Where to Go From Here?

Erika sat on one of the bar table chairs and awaited her the tea that she ordered. The young girl had wanted to get her exploring on as soon as possible, but with how expansive the continent was, she truly didn't know where to start. News circulated around that a mission hall was giving away some basic missions for shinobis and magicians alike. After her beverage, she'd probably start there and depending on where she goes and who she meets, that'd more than likely give her a better beginning.

"A lot better than sitting around and moping about it. Than its decided! Tea, mission hall and exploration!"

She'd announce loudly, throwing her arms into the air and spinning on the bar stool. Erika was deeply happy that she was finally out the house and able to get some real world experience. On top of that, she felt that burning passion to learn. Learn about people, magics and all sorts of different prospects of Mylania as she traversed its many locations.

A young waitress, seeming to be about 20 years old approached Ericka while she was in thought. The young woman had short red hair that grazed her shoulders and a big smile. Setting down Erika's ordered beverage, she would pull out a notepad and pen.

"Anything else today ma'am? Our paninis are on the house today, and toasted to perfection!" It wasn't up-selling since the Tavern of Hope did have 'On the House' days, in which most standard drinks and food were free of charge. It wasn't very often though.

"I'll have one miss! If it's no problem." A young boy, looking about 14 sat down next to Erika, his blue hair bobbing as he did. He was pretty soft spoken, and light footed at that. Erika would not have noticed him until he spoke up.

"I'll get right with ya suga, just hold on a sec, kay?" The waitress responded.

Erika saw her beverage placed in front of her by the waitress and smiled. Looking up, she met the gaze and smile of the young server. Erika loved the color and length of her hair, wondering if she should dye her own hair at one point.

"Thank you very much. The paninis do sound scrumptious, I'd like one!"

The magical girl in training exclaimed. Soon after placing her second order for the free food, a boy who she hadn't noticed before had ordered one as well. She turned her head a little and batted her eyes a few time. Erika gave the boy a wide smile and waved at him. The young boy did look a few years younger than her.

"Oh, excuse my rudeness. I hadn't notice you there."

She said sweetly, giggling a bit and keeping eye contact with the boy.

The waitress finished writing up both of their orders and tucked her pen on her ear. "I'll be back in a jiff huns."

As she left, the blue haired boy would sigh deeply as he looked after her, almost not hearing what Erika said. He didn't respond to her words right away and it would probably give her time to notice he was looking after the waitress.

"Oh, sorry. Hey, my name's Eric. Nice to meet you." He spoke politely, though it was obvious he was still partially paying attention to the behind of the moving waitress.

The magical girl smiled towards the waitress as she left. After that, she turned towards the blue-haired boy. He ignored her for a little bit and started to follow his gaze to wherever it was he was looking. A nice, firm looking butt was right there in front of her. Erika would be lying to herself if she didn't say it was quite nice, but she also would be ignoring the fact that the boy was such a lecherous pervert!

"Magical giiiiiiirl chop!"

She announced, quickly drawing out her wand and hitting the boy upside the head with it, before withdrawing it again like a sword. Just like how he didn't hear Erika at first, the boy known as, Eric, would feel the pain of the bonk until a few short moments later. Until then, Erika would have had her cheeks puffed out in a little fit of rage.

"OWW! What was that for?" The boy would be knelt down, holding his head with tears streaming down his face. Had he accidentally sat next to a masochistic psycho? How could he be so careless?

He glared up at the girl. "You're mean!" He called with small dots of tears still in his eyes.

Just as he spoke, the waitress swiftly made her way back over. "Hey, suga's, no violence in here! This is neutral territory huns! Are you alright sweetheart?" The waitress knelt next to Eric and placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his cheek, looking into his eyes. Eric's face lit up red like a thermometer. One would think that smoke was coming out of his ears.

"I-I-I'm f-f-fine ma'am!" He stuttered out. The waitress smiled and stood back up.

"You two play nice alright!" She winked at Erika before heading to keep working.

"You were catching a peek at the waitress! That's what that was for! Hmph!"

Erika announced. She returned the glare and started to feel sparks fly between them. Erika didn't even care about the tears in the young boy's eyes, she would have hit him again if it weren't for the waitress. Erika couldn't believe that the little creep was getting away and even being touched by the woman he was just ogling.

"Alright, sorry about that."

She said towards the waitress. No way in hell was she going to apologize to the little peeping tom. Crossing her arms, Erika sat forward and started to stir her tea with a swirl of her finger. After adding some extra sweetener, she started to drink down her delicious Chai Tea.

Eric sat right back next to Erika and laid his head on his arms. He let out another longing sigh but didn't say anything or look at anyone. He mumbled under his breath but it would probably be loud enough for Erika to at least catch a part of it. "Why can't I just ask her out..."

Eric would not say anything else, finding even less interest in speaking to Erika now that he thought she was a sadist psycho banshee. Magical girl his ass.

Erika, while sipping her tea, heard what the pervert mumbled to himself. Something about asking a girl out? She didn't think too much of it, but when thinking back to when he first saw the two, Eric seemed to be a little high strung on the fact the waitress left. She scratched her chin and sighed.

"Sorry about that, kid."

Erika said softly, lightening up and gently patting Eric's head.

"If you want, you can take one good slug at me for misunderstanding."

She said with a smile, leaving her face wide open.

"And afterwards, we can help you drop your balls to ask her the big question!"

Erika practically jumped out her seat and squealed with happiness. The boy was in love and was feeling glum about not being able to tell the waitress his feelings.

A dark aura would appear behind Erika. Eric's eyes widened and he suddenly clung to the man that sat next to him at the bar, cowering in fear. If Erika turned around, she would find the same waitress once again standing there with her hands on her hips, eyes closed, and a tick mark on her forehead.

