Tai points her fingers to each and every one of the girls who have appeared before her in a semicircle, counting them quietly. “Nine. Cool!” she shouts, clapping her hands together as she jumps. “I can’t wait to see all your magic powers!”

 

“Me first, then.” One of the longer haired girls steps forward, raising her hand into the air to conjure up a single sword, “Blade magic: Katana.” As soon as she has a tight grip around the sword, she charges forward with a growl. The first slash misses, so does the second, and the third. Practically all of them miss Tai as she continues to jump around. When the swordswoman grows tired of player chaser, she lifts the katana above her head with two hands, “Blade magic: Elongate!” The sword grows larger, and slightly sharper.

 

This time, when the knight comes barreling forward, the sword glows in preparation of a magic attack, “Razor!” She shouts as she slashes across the air and a whip of sharp golden magic energy comes slicing at Tai. But the Chi blocker merely somersaults over it. She doesn’t miss the slash through the trees behind her though. They fall to the ground just as Tai lands on her feet.

 

“Ah! Yuri!” Taeyeon shrieks, her hands clapping her cheeks.

 

But Yuri pays the anguished green mage no mind because suddenly, Tai is in front of her, literally hopping on her sword to flip over her, using her foot to quickly hit her spine to paralyze her limbs and the flow of magic in her body. “Ugh!” Yuri grunts, falling to the ground, her sword disappearing.

 

Tai turns around, anticipating the next attacker with the same sweet smile and excited eyes. She catches the eyes of a short haired blondie with a couple black streaks in her hair and the mage snaps her fingers. In a flash of yellow light, a shiny black motorcycle speeds up beside her. The blondie straddles the sleek black ride and revs the engine twice with a sinister smile, “I’ll try not to run over the new member.”

 

In another blink, she’s disappeared from her spot and is already curving around towards Tai, who jumps high into the air and lands on the backseat of the blondie’s motorcycle, “Whoa! Cool! What can this thing do?” Tai exclaims, holding onto the driver’s waist as she drives around in the patch of forest, and in midair too!

 

“I’ll show you.” She replies simply, giving the gas handle a twist and pulling the bike up to flip over, surprising Tai and letting her drop to the ground, but the Chi blocker lands on the balls of her feet, one leg bent underneath her chest while the other one stretches out to her side, her opposite arm stretched out in the air in the other direction while her other hand is stabilized on the ground in front of her.

 

She looks up just as the biker mage swirls around the circle of trees and comes at her with guns shooting out of the bike and getting ready to blast at her. Dark purple beams belch out of the bike guns and Tai just manages to arc her back enough to avoid both of them. Tai giggles as she jumps over the bike and lets it pass this time. The blondie makes a U-turn and blasts purple bullets are her this time, which Tai dodges cleanly in an array of flips and cartwheels around the forest. But when the bike rides right past Tai, it spits a mess of slick oil behind her, and the pink acrobat finally slips and shrieks before catching herself just outside the edge of the oil on her hands.

 

Another shriek from Taeyeon about her poor ecosystem, and Tai hears the name Sunny. What a cute name, Tai giggles to herself. “Still got something to laugh about, newbie?” Sunny challenges with a smirk that matches her biker image perfectly. One more ride past her and Tai jumps back onto the hind seat, “Can this do anything else?”

 

“Not much, but I can.” Sunny pulls out a gun from some compartment in the bike and shoots it right at Tai. The girl arches back and knees the gun out of Sunny’s hands, catching it in her own. But she throws it to the side.

 

“No more?” Tai pouts, disappointed, “In that case…” Tai pinches Sunny’s shoulders and the bike goes crashing down into the forest trees. Sunny lies in a smoky heap against a tree, unable to move.

 

“Damn newbie, I like you.” The tallest one smiles, stepping forward, “I’m Sooyoung, by the way.” She mentions before whipping out a closed umbrella. She starts swirling it in a circle in front of her, “Wind magic: Blowout!” she swings the white umbrella like a bat at the sphere of wind and sends it flying towards Tai, who jumps and lands right on top of the spinning ball of wind, spinning along with it like a ballerina with one leg bent and her arms above her head. She continues spinning until the ball of wind disperses into the air and Tai lands on the ground with a modest bow.

