Oren fell asleep at some point, lulled by the consistent rumbling of their magic-powered vehicle. It wasn't a good idea by any means, as he found out upon waking up - in Cross' arms.

He gaped for a moment, staring - stupidly - up at Cross' grinning face. The smug, self-satisfied look he wore ignited an indignant fire within Oren's chest, and he shoved violently at Cross' chest, trying to worm free of the blond's irritatingly strong grasp.

"Hey, hey," Cross chided, a mock frown on his face as he cinched his arms tighter around Oren, causing the younger teen to scowl heavily and revamp his efforts to escape. "That's no good, Ori, you're gonna fall!"

"Like I care!" Oren spat. "Let me go, dammit!"

"Hm... Don't wanna. Ya know, you're kinda cute when you're not... being all you."

His scowl deepening, Oren twisted around, catching the eye of Gideon, who walked alongside Cross, cool as could be. He raised his nose from the book he'd been studiously reading (something garden-related, judging by the earthy, green spine and the pompous name Oren could make out beneath Gideon's splayed fingers), seemed to take in Oren's predicament, then went right back to his book.

Sia was no more useful, only giving him a pitying smile, and Ilias didn't even look at him, the coward.

Goddammit.

He twisted back around, ignoring the smarmy grin etched across Cross' perpetually too-amused lips. He brooded, just for a moment, lamenting his insubstantial frame (not for the first time). Then he straightened.

He was already making contact with Cross, so making a Copy of him wouldn't have been difficult. But Oren was too pissed just to leave things at that. So he recalled one of his previous Copies, and in a flash of white light, he disappeared.

Cross' knees almost buckled at the sudden weight.

"No fair!" he whined once Oren - now cloaked in Hawthorne's image - was standing on his own two feet. Or, well, what passed for his own feet at the moment. "I didn't know Mr. Dreamboat was that heavy!"

"Yeah, well, I already knew you were an asshole, but I'm still disappointed," Oren shot back bitingly, making a show of wiping off his arms and legs, as if he were afraid of catching whatever it was that seemed to have infected Cross. Cross' reaction was lackluster at best, his brow furrowing for half a heartbeat before the crease smoothed out and he clapped a hand onto Oren's shoulder.

"The more I look at you like this, the more I realize I like the real thing better. Now Hawthorne, he's downright adorable when he blushes."

Oren swatted Cross' hand away, moving so that Gideon acted as a buffer between them. He knew he'd hate this job - any time he went out with Cross, he could expect to have a godawful time of it. The man got under his skin, pressed all the right buttons, and half the time Oren would rather slam one of Hawthorne's shields into his face than bother talking with him. But, although he had the perfect opportunity to act on one of his passing threats, he couldn't do it. Someone would stop him, probably Gideon, and against Gideon he knew he wouldn't win. Against Cross, for that matter, he wouldn't win. Oren wasn't a fighter, like the others.

But he made due, and that was all that mattered in the end.

"This is why Hawthorne hates you," Oren said, annoyed, as his disguise fell away. Gideon spared him a quick, disinterested glance, pursing his lips. Oren knew Gideon didn't love when he chose to transform into Hawthorne, something about the risk of ruining the mage's image with Oren's incompetence (he was paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it, in his opinion).

Cross, feigning hurt, placed a hand over his heart, his face alight with horror.

"My Hawthorne... hates me?"

Oren just sighed, resigning himself to a day - no, a week - of Cross' theatrics.

____________________________________

Solaris wasn't a crowded town. Pretty, sure, but nothing spectacular to write home about. Yet Sia seemed on edge, for a reason Oren could scarcely guess at. The others - Gideon, Cross, and Ilias - didn't notice the subtle change in Sia's demeanor, how she ducked her head whenever they passed someone on the lonely streets. It was weird, for lack of a better word, but, he decided, probably none of his business.

Gideon, ever-prepared, directed them towards the home of their apparently long-time client, an elderly woman who introduced herself as the town's chief elder. She was pleasant, if a bit overbearing; three times Oren had to decline her offer of fresh-baked cookies before she took the hint and moved onto Ilias, who took one only to keep her from practically badgering him.

