“So it turns out that that dude we fought up in the sky was some monk who lived in this temple that was in that small range of rainforest that used to be there in the land before they cut it all down to use the soil.” Baekhyun explains.

 

“Was it a magical temple? Since he could use magic?” Kai asks as he sips at his smoothie.

 

“It seemed that the land used to be a haven for the Thunderbird species a long time ago, and he was holding onto the belief that they would return one day to the land they once inhabited. But with the forest torn away, his hopes were destroyed, and he wanted to take revenge for them.” Chen elaborates.

 

“But aren’t Thunderbirds extremely dangerous and unpredictable? What’s he doing worshipping such a powerful force of nature that no one can or should tame?” Chanyeol raises the question with furrowed eyebrows, leaning his elbow on the bar countertop as he runs his chin thoughtfully.

 

“Like you said, Thunderbirds are extremely powerful, not to mention intelligent. I don’t think it’s such a big surprise that people would see a creature like that as sacred or perfect.” Chen brings up.

 

“Looks like you guys have quite an adventure.” Hyoyeon smiles from behind the bar as she wipes down some beer glasses, “How’d the newbie like it?”

 

“Oh, she was the one who ultimately saved the day.” Baekhyun sits back in his chair with his hands behind his head, “I knew she could do it all along.”

 

“Weren’t you the one who thought she shouldn’t go because she didn’t use magic?” Sehun asks, finally deciding to partake in the conversation.

 

“Shut up, maknae.” Baekhyun retorts. “I was just concerned for her well-being. I never doubted she would pull through or us if we ever needed her.”

 

“Really?” A sweet voice chimes in, sending Baekhyun jumping into Chanyeol’s lap in the next seat at the surprise, “Thank you.” Tai’s equally sweet smile glows as she stands by the bar with D.O beside her.

 

“Heeyy! There she is, our new little hero!” Chanyeol booms, knocking Baekhyun off of him as he walks over to pull the Chi blocker into his crushing bear hug, “We heard you did good, newbie. Keep it up!”

 

Tai giggles as Chanyeol takes her long braid and wraps it around her neck like a scarf, “Thanks. But I just finished the job. Chen and Baekhyun sunbaes were the ones who did all the real work.”

 

Even Chen walks over and throws an affection arm around Tai’s shoulder, “We did it as a team, and everyone’s proud of you. We look forward to working with you again, Knuckles.” He commends her with a fist bump, and Tai giggles at the cute nickname she’s acquired before hugging Chen happily.

 

“Hey, I’m a part of this team too, show Baek some love.” Baekhyun holds his arms out as well. While everyone else groans or rolls their eyes, Tai happily makes the one cartwheel trip over to him and throws her lithe arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders. And then she surprises everyone by pulling away and placing a small kiss on the light mage’s cheek. She smiles into Baekhyun’s wide eyes before walking back over to Chen and quickly placing her stretched hands by his ears to pull him in for an affectionate kiss on the cheek as well. Letting go with a last giggle, she cartwheels over to D.O who has joined some other Fairy Tail members at another table.

 

The two boys with their hands at their cheeks look at each other. While Chen blushes brightly, Baekhyun’s surprise fades into a small smug smile as he sits back happily. Chanyeol raises his hand amidst the silence, “Yo, I call she’s on my team next time.”

 

 

>/<

 

 

“My gosh, Tai you’re so beautiful. Yes…” Eunhyuk whispers as he looks through his lens at the young girl in short pink mini-dress.

 

Tai smiles, “Thank you.”

 

“A little closer to me.” Eunhyuk gestures for Tai to step forward.

 

Just as she does so, a voice shouts out, “EUNHYUK HYUNG.”

 

Everyone turns over to see an angry D.O standing by the nearest table with his arms crossed, “What do you think you’re doing?!” he seethes.

