A New Challenger Appears [Closed]

The Noir was an interesting group of individuals. Masamune was always good company and Nadia was too sweet for her own damn good. Luxanna had proven to be interesting to say the least. He met a few others, but none of them seemed very... Well, bright wasn't the right word. They blended in. There was very little special about them and you could easily miss them in a crowd. Apparently a couple other beautiful women were around here at times, but Drake hadn't had the pleasure of meeting them yet. And right now, he didn't care if he did. Drake was normally a kind man. He was fun to be around and flirt. This only changed when he was training or fighting. And right now, this man was training.

Drake wasn't using his sword at the moment, which was a good thing for the woman who bumped into him. She was also lucky that she bumped into him mid-stance. If he was throwing a punch or performing any of the actual exercises, she could have had her nose broken. When he felt her bump into him, he turned back to her and stared down at her. The woman was taller than most here, but still shorter than him. She had a nice bust and couldn't be called unattractive for shit. "You  all right?" he asked seriously. He sounded stoic and a little uncaring, but that was because his mind was elsewhere. He had been in his zone and had yet to fall out of it. He was going to return to his training, but...

Drake didn't mean to look annoyed at her, but he did. He realized it as well. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Name's Drake." he squeezed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. A smile came onto his face that could rival Tsubine's only in sincerity, not in beauty. "You don't need to apologize, pretty lil' thing. There was no harm done." he chuckled and stretched by leaning back, "I'm actually new, kinda. A friend of Masamune. Me, him, and lil' Nadia returned sometime in the evenin' yesterday. Poor things are so tired. I don't think they're up yet." Drake walked over to a rag and bottle of water. He took a drink while wiping his neck, "So what's a cutie like you doin' 'round here?"

Well wasn't this woman adorable. Drake smiled at her and pointed back to the main building. "I saw Luxanna head over to her office with someone I hadn't seen before just a few minutes ago. If you need to talk to her, I'd check there first." Drake explained and then raised an eyebrow, "I don't know who Avrae is, bu I doubt I have anything to do with your meeting. I'm not a member of the Noir. Though, if she was acting mischievous, I have a bit of a guess as to what's going on..." Drake laughed and brushed his hair back with his hand. Drake was aware of the fact that Masamune and Nadia had recently become a couple. And besides that, Masamune talked about how scary Lux is ever since the two of them had their first conversation. If Luxanna was as protective as Masamune said, then those two had an interesting day ahead of them. Drake wasn't touching that with a ten foot pole.

For a moment, even Drake was lost in thought, but no way near as long as Tsubine. He watched as this woman stared at him. She fell silent and must have been deep in thought about something. Maybe she thinks he's hot? A lot of woman did, whether he agreed with them or not, so it wouldn't be surprising. Drake looked to his arm and smirked. His dragon tattoo was awesome. "It doesn't really mean anything beyond me liking dragons. Strongest thing there is out there. You like 'em?"

It might have been Avrae that Luxanna was with, Drake didn't know. "Well, they're more than interesting to me. I've followed a bit of their history and trained rather closely with them for quite a few years. The man who trained me had three dragons around him at all times. Sometimes he had more. He calls himself the Dragon Sage, and no one could blame him. He could build an army of those and they're fiercely loyal to him. Since I was into dragons and respected them, at least that's what my Master said, he decided to train me... That's where I got this tattoo." he explained and flex his arm. He loved this tattoo, though he realized after explaining that. "I guess it has more meaning to me than I thought, though only because of why and how I got it." He laughed again.

"Um..." Drake raised an eyebrow. He hadn't met a woman into dragons before. Either that, or she was flirting like crazy, which he didn't mind. "Well besides strength, they're probably the most intelligent being in Aurora, and yes that includes above humans, though that may be my bias." He laughed a bit again, "They're also beautiful. I don't like reptiles or anything like that, but dragons are actually just beautiful. The way they're built shows strength, but also speed, agility, and even elegance. Have you ever watched them fly? It's rather impressive." She asked about the Noir again and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Never thought about joinin' actually. Masamune's asked me a couple times. Said they could use my skill, but I dunno yet... You gonna join up? It's a great guild."

Tsubine explained how long she's been around and suddenly gasped at herself. He knew why, but was curious how much of that she had come across. Drake patted the woman on the head and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. "Zakatians... A beautiful race of people." was all he said, "They're eyes are my favorite, especially the women." He was pretty much telling her that he knew from the beginning and didn't have a problem with it. Drake looked over to the woman who came out and raised an eyebrow. He really didn't want this meeting to be about him and when was he going to be allowed to get back to his training. Oh well, two beautiful women pulling him away from it was a good excuse to stop. He and Tsubine walked side by side to follow Avrae, "Ah, so that's her..."

