A new pair of gloves (Mana/Elias)

[Elias]

OoC: Takes place during 'Treasure Hunting"

He pulled the new white leather over his bare hands, pulling them by the opening and wiggling his fingers as he pulled, to make sure it went on right and tight. In the few seconds his hands laid bare to the world, he felt naked. Like if he wasn't wearing his red cape or something that haunts his dreams. He stared at his hands, a big grin on his face, unable to contain little chuckles of mirth.

Quickly he bolted from the spot where they left him, or rather they went ahead and he was catching up. After that attack, everyone was walking forward through the brush. It was quietly as they walked, well it would of been if Elias hadn't ruined that little plan. Scooping up his hides, he ran to stand next to the myrmidon. "Hey Manners, thanks for the gloves." He was happy, like usual, probably one corny joke away from bursting out in laughter. All Manas beware, Elias was feeling silly.

"Good thing I caught you before the monk dude did." He said, adding on to his little comment. Garnet and the others marched ahead, but they were spread out enough that they probably couldn't hear what Elias was saying. Well, as long as he kept his voice down but there was no fun in that. "He always wants to talk to you, know why?" Elias asked, innocent as to the monk's motivations.

[Mana]

Mana tried to make her new clothes fit in her body as she walked. This outfit was tight, very tight, she wondered how Bridget always wore these kind of clothes. Mana missed her old Sacaen clothes, if not because of the wolves she wouldn't have to change clothes.

Mana heard Elias' cheerful voice and looked at him over her shoulder. She slowed her pace until the Crimson Mage walked next to her. She smiled to him. "No worries. I am glad you like it. But honestly, the white gloves don't suit you Eli. It should be red gloves." Mana giggled, it was funny. He looked all red from top to bottom except the gloves.

Mana shrugged when Elias mentioned Nathaniel. "Nope. Maybe because he never saw a Sacaen before?"

[Elias]

"I agree. White is so not Red, but it's a nice color too. I like it a lot, it's... Red's best friend." He was actually giving this serious thought. He looked at her outfit. "I see you've taken up a bit of red yourself, nice start. But all that blue should be red, and that red should be redder. The white should be red too, but that's the least important reddification. You could squeeze by leaving it white if you want. Red is an awesome color that would totally look nice on you." He made gestures of his white gloved hand as he spoke, rolling it in the air like someone who was trying to remember something on the tip of his tongue.

"Well, I have never seen a Sacaen either actually. You look like a normal person though. I mean, you don't have horns or anything. Atleast I think I've never seen a Sacaen, I might of seen a few in Lycia now that I think about it. The pattern you were wearing before is a little familiar. But I never talked to any, unless they were mages. Does Sacae have mages? I suppose you wouldn't know, never mind. Anyways, I didn't talk to any that I know of. It's not different then talking to a normal person, are Sacaen's really dragon's in disguise or something? Oh wait, that was Nabatans I think. I know Bern in the dragon place! Kyro told me, Ilia is the pegasus place I think. But I saw a wyvern in Ilia so I'm so confused." He spoke on and on, not giving her the time to respond before he continued... He wasn't done yet either. "Well anyways, I don't know if that's it. I remember him talking about Sacaen's wearing less or something, which is dumb because then there's less place to have red on your clothing. You should wear a cloak, I see a lot of pink skin. Then again pink is a nice color too, it's not red though. I once knew a pink haired man named Richter. Well I didn't know him, but he sent me to Ilia to give a message. They made me a secret agent instead."

"WAIT!" He suddenly stopped, loudly as if time itself heeded his command. "You're a secret agent too, I forgot."

[Mana]

Mana chuckled, Elias wouldn't stop his babbling about red. This guy really loved red, now she understood why Elias got along with Garnet. She listened to him with a smile, it was amusing to hear his long explanation about red and how...Wait a minute...He said the blue should be red and the white should be red too. She giggled when she imagined how she would look like.

