"And then I said something along the lines of 'hey pal, you better get moving before I use your blood to control you' and he totally pissed himself."
"Kira," Ayame hiccuped, clearly drunk, "I don't think Emiko wants to hear that."
"Actually, I'm quite curious. Can you actually control someone using their blood?"
"It's a technique I saw in a book somewhere that says that you can use the water in the bloodstream to make a person move. It was written down by a water mage named Katara. I haven't tested it to see if I can actually do it, but it was totally the best bluff ever."
Emi laughed before turning to the drunk Ayame.
"What about you, Ayame? Any crazy stories to tell?"
"Well there was this one guy that got so caught up in my 'perfume' that he ended up fighting the entire bar."
"Was it one of your smokes?" Emi laughed.
"Bingo. It's one that causes irritation and moodiness. People are quick to anger once they smell it."
"Wow Yame," Kira commented, "and I thought I was sadistic."
"Sting, what about you?"
The three girls looked over at the dragon slayer to see that he was sick on the floor.
"Oh right. Whoops."
They all laughed as the train neared the station. Sting had leaned on Emi in order to stop himself from falling as he got off the train.
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"Okay losers and Emiko, let's kick some ass!"
The five of them had taken a job in a town south of Crocus, and Lector and Sting were complaining the whole way. Kira and Emi were laughing at the sick Sting and Ayame was drunk off her ass as she stumbled out of the train.
"So what's this job again?"
"Well I'm glad you asked, Emiko. It should be a fun job for you. We're helping to organize a library that was just rebuilt after a massive fire."
"A fire?"
"Yeah some guy in Fairy Tail burned the whole thing down when he took a mission here a couple weeks ago."
Everyone looked towards Natsu who laughed and looked away as he hid a small blush.
"Wait, fire? Does that mean that Natsu might've done it?" Sting gasped.
"Oh great. Way to go Kira. Now he won't shut up about Natsu for the rest of the trip."
Both Ayame and Kira groaned. Emi looked at both of them and asked for an answer as to why Natsu was so important.
"Natsu is like Sting's idol or whatever. He's the same age as us though, so I don't really understand how that works."
Once they had reached the library, Emi's eyes sparkled. There were so many books that she ended up getting distracted and reading a bunch of them instead of helping to organize. Sting complained the whole time and Ayame kept dropping the books when she went to put them on the high shelves. Kira was the only one actually doing the job correctly.
"Come on guys. A little help would be appreciated."
Emi continued to read, but made a movement with her free hand.
"Levitate."
Suddenly, multiple books started floating in the air.
"Navigation."
Books started flying into their places on the shelves. Emi continued doing this as she read, causing Kira to look at her with her mouth open.
"How are you doing that?"
"It is in one of the books I've read."
"While we were here?"
"Before."
"You mean you could do that the whole time and you let me work my ass off alone while you read?"
"Yes."
Kira huffed as she continued to work alongside Emi's spell. Emi had opened up a book with different fairy tales much similar to the one that Arthur had given her. She looked through the book before landing on a book of the Twin Fish.
"Hey Lector," Emi spoke, gaining the attention of the exceed that was sitting on Sting's head, "you should come over here and I'll read you this story. I think you might like it."
Lector floated over to the cloaked woman before sitting down next to her. He saw the picture of the fish and immediately turned to Emi to ask her to begin reading. The story was on the history of Pisces, a celestial spirit known as the mother and son duo. Lector listened intently as Emi read him the story, completely ignoring the dragon slayer as he asked what he was doing.
"How does it feel to be the second choice, dragon boy?"
Sting grumbled something incoherent and turned back to the corner where he was sleeping.
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"Your name has more than three syllables."
"What does that have to do with the job?"
The group was sitting by the fire as they waited for morning so they could complete the request they took. Emi was asked to join again, and she readily accepted. Kira, Ayame and Emi were making random conversation.
"It means that you need a nickname."
"What? Why?"
"Because it'll be easier. Besides, friends usually have some sort of nickname for each other. It's only natural."
"Friends?" Emi asked, slightly nervous. "But you and Sting don't have nicknames."
