Black Bull Headquarters

"That was pretty weird," Leonis whispered, having managed to hear even the low tone Hikage managed. He was trembling in fear, which turned into pure bother upon discovering what their punishment would actually be. As expected, Hikage had many problems with the Captain's decision, and asked for something more reasonable like a fight against the man. Heero chuckled. "You'd both like that, wouldn't you? Don't underestimate my perception. You get more enjoyment out of a fight than anything else in the world. Meanwhile, Leonis here wants to become stronger at all costs, so you would both only benefit from the punishment I would give anyone else," he said, taking a moment thereafter to place his left hand on his hip, while his right hand seemed to almost mockingly beckon Hikage or Leonis toward him. "If you'd like though, I'd gladly offer you the opportunity to opt out of your punishment. Just land a hit on me before I hit you, and I'll ignore the whole thing. What do ya' say?"

An answer would come from Leonis about the weirdness of Hikage's explanation and she managed to look stunned, not realizing she'd spoken loud enough to be heard. Still she would take this information in stride in her aims not to be quite as weird as she seemed to be on the surface. Beyond this though came the knowledge that their Captain had given them a punishment tailored to the kind of people they were, knowing that both would enjoy more physical punishments as they would aide them long term the man had given them one which would really count as a punishment. "Sou ka... that's mean, Danchou." Hikage said with a firm nod of her head. She decided this man's use of their own goals against them as a punishment was legitimately spiteful.

Strangely though this man made an offer that if either of them could hit him before he landed a hit on them, they could forego their apparent punishment this day. Hikage didn't have to be told twice because this notion practically gave her all things she wanted. She rushed the Captain with reckless abandon that strange use of mana skin seeming to give her body an increase in speed and maneuverability as her grimoire appeared at her side and opened giving the girl a single blade to deal with which she immediately used to try and am a spinning strike at the Captain's torso, all the while she was distinctly on edge but didn't know why.

"It's punishment. It's not supposed to be nice," Heero replied. His offer to attack him and avoid punishment was one open to both Hikage and Leonis, but the latter didn't seem keen on jumping the gun so quickly. Hikage, however, had no hesitation in her being. Heero didn't seem to move much at all as she approached him. He did keep grinning, though. Hikage's spinning attack was structured, and her movements in general seemed practiced yet random. Heero's grimoire opened to produce for him a blade which looked like a large trench knife. He could have used this weapon to defend or counter, but instead, he took it in his left hand and raised his right hand. Heero's right hand became black in color, offering the same strange, somewhat empty feeling the blade had. What he did when Hikage reached him was stranger yet, as Heero decided to counter Hikage's blade... by slapping it. Those who weren't in the know always fell to this sort of defensive method by Heero. The reason he felt so empty all the time was that he didn't possess any magical power at all. What he did possess however, was anti-magic, which allowed him to make full use of the strange, filthy grimoire to make anti-magic weapons. At some point, he'd even learned to channel this power through his very body, which meant his hand's contact with Hikage's blade would cause the steel weapon to be destroyed. Heero intended to use the moment of shock he expected to come afterwards to swing the trench knife he wielded at lightning speed, aiming it at Hikage's midsection. If it struck, one would find it incapable of actually cutting a human target; it could only manage blunt damage, though Heero's natural strength was great enough that a strike would be capable of also launching its victim through more than a single wall of this building... contrary to his alleged desire to not destroy the place. As these movements happened, Leonis looked onward with a furrowed brow. 'Sou ka... He's the one.'

Hikage's rotation against the Captain with a blade in her head had gone off as she'd intended, but wouldn't see the sort of end she had planned. As she rotated near the man's fore, his arm reached out covered in black and slapped at the blade. This motion was one which Hikage couldn't have anticipated but her body's natural ability to react had her shift her grip slightly as if she'd intended to stab this hand, only to have her blade completely disappear from her hand. "Nani?!" she managed to look and be surprised as her body tried to complete its rotation she was soon accosted by a blunt black blade which sent her flying. Her own body curled up to absorb the impact but she still went flying through the first wall of the building. When she finally came to a stop her body hit the ground and she groaned rolling over. She'd never felt such an impact while not feeling any magical power behind it. The emptiness of this captain was because he couldn't possibly have any magical power. Instead he was simply physically powerful. The girl's golden eyes looked up as they watered from the impact and she inspected her empty hand as if confused by how her blade had disappeared. "It didn't snap, or break. It disappeared as if I didn't make it in the first place..." she mused. All these things culminated in a strange idea, that she wasn't sure if she could even compete with the Captain she'd chosen.

