Exploring the Town

[Shinjitu]

It was a fairly nice day in Magnolia town as the sun was high in the sky while few clouds seemed to roam across the infinite landscape of blue. People only roamed the street as they went about their usual business of the day whether it be to go to get groceries or they were just out for a walk. Though the only person that seemed to stick out the most on this nice sunny day was a man who wandered down the street. His figure hidden behind a black jacket that only seemed to sway gently in the occasional breeze that blew across the town. The hood of the cloak rested over the being's head and was pulled slightly shut. Shadows blocked most of the view of his face making it near to impossible to tell just who exactly might be hiding within the fully body jacket. Every bit of this figure's body seemed clothed or either hidden within darkness which would lead one to believe that they might be crazy to wear such clothing on such a sunny day.

Even though this person seemed very mysterious, more so to the civilians of the city who only seemed to cast gazes to seemingly find out who it was, he might be known by some one from Fairy Tail. Sure he only showed up a while ago and was probably known as the newbie among them but he was surely making a reputation for his strange clothing. Yet this man, known more commonly as Noir, had a fairly good reason as to why he wore such dark and seemingly depressing clothing. It merely went along the lines that sun light actually hurt him, burning skin and seemingly blinding him if it so much as got to his eyes. This might not be seen as the most strange weakness but it surely might be viewed as being the worse as it hindered him and makes him pretty fragile. Hell the only reason he had the hood pulled down so much was to only protect him from burning if wind caught it or his eyes caught some light.

Though one might ask why such a person would be wandering around the streets during the day. The answer was a simple one as he was merely exploring it and getting a mental lay out in case such knowledge was needed for a mission in the future. He had even gone so far as to not take any missions today just so he could wander around and get used to the place. His eyes only seemed to scan the buildings as he tried to force as much of the place and people into his mind. His glances had even caused some people to back away from him considering he looked very strange for this weather and for all they knew he could be a killer. He would need to venture inside of a building though as even viewing the light for what had seemed like hours now was starting to irritate his eye sight. He couldn't even keep himself from rubbing his eyes every once in a while.

[shadeimpulse]

'The sun seems rather lazy today.' Was Manuel's first thought as he stepped outside and into the sunlight today. It was nice and sunny, but not significantly warm today, like one would expect from a day that was this bright. The people of Magnolia Town were out in full force, basking in the beauty of the day. Kids ran around on the street, under the watchful eye of their parents.

Manuel took off his dark blue suit jacket, tying it around his waist for safe keeping. The bottom of his fairy tail tattoo peeked out from the bottom of his black t-shirt sleeve, revealing to the world his affiliation. Looking up at the sky, Manuel slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants, pulling up a pack of cigarettes and a small silver lighter. Lighting up his cig, Manuel started his walk outside.

It wasn't long before he stumbled upon a rather strange looking man walking the active streets. A man wearing a cloak at this time of day? Manuel had never seen him around, and he was certain that after seeing a man like that it would stick in his mind. Manuel took a long drag off his cigarette before approaching the man, exhaling before he reached got too close to the man, some of the smoke would still reach him, but at least it wasn't much "Should take off that hood, makes you look like a bit like a freak." Manuel's tone was rather demeaning, and he meant it so.

[Shinjitu]

The rubbing of his eyes only seemed to become more frequent as time drew on as the sunlight was inadvertently causing him a slight bit of pain and discomfort. Some had began to take notice of him as he could feel their gazes set on him which only caused his hand to rise and pull the hood further over his face. A minor fix as he would put it, it seemed to actually work as the slight stinging against his eyes began to disappear. Just the very thought of some one discovering his little weakness sickened him and what made it worse was that it could only become obvious if one merely looked him over. Though the thought that seemed worse was coming across some one who could generate light like the sun, that would be the worst. Yet the chances of such a thing occurring in his mind was very low and especially around here where normal people seemed more dominate.

His walk seemed to continue on without a hitch until he noticed some one only a few steps away, a man who seemed to be heading straight towards him. As such Noir only let out a sigh as he felt he was about to be drawn into a conversation which turned out to be correct. Smoke seemed to creep on him as the man released it from his lunges, the smell of cigarettes was instantly noticeable in his nose. "Should take off that hood, makes you look like a bit like a freak." Was the man's first words which only caused the cloaked man to shake his head slowly as the tone and nature of this man seemed apparent in one swoop. It seemed that he had a superiority complex for it wasn't his words that made it visible but the demeaning tone that was in his voice when he spoke. Since Noir was usually like this and tended to analyze people he had grown so used to pinning people instantly. In that mere instant this man was pinned as being annoying.