Mana was about to respond to his previous long explanation about Sacae and Bern and something else when Elias said, "You're a secret agent too, I forgot." That words rang a bell in Mana's head, she remembered about her reason heading to Etruria.

The myrmidon watched him with amused look. "Not really, but...yeah. You could say that I was in a special mission. But I got separated because of my own stupidity. I hate to admit this but I am kinda clumsy sometimes." She sighed and scratched the back of her neck. "I was doing a scouting mission actually."

[Elias]

"Well, I love to admit this, but I'm never clumsy ever! Unless when I am, but that's only for HILARIOUS hi jinks." He put his hands on his hips, taking his normal pride pose. It was used so much, it was basically THE CRIMSON BOAST! Suddenly he stopped and hurried forward because standing still while others were walking wasn't usually a good idea if you wanna keep up.

"I'm on a super secret mission too, from Ilia. A man gave it to me, as did his second in command who's name was Elzam and he was a jerk who bathed in onion juice. It made me want to cry." He laughed. "But, from secret agent to secret agent... I think I can trust you. I might have to kill you otherwise! Luckily, I'm very good at keeping secrets and nobody can pry them from me. Don't worry, I wouldn't really kill you, you're a good guy and I only kill bad guys Manners."

"Also you're not stupid. I mean, you have good fashion taste and gave me gloves. You can't be stupid. So don't call yourself stupid. No one is stupid but badguys and bandits. Bandits are really stupid. Everywhere too. I've fought bandits on nearly every country in Elibe."

[Mana]

Mana closed her eyes, trying to suppress something inside her. Was it hatred? Was it anger? She didn't know, she didn't want to know. But she knew it was the "bandits" words who triggered it.

"Lets us stop talking about bandits." Mana's voice sounded like commanding, not asking. She had a bad mood now, but she tried not to show it to Elias. The myrmidon tried to find another topic to change her mood. "By the way, how is your mission? Is it success or failed? In my case, mine could be considered failed." She let out a small laughter, funny though, she could laugh again. Maybe because Elias' nature and his cheerful face.

"Do you know?" She started to speak again without wait for his answer. Well, he usually didn't wait for her either. "You are an amusing person. I always laughed everytime you said something."

[Elias]

"Oh. Alright then." He nodded simply at her request. He didn't even notice her voice's tone shift, he tended missed a lot of subtle things like that. Meanwhile he caught a lot of other subtle things that no one in their right mind would. Elias worked in an odd way like that. "My mission? It's only the best secretest and awesomest mission ever in existence! It's so secret and awesome that even I'm not allowed to know the full extent of it!" He pointed into the air, proud of the fact he didn't really know his mission.

"So... erm... yeah I don't really know." He added with a small laugh. "I'm supposed to deliver a letter with the official Illian seal, but no one's supposed to know so hush. I'm only trusting you because you're a secret agent too." Oddly enough, especially for Elias, he was actually a bit embarrassed. "I was supposed to deliver it somewhere in Etruria but... Well I got sidetracked. I'm not really sure what's in the letter, but it must be pretty important! I haven't opened it, because a good secret agent would never do that!"

"Amusing?" Slowly he tilted his head, looking at her absentmindedly for a second, before suddenly speaking again. "Well, that's good! I'm aiming for HEROIC and AWESOME though. I'm the CRIMSON MAGE after all, I'm going to be the greatest hero ever!"

[Mana]

"Then I think both of us has been failed." Mana chuckled. "Well, at least you are still stay true to your duty, you haven't opened the letter yet." Mana patted his shoulder. "Mine was to scout the Etruria border and search a hole in their defense line. But honestly, it didn't suit me." She laughed.

"The greatest hero, huh?" Mana looked up to the sky through the branches. He had a good dream and he was trying to achieve it. This made Mana think, what did she want? She hadn't planned anything. It was bad, wasn't it? But if she looked back when she was still in Sacae, she always wanted to be the best in sword. "I think...If you will be the greatest hero, my dream is to be the best swordwoman. After we find this relic, I will travel around the continent, looking for another sword warriors and challenging them or training myself along my trip..." Mana paused for a second. "...and I would probably visit Sacae again."