 

As she stands again, Sooyoung has already started on her next attack, running and swinging her pointed umbrella in all directions in front of her, “Wind magic: Hurricane!” And soon, loose strands of Tai’s hair are flying in a flurry around her face as a storm of wind surrounds her, even her braid comes loose and the pink petunia flies out of her hair, “Oh no! Taeyeon sunbae’s flower!” she cries, jumping up into the storm of wind around her. She adjusts her weight, learning to swim around the currents in an attempt to retrieve the flower, leaving all the girls – both paralyzed and mobile – wide eyed and slack-jawed.

 

Sooyoung releases the hurricane and begins her next attack while Tai is still preoccupied, “Wind magic: Blast!” This time, she pops her umbrella open, sending a burst of wind ricocheting towards the Chi blocker, who’s knocked roughly against a tree.

 

“Ouch!” Tai shouts, but bounces back quickly, jumping back into battle mode and running straight towards Sooyoung, jumping on top of her open umbrella and landing punches at the wind mage while still midair. Tai lands on the ground just before Sooyoung does, her umbrella clattering to the side.

 

“Ice-Make: Lance!” The next attack comes without hesitation and a plethora of ice whips come striking at Tai, who only just manages to jump out of the way. “Ice-Make: Yo-yo!” Three small balls of ice come flying at Tai from different directions on frozen, but versatile strings because they bounce back into the wizard’s hand before shooting out again. Tai jumps and cartwheels this way and that to avoid each hit.

 

This seems to frustrate the ice mage, who growls before just throwing the ice yo-yos at Tai, who simply side steps them, before shooting a similarly flexible rope of ice at a strong tree branch, “Ice-make: Grappling hook!” She jumps and swings through the air towards Tai, “Arrows!” The ice mage shouts, shooting a huge sheath of icicles at the Chi blocker, who finally yelps and hides behind a tree.

 

“Jessica!” Tiffany calls up to the ice mage, and in another second, the pink mage has caught onto Jessica and hangs onto her as she swings towards the tree Tai hides behind, “Pink magic: Ribbon!” The same silky binding ribbon that caught Tai earlier that day snaps her from behind the tree and wraps around her torso, pulling her out from behind the oak and dragging her through the ground.

 

Jessica and Tiffany jump off of the ice grappling hook together and lifts their arms into the air, “Sword!” they both summon at the same time and slash through the air in opposite directions, the blades of magic creating a pink and blue X as it rockets towards Tai.

 

A small explosion causes a bit of magical smoke to appear around the spot the two had struck. “Take that, pink thief!” Tiffany jumps in the air, only to fall to the ground before she can and on her feet. Jessica falls beside her as well, her spine and limbs completely immobilized.

 

“Hyoyeon!” Taeyeon calls reflexively.

 

“Got it, boss!” Hyoyeon calls before zooming next to the Chi blocker in less than a second. Tai s her elbow back instinctively, but the bartender is already gone. When Tai sees her in front of her all of sudden, she reacts accordingly with a of her knee, but she’s gone again.

 

“Too fast.” The Chi blocker whispers to herself before closing her eyes and breathing deeply, sticking her leg out in a random spot, and just like that, the speed mage trips. Tai’s hits reach her before she can touch the ground.

 

And before the last two girls can gasp, they’re on the ground because Hyoyeon isn’t the only one who’s fast. “Sorry, sunbaes.” Tai pouts at all her Fairy Tail comrades on the ground, “But I’m kind of tired now. I’ll see more of your powers next time.” She smiles as she starts gathering all the bodies together and leaning them against the trees. As she waits for them to come to, she searches again for the petunia Taeyeon had given her, but to no avail.

