Dreaming of Roses [Intro]

Her little feet were walking energetically, her eyes scanning the area around her. She was looking for one specific place and she was absolutely determined to find it. Thankfully she dreamt the right dreams and appearance of the inn she had to find was perfectly burned into her mind. Though she still had to ask few people that were walking around about the direction. That was probably some experience, directing a 10 years old girl that was grinning from one ear to another, positive energy beaming out of her into all directions. It took a while, but soon she was standing in front of the desired destination. The Silver Moon Inn, a place where the guild named Black Rose resided. And within that place, one person she was looking for and that she wanted to meet for a while. And now was the time to do it! This whole thing was so exciting, Rose could barely contain herself. Well... she didn't really. She was waving her arms in the air chaotically, pouting. Exhaling heavily, she nodded to herself and opened the heavy door in front of her. Once inside, she could wait no longer. Big sis! Big siiis~ Her voice echoed around, probably drawing many eyes to her. Hopefully those that she needed too.

She didn't even have to look around, someone else had already found her instead. To her disappointment, it was not her older sister that she was looking for. That forced the little girl to narrow her eyes and pout again as her tiny head rotated over to the direction that burly voice was coming from. And who she saw in that line of sight? A tall man who's hair was perhaps longer than girl's! And it looked really fluffy too, Rose immediately started getting urges to play with it! Though something like that would probably not end all too well, especially since she would definitely not get a proper permission to play with something like that. And the fact that this mister was drinking from that thingy of his made even her kinda thirsty for some raspberry juice. Oh, how would she love to have some of that right now. Perhaps he was drinking something similar? Everyone loved juices after all! But he just stood up and started walking towards her while saying mean words like that her big sis is not in this inn! It was at that moment that Rose noticed something else besides the floofy hair that was on this mister's head. It was a pair of kitty ears! That instantly transformed Rose's expression into one that a kitty would make as her eyes sparkled and watching every twitch of those ears. Things now also finally made sense! Rose knew who this mister was from her dreams! She knew that his voice was somehow familiar, she just didn't put one and one together until now. "Waaah, it's mister Kitty!"

With that little scream, she didn't hesitate for a moment to sprint up to him and jump as high as she could in order to grab onto his hands and just kinda hang in there while looking into his eyes with kitty face mode still on. He wasn't her big sister, not in the least... but he was still a pretty close character that she knew surprisingly lot about. "Hey, hey... mr. Kitty! What is it that you have in that round thingy of yours? Is it juice? I want some juice~" Placing her feet on his stomach, she started exercising while still hanging onto his big arms and not letting go. She was in the inn for only a little while and she had already found someone this fun! Things really were shaping to be grand, coming here was no mistake at all as her mother would say to her. Which was probably another thing that she should do soon, write a letter home and let everyone know that she's doing juuust fine. But it couldn't be all just games and fun, she had to address that serious topic as well! Mr. Kitty was very mistaken for saying that her big sis was not in this place, she really was! Because Rose dreamt about it, so it had to be true! "Big sis is not looking over me, I'll be looking over her! And her hair is like the blackest of roses, so she has to be here! Rose's dreams are never wrong after all~" She was proud that her ability was this strong. Well, it had few kinks that sometimes prevented her from dreaming correctly or about people she wanted... but this time, she was absolutely sure that this place was the correct one. She had to search it a little bit more thoroughly was all.

Whenever something happened within the confines of the cafe, it was always an extremely clear event to Jiyu, even if she could not see most of it, her nose and ears substituted what she couldn’t actually see with mental images of things in the back of her mind. Considering she had been born only able to see about twenty feet away from her? Kazehime never knew she was missing something to begin with, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to her, even if it could be to someone else. “Look’s like it’s another interesting day~” her ears picked up on the words of the child right away, but the voice was unfamiliar, plus she was on duty right now, so the wind mage figured this had nothing to do with her. Instead, she glanced over, reluctantly watching Marschal leave his prior spot which her vision could perceive, and wander out of her range, into blurriness where the new comer into the cafe was. Jiyu’s tail ceased wagging against her mid thigh length black and white waitress dress, as her fanged mouth let out a small sigh, going back to focusing on a dish she was washing. Even if she knew someone had to handle the child who had burst into the shop looking for her sister. She despised the fact it had to be him to do it, when their guild master was also laying around here on this lazy day. Why couldn’t Izayuki have been the one to get up and handle the kid instead of the feline? Maybe she was just being an overzealous dog thought, it was always a possibility, thought today she decided their guild master was just an extremely lazy raccoon dog. It was a real shame their species were related however distantly it was.