 

Now, everyone loves D.O. He’s a wonderful wizard and many people respect him greatly. But once he puts on an angry face, no one dares to stand near him, afraid of what the earth mage with wrath upon them. The knight mage doesn’t seem to have that same fear though, since he only continues snapping photos of the lewdly dressed girl before him.

 

“Dyo!” Tai chuckles, “They’re taking my picture for my guild ID.”

 

“You don’t need a guild ID…” D.O says, “When you were marked as a Fairy Tail member, your record automatically went into our guild archive.”

 

“Oh really?” Tai tilts her head to the side innocently.

 

“Eunhyuk hyung.” D.O returns his attention to the culprit of Tai’s conviction to such a short dress.

 

“Kyungsoo-ah, lighten up. There’s nothing wrong with taking a couple more photos of a pretty girl to commemorate in our photo albums, is there?” Eunhyuk replies fearlessly. Tai closes her eyes and hides her smile behind her hand.

 

“There is when you’re tricking her into thinking that the photos you’re collecting to to are for some sort of stupid, nonexistent guild yearbook.” D.O bites, and even the other members standing nearby hiss at the direct hit, “And Donghae hyung, why are you helping him!? I thought you would be one to stop some sort of stunt like this!” he turns his attention towards the animation mage holding up the white backdrop behind Tai.

 

Donghae drops the white sheet to smile sheepishly, “Sorry Kyungsoo, I couldn’t resist. She’s a pretty girl.” He slips his hands into his pockets as he winks at Tai, who just giggles again.

 

“That’s enough, Tai ple—“

 

D.O is interrupted by another voice, “Hey! Newbie!”

 

Everyone turns to see Tiffany in her own pink dress with sashes attached to her wrists from the torso, standing on top of Lay and Kris’s table, pointing her sparkling pink fingernail at Tai, “I got a bone to pick with you.” She states. Below her, the boys still sitting down adjust their positions just a bit to get a better look up her skirt.

 

“Hi! How may I help you?” Tai waves happily, oblivious to the attempted deadly tone in Tiffany’s voice.

 

“You can help me by stopping your thievery of my color!” she shouts.

 

“Oh my god.” D.O covers his face with his hand in an exhausted sigh. Kai stands closer to the earth mage and pats his shoulders.

 

“You mean pink?” Tai looks down as she pulls out the flowy skirt of the dress. Eunhyuk takes the chance to snap another photo, even without the backdrop.

 

“Uhm, duh.” Tiffany gives her an obvious look, “Pink is mine. Take it off or take a hike. No one else in this guild is entitled to wear pink but me.”

 

Tai actually contemplates it for a moment, thoughtfully putting her finger to her chin. Another snap of Eunhyuk’s camera. Then Tai bounces on the balls of her feet before cartwheeling forward once, ending her pose with one hand behind her head and her other arm pointing towards Tiffany, “If you beat me.”

 

“Excuse me?” she scoffs.

 

“Tai, please don’t.” D.O pleads.

 

Kai speaks up too this time, “Uhm yeah…. I don’t think—“

 

“If you beat me, then I’ll give up my right to wear pink. I’ll even give you my pink clothes if you want.” Tai offers with a sweet smile. No one would think that this little girl would be as lethal as a tazer.

 

“As if I would need them.” Tiffany sneers, “Give up now, newbie. Just because you’ve gone on one mission, you think you can take me on?”

 

Tai merely shrugs, “We’ll see. You have nothing to lose, right?” she eggs on.

 

“You asked for it, thief.” Tiffany hisses before brandishing a pink whip out of thin air. Kris and Lay jump under the table in order to avoid her lashes.

 

“Hell yes!” Eunhyuk cheers as Tiffany leaps from the table and throws her whip’s tail right at the spot Tai was standing just half a second ago. The Chi blocker was now halfway across the room, somersaulting over tables and cartwheeling around other Fairy Tail members.

 

A few more swings of Tiffany’s glowing pink whip and she destroys a table or two. “Tiffany!” Hyoyeon yells from behind the bar.