"What...DID I JUST SAY??" The waitresses aura exploded around her. "NO VIOLENCE IN THE RESTAURANT!"

In a split second, both Eric and Erika would find themselves tied down to their stools with their arms bound in straight jackets. A giant lock was on the back of them both with a sealing stone placed on both of their heads, the Kanji for 'Seal' the paper of the rock. "Now sit here and wait for the damn paninis!" Erika stomped away.

Eric looked after her with fear etched across his face. "I...I've never seen her like that before..."

A few moments later and his nose began to bleed. "She's incredible..."

Erika would have tears streaming down her eyes the very next second. All she did was pat the kid on the head and he flipped out. Honestly, she didn't mean no harm, but there wasn't much room for explanation she supposed. At least she was still going to be fed. Turning to Eric, Erika could see that he was fawning over this and shivered a little in her seat.

"Maybe they deserve each other..."

She mumbled, chuckling dryly thereafter.

As if nothing had ever happened, Eric and Erika would be back in their normal positions. Eric moved a single bang of blue hair from before his eyes before sighing and turning to Erika.

"Let's start over. Like sensible people. Hey, my name is Eric, and yes, I have a crush on the waitress. Let it go." He held his hand out to the girl, his demeanor seeming to become just a bit more mature than the childish side he had been displaying thus far.

Erika was a little confused at first. To her, something that just happened all of a sudden... Didn't happen. The magical girl couldn't quite place her finger on it, but would be turning and facing Eric. Her smile would be quite large.

"Of course! My name is Erika, and no, I will not let it go! That's the cutest thing I've ever seen! Why haven't you gone for it?"

Erika asked excitedly, giving Eric a firm and arm breaking handshake.

Eric bit back a yelp at the handshake, a single tear entering the corner of his eyes. As the handshake was released, he observed his throbbing red hand. Shaking it off, he shook his head.

"It's not that simple. She already has a boyfriend. I would never want to come in between two people." Eric just shrugged. "I'm fine just watching from a distance for now. But enough about my problems, just who exactly are you? Are you a ninja or a magician? You don't seem to be apart of any of the new villages."

"Awww! Such strife and conflict... Something that should be solved by a Magical Girl of Love and Justice (except not so much the justice)!"

She yelled out, jumping out of her seat and standing on it. Erika was then suddenly back in her seat, drinking her beverage and sighing out in respite. The young girl turned to Eric and gave him another big smile.

"I'm Erika Azul, a magician with no affiliation to any village. I'm a traveler who wants to learn more about magic, so I can do a lot of cool stuff... Like blowing up a village, making 15 characters that are useless, creating a village in a void somehow and other things like that!"

Eric sweatdropped at the girl jumping up, but no one seemed to notice (or care) before the girl was back in her seat sipping on a drink. Probably alcohol.

When she smiled, Eric smiled back. She was adorable in a "I want to kick the baby" sort of way. "Wow, that sounds completely pretentious and not relevant to anyone else that would be under you at all."

Erica returned to the two and set down their paninis that were ordered over a month ago. "Here's your food guys!" Then she picked up a hammer and some nails. "Call if you need me. I have to go repair the 4th wall!"

"Right? So that plan is perfect, yes?" Erika asked. When the food arrived, Erika's face beamed with happiness. She took light bites of her food and small sips of her tea. Erika wasn't that voracious of an eater, but did love the taste of cafe food. Erica said that she had to go repair the fourth wall, so Erika waved Erica off, before she left to do her duty. "Be careful, Erica!" Erika said happily.

"Anyways, we're coming back to you now, Mr. Eric!" Erika said cheerfully, not wanting the subject to shift so easily. "What brings you out here? Are you a ninja or magician affiliated with any of the villages, or are you just a madman in love?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

Before Erik could answer, three men in black suits suddenly burst into the tavern and surrounded Eric. The young man looked up in fear and sweated.

"Dammit, how did you find me?" Eric shouted as he stood in a sort of defensive stance.

"Master Eric, you cannot run off like that. What would your mother say if anything were to happen to you?"

"She wouldn't say anything cause she doesn't care!" He growled back.

"That is not true!"

"SHUT UP! Don't act like you care about me! Fuck all of you!" Eric tried to push his way through the suited men but they wouldn't budge. Two of them grabbed him under his arms and began to drag him kicking and screaming from the tavern. The last suited man bowed to everyone in the bar.

"Please excuse our disturbance. We promise this will not happen again." The man did an about face and began to follow his comrades and cussing charge. Before the door of the tavern could fully close again, everyone would see a black limousine waiting out front.

Erika watched as the men in black came into the tavern and Erik's sudden turn in mood. There must have been some form of shock, that stopped the young girl from trying to help Erik out and prevent him from being taken away. However, another side of her allowed her to assess the situation, as Erik tried to rush his way through. A foolish mistake on his part, but just like that, he was gone. After the man came in to apologize, Erika jumped up out of her chair and ran outside to see the limousine waiting out front.

"E-Erik?" She asked with a bit of worry and was ready to pull out her wand to stop them.

As all of the doors were shut, the window in the back of the limousine would roll down only partially, letting Erika get a look at Eric's sad and angry gaze.

"It's fine, Erika. I'll see you later." He called dejectedly as the limousine began to pull off.

"Well take care then, Eric! Don't forget to confess your feelings to Erica!" Shouted the absent minded magical girl. She watched as the limo pulled off and left the vicinity of the tavern area. Without much to do at this point, the girl decided that it was time to take her cute little butt to the main city. She needed to go to the library and find out where the greatest teacher of the magical arts lied. That way, she'd learn all she could from him or her, and travel on her own to find even more hidden spells.

With a bounce in her step, Erika bolted off towards Esperanza's Librarium! This was the true start of her whimsical journey.