 

Since it takes quite a while for the Chi blocking effect to wear off, Tai busies herself weaving flowers and ribbons into the paralyzed girls’ hair. By the time Yuri, the first one attacked therefore the first one to bounce back, is able to move her muscles and sit up properly again, all the girls already have pretty side braids resting on their shoulders. While Tai had been braiding each girl’s hair, she had chatted everyone up and told stories about her experience with magic and her adventures in her traveling circus.

 

“You’re not bad at all, newbie. I knew I liked you.” Sooyoung smiles as she touches her pretty braid with white daisies weaved into it.

 

“Why did you do this to us?!” Jessica shrieks at her hair braided with Tiffany’s. Now the two couldn’t move without tearing their hair apart until they undid the Siamese braid.

 

“Since you guys double-teamed on me, I figured you liked being together.” Tai shrugs with an innocent smile. “Plus, I’ve always wanted to try that, but no one would do it with me.”

 

“Well…” Taeyeon sighs, finally standing up, “Nothing else for us to say but, welcome to Fairy Tail, Lee Tai.” She smiles warmly like she had earlier that day.

 

“Yeah, welcome!” Sooyoung walks forward and envelops Tai in a hug, followed by Hyoyeon and several of the other girls. Only Jessica and Tiffany don’t move in fear of knocking heads.

 

Once untangled, everyone is on their way back to the guild together. Tai walks beside the last girl other than Taeyeon who she hadn’t fought, “So what’s your name? I’m Tai.”

 

“I’m Seohyun. I’m pleased to meet you.” Seohyun smiles.

 

“What kind of magic do you use?” Tai asks, dying to know. “Sorry I didn’t get to fight you today. I’m still a newbie so I have to increase my stamina soon.”

 

“It’s not a problem at all, I got a good idea of your power either way.” She chuckles, “You’ll get to see my magic in battle one day, I’m sure. I try not to use it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

 

“I can’t wait then!” Tai cartwheels in excitement.

 

 

>/<

 

 

 

“When did they get so close?” Kris asks as she glances over at Tai who’s laughing with Tiffany, Sooyoung, and Sunny over at a table near the window.

 

“I heard from Kyungsoo that they went shopping or something and they probably bonded over the same pink pants…” Chanyeol answers.

 

“Do you think I can crash the party if I brought pink lemonade over to their table?” Baekhyun perks up, getting a smack in the back of the head from Kris.

 

Suddenly, the Fairy Tail doors burst open amidst Baekhyun’s cries of complaint, and a bright voice calls out with her arms wide open, “We have returned! And we brought treats from China!!”

 

“Luhan hyung!”

 

“Xiumin sunbae!”

 

“Did you bring me back something from China?!”

 

“Did you eat any delicious buns?”

 

“How thick were their accents there? I’ve never been to Xi’an.”

 

“I heard their noodles are delicious!”

 

“Treats!?”

 

“China?!”

 

“Luhan!”

 

The two men are bombarded with questions and hugs as they laugh and try to return all the greetings and hugs and promise to distribute gifts to children and friends later on. “Let’s get a drink first. Hyoyeon! The Fairy Tail-style beers, please!”

 

“You got it, boys.” The blonde bartender replies, get the glasses ready.

 

“Luhan hyung! Xiumin hyung!” Baekhyun greets the two with a clap of hands and chest bumps, “How was Xi’an?”

 

“Great! Super fun!” Luhan replies brightly. “I ate a lot.” He adds happily, rubbing his stomach.

 

“Anything exciting happen while we were gone?” Xiumin asks.

 

“Ah!” Chanyeol claps his hands together, “We got a new member. She doesn’t use magic.”

 

“Really?” Xiumin blinks, “That’s interesting. Can we meet her?”

 

“She’s headed this way right now, matter of fact.” Kris nods his head at the girl coming towards them with her bright smile and aura lighting up the atmosphere.

 

“Hey, princess.” Chanyeol greets her first, “Did you come to meet these two?” The dragon slayer gestures to the newcomers, who wave and smile at her politely.

 

“Actually, I came to try to Fairy Tail-style beer. You guys never told me about it.” She says matter-of-factly.

