[Fairy Tail] Headquarters

[Apollymi]

When this information was listed in such a way, she supposed she couldn't really argue with the sketchiness of the individuals who had been part of that friend group. Even so, this girl had never had a problem with any of them, and still couldn't bring herself to really believe anyone who had been part of Fairy Tail when she was younger, was actually capable of so serious a betrayal. As Aine had said earlier, even their mean members were nice, and she still rather honestly believed that at the very least, Naruto and Konan weren't bad people. She couldn't actually speak for Sasuke though. "Well, everyone has secrets think of all the stuff you have to know. But if no one has ever asked them what they were, we can't expect them to tell us. But I will give you suspicious behavior... also I don't bet money, I work way too hard for it." said the girl with the slightest bit of seriousness to what had been a pretty light conversation.

As it moved on though, she found herself chuckling. "Also you can't say you aren't always looking for a fight, right after saying that you want to fight. That's contradictory, but I understand doing work to keep busy and in shape. I probably take more missions that most anyone just because of my random goals." she said. Knowing that most didn't think about their lives the same way she did. Her main life goal had been to set up herself to have a place to stay so that she could freely participate in the upcoming S-class trials. And with enough safety net to be able to keep living there, even if she didn't become an S-class this time around... not that she thought she wouldn't given the other potential prospects aside from their newest recruit she was pretty sure she could win over.

[Bloodedge]

"If you're not willing to bet a grand, then you should be the one looking for a fight. Taking just one S-Class mission would set you straight for a long time, if that much is a lot to you. Reach S-Class, get money... Or you could go on an S-Class mission as you are now," he said while shifting his eyes toward the lass. "Anything's better than doing sideshows, right?"

[Apollymi]

The black haired girl, rolled her eyes at this young man as he began to speak. Though she could understand what he was getting at, there was something rather important being forgotten about her just taking an S-class mission. When she thought this she chuckled covering her mouth and shaking her head from left to right. "You would think sideshows are bad, but I like them. They are fun, and give me a hassle free way to figure out how my new spells work. They give me a chance to meet new people." she said listing off the reasons on her fingers only to come to a stop once she realized she had forgotten what she would likely think was the most important reason. "They are also extremely well-paying~" she said. "Besides Axel, I think you are forgetting something important. I can't go upstairs to see the S-class missions... so I can't take them anyways. Though I'll probably enjoy only taking missions when I feel like it and still being able to pay my rent." she said with this she began to look a bit wistful, as she'd pretty much accomplished the exact same thing already, though it'd taken her a bit more time.

[Bloodedge]

"Well-paying? 100,000 Jewel is well-paying? You'd get at least ten times that amount as a cut for taking an S-Class job. Step your game up." Axel moved at last, pushing himself into an upright position with quite a bit of difficulty as it were. He nearly moved forward enough to fall out of his stool, but he retained enough of his motor skills to avoid such a thing. "I think you're the one forgetting something important. You don't need to be allowed to saunter upstairs and grab an S-Class job yourself. If you have an S-Class Mage with you, you can go on one of those jobs. If you had asked one of us, you could've gotten a lot more Jewels than what you got doing that little show of yours."

[Apollymi]

"Well considering I am not gonna die doing it... yeah, well-paying." she said. Iris was the type of person who completely knew where this young man would be going with his speech when he said something else. But was presently more amazed that he had the motor skills to stop himself from falling off his bar stool. Of course, she also realized she could have asked someone else to help her out, gone in on a couple of S-class missions and been able to collect all the money she wanted. And if it had just been about the money she might have considered it, but... "Big Sis said the same thing when I told her what I wanted to do. She suggested that I ask one of you guys to let me tag along... and claimed it be mutually beneficial since I have different skills from the rest of you." she stated having her brows draw together as she tried to think back to about a year prior to this one. "But... it wouldn't feel right if I did something like that. I wouldn't be as comfortable sleeping if I didn't feel like I'd actually earned it. There's a sense of accomplishment that goes along with the kinds of long term goals that I have." she said a smirk coming to her face as she finally remembered what it was. "I wanted to enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling inside, ya' know?" she said, knowing that it was childish and unrealistic, but still rather happy that she'd been able to do so.

[Artemis]

Despite all the rowdiness and liveliness that others seemed to display within the guild hall, there was one who was rather calmly sitting at the far end of the bar to herself. Any worthwhile conversation often passed her ears with passive interest though it seemed very rare when she would chip in. Most of the time she would just remain there, her attention more on the cup of tea than her own interpersonal relations. Now was one of the seemingly rare times though that Eve would speak up, all but interrupting the conversation between Iris and Axel.