Instantly she started snickering, no longer regretting that the man she loved had been the one to begin handling the child. “Mister Kitty?” she echoed the phrase, feeling it roll off her tongue, biting her lip to refrain from busting out in some embarrassing fit of laughter, smile breaking across her face. Even if it seemed to annoy the taller mage, she found the new nickname quiet appeasing and entertaining. Marschal’s concern here, should be preventing Jiyu from deciding she wanted to start using that nickname instead of correcting the child on his actual name. Regardless of her own personal thoughts right now, Jiyu was still on duty, so she didn’t consider turn away from her place washing a few dishes and walking away from the counter, to see this whole thing better. Eventually? She would be given a chance to get involved, she just had to wait here patiently with her hands drenched in soapy water, until the opportunity presented itself. Considering how things were progressing, it couldn’t be long until the kid needed something from back here, she doubted they would just send a child away without feeding or watering her, something like that. Even if she doubted the responsibility of most of her guild mates, this was a warm and giving place somehow, she couldn’t see the kid walking out of here to continue the search without an escort or such.  

The opportunity presented itself sooner than she thought it would, ears flicking as she heard the child inquire about what was in Marschal’s gourd. Luckily? She had no concern about the drunk actually giving the child some of it, considering far as she knew he’d never even given his own son some of it, thus she doubted he’d let some random kid get their hands on it. “Just volunteer me to do things why don’t you.” she laughed it, wiping her hands on a towel and taking one of the clean glasses, making her way over to the small fridge to grab a juice used to make some of the cocktails or such, more fruity. Also it served as her drink if she didn’t feel like water while on duty, considering she was working and didn’t drink intoxicating substances in the first place. “But he’s right kid, you really don’t want any of that, trust me it’s nothing good.” even if she loved Marschal and adored the scent of liquor on him, she still had an intense dislike of the stuff, due to her own father’s drinking. Begged the question of why she was behind the counter in the first place, if she disliked the stuff that much! Brush it off to simply being her job.

“Iza, first off, it’s black and gold!” she put the fruity punch back into the fridge, taking the mug’s handle with one hand, and holding the glass itself by the bottom and other side with her free hand. In reality, her dyed bit’s were orange, but Jiyu was incapable of seeing the color, to her vision it came across a dull yet strong shade of dark gold. “Why does everyone think their orange?” what was orange anyways, she recalled never having even seen the color, even orange juice was creamy colored. Why was it not called cream juice? “Also it’s dyed, my hair is actually all black, I didn’t even start dying it until about half a year before I ended up here.” Not a ton of people often noticed or worded her as ebony haired entirely, due to the orange highlights at her tips and bangs. Yet? Those clearly were dyed instead of natural attributes, at birth and for a decent period of her life, she had indeed possessed straight up jet black wavy, wild locks, one’s she had inherited from her mother, curls that reminded her that her father seemed to have a thing for black haired women, bastard. One day she had not been able to stand looking at her own reflection like that anymore and started dying it to make herself more comfortable.

Finally she had an excuse besides for Marschal’s mere presence outside of her sight range, to leave her spot at the bar. Getting the inu back behind the bar? Would be difficult now that she was permitted out in his presence. “The tanuki over there is the Guildmaster of Black Rose, Izayuki, and the weasel on my shoulder is another member Aruzati.....” latching the entrance to the bar closed behind her, she started introducing the other two entities in the room besides herself and marschal. From the way she trailed off, it was implied she’d introduce herself once she could clearly see the little girl. In spite of her hair matching the girl’s description of her older sister? There was no reason for anyone to suspect it was Jiyu, she never mentioned anything of having family. Yet? She never mentioned much about her past to begin with, considering that was never in a run away’s best interests. “And I’m-” it was the very second she could finally see past Marschal’s large form. The child she saw was much younger than the one Marschal was currently looking at, holding right now. Instead of a ten year old? She was seeing something no older than a toddler looking up at her with bright sparkling eyes, large beaming smile, bidding for her attention, even back when she had no desire to it give it to the kid. It was quicker than anyone could possibly react to, her hands tightening around the glass, finger’s paling to sheet white as her eye’s trembled. Slowly the form of the toddler vanished, transforming into the near tween who actually existed there, but the person was the same, the child here was, she couldn’t believe this. Jiyu couldn’t even so much as speak, every muscle in her body seemed to disobey her at once, hands releasing the glass of juice entirely. Like the consciousness of the demoness? The dishware and it’s contained substance, fell to the ground shattering and splashing all at once. As the item broke at her feet, sending juice and shards of glass everywhere. She was momentarily distracted from everything, by pain ripping through her leg, one of the shard’s making itself a home in her appendage, blood beginning to leak down her leg.