Mana gazed at Garnet's back. He was a swordman, why didn't try him? "I think...I will try to challenge him later..."

[Elias]

"Well, atleast when I fail it is a spectacular fail!" He posed again, as if someone was going to pop out of nowhere and paint his portrait. The kind of stances you see in art, but rarely in real life. "If you gotta fail, why not make it a great failure? You learn more from your mistakes then your achievements after all, what not to do, what not to say." And that was something Elias knew first hand, as for how incredibly he is... he failed... a lot. Crimson everything he is not. "I'm still intending to deliver this letter, but not right now. Right now I'm finding a legendary artifact! I'm sure that they will forgive me for being so awesome."

"I'm sure you'll be the best swordswoman! It's fate, destiny! Just by knowing me, your chances improve dramatically! You're awesome, and I'm sure you'll be able to rub it all in their faces as they wind up on their butts all curious as to what happened. They got their butts beaten by the best swordswoman, that's what happened!" He puffed out his chest with a hearty laugh.

"Garnet? I dunno... he's pretty red." Elias touched his chin, humming. "He's probably like, the final boss or something. But I believe in you! I believe in him too though. Difficult... I'M SURE YOU'LL BOTH WIN!"

[Mana]

"Thanks!" Mana smiled. "And I believe you will be a great hero someday. I can imagine watching you save the day!" She hugged the Crimson Mage, she was happy being praised by him. "Then let us make a promise. We both will become the most amazing hero and the strongest swordwoman."

"Well, obviously, one of us will lose." Mana looked at the mercenary with a serious look. "Actually, I doubt my chance of winning against him. He is more experienced than me." Mana put her hands behind her head while walking. "But it will be fun to try, I probably will learn one or two things from him." She smiled as she imagined how she would become stronger after that.

"Elias, I want to know you better. Could you tell me about yourself?" Mana asked him, she hoped he wouldn't angry at her question.

[Elias]

"I dunno. If you learn something important, you're not really losing. You're just not... erm, I don't know the word." He thought for a second. "Well I think you'd both win anyways. You're both the goodguys and the goodguys never lose. Only villains. Neither of you are evil or anything, so I don't think I have to worry. The goodguys always manage to win in the end." He looked at his hand as he spoke, thinking a bit as he did. Under the glove was a bump on his finger, small but noticeable to the watchful eye.

"I'm definitely going to be a hero. I have to be." He turned to look at Manners. "Want to know about the Amazing Crimson Mage I see. Usually I'd just point in the direction of my biography, but I haven't got one yet. Maybe when one does get written you can be an informant! You'll get to know about the Crimson Mage before anyone else! Such an honor, I wish I was in your shoes." He boasted once more.

"WELL THEN. I was born in Lycia, around Pherae. My mother died in giving birth, but at the age of four I was adopted by my Father Heath. A former Druid in Lycia's army, he was forced to retire early because of a debilitating leg wound. He raised me to be a hero! An incredible mage!" He radiated self confidence as he spoke loudly. "And then I left, where I joined in the battle of Sacae, Bern and the battles in Ilia! I saved the Iron Maiden Marle something or another. I forgot her last name. Then I saved a village in Ilia and then helped save the town in Etruria where we met. Oh, a dragon sat on me too."

[Mana]

This guy even planned to have a biography.? Well, he was going to be a hero after all, he would need one. "Yeah, and I would feel honored," she said. She never felt bored talking with him, everything about him was interesting and funny. It seemed they would be good friends.

"Wow! You sure have traveled a lot." Mana eyes sparkled with excitement. Until now, her track record was Sacae, Lycia, then Etruria. She hadn't gone to Bern and Ilia, but she might be someday. "I like your story, there was so many fun things happened. Especially when...Huh? Dragon, you said?" Mana eyes snapped open, she gasped. "Tell me more about it Elias!"