Entering Luxanna's office was somewhat of a treat for Drake. He had only been inside the housing area, not this place. He looked around and took in the new sights until they got to Luxanna's office and Avrae burst rather excitedly through the door. Luxanna had been sitting quietly behind her desk and the moment the loud boom occurred, she vanished. "Uh... What?" Drake was automatically confused and stared at Luxanna's chair. A moment later, Luxanna appeared in front of Avrae with a look of anger. "What the hell is the matter with you!? You couldn't have knocked!?" Luxanna yelled, "You scared me half to death. What do you want?!" Luxanna was used to Avrae's behavior, so this wasn't surprising. It didn't mean Luxanna wasn't allowed to yell at her out of annoyance. Drake held in a laugh.

Avrae explained the dinner plan for Nadia and Masamune, but Luxanna wasn't sure. Neither Nadia or Masamune had admitted to being a couple, so a dinner might be a waste of time. "I know there have been claims about them pairing up, but I doubt it's true. I won't believe it until Nadia tells m-..." "It's true." Nadia said suddenly. Luxanna jumped and looked over to the open window to see Nadia standing there, "Hi Lux! I heard you yelling at Avrae and came to see what was going on. It's true. Masa asked me and I said yes and we are boyfriend and girlfriend like you and Tsubine are supposed to be." Nadia crawled through the window as she said that and Luxanna's face turned red.

"Oh, well I'm outta luck then, aren't I?" Drake chuckled and glanced to Tsubine. "N-Nadia... Who told you that?" Nadia finally got through the window and dusted herself off, "Masa, of course. He said that you need to get laid and since you won't lay with Avrae, it should be with Tsubine. He also said he'd throw Drake at you, but you weren't into men, so that wouldn't work. He doesn't care as long as you're not mad at him for being my boyfriend." Nadia just spouted a lot of stuff that no one in the room knew and the divine creator loved it! Luxanna was redder than anything and even Drake had to admit that what just happened was embarrassing. "So can I have a big dinner tonight?!"

"Yay! There's a big dinner tonight!" Nadia cheered and hugged Avrae, "I think Masamune will have lots of fun. He likes to eat, so tonight's going to be the bestest celebration ever!" Nadia gave everyone a hug and hurried out to go tell Masamune. That is when Luxanna went to swing at Avrae and was automatically dodged. These two often had their little spouts. "Stop laughing!" Luxanna said, knowing that command was not going to be followed. Luxanna face palmed and shook her head. "That was so embarrassing... Someone is going to have to teach her some tact." "Masamune says that's your job... Apparently you're in charge of her education." "Not anymore, I'm not. It's now his job. He's the one who wants to go behind my back and ask Nadia out, then he can take care of all of the important stuff when it comes to her!" Luxanna flailed her arms out of anger, but mostly embarrassment.

Drake looked away and tried not to laugh anymore. He wasn't sure he'd be brave enough to take on this woman. "Look..." he spoke up through a few chuckles, "It was an embarrassing situation for all of us, but we don't have to make a big deal about it. Now... What do you have in mind for this dinner? Can't take it back now; No one wants to disappoint something as adorable as that..." Drake pointed back toward the door. Though Nadia wasn't there, it was obvious that he was referring to her. "If it's to celebrate her taking that next step with Masamune, it should be some of their favorite food... Anything I can do to help with that?" Drake was being too reasonable for Luxanna. She wanted to yell, but she kept her composure and thought for a moment. "Well, Nadia has a habit of not eating anything she's made friends with... This is why if she starts talking to a chicken, cow, pig, or fish... She gets in trouble, so any one of those will do." Luxanna explained casually, moving on from the embarrassment. "Are we cooking this or are we having the Noir chefs do it?" Luxanna looked to Avrae with a raised eyebrow. The chefs cooked for the entire guild, not a group, and they got paid. This would be extra.

In the end, it was decided that Luxanna would just pay the Noir Chefs extra for tonight. Drake had secretly dragged Masamune off to make sure he dressed up for the dinner. There was a reason these two were friends and advice on shit like this helped Masamune out. Drake and Masamune were the first to arrive. Drake was done up in a black suit with a red tie. He even had his hair slicked back. He tried get Masamune to do the same by telling him that it'd make Nadia think he looked cool. Nadia came in right after and was done up quite beautifully. She wasn't in some sexy dress, but instead in something she had fun with. Why? Because it was fluffier than what she normally wore. She distracted herself by standing up and twisting her waste back and forth to watch it twirl. "I'm not used to wearing something so pretty. Avrae said I had to dress up nice." Nadia explained as she played with the skirt of her dress. It was her first time wearing it. It had been in her closet for a while now. If Masamune actually did listen to Drake, Nadia would actually point it out. "You look like a spy! Very handsome!"