Unlike many who could have been completely unnerved by such a thing the girl managed to pull herself into the sitting position. "Kufufufufufufufufufufufufufufufufufu!~" she laughed manically with a demonic twisted grin stretched across her face, as she ran a hand over her face, blocking all but a single eye from view. She'd definitely chosen the right place for her, and though she'd lost and was stuck with her punishment, she was fine with this for the future of her good times. "He's so fucking strong!"

Heero's strike saw to it that his movement carried on just a bit beyond the impact. Hikage was send crashing through a wall to her left as a result, and Heero was left looking at the hole created while scratching his head. "Yare yare. That was too much," he mumbled. He hadn't intended to use as much force as he did, but he wasn't as used to fighting without an intent to claim victory over an opponent. Either way, Hikage seemed unnecessarily satisfied with the outcome, so Heero looked toward Leonis and realized immediately that he wouldn't want the same challenge. Leonis wasn't so physically capable as Hikage, so if he was forced into the same range, he wouldn't even be capable of lightening the blow. Even worse, against anti-magic with such physical ability behind it, he wouldn't even be able to land a hit at range. Heero had his answer. "Alright. Everybody else is leaving now. That is, except... Olivia!" he said, both making a note of the woman in question, and calling for her attention.

Hikage was still laughing maniacally when the wall she'd flown through rather suddenly began piecing itself back together. A woman with deeply tanned skin and purple hair wearing a dark hoodie with the Black Bulls insignia and a pair of high socks was strolling towards the front of the building at the call of her name. Of course she took one look at the still laughing Hikage and offered the girl a hand up. Hikage looked at her with those crazed eyes, but accepted this after getting a feel for this woman. "Yes, he's strong... don't know why that's such a big deal for you, but I'm glad you're happy considering punishment and all..." she mumbled. Soon enough both she and Hikage were back and standing in front of the Captain and this purple haired woman apparently named Olivia was rather lax in what she chose to say next. "Danchou, don't knock new people through walls, you cause more damage than they do..." she said frowning slightly. "I thought you'd be gone by now... what do you need?" she asked, staying very close to the doorway of the entrance, right inside of it in fact.

Soon after Heero's call, the woman named Olivia appeared before the group. He figured she wouldn't require any prompting to repair the damage he'd done by launching Hikage the way he did, but the brief chastising was still a bother. "Yeah, yeah, gomen. It's hard for me to manage, y'know?" he said nonchalantly. Moving on, Heero addressed the matter he'd called the woman for. He should have been gone to his own tasks already, true, but he figured waiting for the two newcomers would work out, and it did in the end. "These two are stuck here for the day. The money's at the bar; make them deal with that sketchy guy. Also... cram their rooms together, and move the new room as far from everyone else's as possible. I'm not gonna deal with these two moving around in the middle of the night to find each other," he said, and he meant every word. Leonis was startled by this order from the Captain. He already hadn't expected the casual response to what Hikage told him, but for him to also suggest that they share a room was almost ludicrous to hear. "What!? A shared room?" the young royal asked. 'I'm going to share a room with a girl? A girl I had sex with!?'

"If it's hard for you to manage, then you can't be mad at anyone else..." she mumbled, still there were worse things than a few holes in walls. What came next was a strange set of orders surrounding these newcomers, who were both in trouble within a few moments of joining the Black Bulls properly. It was clear they were meant to take on a bit of grunt work dealing with the 'sketchy guy' as well as being locked within the building for the day. All of this was fine with Olivia until of course the order came that both of their bedrooms were to be put together and moved as far away from the others as possible. "That's one of the weirdest orders you've ever given me, Danchou..." she said. "But, I'll do it in a few minutes..." she said as casually as she'd been saying most things. Still she wasn't stupid and could make a few assumptions as to why such a thing would be the case, and as such she had no problem going along with the order. "I get a room?" Hikage seemed stunned by this completely. She'd not really had a room to call her own over the course of her life, even a shared one seemed like something strange to her. "Anyways, good luck on your trip." Olivia mentioned, she'd beckon the two of them inside once the Captain had answered any remaining questions they'd had. Hikage obviously had no hard opinions about rooms nor sharing them with anyone else, if she didn't have to go looking for Leonis she felt like that would make her day better and not worse.

"Sure I can! I'm never mad because people are breaking things. I'm mad because they're not trying not to break things!" Heero said with a wag of his right forefinger. At this time, he held out the weapon provided to him by his grimoire, and returned it to its home. Olivia would oblige his request to place these newbies in a single room together, even if not right at the moment. That was fine. With his business done, Heero holstered his grimoire and stepped past Olivia, taking his leave of the headquarters for the time being. Meanwhile, Leonis accepted the beckoning of Olivia, choosing to follow wherever she chose to lead. Having a shared room was in no way a negative, considering, but he couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he had to share a room with a woman permanently, so soon after meeting her even. Of course, they had already gone very far in their relationship over the past 24 hours, but what was to come next? Only time would tell at this point.