 

Kris scoffs, “It’s because the only idiots dumb enough to drink it are these two.” He nods towards the Luhan and Xiumin.

 

“I tried it once with Baekhyun hyung.” Chanyeol mentions.

 

“You didn’t finish before you passed out underneath the bar counter.” Kris says blandly, “And Baek didn’t even make it past the first sip.”

 

“Can I try it?” Tai asks, curiosity peaked.

 

“You have to drink it with another person.” Luhan explains, “One of them is half mixed with a strong vodka that supposedly only Fairy Tail members can handle alive. And the second one is mixed with a whiskey that’s made in some fancy European city in only one factory. No one else manufactures it because it’s too strong.” He chuckles darkly.

 

“After you chug down one half of your glass, you switch with your drinking buddy and chug that down too.” Xiumin continues, “So all those mixes of alcohol is worth more than about 9 beers per person, I’d say.” He estimates.

 

“For you!” Baekhyun scoffs, “It felt like a gallon at my first gulp!”

 

“I want to try it!” Tai jumps in, too excited.

 

Luhan holds the girl in place, taking her hands and waving her arms around a bit, slapping her cheeks gently, and bending down to lift her up once to test her weight before setting her down again. Tai giggles. “You seem like a lightweight, but your attitude screams Heavy.” Luhan ponders, “I want to see her try it someday.” He smiles, making Tai smile brightly.

 

“But not today.” Kris puts a hand on Tai’s shoulder, “Not now. Maybe someday during a huge celebration or party, when you have your caretaker here.”

 

“Would Kyungsoo even approve of this?” Baekhyun asks.

 

“I think he’d drink it with her, actually.” Chanyeol vouches, raising his hand into the air.

 

“Kris is right.” Xiumin agrees, “Not now. You should only take it when you’re completely ready to get wasted or you need an extreme kick start after a long and grueling mission.”

 

“Which is what we had, so let us at ‘em!” Luhan shouts when Hyoyeon brings the two glasses out.

 

Tai stares at them in awe. Both are filled with the type of beer anyone would ever think of, but the bubbly foam at the top of the drinks are blue and red. She wonders if one of them burns while the other completely freezes your throat. Luhan picks up the red glass and Xiumin the blue one, “Bottoms up.”

 

“To Fairy Tail; another great mission achieved.” Xiumin nods before downing the blue bubbled beer.

 

After the two have downed half the glasses, they simultaneously shake their heads as shivers run down their backs as the alcohol travels down their throats. They switch the cups and clink again before drinking down the rest of the beverages. Kris watches them with a scrunched face while Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Tai watch with bright anticipation. “Brrrrrr!” Luhan blows his lips in a raspberry as he shakes his head back and forth.

 

Xiumin slams his glass on the back counter before hopping onto the barstool, seemingly unphased. Tai grabs Luhan’s empty cup and takes a whiff of the cup, making a face before handing it back. Luhan takes the glass and places it on the table and slings an arm around his new acquaintance, “So what’s your name, newbie?” he smiles.

 

“I’m Lee Tai.” She smiles back, “And you are?”

 

Luhan scoffs, tapping a palm to his forehead, “My manners. I’m Luhan, and this is my partner, Xiumin.”

 

“Pleasure.” Xiumin raises his hand once before leaning his elbows back on the counter.

 

“Are you this infamous non-magic user I’ve already heard about?” Luhan inquires.

 

“That’s me.” She nods once.

 

“Doesn’t stop her from kicking all of Soshi’s asses.” Chanyeol laughs loudly, leaning his elbows back against the bar counter. But he receives a smack in the back of the head from the blonde bartender before she returns to the back in a flash.

 

“Is that so?” Luhan inquires with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. “You a swordsman?”

 

“Chi blocker.” She clarifies.

 

“Chi blocker.” Luhan’s eyes widen, “Now that’s really cool. I know who to look out for, then.” He holds his free hand out to shake Tai’s, “And I work with telekinesis.”

 

“Ooh, so you can levitate things?” she asks curiously, she grabs his hand with both of hers.