Luxanna came in to see Nadia playing with her dress and chuckled. "Hun, you should sit down. Pick a spot." Luxanna said and Nadia took her spot next to Masamune. Seeing this, Luxanna happily sat right across from her dear little friend. "Luxanna... I didn't know you had a dress like that, you look like the sexy ladies in Varedia's magazines... Super models!" Nadia said. Avrae was the next to arrived and she immediately got a raised eyebrow from Luxanna. "Oh! You look like a sexy lady too!" Nadia said to Avrae with a big smile. Nadia, if anything, looked like a damn princess and Masamune was her prince. This was gonna be so fun! And then Avrae called out to Tsubine. When Tsu walked in, Nadia went wide eyed and smiled. "You look like a super model too! Maybe I should have worn a super model dr-..." "No." both Drake and Luxanna said quickly. Drake turned back to Tsubine and checked her out from head to toe. Luxanna did the same thing, but was much more discrete about it. "You look beautiful." Drake and Luxanna said at the same time and then looked to each other. For a moment, there was challenge in both of their eyes, but they both turned from each other to hide it.

Well at least most of the room agreed with each other. Nadia was not allowed to dress like that. Her choice of attire was well done. The conversation was started by Avrae. Apparently it was time to pick on Tsubine, which was fine with Drake. Nadia was listening a bit, but she was more concentrated on Masamune. She reached over and grabbed his hand to hold onto while everyone else talked. Drake was looking back and forth between Tsubine and Avrae. This was quite entertaining for him. Luxanna was just being more embarrassed. The questions that were ask made Drake and Luxanna feel bad for Tsubine, but they couldn't help but be curious about the answers. Every answer that Tsubine gave was well worded to make sure no one got offended or felt less than the others, but that changed.

Avrae switched up her way of asking the questions and had the women all compared and the only two men in the room compared. That was when Drake and Luxanna both a got a little more uncomfortable with it. "Avrae, do you really think this is the time to be asking such questions?" Luxanna asked with an annoyed tone, "I thought we were here for Nadia and Masamune, not to figure out who's the hottest in the room." "I don't know, it's an interesting conversation." Drake said and then smiled at Avrae, "So tell me, Avrae, do you have a thing for Luxanna or Tsubine? You mentioned being bisexual before and have the tendency to pick on them both... I assume there has to be some sort of attraction there."

Drake was impressed with her honesty and merely nodded. "Well, okay then. First woman I've met who has no problem saying what's no her mind. Good on you for that." Drake said with a smile. "What's the longest relationship you've been in? You seem to have a few things figured out, so I assume you've had a few good ones." Apparently that question brought on an entirely new conversation between Tsubine and Avrae. Luxanna was interested in this as well, though she felt the tension in the air rise when Avrae realized something about Tsubine. Luxanna glanced to Tsu when she was asked a question and then looked back to Avrae. "I believe so, yes." Luxanna nodded and watched the two talk. Listening to this conversation and then hearing the name of a dragon from ages ago sparked something in Drake. Were these two women actually of Draconic decent? He knew that things like that existed, especially Elder Dragons, but he wasn't entirely sure about their disciples until Avrae asked.

"Interesting..." he mumbled and watched them closely. He saw Tsu's eyes fill with tears and shook his head. "Oh, no no no. You don't need to start that, pretty lil' lady. No tears here." Drake said and stood up. He handed her a handkerchief from his suit pocket and smiled. "Lookie here, sweetheart... You've obviously been searching for this Silvath for a long time, right? Today you finally got a hint toward her... Ain't no need to cry over something good that happened. Today his a happy occasion." Luxanna narrowed her eyes and stood up, placing a hand on Tsubine's shoulder. "He's right... Don't get upset. No one here wants to see you crying. I'll help you find whoever this Silvath person is, but only if you agree to enjoy the rest of the night." "Yeah! It's supposed to be a happy time, right?" Nadia spoke up with cheer and then looked to Masamune, squeezing his hand lightly, "Right, Masa?" Drake chuckled, "Now you bring that pretty smile of your back for the world to see and we can all finish this lil' party."