"Hm, I can see a small difference, but it isn't that big..." mentioned Olivia. Having motioned the pair along they watched for a few seconds as their Captain left the building and soon enough Raina was up and moving past the group as well, her face bright red, and she was so flustered she didn't even bother looking in anyone's direction as she left. "Well, she's usually a bit friendlier than that... whatever," she said not bothering to think about it. "Introductions, I'm Olivia Colomar... I live in this building, and I am a member of the Black Bulls," she said calmly. "I'm technically your senior but I never leave this building and I really hate talking to strangers, but that is where you guys come in!~" she chimed seemingly happy she stopped in front of a bar where a large sack of coins was sitting. And picked it up handing it to whoever would take it. "This is for some specialty items I like from a very creepy merchant. I never see him but everyone else usually handles it pretty well," she commented. "He's a bit skiddish don't let him swindle you or anything like that..." she said as her grimoire came to life in front of them. She'd been stalling for extra time, absorbing extra mana from the pair, not a lot just enough to make easier the task of moving their rooms. "Also, if you didn't notice, my magic controls the building. So you guys can't leave while you're... grounded." she muttered, not being able to think of a better term for their current punishment. "Also, I'm passively absorbing mana from you guys... so thanks for keeping me alive. I hope we can be friends." she said earnestly.

Hikage heard out this woman and had several problems with the things she was saying. The first of which was that she claimed to have problems talking to people, but apparently had no problem talking to them. Moreover she went on to explain that she was apparently in charge of them and would know if they tried to leave the building. Beyond this she'd been absorbing mana from them passively since they'd first arrived. Hikage looked down at her palm and wondered if this was something like what she did when using her mana skin. Regardless this woman seemed to be fair enough, so the green haired lass stepped up and sniffed her walking to her. "She's not lying. This building smells like her now that I am close enough. That's alright with me... Hikage." she said giving her name which was about as friendly as the girl got.

The explanations of Olivia carried on, covering basically everything there was to cover. She was their senior, that much was a given. The concept of her not leaving the building was strange until she mentioned it being connected to her magic, but now that Leonis thought about it, there was something slightly different about the building and its sudden fixed state from their earlier fight. As far as their inability to leave this day was concerned, Leonis felt like it was more than what it seemed... as if it were something physically impossible because of the woman's control over the structure.

Leonis accepted the sack of money offered by Olivia. If they were to deal with a strange merchant, he figured it was an easy enough task to start their day of being 'grounded' as it were. While drawing assumptions to the amount of yul in the sack, Leonis heard Olivia saying she hoped they could be friends. Considering her invasive method of absorbing the mana of those in the building, he wondered if she felt some strange and deep connection to the other members, in spite of her apparent lack of being out and about. Leonis took a moment to hold out his right hand toward their senior. "Leonis Vermillion. We'll be working together, so sure... let's be friends. You seem pretty likable."

It seemed her explanations of what was happening for them today had gone over pretty well, which was all Olivia really wanted. Of course there was something said by Leonis which would require Hikage's attention. Still she was friendly enough so the shook the lad's hand, wondering how on earth a Vermillion ended up as part of this squad. Little did she know she was about to find out about the oddities of this lad. Hikage was confused at large. Since the pair of them spoke about liking each other, she didn't think she was okay or understanding of this lad saying that their newest introduced comrade was likable. "Wait, likable? But I thought you liked me?" she said turning her gaze to Leonis. Something like this was a strange thing for Olivia to behold, she was starting to get more of an understanding as to why the Captain thought these two should be living in a room together. Her eyes went wide as she went exceedingly quiet. Olivia was a lot of things, and good at staying out of people's domestic problems was at the top of the list. She withdrew her hand and almost faded into the background with the amount of stillness her body presently possessed.

As Leonis shook Olivia's hand to complete their introduction, Hikage interjected in a way that was interestingly unexpected by the male. He took pause, releasing Olivia's hand only because she pulled away. The best descriptor for this exchange was awkward, as Leonis was initially taken aback without words to explain the situation. "Uhh... well..." he started. It took everything he had to rack his brain for an explanation that would make sense, lest he incur some previously unknown fury. He'd heard in the past how dangerous such a thing could be from a woman in relationships or anything of the sort, and he'd experienced a general sort of fury from his elder sister from time to time. "It's... not the same. See, there's a general kind of like. For example, I like Raina-san too. I like way she fights; it was challenging, so I grew a little from it. Olivia-san seems likable because she seems like a nice person. Get it?"

