Later that morning, the group split off from one another and were on their way to their respective destinations.
The trio, consisting of Elizabeth, Cyrus, and Maria, had just arrived at their destination, which was another swanky hotel a few miles away from the one they were currently staying in. This was apparently the place that the 'earth magic' user's client told her to meet up at. And judging by how lavish their accommodations were, Cyrus and Maria had to assume that they were meeting another well-off individual.
After securing Elizabeth's equipment from the trunk of her car, the trio wasted no time heading up to the top floor of the building. On the way, the two young agents made sure not to drop any of the expensive-looking rolls of fabric on the ground. Mainly because neither one of them wanted to pay for the materials if they got damaged.
In barely a few minutes, the trio was at the door to the penthouse suite. From what Cyrus and Maria could tell, there were two individuals inside the room. Both of whom were sorcerers who possessed decent mana levels, one B-rank and another C-rank, based on what they could sense.
Elizabeth took a deep breath and straightened her posture before confidently knocking on the door. Luckily, they only had to wait a couple of seconds before one of the people on the other side made their presence known.
"Who is it?" A male voice said from the other side of the door.
"Elizabeth MacNamara." The woman replied in a polite tone of voice. "I have an appointment with Alyssa Blair."
'Blair. Huh?' Cyrus couldn't help but focus on that name. How could he not? The Blair family was one of the nine big sorcerer families. The one that possessed the majority of the most powerful and dangerous 'plant magic' users in North America. And the exact same one that Ayako and Chief Chandler told him to be careful around.
'Never expected to run into one of them all the way out here.' Maria commented to herself. The Blair family mostly stuck to the Great Plains region of the country. And for good reason, seeing as they were personally responsible for almost a quarter of the country's agriculture, not that most people even knew that.
"Oh, good!" Another female voice suddenly said from beyond the door.
Barely a few seconds later, the entrance opened up to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. One with olive skin, shoulder-length blonde hair styled in a bob, brown eyes, and a set of almost impossibly white teeth. She was of average height, barely an inch taller than Maria, and was wearing a pair of blue running shorts and a grey T-shirt. "Elizabeth, it's so good to see you!"
"It's good to see you as well." The 'earth magic' user said with a charming smile. "I know that we're a bit early. So I apologize if this inconveniences you in any way."
"Don't worry about it." The woman replied. "And who are your two friends here?"
"These two are my bodyguards for the week. This is Cyrus Moore and Maria Ortega. They'll also be helping me out for the day."
Hoping to make a good first impression, Cyrus took a moment to greet the woman. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am."
"Hello." Maria said in her usual flat and stoic tone.
Alyssa Blair visually inspected the two for a second before her eyes locked onto the pouch hanging off of Cyrus's waist. "A 'plant magic' user, huh?"
"Sure am!" The 'tree magic' user responded with a smile.
"Good." The woman returned the smile before realizing her mistake. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Alyssa Blair. It's a pleasure to meet you two!"
The woman then motioned over to the other end of the short hallway. "And that little nuisance over there is my cousin, Solomon. I'm kind of babysitting him for the next few days, but I promise you that he won't get in our way."
The trio peered over the woman slightly to get a good look at the individual in question. Sitting on the sofa with his feet propped up against the coffee table was a young man, no older than sixteen, wearing a grey sweatsuit. His appearance was almost identical to Alyssa's. Except his hair was short and styled in a neat fade. The boy wasn't paying any of them any real attention, seeing as he was currently focused on his handheld gaming device.
With the introductions now out of the way, Elizabeth, Maria, and Cyrus made their way into the hotel room. And the trio wasted no time in setting up the 'earth magic' user's equipment. After the preparations were done, Elizabeth got right down to business and started asking her client some questions.
"So, my sister tells me that you need something for the big auction next month."
"Indeed, I do." Alyssa replied. "My uncle decided that he wanted to skip it this year and is sending me in his place. As if I don't have enough on my plate already...."
"That's right, you did get that promotion a while back, didn't you?"
"I did, finally."
"What do you do?" Cyrus couldn't help but ask.
"I'm currently the personal assistant of the Secretary of Agriculture."
"Really?"
"Yes." The blonde smiled. "It's really not that much of an accomplishment considering my uncle, Solomon's father, is my boss. But, the pay is good and it'll look good on my resume in the future."
