Infinity Edge

Alexis had always been a morning person. It was the most peaceful time of the day, especially when he managed to wake up before anyone else. That was something he'd accomplished that morning; he'd already been up for a few hours. After getting dressed and cleaned up, he'd opted to take advantage of the early hour and sit in the hallway. He enjoyed the lighting there.

He was still sitting on the floor in the hallway, gazing through the open windows as he sketched the dark clouds with a slate grey Conte stick. He tended to prefer overcast and stormy weather; the sun was so bright and it seemed to whip people into an excited frenzy. Logically, Alexis knew they were simply energized by the beautiful weather, but he had a more subdued nature and became easily overwhelmed. He would rather be inside drawing or reading than out and about.

Hunched over his work, he almost didn't notice the office door open. In fact, it wasn't until he heard it click shut that he lifted his head, seeing the guild master. He smiled at her, shifting slightly as he automatically tried to hide what he was working on as though he was embarrassed.

"Good morning," he greeted her, scrambling to his feet.

Ilyana finds herself looking down at Alexis. She smiles pleasantly and then moves towards him as she looks around the room for someone in particular. He doesn't see him and looks slightly disappointed, but brushes it away.

"Good morning!" Ilyana says, "How are you? I don't suppose you've seen Midas anywhere, have you? I had a particular Guild Quest that I need him to do. His...ability would really be perfect."

Freyia walked into the Infinity Edge, cracking her knuckles as she went. She'd only had a few hours of sleep since her last job, but she was up and raring to take on another one. The dark clouds set her on edge, though; they were too dark for her liking and she hadn't been able to absorb much light today.

As she went in further, she heard voices, so she decided to follow them. She went down the hall and found Alexis and Ilyana there talking. She punched the palm of her left hand with her right and looked at them eagerly.

"Hey guys! Have we got any good criminal punishing jobs for today?" she asked, grinning.

((Attn: Ilyana, Freyia))

"I'm all right, how are you...?"

Alexis blinked and glanced around before shaking his head. He hadn't seen Midas. Their last encounter hadn't been exceptionally enjoyable for the poor boy, as he'd managed to take on Alexis' feelings of discomfort and anxiety during a particularly busy day. Alexis wouldn't be surprised if the boy was avoiding him.

He smiled at Freyia when she approached and started gathering up his supplies. He would have to find somewhere else to draw after the conversation ended, as he tended to freeze up when people were around.

Ilyana thought for a moment and then nodded her head with a smile, "Absolutely. I'm never out of Quests. Why don't you and Alexis find Midas for me and meet me in my office?

I have a really interesting one that you'll just love."

ANd with that, Ilyana moves back away from the two to yell at a man who is running through the entire main hall. "Don't you break anything with that pace!"

Then, she looks up at Freyia. "Have you seen Midas, by any chance?"

[ATTN: All]

When Midas woke up, he found he was in a good mood despite the rather depressing weather. He got ready and headed toward Infinity Edge, smiling at those he met on the way. Suddenly, Midas felt something, or probably someone, hit into him from the right. The force caused him to fall, and before he hit the ground he suddenly felt intensely angry. The guy who had run into him had become quite peaceful and had a look of concern on his face. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I-"

"What's wrong with you?! Can't you watch where you're going!?" Midas yelled as he got up. The guy looked genuinely sorry and continued apologizing. Midas sighed, and continued in an angry tone. "No, no! I'm sorry!! I shouldn't be yelling at you! I just..." He let out an exasperated sigh. "Just have a nice day, okay!?"

Midas stormed off toward the guild, leaving a very confused man behind him. He entered the building and heard familiar voices immediately. As he stomped in the direction of the voices, he furiously kicked anything that happened to be on the floor in his path. Midas reached the hall where he saw Ilyana, Alexis, and Freyia. He stormed over to them and was overcome with a violent urge that caused him to whack a picture off the wall.

"Ugh, I'm sorry!!" Midas yelled angrily, picking up the picture and then dropkicking it down the hall. "Argh!! I'm really sorry!!"

[ATTN: All]

"Huh? No, I haven't..." Freyia started to say, but stopped as she heard some kind of a racket.

She turned and saw Midas raging toward them, kicking everything in his path over and finally brutalizing a picture while apologizing.

"Well, there he is... What's gotten in to you?"

Ilyana watches as Midas storms in and her eyes widen with concern as she sees his anger. You'd think she'd be used to it, by now, but that's not quite in her ability, it seems. She quickly hastens over him, moving close enough that her negation abilities would come into affect.

She watches as she feels her negations effectively shut his magic off, negating the magical emotion that he had so intensely felt. She smiled slightly, then, hoping he'll be much more calm.

"Hey there, sexy. I've been looking for you." Ilyana says, forgetting about the picture, "I have an important quest for you."

((Attn: All))

Alexis' eyes went wide as Midas stormed over. He seemed completely infuriated, which wasn't like him at all. He assaulted the picture on the wall and Alexis was getting nervous. This level of rage was terrifying, especially since it seemed unprovoked. What was even stranger was the fact that Midas kept apologizing.

Alexis didn't want to stick around; what if someone inadvertently made him angrier? He quietly excused himself before hurrying down the hall to the safety of his quarters, unaware that Ilyana had figured out the cause and was able to solve the issue.

[ATTN: Ilyana, Freyia]

Midas felt the anger fade away as Ilyana approached him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank you," Midas said gratefully, glad his foul mood was gone. At Ilyana's greeting, he looked down uncomfortably, but looked up at her again when she mentioned a quest. "An important quest? What is it, ma'am?"