 

Tai is barely seen as she jumps from this pillar to that table, but the clacking of Tiffany’s pink boots isn’t hard to follow as she follows, jumping on every surface she can to land a hit on the slippery Fairy Tail newbie. “Err-ahh!” She throws a bright pink disk of energy at the wall where Tai as about to kick off of, ruining the balance of her victim’s footing when she jumps to her next spot. Tai catches herself on her hands, but by the time she’s on her feet again, Tiffany has already cast her next spell, “Pink magic: Ribbon!”

 

The sashes from her sleeves start unwinding in pink silk ribbons that wrap around Tai’s ankles, and then her wrists, pulling them together behind her.

 

“! I love it!” Eunhyuk shouts with another click of his camera.

 

Another screech and pull from Tiffany sends Tai whirling towards the pink mage until she lands on the floor on her stomach with her hands and feet bound together above her, leaving her in a position that leaves little to the imagination. The men in the guild start babbling wildly as Eunhyuk and Donghae start jumping and hitting their hands together in triumph, shrieking in excitement.

 

“Tai! Come on! I know you can do it.” D.O calls from the bar.

 

“Hyung…?” Kai looks at his friend, confused at his sudden change of heart at the battle.

 

“Thanks Dyo!” Tai giggles, even from her compromising position on the floor as Tiffany approaches.

 

“Face your doom, thief.” Tiffany growls as she conjures up her pink whip again.

 

“Yes!” More shouts from the men, and isn’t Eunhyuk out of film yet?

 

A squeak of fear escapes D.O’s mouth as he brings his hands to his mouth. Just as Tiffany’s whip lashes down at the girl at her feet, Tai angles her trapped hands and feet towards the whips, freeing herself as the whip makes contact with the ribbon tying her together. “YES!!!”

 

Now more than just one person is looking at D.O as he watches the battle ensue further with bright eyes. “Hyung…” Kai asks again.

 

“Come on, Tai! Just land one punch!!” The earth mage shouts with a new fire. Kai just shrugs and continues to watch the flurry of pink flying around the room again.

 

“Aww…” Tai pouts as she catches the tip of the Tiffany’s tail whip, surprising the pink mage. “This was getting fun though. But Dyo oppa wants me to finish this off, so…” With a strong yank, the magical pink whip disappears as it leaves Tiffany’s hands and Tai is out of sight.

 

“Newbie!” Tiffany scowls as she turns around frantically as she searches for her thief. But before she reaches last couple degrees of her 360 turn, she gasps and falls to the ground. Tai appears behind her with her hand on her hip and Tiffany’s pink whip hanging from her other hand, a pleasantly victorious smile on her face.

 

Cheers erupt throughout the entire guild and people come rumbling from all around the room, Tiffany’s friends pulling her out of the way of the stamped while multiple men are trying to get at Tai. The Chi blocker ends up on Chanyeol’s shoulders, the dragon slayer beyond happy with the soft thighs around his head. “Tai! Tai! Tai!” People cheer.

 

“Thanks.” She giggles.

 

 

 

 

“Hey newbie.” A voice greets Tai.

 

The girl addressed and the boys sitting around her at the bar turn around to see not Tiffany, but Taeyeon smiling at the newest Fairy Tail member. “Hi!” Tai greets back cheerfully.

 

“Listen, I’m sorry about Tiffany. She can get a little possessive, as you can tell.” She looks to the side sheepishly.

 

“A little?!” D.O shouts, almost getting out of his seat. If he wasn’t stopped by Baekhyun with warning eyes, he would have gone farther, but he settles with a sigh and a bow of his head, “Sorry sunbaenim.”

 

Taeyeon waves off the little outburst, keeping her attention on Tai, “I thought I’d apologize for my friend, since I doubt she’ll do it quickly enough to make amends. I’ll treat you to a meal on her behalf.” She offers with a smile, “Hyoyeon-ah, get her a dish of whatever she likes, and a nice beer. On my tab.” She calls out to the girl behind the bar.