She explained what they already knew - the valley was overrun with lizardmen, humanoid, lizard-like creatures that, at any other given time of the year, lived exclusively in the remote regions of the valley, near the river that cut through the area's mouth. About this time, though, the river flooded further down into the valley, and the lizardmen took advantage of that, following the influx of fish down the river's banks. That ultimately led them into human territory, and conflicts ensued.

That was where Starry Rose came in.

"This bites," Oren grumbled as they were leaving, earning himself a reproachful look from Gideon. Rolling his eyes, he went on, unfazed by the prospect of being heard by the chief elder. "Why us? Any guild could take this job. And aren't we meant to be training?" he added with a pointed look at Sia. "Cleaning up here won't be that much of a challenge. There's just a lot of them, right?"

"You're right," Gideon said, having waited until they were out of earshot of the house to respond. He took it upon himself to be the courteous one of their group, as - besides perhaps Sia - these particular members of Starry Rose had little in the way of manners, Oren and Ilias especially. Cross was kind, if misguided most of the time, and it was his flirting - not his rudeness - that often put people off. Like Hawthorne, for example. "About there being numerous lizardmen, anyway. But it's not the simple job you're making it out to be, Oren. I think you were too busy gagging at the cookie Ilias was choking down--"

Ilias shuddered at the memory, clutching a hand to his throat.

"--but Esmera told us there were more lizardmen than usual this year, possibly because of a good breeding season. Whatever the reason, they're going to be even more troublesome."

Gideon frowned, tapping out a rhythmless beat against his cheek.

"Esmera said another guild is already here, too, though she also said they breezed through without taking the time to introduce themselves. They must be in a rush to get the job done. Perhaps they're in the Games as well?"

"Wait, so we're gonna have to share the reward?" Oren demanded, exasperated. Why didn't Gideon ever tell them these things until the last minute?

"No, we'll get what we were promised," Gideon replied, completely nonchalant, as if Oren hadn't displayed another of his rather common temper tantrums. "They knew two guilds were coming when we accepted their request. I told you, the number of lizardmen is more substantial this year; Esmera thought two guilds could get the job done faster and with less casualties."

"Then that's fine," Sia said, and Cross grinned in agreement.

"The more the merrier! It's more people for me to impress, anyway."

Oren could have sworn he heard Ilias mutter beneath his breath, "I'm surrounded by idiots..."

As long as he wasn't counted in that category, he wholeheartedly agreed.

"Are we going straight to the valley?" Sia asked.

Gideon craned his neck back, squinting at the sky to check the sun's position. He nodded slowly.

"We can start the extermination today, so yes, we should go now in order to maximize the hours of daylight we have left. It's not far from the town, so it shouldn't take long--"

He paused, his words trailing off into awkward silence. Oren wrenched his head around, trying to follow Gideon's gaze, as he'd begun staring at something behind them. At first, he couldn't see what was so interesting - just a few storefronts, some couples ambling down the street, a man in flashy attire (even worse than what Ilias wore) putting on a show at the corner. But then Sia batted his arm, and when he turned to glower at her - he saw them.

The tall, muscular blond caught his attention first. He was standing - no, towering, standing just didn't cut it - on the opposite corner from the performer, arms crossed and face twisted with frustration. The lightning-shaped scar cutting through his right eye twitched as he sighed and said something (inaudible from this distance) to the woman beside him. Oren flinched back when it seemed as though the man had spotted them; but, no, his gaze swept right over them and he soon turned back to his partner.

She was beautiful, Oren had to admit. Long, chestnut-brown hair, pretty brown eyes behind elegant frames, a buxom figure. Beside Oren, Ilias shifted uncomfortably, ducking behind Cross. He didn't do well with overly assertive people (like Cross, for instance), and he'd likely read the woman to be exactly that. Even Oren had. She gave off... an aura, of sorts, warning them she was not to be trifled with. The man had a similar air to him, but somehow, the woman was even more terrifying - especially her eyes.

"That's..."

"It is."

"They're the...?"

"It seems so."

"But that's...!"