Olivia watched from the side lines as Leonis tried hard to salvage his misunderstanding with the person she was now understanding was his girlfriend. This was an interesting thing to behold, because as far as Olivia could tell, this girl was earnest in her lack of understanding about the differences between like when applied to different people. She remembered being young herself and knowing that the way she felt about certain people was very different from the way she felt about the population and not being able to differentiate initially. 'Yare yare, where did she grow up?' she wondered still, she couldn't stop herself from watching this train-wreck from happening. Hikage heard out this lad's explanation of the different sorts of like but it didn't clear anything up at all, if anything it only caused more confusion. "But you like fighting me too. You said so... it doesn't make sense," she said the light of fury beginning to burn beneath her eyes just below the surface. Olivia knew what this was and couldn't stop herself from commenting. "You're crashing and burning, Leo-chan. Hi-chan give him a chance to better explain. I'm sure he has a better explanation in there somewhere," she mused. Of course, she spoke and bought him a few extra seconds of thinking time, and brought Hikage's attention to herself in those seconds. Hikage's eyes turned towards the woman who referred to her in a rather diminutive way which she hadn't heard much in her life aside from one person. 'Hm, she must be older than us... by a lot,' Hikage had this thought in her head, but it still didn't stop her from being upset, as age was obviously no real object to Leonis.

Leonis thought that he'd maybe gotten his point across. Sadly, this was not the case. His explanation only made the situation worse, and he was beginning to see that which he was taught to fear. "No no no, it's not like that!" he pleaded, only to be saved by the tan woman who was now more likable than he'd initially thought. He briefly entertained the idea of thanking her aloud, but figured that wouldn't be for the best with the current discussion still ongoing. "You see... there are different ways to like people. Not everybody gets the same kind. You like fighting Danchou, right? So that means you like Danchou? Hell, I even like my sister sometimes," he said, wondering if there was some salvation to be found in this discussion.

Leonis might have been trying sincerely to get Hikage to understand but initially she didn't. But with a slight breather provided by Olivia he seemed to come with a more thought out explanation of like. "Hm, I do like fighting Danchou but I don't like him. He doesn't give me tingles like Leonis does. And I figure his sister wouldn't give him tingles, I didn't like the my big sis like that... " she mumbled in that inaudible whisper she used to think sometimes. "Sou ka," she said having come to the proper conclusion. "So you like them in the not tingly way," she said affirmatively. This seemed to clear up her ideas about the kind of relationship he was aiming to have with their comrades and would cement her ideas about this entire situation. Her fury would ease without ever having properly manifested.

Strangely Olivia would breathe a sigh of a relief. "Dang, kids like you will give me a heart-attack. Or at least grey hair, I understand why Danchou wanted me to put your room in the middle of nowhere," she mused. Thinking about it she decided now was as good a time as any. "I almost forgot." Her grimoire flipped several pages and the building itself began to shift as she found the two rooms she'd originally created for these two and moved them together erasing a wall between them. She went on to move this larger combination room up and out of the building practically so it was hanging off the eastern end of the building where no one else's rooms were up a staircase. "There. Honeymoon suite for our new couple~" she mused.

The moment Hikage mentioned the tingly sensation she got from him not being something she experienced from others she may have liked, Leonis knew his point would soon be understood. As well, he was given more understanding of how the girl actually felt about him. He took pause for a few moments as Hikage came to the conclusion by the efforts of her own mental links, and when she reached the point, he grinned. "Yeah, that's it! It's a more friendly way of liking someone. Wait..." He paused again. In the midst of this conversation, Leonis came to a certain realization all too late, but its impact remained within him. His eyes widened slightly, and he blurted out his conclusion once it was solidified in his mind. "Were you just jealous!?" He was so out of his own wit by this realization that he hardly realized Olivia had gone through all the trouble of actually customizing their conjoined room and moving it to an apparently more suitable location. Her commentary about it being a honeymoon suite for the squad's new couple, though, brought his attention to the purple-haired woman. "Huh? Well, that's... a bit of a leap."

Hikage could accept that it was simple friendliness mean by Leonis and not anything more nefarious. Of course, soon enough this lad was coming to his own conclusion about why Hikage had decided to question the nature of his liking of other girls. This question of jealousy was one which she couldn't really answer as she didn't really have a reference for the word. "Ano... I don't really know what that word means," she said but in the moment she decided to explain why she'd bother questioning his like of these other women. "But you said you liked me and I thought you were mine. I felt like that was special so I didn't want you liking other girls the same way. Is that jealous?" she asked having admitted to having all the seeds of jealousy confirmed without knowing how to reference the feeling. She'd asked for clarification because there might have been a misunderstanding. A chortle escaped Olivia as she heard this girl speak because it was textbook jealousy if not a little of something else. 'Ano, it's more like she's a territorial animal than a jealous teen girl...' thought the woman. But aloud she only chose to address the bit about the honeymoon suite. "Seems pretty accurate to me. Fresh relationship, room to yourselves where you will further get used to each other while the rest of us try to avoid you. Honeymoon suite. Speaking of..." she motioned to the pair of them and began walking, Hikage would follow because this building was unfamiliar to her.