Noir merely rose his hand and seemed to grab his chin, nodding his head once and in a slow motion as he took in everything visible about this man. Then finally his hand pulled away from his chin and dropped to his side before his chest rose to signal him taking in a breath and beginning to speak. "Maybe if you understood me more you would know that I must wear this clothing." He said, raising his head a little more so he could get a much better look of this man's face. He didn't want to make it completely obvious that he burned in the sun but he was hinting to the man that it was a must that he wear a cloak.

[shadeimpulse]

Hood up or not, Manuel figured this guy would still look weird to people. He seemed to have rather pale skin, maybe he did have a good reason to wear his hood up. The gloves on his hands seemed to be a neccesity as well, although he probably could of left his hands in his pockets. Smoke bothered him, like most people, Not that Manuel cared too much, it wasn't his concern what bothered other men. The hood remained up as the man began to think. Think about what Manuel wasn't sure, whether to reply with force?

"Maybe if you understood me more you would know that I must wear this clothing." Manuel didn't expect so, he didn't much care at all, but it was fun to "play" with people. However he didn't think it would go very far with this one, from his initial reaction it didn't seem like he would react much. Kinda ruined Manuel's fun, but it didn't matter much. Manuel reached up and scratched his tattoo on his arm as he thought about this guy.

"Maybe you're right, maybe not," Manuel took another puff exhaling into the air before speaking again, "Name?" Manuel asked out of the corner of his mouth.

[Shinjitu]

Noir remained still as he watched this man which his purple eyes seemed to calculate every movement and watch every moment of this man. He remained completely silent as well for he wasn't the type to constantly talk or harass people for he was more along the lines of being straight to the point. Yet his eyes caught a black tattoo on the man's shoulder which the shape was slightly familiar to him as if he had seen it before. Though he didn't think much about it as he only continued to breath in and out slowly, his chest rising and falling with every breath while he waited for this man. "Maybe you're right, maybe not," The man's words caused Noir to let out a sigh as the fingers on his right hand began to tap at his leg as if he was calculating or thinking something over. For even the slightest moment he expected the man to just reach out and pull Noir's hood back just to see what would happen. Yet he would be surprised.

"Name?" Was the next thing that the man said which caused Noir's eyebrows to raise as he usually expected people's curiosity to overwhelm them and force his hood back. Though he did pin this man with a superiority complex so he probably viewed such an idea as something that some one pathetic would do. He could only let out another sight as his right hand continued to tap his side slightly with his fingers. "Noir." He said, being straight to the point now. He didn't even ask the man for his name for he pretty much expected him to tell him his name unless he wanted to merely be known as unknown to him. Every second though Noir has been reading this man's way of speech and been assessing his personality. Before long he might as well test this man's strength so he can write a better description on him later on.

[shadeimpulse]

A conversation with these two would be rather short and straight forward it seemed, as neither of them said much at all. Just what was this guy doing outside if he didn't want to be seen or talked to? It didn't make sense to Manuel why he was so short winded. "Noir." Was the only response to Manuel's question, and it kinda aggitated Manuel that he would not ask Manuel for his name, so he figured he would enlighten him. "My name is Manuel, Manuel Lopez."

Noir seemed to be tapping his leg a lot as if in a rush or something, like he really needed to be somewhere, or just wanted to be away from Manuel. Manuel flicked away his cigarette "You got a twitch or something boy?" he asked with a questioning look on his face. Something didn't sit right here with Manuel, it wasn't the way Noir looked, but how he acted toward verbal contact. His eyes were also off putting, the violet color seemed to put out a slightly evil vibe.

[Shinjitu]

Noir was pretty much the last person who you could strike up a conversation due to the reason of him pretty much hating everything and everyone. The only reason it seemed that Manuel was able to get him to talk was so that Noir could gather as much information on him as possible. Though that tattoo still seemed to bug Noir. His violet eyes only looked to the side as he took what little of the tattoo that he had seen and tried to piece it together. "My name is Manuel, Manuel Lopez." Is eyes instantly snapped back towards Manuel as the pupils of his eyes seemed to momentarily enlarge which made it more obvious that his eyes were much different than normal people. His name was certainly interesting for it seemed like the kind of name that some one would not easily forget and with a steel trap like Noir he would seemingly remember it forever.