"It would be nice," Gideon sighed, "if someone could form a full sentence sometime this century? Yes, it's Laxus Dreyer and Evergreen of Fairy Tail. I doubt there's anything else of interest going on in Solaris, so yes, they're here for the same job as us. Which means we have to interact with them. Any more questions?"

Oren half-expected Cross to pipe up with something related to Evergreen's relationship status with Laxus, but when he turned to see the man, he was gone. Just like that, leaving nothing but dust in his wake. Baffled, Oren searched the streets for a moment before he let out a groan.

"Someone should put a leash on that guy..."

Sia, snapped from her starstruck stupor, looked in the direction Oren was glowering in and made a face herself. Cross had spotted another member of Laxus' team and veered off to intercept him as he was stepping out of a shop, another man at his heels. The green-haired man - Fried Justine - didn't look exactly thrilled to be met with Cross' crude flirting - at any hour of the day, never mind the fact that it would be nightfall in a few hours. And Oren knew exactly how he felt. No one in the guild liked Cross' flirtatious habits - they tolerated them. But he just loved finding new targets everywhere he went.

"Ignore him for now," Gideon urged, stepping in between Sia and Oren (much to his annoyance) and raising his right arm so that his forearm faced forwards. Oren noticed the sleeve of his shirt had been pulled down to reveal his guild mark on the inside of his wrist, and he finally understood why when Laxus - the blond - started towards them. Evergreen followed closely behind him.

"Pleasure to meet you," Gideon smiled, lowering his arm once the duo had reached them. Ilias, robbed of his Cross-shield, had moved to duck behind the brunet, and Oren could tell Laxus already found him annoying. "Laxus Dreyer and Evergreen, two of Fairy Tail's finest. We're from Starry Rose, though I doubt you've heard of us."

"Can't say we have," Laxus agreed, without skipping a beat.

Oren's cheek twitched, and he barely bit back an oncoming scowl. The nerve of this guy.

Gideon, though, didn't look bothered in the least.

"Right. Like I said, it's not surprising. We're not in the media as often as Fairy Tail, after all."

Sia and Oren exchanged a look, the same thought reflected in each of their eyes.

Did Gideon just... diss Fairy Tail?

"In any case," Gideon went on, and the moment was gone, though even Laxus looked a tad suspicious now, "we're both here for the same job. The lizardmen, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Oh," Evergreen said, her interest piqued, "you're who that woman mentioned - the other guild they called in. I'm sorry to say you came here for nothing. We won't be needing any help with this job. It's nothing special, you understand."

"Still," Gideon said, seeming to ignore the sting of Ever's words, "we're being paid to do our part. I just thought we should get acquainted should we need to chat in the future. My name is Gideon Eriksen. This is Oren Truesdale, Sia Oall, and Ilias Cambridge."

He pointed to each of them in turn, and they each nodded or waved (Ilias didn't bother looking out from behind Gideon), though none of them smiled.

"And that," Gideon finished, with a tired gesture towards where Cross was shamelessly flirting with Fried, "is... ours."

"Do we have to take responsibility for him?" Oren grumbled, ignoring the amused look Evergreen gave him.

Dammit, this was why he didn't like working with other guilds. They looked down on Starry Rose far too often. Rhett didn't seem to mind, as he often went out on jobs with Ren from Blue Pegasus (with Keir obviously tagging along), but Oren rarely - if ever - chose to accompany another guild's team if he could help it. He didn't like being judged by perfect strangers - he got enough of that from just being with his guildmates in Wisteria, considering they were all freaks.

Laxus actually looked downright disturbed by Cross' inappropriateness, while Ever looked to be suppressing a laugh at the look of horror transforming Fried's graceful features. He was trying to move away from Cross, but the blond stuck to him - and Bixlow, Fried's companion and the last member of Laxus' team, wasn't helping matters. In fact, he was egging Cross on, both him and his puppets cheering for him to tackle Fried to the ground.

"Well, first impressions are everything," Gideon said pleasantly, extending a hand for Laxus to shake, though Oren wasn't sure if the man had any intentions of even looking at the members of Starry Rose again. "I hope we can work well together in the future."