"I'll show you where it is... I'm pretty sure I won't find reason to move it or anything," she said haphazardly. She also took to pointing out new things. "That room is mine. This is the bathroom... I also don't move it. Everything else is subject to change, I don't usually like to do this much walking..." she said as they moved about and down different hallways. Heading towards the eastern side of the building where a set of stairs would emerge from a rather strange place in the wall, it definitely looked like a strange design choice but would lead up and open up into a double size bedroom complete with two beds, two desks, and a window between them as well as a decent sized floor space. "Ano this room is for you two. You can decorate it how you want it, but I can't change the size of it much until the Captain says so... until then you two should get to know each other. And play nice~" She then posted herself in their doorway and waited for them to take it in.

Hikage apparently didn't understand the word jealousy. As strange as this was, Leonis didn't think it too far fetched when considering how she had come up in the world. He meant to explain the word's meaning, but Hikage continued speaking until she worked her own way through its definition. Still, at the end of it all, she asked if she had gotten it right. "That's pretty much it. Jealousy is like when you don't like that someone else is getting something, because you want it to yourself. Don't worry, though. Jealousy can be flattering sometimes," he asserted. Truth be told, Leonis had experienced said flattery mere moments ago. In these early stages of a not-so-conventional relationship, he felt a certain warmth when receiving affirmation of how this girl apparently felt about him, and he felt it would drive both of them to a decent future with one another.

When Olivia gave her explanation as to why she referred to their room as a honeymoon suite, Leonis opened his mouth to speak... but couldn't form a single argument against it that he didn't think would be countered somehow. As such, he decided to silently follow along behind the woman until they reached the room. Apparently, the strange alterations to the headquarters building was not just some passive use of Olivia's magic, but a conscious effort of her moving things to avoid longer trips for herself. He very well couldn't complain with the efforts of someone who was basically a landlord to them. He said nothing because of this thought train, but when they were shown the room, his brow furrowed... only briefly. At first, he thought this was a pitiful excuse for even lodging... but he had to keep in mind that he'd been raised a royal, and others did not live in such luxury. Still, this room had all the makings of two individual rooms literally crammed together - even separate beds. While this was a far cry from what he'd actually expected, Olivia did in fact combine two rooms. As he stepped inside, he began considering options for this apparent redecoration they were allowed. "... Hai. Arigatou gozaimasu," he said.

As the newcomers to the Black Bull squad were seeing their room for the first time, a very skinny man with medium-length, slick black hair was approaching the building. He wore a long trench coat that seemed to have been weighed down by the mass of things held within it. As he approached the headquarters, he wore a massive, sinister grin. "Hehe~! Gonna make a huge sale today!"

Hikage's explanation of her own feelings was clarified as being technically jealous by Leonis' explanation. He even went on to say that it was sometimes flattering and though she couldn't imagine why this was, she'd take his word for it. "Hai." The word left her face a practical murmur but it was clear enough. She managed to look particularly thoughtful as they walked around and Olivia explained that she constantly moved rooms around in the building. It sounded like a bit of a free-for-all, but Hikage couldn't argue about the potential of the woman's magic as far as moving the building around was concerned.

Soon enough Hikage was looking around at the new bedroom she'd share with Leonis and she was stunned. "Sugoi." she stated. She'd never had her own room before, nor had she ever felt particularly inclined to seek one out, as such even this mid-tier quality room was one which excited her quite a bit. She even got her own bed which was something she'd never expected. "Arigatou gozaimasu..." she said looking to Olivia with an indecent amount of gratitude. "Ano, it's nothing really. Anyway, that guy should be here soon. I'm going to my room, don't let him swindle you..." she mentioned as she went to hide out without much more prompting. She hadn't expected this sort of reaction from anyone. Then again, even the worst of them only came from the common region for the most part. Hikage went and looked out of the window and saw the shadow of a person approaching the front and nodded. "That guy is almost here..." she mumbled heading for the door of their shared room she motioned to Leonis. She was intimidating enough but that didn't work well for regular merchants.