"You got a twitch or something boy?" Seemed to be Manuel's second question which only caused him to stop tapping at his legs while his fingers remained still. "Thinking." Was merely all he said, his eyes remaining on Manuel every moment as their conversation seemed to grow on. Yet this time around it seemed Noir would ask a question as his chest rose to take in a breath and his lips began to move. "Affiliation?" He merely asked, seemingly running along a game of twenty questions as he only asked one worded questions. His eyes only seemed to motion towards the tattoo that Manuel had been scratching at moments ago while a grin slowly crept on Noir's face. His shadow on the other hand only seemed to quiver slightly, almost as if he had moved and yet he only remained still. It seemed that Noir was going to test this man's strength so he could get a better feeling about him.

[shadeimpulse]

Talking Noir was making Manuel more and more uncomfortable, something was definitely wrong here. The only response Manuel had gotten from his question was "Thinking.", and as soon as he answered the finger stopped moving. Maybe talking to this guy wasn't such a good idea. Oh, well, too late to do anything about it now, Manuel decided to just see where this all went. He was about to ask another question, but in the middle of a breath he got a little surprise.

"Affiliation?" The next question had come from Noir, it wasn't an unusual question, in fact it was fairly common around here. The way Noir asked the question that was what made it weird. It wasn't the pitch or the tone, but the way he didn't look in Manuel's eyes, he just kept starring, out of the corner of his eye, at Manuel's tattoo.

"Fairy Tail." was Manuel's only response, Noir wasn't the only one who could use short answers. Manuel had a feeling that he was gonna be in a fight soon, which would not go well for Manuel. From the looks of Noir, he didn't spend much time with physical activities, so that meant he had more training in magic, and in a magic battle, Manuel would surely lose.

[Shinjitu]

Noir could feel how uncomfortable Manuel seemed to become which only made him chuckle to himself for he found it weird how people could grow so uneasy to easily. It was one of the things that Noir tended to do considering he was the worst at upholding his own end of a conversation. Short and straight to the point was the kind of conversations that Noir liked to had for he hated it when people would beat around the bush or sprinkle the conversation with niceness. Noir was completely opposite as he talked in a much more soft and wispy voice which one would more than likely tie it to what they would expect from the wind. Though most of the feelings he gives off is usually unintended as he very rarely loves to mess with people in such a way.

"Fairy Tail." Was Manuel's only answer which was funny for it seemed he was playing the same game as him as he was straight to the point instead of stating whether it was great or not. This only caused him to chuckle very softly as his violet eyes stared up at him. "Shame... looks like I will need to go easy on you." He said, his words could have really meant anything from either fear that he would be attacked by other members of Fairy Tail or even that he was in Fairy Tail himself. Yet it would be impossible to really tell considering Noir's entire body was shielded by his clothing. If only he had took his right hand's glove off and shown Manuel the Fairy Tail tattoo on his palm this would be a more play around fight. Though he wanted Manuel to go at it as well as he could, all for the sake of research.

[shadeimpulse]

Guess he is a freak, Manuel thought as Noir kept chuckling to himself. Once again, Noir's actions and not his words sent a slight chill down Manuel's spine, even Fairy Tail made Noir chuckle for some reason. "Shame... looks like I will need to go easy on you." came a response through the chuckles. Go easy on him? Those were fighting words if Manuel had ever heard any. It wouldn't be much fun of fight, none of Manuel's fights were very fun. It seemed like in this world of magic, there was no room for a brawler, but Manuel wouldn't let that stop him.

"Figured it was leading to this," Manuel spoke these words as he lit up a cigarette, resting it in his mouth as he spoke "hope you don't mind if I start it off." With that Manuel threw a quick punch at the man, prepared for the worst case scenario of some kind of magic shield or something. At least he was gonna take it easy.

[Shinjitu]

Noir seemed to stop chuckling as his eyes noticed Manuel moving while he moved a cigarette to his mouth and lit it which Noir's eyes merely watched every move. "hope you don't mind if I start it off." Manuel merely said, a large smile forming on Noir's face as Manuel seemed straight to the point as he threw a rather quick punch towards him. Though he would find his punch blocked as a rather large, black arm had reached around Noir's body and shielded the spot where Manuel was aiming. Before long a head rose up from behind Noir's shoulder, all physical features of the face was non-existent as yellow eyes were seemingly the only thing on it's face. "Guardian... absolute defense." Noir stated, his head turning to look at the head before the being finally decided to rise up behind him only to reveal it's massive body.