[Elias]

"Ah yes... the dragon..." He brought his hands together, tapping his fingers together the most sinister way he knew how. "She was a dragon lady with super pink hair and breathed ice and stuff. She landed from the sky and WHABOOM crushed me like I was a grape. A red grape, I think I've seen red grapes before. Definitely better then purple or green, ew. Anyways, she wasn't giant or anything, she was about as tall as me and I'm short." He let out a bark of laughter.

"Her name was Fran, and she was a girl and not a hermaphrodite, I know because I asked. She said she didn't like fire but she made treecicles like it was NOBODY'S BUSINESS. She also had 31,483 scales because I counted. Actually I guessed, but I think I'm right I usually am. Actually now that I think, I think I was wrong since that's way too many. She'd be like a giant snake or something if she had that many. Oh well, anyways I met her after I saved this little dude from these mean guys. He had orange hair and was a monk like that dude who follows us around. Na-Something. They went to Bern, I bet to talk to Pink hair. Hah, she also had pink hair. I bet they'll make a million pink hair babies."

"She's not the first dragon I've seen though, there was also this green one who was really stupid. He flew into a giant army all "Look at me! I'm a dragon!" and they took away his dragon stone for being a dolt and he was grounded and taken away." He thought back with a grin. "That was back when I traveled with Kyro. I wonder what happened to him?"

[Mana]

"He was crushed but still alive? Aren't dragons big?" Mana wondered if Elias was actually a red ghost. She stared at his face, hoping he was a living human. But he was Crimson Mage after all, being crushed by a dragon girl wouldn't kill him...really? "I want to meet her, I have never seen a dragon."

"You...You really counted it? Wow, you are amazing! But Eli, if they really make a million pink haired babies, this world will be full with half-dragons." Mana paused for a second to think. Then she yelped, "Hey, that sounds like a good idea. I mean, we can see dragons or half-dragons everyday. Ooh, I love to ride one, and I want to hold a baby dragon too." Mana looked really happy, or rather, she was drown to her own imaginary world. "But you might have disappointed because she wasn't red."

"That was a foolish dragon. (sorry Marcus^^)" She stated as she shook her head. "By the way, who is Kyro? Your friend?"

[Elias]

"She was nice when I talked to her. Pink too. Pink is kind of like red, so she couldn't have been a bad person. Bad people don't like red." Elias folded his arms and nodded with a slight 'uh-huh' sound, totally convinced of his own words. He noticed Mana looking closely at his face, slowly and a bit subconsciously his head craned back away from hers. The eyes she was giving him looked confused, but Elias missed such subtleties.

"I started to count them, got to about 47 before I got bored." He tapped the side of his head lightly. "I know right? Pink haired half dragons everywhere! It would truly be an amazing world to live in! But wait... can dragons have kids with humans? Don't they... like... lay eggs? Would that mean the man would have to sit on the egg for here? And for that matter, are they born as human looking or GIANT DRAGON looking? Would the egg be, like, a chicken egg or something or like a giant egg that is bigger then most people? Would a baby dragon be like a giant monster or a cute little thing" He gave this some serious thought as he put on his serious face and seriously pondered these serious questions.

"Well I don't know. I'll have to ask the next time I see one." He laughed. "I rode a wyvern once, it was awesome! I imagine riding a dragon is a million times better! I hope it's a red dragon, I like red." His mouth ran faster then his mind sometimes, or most of the time.

"Kyro? Kyro and me were gonna be heroes together... He was a wyvern rider from Bern, and the best messenger in the universe. I traveled with him everywhere until we split up in Bern after I got my secret mission..." Suddenly Elias sounded a bit... sad. "I wonder if what he's doing? He had red hair like me, so I'm sure he's doing fine." He picked up again. "No need to worry. I wouldn't say he was my friend, but we were partners."