"Okay, guys," Sorey began enthusiastically, addressing everyone in the room as his coat his the floor after a long day out, "tomorrow's a busy day, so the first order of business-"
"Business?" Zavied interrupted, "Your Shepherdness, if I may, tomorrow's a day off, unless Alisha here had business in Rolance?"
Alisha shook her head and turned from Zaveid, in his personal lounging couch, to Sorey, who Lailah had reminded to pick up his coat, and then turned to glance at the rest of the crew, "Anyone had anything they were doing tomorrow?"
"Honestly," Rose smirked, leaning into the couch she, Mikleo, Lailah, and Edna were sharing, "I was just going take it easy, Scattered Bones and Sparrow Feathers gave me a lot of free time."
"Aren't you their boss, though?" Dezel pointed out, "If you want, you could just order free time."
"Well, the 'boss' acts more like a patriarch or matriarch." Rose replied offhandedly.
"Hey, Meebo?" Edna aimed her umbrella behind Lailah and Rose and jabbed Mikleo in the arm, "you and Dezel should go shopping with Zaveid, he can't go around shirtless all the time." Edna glanced at Zaveid, who stared confused at the earth seraph.
"Why do I have to go?!" Mikleo seethed, "Dezel and Zaveid can go, me and Sorey were going to watch a documentary on-"
"Some boring old ruins that you can just watch later, they probably have a YouTube channel or something, besides, Dezel can handle Zaveid, but how is he supposed to help Zaveid find something suitable while babysitting? This is indeed a two man job." Edna waited silently and jabbed Mikleo relentlessly until the water seraph jumped out of his seat.
"Fine, fine! Come on, Zaveid!" Mikleo roared.
"Good Meebo." Edna grinned and held a hand out, a gesture for Alisha to offer her the tea in her hand.
Mikleo thought that trying to convince Sorey that he had to go shopping was hard enough, especially since that boy ran through boots like lightning, but this was short of torture. Dezel kept asking the clerk where they kept the large men's clothes, but do to the air conditioning he couldn't quite read the wind, meanwhile Zaveid kept flirting with women, some of which announced they were shopping with their husbands, and pointed at angry men staring at him.
"Dezel!" Mikleo hissed, "Would you stop making a scene?!"
"I'm making conversation, Mikiboy, and this is how it's done-" Zaveid was about to introduce himself to another probably taken woman when Mikleo threw his whole weight behind a shoulder bump, knocking Zaveid back a bit, into the poor lad behind him, taking the entire display of hats down with him and landing into the rack of beachwear behind him.
"Zaveid-" Mikleo stepped back when the wind seraph grinned dangerously at him, "H-hey, what's with that face?"
"Is that how you want to play it, Mikboy, lock horns with the great Zaveid, Whirlwind Tempest?!"
"U-uh, say what again-" Mikleo stumbled back and hit the floor hard. He suddenly remembered how powerful Zaveid was, and wondered how he got into this situation when he recalled vaguely how he roughly shoved Zaveid.
Meanwhile Dezel awkwardly wandered the store alone, trying to find clothes, having left just before Mikleo and Zaveid engaged in combat, "Um, hey, does anyone know
Back home Sorey and the remaining members of the team were preparing cake, candles, and decorations, when Sorey found himself staring at the clock on the wall, "Hey, does anyone remember when they left?"
"Three, I think." Lailah tapped her chin thoughtfully and nodded, "It has been a while, they're probably halfway here."
"Well, we're already more than halfway done." Rose pointed out, "Maybe we should make grape mille-feuille while we're at it?"1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92yhSopuRh
"Good idea!" Lailah agreed, while Edna shook her head, "Oh, right, busy work...well, you can call Mikleo and ask him to stall Zaveid!"
"Fine! Just give me all the jobs." Edna rolled her eyes and dialed Mikleo's phone, and sent him a text, "There happy?"
"Good job, Edna!" Sorey gave her a thumbs up and she considered poking him, but he was helping with the desserts, so it wasn't exactly in her best interests for now.
There was a poster of a woman in a bikini standing in front of a rack of clothes, but after picking it up and slamming it around Mikleo's neck, the woman's face was replaced by Mikleo. The wind seraph laughed heartily at the now flustered water seraph, who spotted his reflection in a mirror, but at least now Mikleo could answer his phone.
"'Meebo, delay Zaveid, making those grape desserts, could take five or ten minutes.'" Mikleo put his phone away and scanned the area for Dezel, "Hey, Zaveid, where's Dezel?"
