A Meeting in Magnolia! [Hidate/Allison]

Allison could normally be sighted all around Fiore, occasionally at what seemed to be the same time.  The red haired mage was a ball of energy who wandered around, helping the everyday citizens out with menial tasks such as washing the dishes, pulling weeds in the garden, watering the flowers... anything, really.  If there didn’t seem to be anyone around to assist, the girl would most likely wander around and people-watch, which happened to be one of her favorite hobbies.  Today she had decided to venture out to Magnolia Town; possibly the most busy and well-known place in Fiore, besides the Capitol Crocus of course.  After going on several jobs here, the redhead was more than acquainted with everything around her, including specific landmarks which were intended to prevent tourists or foreigners from becoming utterly lost; unfortunately, Allison’s sense of direction was nonexistent, and she succeeded in becoming quite discombobulated, eventually skipping around in circles without realizing it.  Not that this was a bad thing, exactly-- after all, the girl would have simply wandered around even if she did know how to get to _________ place in the quickest way possible.

Just as she was debating whether to go shopping, since it seemed that there were several beautiful attire stores around this part of the city, the red haired mage spotted a certain figure which intrigued her greatly.  It seemed to be a young man or woman with a dark, midnight blue cloak pulled over his or her hair-- because the person was turned away from her, simply ambling down the street, Allison wasn’t able to see whether the face was also concealed.  Either way, she had been swamped with missions recently and decided that meeting a few people in a more relaxed setting would be an excellent idea.  Therefore, a few minutes later the girl had made her way over to the other person; she would have surely remembered seeing someone with such a distinctive appearance, which meant that they were a stranger.  Hopefully, it wouldn’t be such for long, and Allison reached to tap the person on the shoulder, realizing in the same instant that they were in front of the library-- perhaps the male or female had been intending to pay a visit?  The girl shrugged to herself and then touched the person lightly on the shoulder, smiling cheerfully. “Hello!  I’m Allison-- what’s your name?  What brings you here today?”

She beamed cheerfully at the person-- now she saw that it was a man, with silver hair barely visible at the edges of his face. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Hidate-san! I hope you enjoy your trip here. It’s a wonderful place...” The girl herself didn’t spend much time at the library here, which seemed to be where this person was headed. He had a certain aura about him, one that said despite his youthful appearance, it was likely that Hidate was many years the elder to the red haired female. Realizing that the man had bowed to her, Allison blinked in confusion before copying the formality with a curtsy. Her thoughts about his age were interrupted upon being questioned as to what she was doing here-- a perfectly reasonable inquiry, as Allison had asked it only a few moments ago.

“Well... there’s really no particular reason! I like meeting new people, you see! There have been a few complicated jobs recently, so I wanted to take a break too, although they were definitely fun. Can I come with you to the library?” Blinking at the man, the girl waited for a response. Of course Allison would never force her company onto someone else; she had no idea whether her abrupt nature was causing any sort of uncomfortableness. If it was, she would immediately apologize and arrive at some point with an apology gift and a long written speech about what she had done wrong.

Allison smiled happily upon hearing that the young man, Hidate, didn’t mind her tagging along. She didn’t have anything in particular to do this morning besides wander around, perhaps do a bit of shopping, and in her opinion it was better to do anything at all with another person, regardless of what it was either way. “Thanks, Hidate-san!” The red haired mage followed the man up the steps of the library, half skipping and bouncing and half walking normally. Soon the two had passed through the door, and nearly immediately afterwards Allison was directed another question-- one about whether or not the girl was a mage. She was delighted, to say the least; after all, a lot of people she had met recently tended to be serious and focused on their mission the entire time. Not that Allison blew it off or didn’t consider the job important-- but she was an active and energetic spirit, as well as something of a people-person. Talking was a wonderful thing to her.

“Yes, I’m a mage! If you’d like to know-- or I guess, I’m telling you anyways-- I’m something of a weapons mage. That’s how I put it, anyways. But my main focus is fixing people.” She smiled cheerfully at the other person before continuing on. “Are you a mage as well, Hidate-san? And if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? You have this aura about you, you see... like you’re wiser than you let on. Or at least, you have more experience than a lot of people!” She herself was a Rising Star and an experienced mage, but there was a different feel to this man than a lot of powerful mages. He was wise, but what did that mean, exactly? She wanted to know.

Allison beamed brightly at the silver haired young man-- who she now was aware possessed the magical abilities of a mage. And his style of magic... he was a Time and Dimensional mage, which seemed like a fascinating prospect in her opinion. It was much more interesting than her own, even if no one she had met before had a magic similar to Allison’s, either. Perhaps having so much experience with time had given the youthful looking mage that feeling of being wise that came with seeing the years pass by in front of one’s own eyes; although this theory was immediately squashed upon hearing exactly how old Hidate was. “Ah! You don’t seem to be over one hundred and twenty at all... although three years isn’t a whole lot. But you’re much older than nearly everyone I’ve met before! Except for this angel-- a real angel, I mean. There was another angel who’s around my age, but this angel... er, so anyways, how does your magic work? It sounds so interesting!”

She said this all with another bright smile on her face, cheerfully trailing behind the young-- or rather old, actually-- man, who was striding towards an area possessing a few chairs and an ancient but seemingly sturdy table. The girl blinked as she observed Hidate’s reaction to seeing the furniture; was it associated with some fond memory? After all, the mage had said before that he was visiting today to reminiscence, or something along those lines. Taking a seat in one of the chairs, Allison tilted her head to her right side, blinking at the silver haired mage. “If you don’t mind me asking, well-- is there a story behind that table? You seemed to abruptly become very happy upon witnessing that it was here, you see, Hidate-san.”

The girl smiled at the man before realizing that she might have sounded a bit nosy or rude. “Er, if it’s a private sort of memory-- don’t worry about telling me! And even though a lot of people say that just to be nice, it’s okay. I don’t mind, really. I just like to know things about people, but there’s plenty other things to talk about if you’d like to keep it to yourself. A lot of people do and wouldn’t share what might be secrets, with a stranger.” Allison would have liked to be able to say that she wouldn’t do so, since it might make Hidate feel even better if he didn’t end up explaining about the furniture; but alas, the red haired mage was the type of person who would have done so.