right now she needed to vent some anger. Lily knew she had to catch the man by surprise, so she would use her mana to quicken her steps.

A little too much though. In a flash, Lily had jumped on Annon's back, her arms around his neck in a sleeper hold. Lily growled at him, "Shut up about the freaking pancakes! No one cares!" Lily shouted in his ear, dragging the man down to the ground, straddling his back. Lily then took out a rope and tied up Annon's wrists together behind his back.

With a huff, Lily got back p and turned toward Cloud, "Sorry about that. My name's Lily, an archer. I was in that battle against you too. You're really strong, where do you work out?" Lily asked kindly, a smile on her face.

With a nod, Lyra let Lily be. She had piled a few raspberries atop her pancakes and drizzled them with syrup and honey. She took a bite and was in complete rapture. Definitely the best pancakes she had ever tasted. She'd have to make sure to give her compliments to the chef at some point.

Cloud gestured to the fruit Annon placed on Rosetta's pancakes. "I imagine that would liven the taste a bit," he offered in suggestion. That's when he heard what sounded like a slight gust of wind behind him. In seconds, one of the women from a little farther down the table was atop the odd fellow and tying him up. This didn't seem to bother Cloud that much. "Nice to meet you, Lily. I do squats every now and again, but most of my strength comes from my SOLDIER training."

Lily nodded, showing she understood. "I see," she replied, then smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you formally. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with some blueberry pancakes." With that said, Lily spun around, making sure to kick Annon, and briskly walked back over to her seat with Lyra. She sat down, grabbed the honey and immediately began pouring it over her pancakes. Lily loved honey, she would always put it on her food when she lived with her parents. She decided it was time to get back to the old habits. Lily cut up a large piece of the pancake and stuck it in her mouth. Her eyes rolled up to the top of her head as she chewed delightfully.

Swallowing, Lily let out a loud groan of pleasure, "Oh, that was good." She said dreamily, a distant look in her eyes. Lily eventually resumed attacking her pancakes, savoring every bite.

Shadow took a mouthful of the pancake the Guildmaster had given them, poured syrup and sweet honey on top enhancing the bland, almost-monotonous taste in them. They were indeed good, Guilmaster K knew how to make them well; Shadow was quite enjoying their "sweet, fluffy goodness". As he silently picked a few blueberries, he watched how Pancake was helplessly being tied up on the floor by the Archer Apprentice. He smirked at this, and placed the blue berries ln top of his pancake. The Ombre Skillblade then looked at the man named Cloud Strife.

"I'm Shadow." He said, cutting the pancake on the plate corresponding to him and picking the piece with the fork, "All you need to know." Shadow then ate the portion, it was absolutely magnificent.

"A pleasure to meet you all," he said. "I just wish the circumstances under which I have sought you out less serious," he added, a grimace upon his face.

Valincar inclined his head slightly and looked at Cloud. "You have a request for us, do you not? Is it that troubling?" he questioned.

Cloud nodded back in response. "Near a place called Cai Vestuaria, a mysterious substance has been sighted. It has been reported to be highly toxic, and it is threatening to leak into the water supply in that area. I want you guys to help me investigate it and possibly clean it up. However, I already know what the substance is." He paused. "It's called Mako, and it doesn't belong on this planet. It was carried from my planet to this one by none other than a monster called Jenova, a lifeform that feeds on the energy of different planets. She moves from one to the other, feeding until there is nothing left and the planet is destroyed. I believe she has chosen this one as her next target."

Annon, while unceremoniously being strangled, had almost choked out a laugh. But being shoved on the floor and hog-tied had hindered the sentiment. Even after the archer kicked him, Annon seemed content to stay on the floor, listening to the conversations going on without him. It wasn't too long however before the tedium of keeping his arms and legs in one position caught up with him.

Lifting his head from the plush rug, he whistled a short note that sounded like the reverse of a wolf whistle. He and his hat suddenly poofed, as there was no other word for it, in a small cloud of green smoke, leaving the rope bindings to fall on the floor.

Cloud shook his head. "We must defeat Jenova so that she cannot feed off of this planet's energy...the thing you call 'mana.' I will clean up the Mako once Jenova is gone. I have already been in touch with the substance and I am now immune to its hazardous effects. I guess I must thank Shin-ra for that one...," he trailed off.

Valincar scratched his head. "This sounds pretty urgent. Should we go ahead and get a move on? The longer we wait, the worse the situation will become right?"

When Lily heard Valincar say something about leaving, she immediately finished her pancakes, cleaned herself up, and stood. She quickly belted her quiver and shouldered her bow case. Lily then walked over to Cloud and Valincar with a smile. "Then what are we waiting for? We have an alien to kill," said Lily, confidence in her voice.

"Lets... should we ch...choose to wait... w...well... it should be ob...obvious enough..."

Sonia finished the last of her pancakes, swallowing a small chunk pineapple covered in honey. She knew they should get going, as the need for their action was of the utmost importance. But there was much wrong with rushing in, as they should have known by now. They didn't know anything other than what Cloud had told them. They didn't know if they could even pull this off. But, not one to want to bring down the group's morale, she said nothing of the sort.

"Sh...shall we find Annon and head off?"

"Shall we find whom?" Annon stood behind Lily, wherever he had come from or how he got there was unknown. He smiled, a little vacantly, as he looked between all the adventurers. "Now there's a tale I'm not so familiar with. Might we find pieces of the moon while we're at it?" The trickster's eyes squinted as he frowned. "There's something else . . . "

It seemed everyone was ready to go, and now the trickster had reappeared again. Valincar floated over to him. "You seem pretty intent on coming along. Would you like to join our guild? You know...make it official, as they say?" he asked. In the back of the nightshade's mind, he imagined that the guy would probably end up following them to the ends of the planet, so why not just make him feel like a member of the team?