"I don't know, but right now it's fighting time!" Zaveid attacked again and for once, Mikleo wished the Kats in charge didn't tolerate violence in their malls, much less turn it into an event, he could smell the pastries from where he stood as a crowd formed around the seraphim. Mikleo called Dezel as he ran and waited for him to pick up, panting on his way to the exit, glancing behind him and narrowly dodging Zaveid's strikes.
Dezel paused as a sweet smell reached him, the scent grew stronger with the sound of cheering Katz and seraphim. He was about to call Mikleo and ask if he'd seen anything, but Mikleo called him first, "Zaveid, meet me outside Camlann village, it's finally about time!"
"Got it." Dezel turned around and reached for a sticky roll.
"Isn't he blind?" a Katz murmured from somewhere in the room.
"I can read the wind." Dezel remarked, strolling along dramatically as several Katz who were holding onto a tightrope above the floor swooned around him.
"I wonder where the others are?" Sorey mused, "How long did you tell them to stall for?"
"Five or ten minutes...certainly not an hour." Edna fumed, turning to the window where Symonne stared intently at the village below, "What are you looking at?"
"Dust clouds." Symonne replied.
"Oh, great, must be trouble." Edna shook her head and sighed, "Just call us the Purification Squad."
"What did you get into, Mikleo?!" Dezel shouted as he found Mikleo rushing at him to the Origin Village.
"I kind of pushed Zaveid and then...just run!" Mikleo turned behind him and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Zaveid's pendulum.
"Oh, no you didn't!" Dezel scowled.
"Ha, ha, you two ready to dance?!" Zaveid bellowed mirthfully.
"Hey, idiot, I didn't do any-" Dezel leaned back, letting the pendulum float over his chest and joined Mikleo in his sprint back home.
"We don't have time to subdue Zaveid, let's just run!" Mikleo turned around, paling as Zaveid swung his weapon to glide between the two, only for both seraphim to jump away altogether, "You read the wind and tell me what to do, okay?!"
"Alright." Dezel growled, nodding as a grin stretched across his face. Other than being a wind seraph, Dezel had a love for fighting in common with Zaveid, and right now he was fighting the urge to turn around and battle Zaveid, "Left, right, hang back--idiot!"
Mikleo wasn't expecting the third order, but saw Dezel jumped back as Zaveid's pendulum snapped inward, Dezel dodged it, but the weapon looped back towards Mikleo and the water seraph didn't know how to react, so when Dezel jumped into him, he was more than a little surprised, "Dezel?!"
"Idiot, run!" Dezel yelled, pointing at the cluster of buildings in the distance.
Mikleo nodded and ran as fast as his legs would take him, glancing back to see that Zaveid left Dezel tied up by his pendulum, and was pulling out another of the string weapons.
"Oh, look," Edna grinned, "Meebo's getting some exercise in."
The Shepherd, Squires, and and seraphim rushed to the window to see a speck of blue running from a tan and green blur, "Oh, wow...where's Dezel?" Sorey wondered.
"Probably waiting for us by the door!" Rose decided, turning around, "Either that, or he's a little behind toting all the clothes."
"Point...why is Zaveid still shirtless?" Lailah asked, concerned.
"I'm going to beat the three of them stupid if they didn't get any clothes." Edna growled as the crowd funneled down the hall and out into the front room, everyone finding a seat while Sorey stared out at the glass pane in the middle of the door, waiting for one of the seraphim to return.
"Guys, guys!" Mikleo waved his arms around wildly when he thought he was within shouting distance, and turned to see Zaveid whipping his pendulum through the air like it was a lasso, and indeed he fashioned a lasso out of the weapon, and the lasso seemed to shape Mikleo's outline as in danced through the air, "Open the door!"
"Come on, Mikleo!" Zaveid whipped his lasso around Mikleo's ankle as the water seraph sprinted forward, shocked when Sorey bolted out the door and grabbed his friend's hand, keeping the water seraph balanced on one foot, the others staring, relieved and confused, "Ah, seriously you guys?"
"Seriously," Edna jabbed Zaveid's sides roughly as she answered, "now let Meebo go."
"I will never let him go!" Zaveid cried triumphantly, tugging Mikleo his way.
"Guys, form up!" Sorey bellowed, taking both of the now blushing water seraphim's hands. Lailah locked her arms around Sorey, Rose fell in line behind her, Alisha, Symonne, and lastly Edna continued the chain of friends tugging Mikleo away from Zaveid, "Heave...ho...heave! Heave like your life depends on it! Ah...it's not working!"