"That's as if you're saying that there isn't a thing you can do to earn your cut on those missions. Perhaps then it is better you stay out of them, having such little faith in ways you could still contribute meaningfully for your precious warm fuzzies. Why bother trying for S-Class with such a mindset that you can't achieve in their missions?"

[Bloodedge]

"Well..." Axel began, though his words were cut short when the voice of another female Mage entered the discussion. He had intended to mention that a few S-Class jobs in the company of appropriate-strength Mages would be a decent stepping stone/preparatory method for the trials themselves, but Eve basically covered the matter with her interjection... albeit with a much harder touch than the intoxicated male could have managed. "Bit harsh there, Eve. But... she's right, y'know? The trials are no joke. If you want to take part, you should have a taste of what you're getting into. A lot of Mages have had their spirits broken over that kind of uhh... uhh..." Axel seemed to have lost the end of his sentence there. He was just on the right side of drunk, but being at this point made him incapable of completing logical thoughts which normally would have come to him as second nature. "Word," he said, hoping one of the women present would be able to provide the word he needed to finish his sentence.

[Apollymi]

As Iris continued to try to explain this situation to Axel their conversation was directly interrupted by another. The look on Iris' face after this woman spoke was just a little odd. Mostly because the normally cheerful young woman, didn't appear to be altogether friendly in this moment, even though she was smiling. She cut her eyes to this other young woman, but refrained from speaking for just a few seconds. After that time passed she exhaled and rotated her head so that her neck made the smallest popping noise. Since her friend was stumbling over his words she offered him one. "Criticism is probably the word you're looking for there Axel. You are really making yourself out to be a light-weight~" she chimed before returning her full attention to the woman known as Eve.

"Don't get the wrong idea. It's not that I thought I couldn't contribute, it's just that the goals I had are ones I wanted to complete myself. I suppose from the outside you might feel like it was cowardice or lack of belief in myself, but it was quite the opposite. I believed in myself enough that I didn't want even the possibility of being carried to my end game by another person. I could be S-class. Or rather I'm going to be S-class. I simply intend to do it on my own terms." she said standing up for herself in a way which would be considered both appropriate but still a bit mean for the happy and cheerful girl. "Oh, and if I'd wanted your opinion about it, I would have asked you." she finished. And the most frightening thing about this moment is that all the words that had come from her mouth, had exited while she was smiling it was as if she wasn't upset at all, but truly she disliked the feeling that people like Eve gave her when she was talking with someone else and hadn't asked her opinion.

[Artemis]

Iris had been close, though her interpretation had likely been more focused on Eve's criticism yet. Just one glance had told her the raven haired woman was displeased, which caused her to smirk into her teacup as she had another sip. "Ordeal would be the true word, Axel. And the truth is not always so cheery."

The more Iris went on to explain her reasoning the more obvious it felt to Eve that she had gotten the little chick's feathers all ruffled. She was foolhardy though to aim straight for what could prove the most difficult trial in her career. So for the girl's own sake she would press a little more for the safer option, even if her tone didn't improve past its previous bluntness. "I'm sure whatever S rank came with you would be more than willing to let you do the heavy lifting if it's something like that. They are not so unreasonable as to deny you that much i am sure. Either way it's far safer a bet than the trials if only because you would have backup."

Oh but more was to come from the younger woman, this time touching on her interruption. Sure, it was likely rude of Eve but the woman actually didn't care so much about that. What kind of guildmate would she be if she hadn't spoken up and something dire happen as a result? "Dear Iris, I might not actually care if you wanted it or not, such a misconception simply could not go without correction. I can almost bet Axel was going to say similar if he wasn't half stumbling on words. Consider it more my helping him along." Passing a moment she would help herself to another sip of tea in effort to hide her amusement at the obvious displeasure to her interruption before continuing on, this time fully on Iris as she smirked openly. "No matter how unwelcome my opinion the danger of the trials are no joke. You best be prepared if you're that resolved to succeed on your own. I challenge you to prove me wrong if you're going to purposely take the hard road."

Naturally through all of that Eve wasn't going to mention she had yet to take on the trials herself though she'd been given enough opportunity. That didn't mean she didn't know how difficult they were though.

[Bloodedge]

"Ugh, neither of those is right," Axel said in response to the given word of each woman present. He paused for a few moments, foregoing the ongoing discussion for the sake of finding the word he was missing. As he thought, his head once again slumped backwards until it hit the bar counter again. 'Not criticism... not ordeal... uhh...' Eventually, the man's eyes widened, and he shot upward with what could be called a bit of drunken glee when he finally thought of the word. "Challenge! That kind of challenge! Anyways, I don't know what you two are talking about anymore, but if somebody's gonna fight, I want in."