Ready. Set. HEAL! [Job | Astrid]

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

She had heard the legends of a creature within these mountains whose coat was able to heal any sickness or wound, no matter how serious they were. Of course, she was a Golden Phoenix members after all, the guild resided around these very mountains, how could she have not? The children in the town talked about it a lot, resitting their bedtime stories their parents told them. Everyone around these parts at least knew about it. So when a job appeared on her desk the other day about a noble in dire need of this mythical creature, Astrid accepted it without hesitation. She figured it would be a good way to see for herself if this creature was real. And to see it with her very own eyes, surely an offer like this would never come again... Well, and of course it was to help the noble too. The slayer was very concerned for his health and safety, like she would be for anyone else. But seeing the healing deer was sure to be in a once in a lifetime experience. There was no way she would pass this up with those two details in mind.

It had taken a while to climb down the rocky terrain of the mountains. But not as long or rough than it normally would be thanks to Chanson. It seems that the yellow Chocobo was now use to traversing the mountains. With his long legs and light body he was easily able to leap over the largest of rocks and narrowest of paths. It was surprising. The ace wasn't aware of how fast the bird was. If anything from his funny-looking appearance she had always assumed Chocobos were a flying bird. But it turns out they can't actually fly, despite sporting a nice-looking pair of wings. They were only able to glide and run. And at that, run at amazing speeds.
Not that she was the fastest ever, but Astrid was pretty fast herself. Even then she knew any Chocobo could easily outrun her, or at least give her a run for her money.
After only a couple of minutes did the two reach the last reported sighting of the deer. A strange, meadow place just a little east of the guild. Astrid was not aware this place even existed. Though that was no unusual. The Phoenix Mountains may be her guild’s home, but they were still rather dangerous. It wasn’t smart to go anywhere unexplored alone incase the animals in the area turned hostile… And it wasn’t just the phoenixes either. In fact, the phoenixes were of little problem. Anyone who had Golden Phoenix’s guild mark was instantly safe from the firebirds. Rather, it was the other creatures in these mountains she had to worry about. New joiners of the guild often reported to her weird sounds and groans when they arrived.
If only there was a better way for joiners to actually join their guild instead of either trudging through the dangerous mountains or waiting in the town for a member to escort them… Maybe she would bring it up to Elyx at a later date.

Lost in thought, the ace had almost missed the strange aura coming from her destination. If it wasn’t for Chanson squawking up to her in a warning, she might have run into this person. Jolted up from the bird’s noises Astrid pulled on the leather reins around his beak, causing him to come to a halt just before Kiru. “Arrêt!” she commanded just as the large bird skidded to a stop. There was a person here? The silvernette wasn’t sure why. She couldn’t remember the job specifying a partner… Though she was forgetful, she could have forgotten or missed it completely.
The ace tugged at the reins, making Chanson turn in place so she could peer down more easily at the girl before her. She turned her head to the side, caught very much off guard by her appearance. The black and white hair… It was strange. Definitely not natural. Maybe she dyed it? It was the only explanation she could think of.
But as strange as it was… It was also rather… Familiar. Though Astrid could not quite put a finger on why. It was like she had seen this girl somewhere before… Perhaps in her travels? Though one would think with that hair she would not be so forgettable…
Realizing she had been staring at this girl’s hair for a weird amount of time now Astrid shook her head, offering the mage a smile.
“Bonjour, madame. May i ask what you are doing here? These mountains are not safe.”
If was the safest question she could ask. This girl did not feel like a new member. If she was she would definitely not be sitting here picking flowers… Or maybe she got distracted? The ace wouldn’t blame her if that was the case, she too liked to stop and pick flowers sometimes. It was a rather calming activity. But around here? It was dangerous to do so.

843/6,000 ● @tag ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

Houyhnhnm?
The girl knew the name of the beast of which this mission was created for. Then she must be her partner. Though is was strange that Astrid could not remember the job specifying she was going to have a partner... But, she would not complain. The more the merrier, as they say. She would be having some backup for this, which reassured the girl. She had been taking on missions alone too much recently. Having someone beside her would make things much easier.
The dragon slayer nudged herself off from Chanson's back to plop onto the ground. She gave him a single rub upon his feathered neck as thanks for getting her this far. She was originally going to try and do this entire mission while riding him, but now that she had company, that probably wouldn't work... And would be unfair to Kiru if she had to walk the whole way while the silvernette rode on beast.
"Un moyen" she commanded firmly, to which the overgrown bird would give her a squawk in response, turning back to which the two came from and quickly speeding off in that direction. Watching him go, Astrid would turn to Kiru once more, offering a bright smile.
"Yes, i was also contracted to track down Houyhnhnm" the ace would offer the water mage a friendly hand to shake. "I am Astrid, of Golden Phoenix. It's a pleasure to meet you. Though, it is a bit of a surprise. I had assumed i would be going at this mission alone. But, i do not object to it. Missions go a lot smoother when there are more people, yes?" At least, higher ranking jobs went a lot quicker with more people. Going at the lowering rank jobs alone wasn't too bad, but the higher the missions, the more people you bring usually the better the mission goes. At least, in her experience...
The dragon slayer moved her hands behind her back, intertwining her fingers together to stand in a more comfortable manner, yet one that was still rather formal; as was her way.

"Anyway, i guess we should get this going before it gets too late. After dark the mountains become even more dangerous than they are in the day, and the dark probably wouldn't help either." The sooner they began, the sooner they would find the horse. And the sooner they found the horse, the quicker they could get out of here before anything bad happens.

1,256/6,000 ● @tag ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The woman's large range of vocabulary and analytical dialogue was a bit hard for Astrid to keep track of. While altogether she could make out what she was saying through all the fancy and over the top words it still took the dragon slayer a bit of time to get used to and digest it. It was obvious she didn't come across such advanced language often. Really, she tried to avoid sugar coating her words as much as possible since with her deafness the English language was still a strange and foreign realm once you got past the basics.
From what she gathered, the demon slayer was asking about some of the aforementioned creatures she hinted at. The ace placed a thoughtful finger near the bottom of her lips, looking off to the side.
"I wouldn't say the landscape is all that safe either. It can get really rocky in some places, so we will have to watch our step. But overall the wildlife here will be our biggest concern. The phoenixes are fine as long as i'm around, they don't bother Golden Phoenix members. Other than them there are a lot of the normal things here. Fairies, wolves, deer, goats. But they don't tend to attack unless provoked, so i'm sure if we mind where we're going we won't run into any of them." Well, that went for the wolves, deer, and goats at least. Fairies are a whole other problem. Little tricksters, always where you least expect it. They have a tendency to annoy people just for the hell of it, because they think its fun. Astrid could recall the last time she had run into them. What she had thought was just a nice offering of flowers turned out to be... Poison ivy... Even to this day she could still feel a painful tingle on her palms whenever she thought about it. But, maybe now that there were two pretty powerful mages here they would leave them alone. Or be nicer. Either one.

At Kiru's observation about the arrangement of partners, the rising star also shrugged. While it was true about how having another Golden Phoenix member on this job would have made more sense, she didn't really have an answer for it. "The council are weird with partners. I've been partnered up with some pretty strange combinations of people in the past. Some times i think they just have one of those lottery machines with every single mage's name on a ball and they crank out two random names and send them off." Though very unlikely, that was a funny image. Amused by her own idea the silvernette giggled to herself, imagining what exactly that would look like.

1,708/6,000 ● @tag ● rolling