Leonis was relieved he didn't have to spend an exorbitant amount of time explaining another thing, but something was appealing about the green-haired lass' innocence and lack of worldliness as well. If this was what he had to look forward to, he wouldn't mind it. Besides, she was content to further his goals while completing her own, which meant they at least had their major aspirations in common... at least, close enough that they could get by as if they were one and the same. As both Hikage and Leonis got a feel for the room around them, Olivia took her leave. Hikage soon mentioned the presence of the merchant they were to meet, and she took the initiative in moving out of the room to go locate the man. Leonis followed, making sure he had the yul to pay the man when they arrived, and eventually, they would meet the man at the headquarters' entrance.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," the merchant spoke upon seeing two youngsters, one of whom carried a rather large sack of coin. His smile widened, becoming no less creepy at all in this moment. He could almost smell the money to be gained from these two. "You're Black Bulls. You have the yul for what we agreed on. Perhaps I can interest you in... something else to go with it," the older male said as he opened his trench coat, unveiling a great deal of jewelry and small magic tools to offer these youngsters. "Haven't seen you two before. Maybe you could make use of a wand, or something else to get by in the missions you have coming up?"

Hikage was left to wonder if other people required this level of explanation. But she didn't get that much of a chance to consider as they were soon heading out to find their merchant of choice. She didn't deal with these sorts often, but had been told before that she could be rather intimidating as she didn't really fall for the tricks of the trade. As this sleazy man spoke to them offering them their agreed upon stuff, whatever that happened to be, the girl looked at him with piercing golden eyes. Beyond this it seemed that he was interested in offering them extra merchandise. Hikage looked at the man's open trench coat but neither his words nor the items seemed to elicit much of a response from her. After all, she was quite used to seeing things she couldn't have, and as a teen they no longer got any reaction from her. "I use knives. Wands can't cut things..." she said this plainly not to be rude, but because she honestly had no idea what such an implement could possibly do for her. Aside from that, she didn't have the sort of money that would allow her to make unnecessary purchases. No she was content to let this transaction be exactly what it was supposed to be. "We're also grounded so no missions coming up," she said still there was something about this man she didn't like. He made her skin crawl in a strange way, and the more she looked at him, the more she wished to figure out why this was.

Leonis stood beside Hikage as they encountered the traveling merchant. The green-haired lass took a front seat long enough to mention to the man that she had no interest or need to be found in whatever additional purchases he offered them. Leonis was in the same boat. He'd been taught by his elder sister, a Magic Knight who'd gone to become a legend even to this day, so something as simple as a wand was completely useless in the face of his control over mana. "Same. My magic control is way past what a wand can give me. Just give us whatever was in the agreement," he said to the man. This merchant didn't seem so keen on backing down, though. "Ah, but I don't just offer wands! There are a great many tools that might prove useful even to ones such as yourselves. How about something that'll amplify your already great abilities, young Magic Knights?" he asked.

With the second offer of the merchant on the proverbial table, Leonis looked stunned. This was in no way the fault of the offer itself, but instead because of something Leonis had seen in the man's trench coat. Upon more than one of the items, he saw insignias belonging to noble and royal families alike, including one which was very familiar to him despite not belonging to his own family. 'No... They wouldn't sell that or give it away,' he thought. As to not raise any undue suspicion though, Leonis offered up the sack of yul. "We only have enough for the agreement. There's no more money to be gotten from us," he claimed, despite having his own large sum of money on hand. "Hai hai. Well, no harm in trying to make an extra sale. Just one moment," the merchant said as he went through his things to gather that which the Black Bulls requested before their current meeting.

Whatever was up with this merchant, it seemed that Hikage wasn't the only one who found something about the man unduly suspicious. Leonis seemed to be taking a bit longer to look at some of the pieces that wouldn't encompass a simple dismissive act. And though Hikage had no idea why this was, she respected that he might have something to say outside of the earshot of this man in a bit. Even the offer to amplify their already existing power had no real appeal to Hikage, because if it wasn't her own power, she didn't much care to have it in the first place. Regardless this sale in particular seemed to be able to move on to a more apt ending. Though she had no idea what everyone had asked for in the first place or what the money they had was for, it was obvious that this merchant knew what the sale was all about. 'Ano there is something about this man that I really don't like...' Hikage thought while staring daggers into the back of this man's head as he gathered whatever the other Black Bulls had wanted. She still couldn't place it but something was off and the feeling of it was prickling along the back of her neck. She was always taught to trust her instincts and as such she was just waiting for the full shadiness of this moment to come to its conclusion.