It seemed every inch of the being was muscle, or what one would think was muscle, and it seemed to give off a very cold feeling as it only stared at Manuel. "If I hadn't have started the fight you had struck me immediately you might have gotten me before I created him." He said, chuckling as he turned his head back towards Manuel. "Dodge if you can." He merely said, the large beast quickly took a swing as it's rather large arm sailed through the air quickly.

Spell Name: Guardian
Level: Greenhorn
Range: Close
Description: Better performed during the day, Guardian revolves around the ideal of perfect defense and perfect offense. Feeding his shadow magic he can force it to become a fairly strong looking beast. Yet it is only the upper torso that is visible as anything bellow the waist line merely become a seemingly stretched length of his shadow. This beast is able to maneuver around Shinjitu, moving to the front of back or even the sides of his body to attack of defend. Though it's arm length is measured to be around four feet providing a good range of defense an offense.
Drawback: The Guardian cannot instantly move from one angle to the other as it moves almost like any other being, having to circle around Shinjitu's body. Also when this spell is in effect Shinjitu is incapable of casting any other spells. The 'tail' must be severed from his shadow to defeat it.

[shadeimpulse]

Shade Magic...of course it was shade magic, one look at this guy should of told him that. If he was an Ex-quip mage Manuel might of been able to mess around a little, but no, it was shade magic. The punch had been blocked, as Manuel had anticipated, but this thing seemed to be offensive and defensive, as the Shadow Guardian threw a his large arm in an arc, in an attempt to punch Manuel. The fist swung through the air, hitting the space Manuel used to be, before he had leapt away, just out of the range of the shade's punch.

Wonder how far that thing can reach? Manuel thought to himself as he drew his sword. Manuel pulled his cigarette out of his mouth tapping a little ash out to the ground. Manuel hoped his sword would be able to cut this thing, he had it when shades could become ethereal. Manuel charged in, slashing at the right arm of the guardian, hoping to just lop it off and weaken it at least a little.

[Shinjitu]

Noir merely let out a grunt when it seemed that his Guardian had missed its mark which it seemed that Manuel was trained more physically. He only crossed his arms as the Guardian waited for Manuel's next move while Noir's eyes merely disappeared into the darkness of his hood, indicating that he had his eyes closed. There was a reason why he said that it was absolute defense as it was easily able to shift from being ethereal to having steel like skin. Noir merely let out a sigh when he felt his Guardian shift which only told him that Manuel might be making his move. The Guardian on the other hand merely watched Manuel's movements as if anticipating what his next move would be. His yellow eyes merely glowed faintly as Manuel moved in before slashing which the blade only seemed to phase right through his arm.

The Guardian on the other hand let out a growl as it swung with it's left fist trying to knock away this pesky little insect that seemed to be trying to cut it's limbs off.

[shadeimpulse]

Figures, once again Manuel's luck was the worst. The sword simply moved through the shade's arm, making it a completely ineffective attack, and one that was easily countered with a punch from Manuel's left side. The fist once again missed, but this time instead of retreating, Manuel went forward instead of back this time, moving in closer to Noir, and launching another fist at Noir's face. Manuel hoped that this Shade wouldn't be fast enough to intercept this attack, as it's size would be a rather large inconvenience in this matter.

The battle would not be much longer if Manuel had to keep up this dodging. Eventually he would be screwed over by the universe, and get tripped or some other inconvenient event would ruin his dodges. If Manuel could find enough openings he might stand a chance.

[Shinjitu]

The Guardian seemed to mutter incomprehensible words to itself as Manuel only once again dodged one of it's attacks which was a pretty good weakness of the Guardian. It was slower due to the massive bulk of its body but if it's hits connected it would defiantly be a game over. In fact it seemed to realize that it was slow and as such was beginning to watch Manuel more as he moved which it pulled a fist back while Manuel seemed to be focused on Noir. "Dammit." Was what he muttered as he realized that Manuel had dropped the defense portion of his plan and seemed to be striking at him, the source. Noir tried to side step out of the path of the attack but it managed to collide with his cheek causing pain to rush through his body and him to drop to the ground. The damage wasn't as extensive as if he had full on hit his face but Noir was on the ground holding his cheek now.

"Bastard." He grunted, the Guardian quickly swung it's arm once again aiming for Manuel's stomach as it seemed to arch it's fist upwards. It seemed bent on winding Manuel so it could make up for the slow movements that it had.