The 'tree magic' user nodded his head in understanding. "Still, that's pretty impressive."
'She basically just admitted to being a nepo-baby.' Maria thought to herself. How someone could so shamelessly admit that they only got their job through personal connections was beyond her. Especially a government position so high up the food chain.
"Thank you, I appreciate that." The blonde gave Cyrus a genuine smile.
Elizabeth was in the middle of getting the woman's measurements before asking her next question. "Alright, so what are you looking to have made?"
"Something simple. Formal, but not too eye-catching. Easy to move around in, but doesn't show off too much skin."
"Any preference on the color?"
"Black. But I'd love it if you were to add a bit of green or gold to it as well."
"Ugh..." Solomon scoffed from his spot on the couch while rolling his eyes. Much to the confusion of the two agents.
"Don't mind him." The elder Blair cousin said while directing a scowl at the boy.
"And how would you like it to fit?"
"Hmm...form-fitting, but not too tight. And preferably with boat neck, if you can manage it."
"No problem."
This routine went on for the better part of fifteen minutes. Once Elizabeth was done getting all of the information that she needed, the woman then directed Maria to bring her the assortment of fabrics that they brought in and proceeded to show them to Alyssa. After another few minutes of back and forth, the two had finally decided on a design style and material that they were both happy with.
While Elizabeth was busy drawing up her design on a sheet of paper, Alyssa decided to take a bit of time to chat with the two junior agents.
"So, how do you guys like working for the DPA?"
"It's great!" Cyrus replied honestly.
"It's cool." Maria echoed from her spot on the sofa.
"We have quite a few relatives who work for the department. They say that it's a lot of fun most of the time. Personally, I couldn't do something that dangerous. But I'm glad that you guys are out here making sure that cryptids don't wander all over the place."
"Make sense." Cyrus nodded.
Alyssa then smirked in the direction of her cousin, who was still glued to his game. "Actually, Solomon here is planning on joining the agency when he's done with school."
"Is that right?"
The boy in question then looked up from his game and eyed the three older sorcerers before deciding to join the conversation. "It's better than wasting my time working on one of the family's farms. And I don't want to go to college, so it seems like the best option."
"Can't argue with you there." Maria said in agreement.
"I think it's actually a good move for him." Alyssa then said. "His magic is pretty much made for hunting down cryptids. Hell, I can see him being pulled into an Anti-Personnel Squad as soon as he joins up."
Now, that certainly got Cyrus curious. "What kind of magic do you use?"
"'Carnivorous plant magic'." the boy said nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry?" The 'tree magic' user wasn't sure if he had misheard the boy.
"Solomon is pretty talented, even among the people in our family." Alyssa began to explain. "Most of us are only compatible with flowers, crops, and certain types of herbs. However, he can create and control carnivorous plants. And let me tell you, some of his creations are downright terrifying."
"I think you mean downright awesome!" The boy said with a confident smirk.
"So, you can control things like flytraps and round-leaf sundews?"
"You know about those kinds of plants?" The boy asked with genuine curiosity written all over his face.
"My mom owns a flower shop back home." Cyrus replied. "I'm not an expert like her, but I do know a little."
"I see..." Alyssa rubbed her chin for a moment before continuing. "But like I was saying, Solomon's one of the few of our kind whose creations are totally offensive in nature. He once created a snap-trap that ate an entire dire wolf whole."
'Jesus Christ.....' Maria couldn't help but cringe at the thought. A plant being able to destroy a cryptid that big was probably something she wanted to avoid.
"What about you guys?" The teen then asked. "What can you guys do?"
"I'm a 'beast magic' user." Maria was the first to reply. "All of my companions are serpent types."
"Interesting. And you?"
Cyrus hesitated for a moment before realizing that there was no real issue with letting them know what kind of magic he had. So long as he kept his special attribute a secret. "I use 'tree magic'."
"What?" Both Alyssa and Solomon said in unison.
"'Tree magic'..." The freckle-faced teen repeated. "Unfortunately, it's not as cool being able to control carnivorous plants. Especially since my creations are slow to produce. But it's good for making traps and restraining cryptids when necessary."
A pregnant silence filled the air as both of the Blair cousins gave Cyrus a set of looks that he couldn't easily identify. As two sets of brown eyes lingered on his body, the freckle-faced teen couldn't help but think that he might have made a mistake. Thankfully, that awkwardness only lasted for a moment before the older of the two blondes decided to speak up.