The merchant took roughly a minute to gather all the things he'd already agreed to bring to this squad's base, but in the end, he had everything in one concise package to slide along the ground toward Leonis. The sack was about the size of the young man's torso, and since he had no idea what was in the agreement, he tossed over the sack of yul in exchange, assuming everything was in order. "Cool. Ja," was all he said to the man. In this moment, Leonis seemed somewhat troubled. He was, but he couldn't vocalize anything, lest the merchant become aware of what Leonis knew to be suspicious on him. Soon enough, Leonis was walking back into the headquarters, and the merchant was bowing and walking away from it. 'Why does he have that?' Leonis thought. 'There's now way he should.'

Hikage continued to feel antsy while watching this man assemble what was eventually a package of materials for the Black Bulls. Regardless of this Leonis was obviously troubled, the look on his face was one which Hikage had not seen before and it made her left brow raise. But since they now had the package she supposed their business was done already. "Hai, ja." this was Hikage's confirmation as she intended to watch this man leave before delving deeper into the building to find Olivia and give her the things which they'd procured for her. As well as her wanting to figure out what was wrong with Leonis. It was a compromising position to be in, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the sketchy man who they'd just finished bartering with.

As the dealer took his leave, Leonis carried the purchase into the building, where he figured Olivia would be very easily found by a simple method. "Senpai!" he called out. He was very bothered by what he'd seen this day, and even if there were no answers to be given... this was something that required attention. He was under the assumption that Olivia could be reached by a call from anywhere within the building, given her connection to it, and he hardly figured he'd be waiting long at all for her arrival. The question at hand though, was what would be done once his information was shared. "We've got the stuff... and some bad news to go with it."

Hikage waited as this merchant left and then was surprised that Leonis simply called out to the other woman in the building. Not much to her surprise soon the entire front room they were standing in moved to them being right in front of her bedroom door. This was complete with the door opening and the purple haired woman peeking out of it initially to make sure only the two she wished to see were in front of it. "Is he gone? Did you get the stuff?" she asked before her door fully opened. "What bad news?" she asked seeming to find it strange. She had a hope it was something simple like they'd just had an argument among themselves and it could be fixed by a simple explanation. Hikage didn't know what Leonis was upset about but she knew how she felt. "That merchant is sketchier than normal merchants..." Hikage murmured, waiting to see what Leonis had to input because she had a feeling he felt the same way. Olivia took this girl's words in stride because she seemed to formulate opinions very easily and her near constant use of mana skin likely let her feel other people through their mana.

The method used for Olivia to meet with the two was what Leonis expected, though the execution was the exact opposite of how he expected it. Instead of moving her own room to meet them, she had instead moved the room at the entrance of the building to wherever her room was. This wasn't something of major importance at the time though, so Leonis didn't bother questioning it. "Here," he said as he tossed over the bag of unspecified wares. To follow up Hikage's mention of the merchant's sketchiness, he presented the visual evidence he'd gotten from the man's additional items. "That guy's a little more than a third party salesman. Black Market or not, he's got some stuff from noble families on him. I saw something with House Wisteria's symbol on it, and I know damn well he didn't get it by gift or trade."

Hikage's admittance that there had been sketchiness about that particular salesman led Olivia to raise a brow. When it was followed up by Leonis explaining that the man had merchandise on him from noble houses that he couldn't have gotten from trade or otherwise Olivia's eyes widened. "Hm, so he might be a thief... that guy doesn't look like he'd ever pass for being able to get to that spot though," she said as she rummaged through the sack of random items she'd asked for. As a shut in, she never really left this building, given that, she was always asking for items to help her with her communication skills, even though she didn't wish to communicate. "Hm, bet he didn't count on anything he had being recognized in a place like this... It probably doesn't get recognized in the Black Market either, since nobles don't go there," she thought aloud as she looked for something very specific. "Sou ka, but because that guy can't be a literal proper thief he has to be working with more people," murmured Hikage. She knew what happened when large groups of criminals put their minds together, and it was none too pleasant. The rummaging went on and on until finally Olivia looked up. "Found it. Use this and tell command about it. They might not do much immediate, but they'll at least increase patrols around those areas and maybe try and figure out what's going if they don't already know about it. Also keep that..." she said handing over a small communication device which looked a bit like a hand held mirror with a strange communciation magic inside of it. "I'd do it myself but... ya' know... strangers." she said closing her door and leaving the pair to their devices. Only to open it again quickly at the end. "Arigatou gouzaimasu, for getting my stuff though, and managing not to make a big scene. You two are surprisingly capable... just finish up your grounding and try not to get into any more trouble..." she said before she closed her door again, and the front room moved back to where it had been before.

Olivia took this news of the merchant's obviously ill-acquired wares in stride, coming to quick conclusions about the type of man they were dealing with. Leonis wondered how long this had been going on without anyone discovering it, but there was the point made that nobles would be seldom found in the black market, or even dealing with the people who worked in it. Just the same, the Black Bull squad didn't seem very big on having noble members either, likely due to the odd nature of all its members Leonis had seen thus far.