 

“You got it, boss.” Hyoyeon replies before leaning in to Tai, “You should take advantage of her generosity. She’s never actually this nice.”

 

“Okay!” Tai agrees before ordering a special sushi roll.

 

“Tai, you have such great taste~” Baekhyun coos, attempting to get closer to Chi blocker, only to be smacked away by Chanyeol on her other side.

 

“Come with me outside, we’ll have a picnic.” Taeyeon offers when Hyoyeon comes back out with the fancy roll of sushi.

 

Tai throws the dish into the air as she jumps from her seat in a cartwheel before catching it in her hands again. With a bow to her applauding fans at the boy, she follows Taeyeon to the backyard garden that actually leads to the forest a mile or two behind the guild.

 

“So what kind of magic do you use?” Tai asks curiously.

 

“I am a user of Green magic. Kind of fitting when you place me beside Tiffany, since she’s my best friend.” Taeyeon chuckles. “But it’s different in that I’m more of a nurturer. By green, my magic pertains to plant life and mother nature. Woodland magic.” She waves her hand in front of her to point at all the beautiful flowers decorating the garden.

 

“Ooh, did you help grow all of this?” Tai wanders off to a patch of Begonias.

 

“A bit. I’m not afraid to say I’m proud of my work.”

 

They two continue wandering through the garden as Tai munches on her sushi. “You know,” Taeyeon starts, “You’ve really blown everyone away at the guild. Tiffany’s been here for years, and you beat her within a month of being here.”

 

Tai shrugs, “My kind of defense is simple enough to beat anyone if I can figure out how to get close enough. I don’t have to put too much thought into it.”

 

“Regardless, it’s amazing since you don’t even use magic. What made you want to join a magical guild anyways?”

 

A smile appears as Tai finishes her meal, “I’ve always loved magic. I’ve always wanted to be around it. I wanted to join a guild but I thought I never would be able to because I’m don’t have magic. So I joined the circus where at there was at least some kind magic around me most of the time.”

 

“But that had nothing to do with your development in Chi blocking?” Taeyeon wonders.

 

“That was something else completely. When my dad was still around, he always told me to defend myself somehow. He taught me so many different times of defense and offense with weapons and martial arts and everything. But when he died I didn’t want to touch another one of those things, so I just stuck to defense.” Tai sighs, her smile finally faltering for the first time anyone has ever seen since she joined the guild.

 

“As you go on, you’ll get past all of your fears. As a Fairy Tail member, we all learn to grow from our weaknesses and difficult pasts. I’m sure you’ll be no different.” Taeyeon smiles. She stops at a patch of petunias and pulls out her reed pipes. She blows into them, creating a simple but sweet tune and the pink flowers open their petals warmly at the sound of music. She picks up one of the pinkest petunias and puts it behind Tai’s ear, blowing another tune to have the stem weave its roots into Tai’s braided hair. “These are Tiffany’s favorites, so maybe it’ll suit you too.” She smiles.

 

“Thanks Taeyeon sunbae!” Tai smiles, throwing her arms around the green mage.

 

“You’re welcome, newbie.” Taeyeon chuckles warmly, patting the young Fairy Tail member on the back, “Now, why don’t you show me what you’ve got?”

 

“Huh?” Tai asks as Taeyeon backs again into the forest. It’s only then that Tai realizes that the green mage had led them farther from the guild, and suddenly, a bunch of other girls were appearing from the trees and thin air!

 

The Chi blocker walks into the empty forest patch where Taeyeon now stands with at least six other girls around her, Tiffany being one of them. There are still a couple stragglers around the trees. “Uhm… You want me to fight you guys?” Tai asks innocently.

 

“Come on, newbie. It’ll be fun.” Taeyeon smiles, not at all threateningly.

 

“It’s about to go down, little thief.” Tiffany smacks a smaller pink whip against her hand.