"Can you show us? If you don't mind?" The woman looked like she was about to say something else, but quickly reorganized her words. "That's a pretty rare magic type in this part of the world, and no one in our family has it."
Cyrus thought about it for a moment before deciding that it was best to not look suspicious. After all, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like they were asking him anything particularly weird. So, with a shrug, the young man simply did as was requested. He then took a moment to fish in his pouch for an acorn before pulling one out and forcing a bit of mana into it.
Everyone in the room, including Elizabeth, watched as a small oak sapling formed right in front of their eyes. One roughly the size of a human arm.
"Amazing..." Alyssa said with a gleam in her eye, something that didn't go unnoticed by Elizabeth.
'I bet she's already planning on telling her uncle about this.' The 'earth magic' user thought to herself. It was no secret that big sorcerer families were always on the hunt for strong sorcerers to add to their ranks. Even her family was guilty of such things in the past. But the Blair and Conley families in particular were notorious for poaching talent whenever they came across it.
"That's so cool!" Solomon then stood up from his seat so that he could get a better look at the sapling. "Hey, hey, can you do anything with it?"
"Like what?" Cyrus quirked an eyebrow.
"Alyssa can make whips and swords out of roses. She can even make ones that glow in the dark. Can you do something like that?"
"I can actually." Cyrus smirked before doing something he only ever did while training with Ayako.
The 'tree magic' user focused his attention on the sapling in his hand before the creation split off into five branches and began to wrap around his hand. The group watched as the small tree slowly morphed itself into a wooden gauntlet that extended all the way up to his elbow with four spikes protruding from the knuckle area.
"Wow..." Solomon practically had stars in his eyes as he visually inspected the wooden gauntlet.
'That's some impressive mana control.' Elizabeth and Alyssa both thought at the same time. They could deduce simply by watching that something like this took a fair bit of skill. Especially with a material as rigid as wood.
For a second, Maria wondered why the guy hadn't done something like that when they were tasked with taking out that ghoul a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like it would've been really useful at the time. But seeing how long it took for Cyrus to make this gauntlet, a good ten or twelve seconds by her estimation, it was easy to see why he didn't bother with it. Compared to something like a mana burst, his creations were too time-consuming to use in an actual fight.
"Well, color me impressed." Alyssa said with a grin. "Magic like that is nothing short of amazing. And your mana control is nothing to laugh at either. If our grandfather were here, he would've tried to convince you to marry into our family on the spot. Hell, he might have even tried to pay you to do it."
Hoping to make light of the situation, Cyrus decided to just laugh and roll with what the woman was saying. "I don't think my parents would appreciate me doing something like that on short notice. Plus, I'm way too young to be getting married."
"Good point." The blonde replied. "Still, I'm a bit jealous, though. My 'rose magic' isn't all that useful compared to yours. The most it's ever gotten me was some quick cash around Valentine's Day."
"I appreciated the compliment."
"You're welcome."
Before either of the group could say anything else, Elizabeth approached her client with a stack of papers in her hand. "As much as I'd hate to interrupt this conversation, I'd like for Ms. Alyssa to review some of these sketches. I want to get your approval before I start drawing on the fabric."
"Of course, of course! Sorry about that." The blonde said with a grin before being handed the stack of drawings.
With that, the group went right back to what they originally came here for. Spending the next couple of hours making sure that the necessary preparations for Alyssa's dress were good to go. By the time they finished, Elizabeth had everything that she needed to begin her work. Unfortunately, the dark-skinned woman wouldn't be able to actually start on the project in earnest until they were back home. But even then, she had more than enough time to make sure that her newest commission would be perfect.
"So..." Cyrus spoke up right as the trio was exiting the building. "Do you usually have to travel to meet up with clients?"
"Not at all." Elizabeth replied. "I usually have clients either come to me or do an online consultation. This time was a special case since my brother has his work event here and Alyssa just so happened to be close by. Plus, my sister was the one who set this up since she owed Alyssa a favor."
"Lucky break." Maria said in her usual cool tone.
"You're not really much of a talker, are you?" The 'earth magic' user then glanced back at her temporary protector. "We've been together all day, and I think you've said a total of twenty words. If that."