Hikage offered the suggestion that this man wasn't working alone. They could have easily just discovered one foul man among a hundred or more, and though there was no telling, Leonis had learned enough about Hikage to believe she was most likely correct in her assertion. Having received a communication tool from Olivia, he looked into its core and gave some consideration to his approach when contacting the command center. "Hai. We'll take care of it," he said before pouring his mana into the device, activating it to trigger a hologram of whatever person responded. "Oi, command. We've got news from the Black Bulls."

Given the social disconnect between Nobles, commoners and the world at large, it was more than likely noble goods could have been being traded for years without anyone knowing. And given that Nobles were worldly they likely hadn't noticed anything was gone unless the criminals were caught in the act. It would have actually been a pretty good plan for whoever came up with it, regardless they were now making a call to command through a magic item and Leonis voice would be received by a hologram of a young woman.

Though she was obviously older than most, she was completely and utterly flat chested. She was wearing robes with an open center and a large witch's hat with filigree hanging off of it. She had red eyes and white blonde hair which flowed freely behind her. She answered the Command Post as she'd been taught to. "Alright, Black Bulls. This is command, you're speaking with Irisviel von Einzbern, what news do you have?" she asked, as she had a pen and paper ready to take notes on the information the lad had to give. She seemed well informed of her duties within the Command Post, and though she was only a Junior Magic Knight herself, she'd follow her duties without the inherent biases others seemed to possess. That being said one with a close look could see the girl's knees shaking, as she practically buried her face in the paper she was about to start writing. "Ano... is she scared of something?" Hikage wondered aloud, as she watched the hologram. She'd never seen anything like this girl shaking in her boots.

The call Leonis made through the communication tool was answered by an unfamiliar woman who seemed to be reacting strangely to her job for whatever reason. Strange as this was, Leonis did not consider questioning it. Hikage, though, wondered aloud if this girl was afraid of something. Only because of this did Leonis speak on the matter. "Nerves, probably. They'll get anyone to work communications for awhile," he clarified, assuming this person must have just been inexperienced with this task. "Leonis Vermillion," he said to the one named Irisviel. "We have a report of a man from the Black Market selling off merchandise from noble houses across the kingdom. We have reason to believe he's working in a group, and that they didn't exactly get these things the legit way. Maybe pass the message along to somebody who isn't quivering?"

According to Leonis the girl on the other end of their connection was likely just nervous because of some aspect of her job. Hikage herself, couldn't imagine being volunteered for a job like working in command taking communications but she supposed there were worse things, and it was likely to clear up over time. Meanwhile the name of the lad was given and the girl began scribbling furiously on the pad after that. "Hai, Leonis Vermillion of the Black Bulls has seen stolen merchandise from noble houses in the hands of Black Market merchants. Likely illegally obtained by more than a small group," she said summarizing her notes still the girl seemed to be shaking in place, but it was not fear of this job which caused it but instead by talking to a man. Though admittedly it was much better than her previous tries at such communication. Her knees continued to shake but she got all the necessary information down and gave a closing. "Hai, I'll pass it along to my superiors immediately, thank you," she said choosing to end the communication as quickly as humanly possible.

"Hai hai," Leonis replied to the strange woman. He still had no idea what had this representative so shaky, but that didn't matter as long as the message was delivered, and the problem dealt with. It didn't seem like anything else would be required of the new Black Bulls after this interaction, as Irisviel chose to cut the communication line after stating that she'd pass the message along. "Hai. Try and work out the nerves next time. Ja," were his final words to the woman before he deactivated his own device and shoved it in his pocket. Following this exchange was a sigh from Leonis. "Yare yare. Guess there's nothing else in it for us. We're back to being grounded, so... what do we do now?" asked the young male, who turned toward Hikage as he spoke. "I could use this to make a call or two and get something to redecorate that room with."

Whether Irisviel heard what the lad had to say or not, the connection was soon lost and all that was left was for these two members of the Black Bulls to figure out their own activities for the rest of the day. 'I can't imagine nerves working like that...' she mused within her mind. As they moved on to more pertinent matters it seemed it would be questioned what they should do, and Leonis came up with the suggestion of making a couple of calls to upgrade their room in some way. Hikage shrugged this off, as she had no idea what kind of call he could make nor what sort of changes it would bring but she couldn't say she minded it at all. "I don't really know what I would want out of upgrades. You can do what you want with the room..." she said giving a gentle nod of her own head. As far as she was concerned she wouldn't have even known how to begin decorating and she supposed it would give them something to do until they were 'ungrounded'.