 

“One of his many talents.” Xiumin confirms with a glass of water in hand. “He has all these powers that make him seem like a human ghost.”

 

“So you can walk through walls and stuff too?” Tai wonders.

 

“I can.” He nods, pulling Tai’s braid over her shoulder and running his hands down around it. He points a finger at the tail of it and the ribbon comes loose. And when he opens his hand out, Tai’s soft brown hair untangles and floats in the air above her as if gravity has disappeared around her head.

 

“Whoa!” Tai giggles, clapping her hands together. Next, Luhan makes her hair loop around in a different, more intricate braid pattern over her shoulder before commanding the ribbon to loop around in a nice bow at the tail. “Wow!” Tai sighs, touching the braid on her shoulder, “You sure know your stuff. You must get girls easily too.” She giggles.

 

Everyone at the table scoffs or snorts. “Don’t we know it.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

 

“Best player in the Fairy Tail game.” Kris pats the Telekinesis mage on the shoulder roughly.

 

“Longest line of suitors I’ve ever seen.” Chanyeol nods.

 

“Aren’t suitors for girls?” Baekhyun asks.

 

“Does it matter? They all want the same thing and they’re all willing to buy Luhan gifts in exchange for his time and a date.” Chanyeol retorts.

 

“Speaking of a date, how about you and me go out and grab some dinner?” Luhan looks down at the girl beneath his arm.

 

“What?” Kris and Chanyeol say together with looks of interest and shock.

 

“What?!” Baekhyun shouts the loudest.

 

“You and me?” Tai asks.

 

“Just you and me.” Luhan confirms with a casual nod and a small smirk.

 

“Okay,” Tai agrees.

 

“What?!!?” Chanyeol and Baekhyun burst together in complete shock. Even Kris’s eyebrows furrow in confusion at the sudden acceptance of the invitation. Tai had been asked out on many dinner dates from several Fairy Tail members already, but she had turned them all down, saying that if they were looking for romantic interest or to get into her pants that they shouldn’t waste their time or get themselves paralyzed. It was obvious that she enjoyed having dinner cooked by D.O anyways.

 

“If you beat me.” Tai finishes.

 

“What?” Xiumin is the one whose face drops this time.

 

“What…” Kris freezes.

 

“What?!” Eunhyuk and Siwon suddenly show up beside the bar.

 

“Okay, if we can beat Tai then she’ll finally go out on to dinner with us? I’m next in line when she beats Luhan’s .” Eunhyuk raises his hand.
 

“Okay, excuse me! Sorry hyung, but I think that I should gain favor in line because Tai and I have already gotten close. If anyone’s taking her out, it should be me.” Baekhyun steps forward as well.

 

“All the more reason for you to be last. You’ve already had your chance to woo her on your mission. Time’s up, flashlight boy.” Siwon steps forward, blocking Baekhyun from view.

 

“Hey! I wanna fight Tai!” Chanyeol jumps in his chair, rocketing over the members who have gathered about in a burst of flames from his fists.

 

Luhan chuckles warmly amidst the ruckus, “Looks like you got your own line queued up already, newbie. I accept your proposal.”

 

“Alright then, let’s do this.” Tai steps back, an anticipating but focused smile painting her lips.

 

“Outside!” Master Lee calls from his seat at the bar. When did he get there, anyway?

 

“Yes master.” Everyone bows before tumbling outside to the back of the guild, where a fair amount of land has been prepared for battles that were sure to ensue within Fairy Tail itself. The sun was just beginning to set.

 

“I hope we can finish in time for a nice rooftop meal watching the sunset.” Luhan shares, cracking his knuckles as she stretches his interlaced hands in front of him.

 

Tai jumps back, touching her fingers to the ground and landing on her toes elegantly again, “If that’s how you want it.” She smiles.

 

“This newbie is tough.” Xiumin comments from the side to Lay and Kris. “Is she any good?”

 

“Better than you’d think for a non-wizard.” Lay replies.

 

“Here I come, gorgeous.” Luhan winks before disappearing from sight.