He then looked around and saw that Alexis was gone. "Oh no, I scared him off, didn't I?" Midas turned to Freyia, remembering that she had spoken to him "I'm so sorry about that. Someone ran into me this morning. I think he was really mad..."

[ATTN: Ilyana, Midas]

"You really need to have a wall around you or something," Freyia replied. "Anyway, we should go find Alexis so we can get that quest!"

She began marching down the hall in the direction Alexis had gone, expecting Midas to follow her. She was pretty used to Midas picking up random peoples' emotions, though that rage had been pretty intense. Still, in her opinion Alexis needed to grow a backbone.

[ATTN: Ilyana, Freyia]

"Yeah, I really need to apologize to him," Midas said, looking concerned. He turned to Ilyana. "Excuse me, ma'am."

He went after Freyia, hurrying to catch up to her. "Haha, yeah, I could use a wall. But I bet that guy's having a better day now, at least."

[ATTN: Midas, Alexis]

"Well, that's good," Freyia said. "Though that was a pretty nice dropkick you had there. Maybe you should try that on an enemy sometime."

She kept walking until she got to what she believed were Alexis' quarters. She knocked on the door and yelled, "Hey! You in there?!"

((Attn: Freyia, Midas))

Alexis heard Freyia's voice and opened the door a crack. Midas was with her and he looked a lot calmer than before. Alexis opened the door the rest of the way, nodding. "I'm sorry for disappearing like that. Do you need something?" he asked.

[ATTN: Freyia, Alexis]

"No, I'm sorry, Alexis. An apparently very angry person ran into me this morning. I should have been more careful," Midas explained. It seemed he had really scared the guy. "Oh, and Ilyana said she had an important quest. You should come check it out with us!"

((Attn: Freyia, Midas))

"It's all right," Alexis assured Midas. The boy had definitely startled him, but it wasn't Midas' fault someone had run into him. He was curious about the quest, so he smiled and nodded agreeably when Midas told him about it.

[ATTN: Alexis, Midas]

"Man up and come on!" Freyia added after Midas spoke. "You're holding us up!"

She reached in and grabbed Alexis by the arm, then started to pull him back in the direction of Ilyana's office. No one was getting in the way of her getting an important mission, especially not this guy.

((Attn: Freyia, Midas))

Alexis had been just about to follow the others when Freyia scolded him for holding them up and grabbed his arm. She started pulling him along. "Um. Sorry..."

Alexis really wasn't sure what else he could do but apologize and make sure he never held Freyia up again. She was an impatient sort, after all.

[ATTN: Freyia, Alexis]

Midas smiled back at Alexis when he agreed to go learn about the quest with them. He was a bit shocked, however, when Freyia suddenly grabbed the guy and started pulling him even though he hadn't been slowing them down at all.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Midas said; he hadn't been ready to move so quickly. He caught up, wondering silently about the important quest.

[ATTN: All]

As they went along, Freyia released Alexis' arm, but she didn't slow down. She couldn't wait to see what kind of a mission this was going to be and she was all fired up.

Soon they approached Ilyana's office and Freyia then exclaimed, "We're all here! Now what's this mission?"

As the three arrive, Ilyana smiles and winks at Midas before sitting on the top of her desk with her legs dangling over in an almost child-like manner. She tilts her head to the side as her eyes wander over Midas' delicious body, her tongue sliding across her lips.

Then, she finally clears her throat and becomes a little more business like, despite her still flirtatious attitude towards Midas.

"Alright, here's the deal. There's a man in the main square that's up on this stupid podium with a voice cone to give speeches to the people. This guy is one of the heads of the groups that have been bullying people with extortion.

He's pretty freakin' manipulative, because he's been scaring the living shit out of people with just words. There has been no aggression, no threats, nothing...but, there's something in what he's saying, because people are avoiding that square like the plague.

I need you to get over there, assess the situation, and do what needs to be done to get that man out of there. And Midas....I think you'll be suited for this task. Maybe you can help get a sense of the emotions he's somehow putting into the people who hear him?

I have a level of suspicion that he's either really good with his words, or he has an ability that is close or similar to yours. Either way, we need to end it. If you can get to this as soon as possible, I'll be sure to pay you the usual Edge pay."

[ATTN: All]

Midas shifted uncomfortably as Ilyana looked him over. This kind of behaviour wasn't surprising anymore, but it still creeped him out.

The situation that Ilyana described troubled Midas. "That's terrible... I agree, this needs to be stopped as soon as possible. If I can get an affected person's emotions, I may be able to tell if he's placing these feelings inside them with magic or if they're natural."

Midas didn't like the thought that the man could be using emotion-altering magic to manipulate people in such a way. It was cruel to play with something as personal as someone's feelings. He hoped the level of terror in these people wasn't too high; he would need to be able to think clearly.

"He won't get away with this," Midas said, determined.

((Attn: All))

Alexis couldn't imagine how uncomfortable Midas must have felt; he felt rather awkward and bothered by the whole scenario and he wasn't even involved. Still, he listened attentively as Ilyana described the situation. He could see why Midas would be well suited to the task and he intended to his best as well. He nodded at Ilyana, a sign of accepting the quest.

[ATTN: All]

Freyia listened intently to what Ilyana was saying, not even noticing how she was eyeing up Midas. Her mind was completely on the task at hand, which seemed to be stopping an evil extortionist dude from giving evil speeches. She raised a fist into the air over her head enthusiastically.

"You can count on me! I'll stop him before he even knows what hits him!" she exclaimed.