"That's because their names are short," Ayame pointed out.
Kira and Ayame had convinced Emi to let them use a nickname.
"How about Miko?"
"Yame, that has got to be the worst suggestion ever."
"I think it's a great suggestion!" Ayame defended.
"It's a great name, but not for Emiko."
Emi sat, watching the amusing battle between the two wizards.
"Okay, what about Emi?"
Emi looked up at the sound of her nickname, making Kira smirk.
"See? She even responds to it."
"What is she, a dog?" Sting spoke up from the other side of the fire.
Emi decided to speak up, "I actually like Emi."
"Perfect!" Kira and Ayame cheered.
Emi smiled at the memory, taking in the happiness that it brought.
-----------------------------------
"Emi!"
Emi looked up to the purple haired wizard, smiling brightly. Kira caught up to her as she was walking through the city's streets.
"Yes?"
"Wanna come on a job? It's in a town that has a massive library."
Emi looked at her with bright eyes as she thought of all the books that she would be able to read. She quickly agreed and went to the inn to pack a few things before meeting their usual group in front of their guildhall. The group traveled by train, much to the dismay of the blond dragon slayer.
"Hey Emi," Ayame asked, "how about we go to the town's bar and get totally wasted?"
"You're the only one I know who can handle so much booze. I think I'll pass. I'm not very good at handling it."
"Hey Cana, she's a lot like you!" Natsu noted.
"You think so? Probably."
Once Emi saw the library, she sprinted to the door making her cloak flow in the wind.
Kira and Sting laughed at her excitement as they watched the girl almost trip. They all followed her into the library to find her already engulfed in a book she had picked out.
"What's that one about?"
"It focuses on fire magic."
Everyone left Emi alone to read as they contacted the person who put in the request. Apparently they had to go through and mark the dates that the books were written.
"Hey Emi, before we start, do you have any spells that would do the work for us?"
"Not this time."
"Then you better get your ass over here and help!"
"I'll be there in a minute."
After ten more minutes of reading, Emi closed the book and began to label the dates of the books. Once they were finished, they collected the rewards and decided to explore the town. They had found a small diner at the center of town and decided to stop for a meal. They all sat at the table when the lights at all the tables suddenly went out. The waitress had gone to the tables and told them that their lights have been on and off all day. Emi smiled and stood up, walking over towards the waitress.
"I think I can help."
Emi looked back to the group to see that they were all confused.
Emi stood at the front of the diner and snapped her fingers saying, "Rekindle."
All the lights in the diner were lit again. The waitress thanked her as she sat back down at their table.
"When did you learn how to do that?"
"Today when I was reading about fire magic. It's a low-level spell, so I was able to successfully cast it pretty easily."
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"And this one is an aconite and this one is bugleweed and this one is a buttercup and this one is..."
Emi was showing Sting the book on flowers that she and Arthur used to look at. She was currently flipping through the pages and pointing out the flowers that she found interesting. Sting was watching her as she excitedly showed him the pictures and smiled.
"What are you staring at?" Emi asked upon noticing his look.
"You're just so different from when we first met."
"What do you mean?"
"Well for one thing, you're talking to me willingly. You're actually talking to people and hanging out with us and you seem to be enjoying yourself. You're not always trying to be alone."
"I guess."
"Now there's another thing that I think you should start doing."
Emi looked up from the flower book and asked him what he was talking about. Sting carefully grabbed the edges of her hood and slowly pulled it off her head while looking her in the eyes with a soft look, causing Emi to blush at the close contact.
"You should start taking off your hood more."
Emi looked away shyly before putting her hood back on and saying that she wasn't ready to do that yet. Sting sighed before leaning back to the flower book.
"Tell me about this one."
"That's Lady Mantle. It can actually be used as a medicinal herb. Did you know that it blooms in the spring? Or that it resembles cabbage? Did you know--"
Sting started laughing at the rambling girl as he took in how happy she looked. He gently closed the book and told her that they needed to prepare for a job, making the girl groan.
"But I had so much more to show you!"