A single word left the mouth of the deathly pale, wide eyed wind mage.  

“Rose”

Clearly ignoring the anger that was at least somewhat present in Marshal's voice, the little girl continued clinging to him, taking this more as a game than anything else. The way she was, she would never search for negativity in these situations, meaning that getting mad at her was probably completely futile and would yield no results what so ever. If that was good or bad thing, well... everyone around her had to decide that for themselves. While it was most likely rather annoying for some, for others it could be a relaxing change of someone bringing positivity into the room with each of their gestures. Even now, Rose was giggling and eyeing the giant cat, not really listening to what he had to say. Besides, Marschal Leigh? Why would she have to call him by a name that complicated all the time. Mr. Marcy Kitty! That was his new name, apparently. Trying to force her into addressing him properly how he wanted was really just hopeless and time wasting. As she was lifted by his arms, her attention shifted from a place where to grab back to his fluffy kitty ears and she was not that far from being able to reach it. Trying to grab on to them with her tiny palms, it probably looked a bit comedic... a little child being held up as she desperately flails around, trying to touch the floofy. Speaking of which, another furred being joined the scene as the tanuki leaped from the table and started talking. This really was a world filled with magic where every other animal could talk and complain about humans, wasn't it? At least it managed to grab the little girl's attention for now so she would no longer try to grab Marshal's ears and accidentally tear them off his head...

Waah! It's a talking doggy!! In her sparkling eyes that were full of life, she didn't really see any difference between an actual dog and whatever this one was. Being the little kid she was, there was still plenty of things she had never seen and things she had to learn at some point. But so far, no other tanukis appeared in her life, so it was no surprise that she decided to call Izayuki just a doggy. Now she was trying to turn in the kitty's hold while flailing her hands towards the animal with the intention of grabbing it and examining it thoroughly. Especially since that silver fut looked extremely comfy and very pettable! And the fact that it talked didn't really seem to bother all that much, as she was just too focus on wanting all this physical activities instead of listening properly and learning things. She was just looking for her big sister, but now it also turned into some sort of petting zoo or something similar to that. Mr kitty said that this was no place for a little girl such as herself, but it seemed like the exact opposite was the truth right now, this inn was absolutely the best of the best for little children that loved animals! Come here littly doggy, don't be afraid~ She tried beckoning to Iza and if she had some sort of biscuit or other treat, it would most likely be already out at this point, trying to use it in order to befriend this little creature. But for Iza herself, it would be probably for the best if she stayed where she was, unless she was willing to get squished. Death by hug, it is a very sweet and horrible way to go, and someone could suffer it in the near future if not careful enough!

And then another voice sounded from behind the bar that was not too far away from their current position. While mister kitty was the first one to greet little Rose, it seemed that many other inhabitants of this inn were interested in what was going on in front of the entrance door. And what more, that voice made Rose's ears and her whole body twitch slightly. A voice that sounded like the sweetest melody inside of her eardrums, something that she heard many times before. Though it was usually muddled in the dreams, she always imagined it singing lullabies for the little child when she wasn't able to fall asleep. It was a shame that it wasn't happening for real, but it was probably better than nothing. And then the girl came to a full view, seeing this odd scene for herself. It must have surprised her quite a bit, given her reaction. But little Rose was too focused on the other girl's body to see what the fallen object had caused, it didn't really interest her at all. While her clothes were different than what she was used to in the dreams, Jiyu was still Jiyu! And forcing her way out of Mr. Kitty's hands, she proved that she's way stronger than any normal 10-years-old girly. "Big sis Jiyu~!" That was her response to hearing her own name said by her elder sister after all this time. It was so long, she didn't even remember when she heard that voice directly and it made her more happy than anything. Unable to control herself, she bolted straight towards her sister and tackle hugged her, forcing her weaker body to the floor as she buried her face into Jiyu's chest, wrapping her tiny arms around her body as much as she possibly could. "Ehehe, it's big sis Jiyu~" She was repeating those words over and over again, almost not believing that this was happening herself! She had finally found her, after so many years.