"You can say that."
"Well...there's nothing wrong with that. What's the old expression? Speech is silver, silence is gold-"
The young woman was cut off when a middle-aged woman wearing tattered clothing and carrying a cardboard box suddenly appeared in front of the trio. So quickly, in fact, that neither of the three even had a chance to react until she was barely outside of arm's reach.
Cyrus immediately put himself between the woman and Elizabeth while Maria reached for the taser gun in her hip.
"Spare some change?" The woman said in a dry and scraggly voice. "Please, young lady."
'Okay, it's a beggar.' Maria relaxed a bit, but not enough to where she wouldn't be able to react, just in case this lady tried something stupid. The 'beast magic' user then looked to her right to see what her charge wanted to do about this situation, only to pause at what she was looking at.
The look on Elizabeth MacNamara's face was nothing short of pure disgust and revulsion. It was the kind of look that one would give a roach they find in their kitchen as opposed to another living person. And the words that immediately came out of her mouth certainly left little room for confusion.
"Get the fuck away from me, you damn vermin!" Elizabeth's haughty and proper tone was now back in full force.
Cyrus, Maria, and even the homeless woman paused at that. Neither of them was expecting the young woman to say something like that completely out of the blue. After shaking off the initial shock, the homeless woman seemingly hesitated for a brief moment before trying her luck once again.
"Please, miss. I just need-"
"What you need to do is get a job and stop begging for money from strangers in the middle of a parking deck. I mean, honestly, aren't you ashamed of yourself? You look older than my mother, and you have the audacity to live your life like this. How disgusting!"
The beggar quickly understood that she wasn't going to have luck here. So, the woman quickly gave the trio an apology before walking away, leaving the three to ponder over what just happened. Actually, Cyrus and Maria were the only ones pondering. Elizabeth was busy taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
"Well...that was...something..." Cyrus said in a noticeably awkward tone.
Elizabeth quickly recomposed herself before responding. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I just can't stand people like that."
"I can tell."
"Honestly, I just can't understand how anyone could degrade themselves in such a way. With all the jobs available in this country, the last thing anyone should be doing is begging teenagers for money on the street. That kind of existence is barely better than being a sewer rat."
Cyrus couldn't help but cringe at that. 'Jesus Christ...'
'Are you fucking serious?!' Maria was in utter disbelief at what had just happened. Not only was Elizabeth unnecessarily rude to that woman, but she literally just called her a vermin right to her face. Who the hell even does something like that? Normal people would've just said "no" and kept moving. But taking the time to degrade another person who was obviously in need as if it was a natural reaction was a whole different thing entirely.
'I guess I was right about her.' The 'beast magic' user said to herself.
All of her suspicions about the female half of the MacNamara twins were just confirmed in the span of fifteen seconds. This girl was exactly the kind of person that she didn't like, a spoiled rich kid who didn't understand how regular people lived their lives. Maybe it was the fact that Maria had a less-than-stellar upbringing that made her more empathetic to people like that poor woman who was just humiliated right in front of her, but a normal person had to know that acting that way was completely uncalled for.
The raven-haired teen somehow managed to maintain her stoic facial expression despite the emotion she was feeling right now. All while ensuring that she kept her mouth shut to avoid saying something that she would regret.
"Anyways, let's hurry back to our hotel." Elizabeth then said to her two bodyguards. "We can stop and grab a bite to eat on the way, my treat! You guys earned it since you helped me out earlier."
"Sure...sounds good." Cyrus said with a forced smile. Glad that the previous awkwardness of what just happened had finally passed over them.
"Cool....." Was all that Maria chose to say. The 'beast magic' user made sure to walk a few steps behind the other two to avoid having either of them notice the sudden change in her demeanor. 'Que perra.'
-(o)-
Character Profile: Elizabeth
Name: Elizabeth Louise MacNamara Paredes
Alias: N/A
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Birthday: March 14th
Birthplace: Charlotte, NC, USA
Height: 67in
Weight: 135lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Race: Black/White
Magic: Earth
Occupation: Fashion Designer, College Student
Stat Chart: A
-Physical Strength - 2
-Intelligence - 3.5
-Magic Amount - 5+
-Magical Control - 4
-Magic Sensing - 4
-Special - 4
Fun Fact:
-Favorite food is paella.