"I think we should combine our powers!" Rose suggested.
"Good thinking!" Sorey agreed, then thought of something, "Luzrov Rulay!"
"Sorey!" Lailah cried, tumbling backwards onto Rose, who had fallen on Alisha, then Symonne, with Edna at the bottom, livid with her current status at the bottom of the heap.
"Ha, sorry guys." Sorey ran his hand awkwardly over his hair, smiling apologetically.
"Ugh, someone get me out from under here." Edna groaned.
"I don't know, you do call me a petunia, and you are the earth...it's actually all rather fitting." Symonne smiled, happy to have something witty to say to the earth seraph.
"Well, the main thing is that Mikleo's-" Sorey stopped and looked down at a tightening around his leg, which was Zaveid's pendulum, "You're really going through with this, huh, Zaveid? Mikleo!"
"Got it!" the pair dearmatized and Mikleo grabbed Sorey's hands.
"Ha, bookends, huh?" Sorey chuckled.
"I believe this is called the shoe being on the other foot, actually." Mikleo replied cheekily.
"I don't know, do we let this go on, or-"
"Fethmus Mioma!" Rose shouted, interrupting Symonne.
Alisha stepped up behind the armatized pair and called out to Edna, "Hephsin Yulind!"
Symonne frowned and looked around, "We really need more Squires."
"Wait, Sorey!" Lailah's voice echoed from Rose's mind, "Use the wind armatus!"
Sorey turned around found Dezel standing behind Zaveid, pulling him back by the shoulder, "Good idea, then we'll have the full power of the Herd behind us, Zaveid won't stand a chance!"
"No, I meant-"
"Lukeim Yurlind!" Sorey shouted, swaying his torso so the armatus wings got in Zaveid's face.
"Sorey, dearmatize and use Zaveid's armatus!" Mikleo grunted, straining to keep him from getting pulled in by the wind seraph.
"Oh...ha...ha." Sorey smiled and laughed sheepishly before dearmatizing and taking a breath, "Actually, guys, my blast gauge is empty."
"Doesn't matter, as long as Zaveid's got a bit to pick up your slack with!" Lailah pointed out.
"Okay, here it goes...Wirukun Zavie!"
"Hey...Your Shepherdness...no fair!" Zaveid slowly drifted from behind Sorey to armatize, and crossed his arms as he faced the others through Sorey's eyes.
"Sorey, drop him," Edna ordered patting her umbrella against her open palm, "time for me to beat him stupid."
"Happy birthday, Zaveid!" everyone else shouted, with Edna muttering quickly at the end, though she only got out "happy birthday" before everyone else finished.
"Aw, you guys remembered!" Zaveid chuckled, blushing, "So that trip to the mall and the fight...was all for me?
"Of course we remembered, but the fight wasn't part of it" Mikleo sighed.
"Now let's go inside, we got you a nice surprise." Sorey deamartized and led the group back inside.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmuzEIMjBV
"Is it a birthday kiss?" Zaveid asked enthusiastically, grinning.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH8jIXgWpV2
"Nope, you'll see." 1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8t3DK1L3F9
"Grape mille-feuilles?!" Zaveid cried gleefully.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfTsHzb0JJ
"Yup!" Rose confirmed.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2iiGkZg0Z
"Did I ever tell you guys about the time I was asked to make one of these?" Zaveid wondered, "I never turn down a lady's request."1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolqD1Vci2U
"Um, I think we've heard this one before." Sorey scratched his head as he double checked his memory.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fXbKBCCVz
"Oh, well, my memory isn't all too good...I didn't even remember that today was my birthday!"1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4tNboBQxD
"Wait, but you told us a few months back that today was is!" Alisha cried, aghast.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcpVJbnZrS
"Oh, did I? Must've told you wrong...unless I remembered it back then." Zaveid shrugged, "How about we hit the beach, guys?" Zaveid chuckled.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitC1PiPzC5
"You must really like sand." Edna remarked sarcastically. 1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGIO2khMRP
"I like sand, squishy, but," Zaveid shrugged, "it gets everywhere."1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHoqXauSpE
"Then why would would you want to go to the beach?" Edna inquired, pointing her umbrella at him knowingly.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBIcEbqpOp
"Because they have the best ice cream there!" Zaveid winked and followed up with, "If memory serves me correctly."1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinxC7KpOXb
A/Ns: So, Tales of Zestiria, AU, with a few pop culture references sprinkled around, because Zaveid likes sprinkles...I think.1006Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIcU8yW3Ue
