Eosphoros

Kite Wilhelm

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

❧

All was currently quiet within the guildmaster’s office, the only sounds interrupting this fragile state were that of the woman turning a page once every couple of minutes and the ticking of the small wooden clock placed upon the corner of her desk.
Purple eyes scanned the pages of the large book in front of her, staring intently as if she wished to burn the information into her corneas permanently. This was backed by how she was positioned, leaning forward almost entirely onto her neatly tidied desk, her head being held up only by the way her opened hand rested on her chin and in which her elbow ever so carefully fit onto the edge of her desk, nowhere near leaning back into the back of her cushioned work office chair. Perhaps a bad way to sit, as this sort of position could later in life lead to some major back issues. But while she was alone the slayer was not one to worry about her appearance like she normally did when others were around. The information she was gathering was too important for her mind to think about what position her back was in. One might ask what was so important to the girl that she did not fear for her back. The answer would be that her favorite author had just recently produced another book within a series she had adored since childhood. Anne of Green Gables. It has been years since the last book was written, or even since the silvernette had laid her eyes upon her own copies. So when she found out a new book had been released you could imagine she dropped everything and got her hands on the closest copy she could find in town. Lucky for her, this series apparently wasn’t that popular anymore, and there were many copies left in stock from her to choose from. Someone might wonder why she was so invested in this series, to the point where she would drop her entire schedule for the afternoon to enjoy it. It was simple, she related to Anne a lot. As a child she was often left alone to her own thoughts and ideals, letting her imagination run wild and intervene with everyday activities, usually getting her in trouble in some way. The same could be said for Anne, as an orphaned child who let her mind get the best of her and happened to be quite the drama queen in her own special way. Astrid projected herself onto Anne, and could relate to all of the emotions she felt as she tried to get along with a world that was the complete opposite of her. As a child the slayer found much comfort in knowing she was not the only person in this world that worked the way she did.
… Orphan…
Now that Astrid thought about it, maybe she related to Anne a little too much in light of recent events…

Interrupting her thoughts was a soft knock at her office door. Unexpecting of it Astrid flinched back, instinctively straightening her posture and looking towards the entrance. She blinked once. Last time she checked she had indeed specifically cleared her entire schedule so she could get fully invested into this book, so she was not expecting anyone. Maybe it was important. Letting out a small sigh she eyes looked back down to her book, already missing reading its pages. Guess she would have to save this for later. Unless this was not actually important and someone was just messing with her, to which the silvernette would not respond well too. There might be quite the lecture in store to the smart person who would dare interrupt her time for trivial things when she told them not to.
She reached over the large book to grab a bookmark and slide it into the corner of the open page before closing it, shoving the book over to make way for her arms to rest neatly on top of the desk, intertwining her fingers together neatly.
“Come in” she called, in a somewhat irritated manner.
Opening the door slightly was none other than Fortuna. A green eye slid into the open crack before opening it all the way, revealing herself in full and standing just at the entrance. The blue haired woman bowed apologetically.

“I apologize for interrupting you on your day off, Lady Astrid, but there is someone waiting near the portal.”
Astrid’s expression turned curious. Perhaps a new member? If so then she supposed she should give them a greeting. But she was not aware there were any new members joining right now, at least none that she had heard of.

“Who is it?”

Fortuna shook her head. “I am afraid i do not know. He does give off a powerful magic energy however… And a scent of baked bread. Do you wish for me to to get rid of them?”

“Bake bread?” Astrid repeated, unsure why that felt so familiar. Well, now she really did have a reason to go see. If she did not she would get this nagging feeling in the back of her mind. There was no going back to her book until it was solved. She hummed, standing to her feet slowly, as if she had to force herself to get up.
“That won’t be necessary. I suppose i will go see what they want.” Looking back to Fortuna the girl would shoo her off with a flick of her hand. “Just make sure to clear my schedule for another day.”

"Yes, Lady Astrid." Fortuna would bow again and shuffle out of the door, leaving the door cracked open behind her for the guild master to exit through.

“Baked bread… How curious…” Why was that so familiar? Astrid couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Well, she guessed she was about to find out. Gathering the light around her the slayer used it to increase her speed, and in a burst of light, she seemed to simply vanish from her room.

The blue portal atop Phoenix Mountain would grow out of nothing and begin to pulsate, spitting out a silver light that eventually reformed into Astrid before the portal once again consumed itself and disappeared.
The wind having misplaced her hair from her speedy movement the woman flicked a piece from her shoulder around to her back where it belonged. She placed a hand upon her hip, looking out onto the mountain top. That’s where she spotted him. The unmistakable figure of Kite, and his airship. Baked bread… Now that made sense. The last mission they were on she could remember specifically smelling the scent of baked bread coming from him. And he was quite powerful. The small description Fortuna gave her fit. But, why was he here? Not that she was angry about it, in fact, this was worth interrupting her reading time. She hadn’t seen the demon slayer since they freed the people of Kyoka a while ago, and she did think of him as a friend. But she was curious what this surprise visit was about.
A small smile graced her lips, walking forward to the taller man.
“Bonjour, mon, ami” she greeted softly. “It has been a while. What brings you all the way out here to Phoenix Mountains?”

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Kite Wilhelm

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

❧

At the comment about about appearance the girl grew bashful with her easily embarrassed nature. A slight haze of pink flushed her pale cheeks and she sheepishly sunk down in place, at first fidgeting her eyes away from him before looking back. But her soft smile stayed strong. "Tu me flattes you flatter me so, monsieur" she laughed, regaining her composure enough to once again stay formal. She did not take it as a romantic gesture. In fact even if he meant it romantically she probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Astrid was rather daft when it came to anything involving romance. Someone could be hitting on her and it would go right over her head. Rather, she was just very conscious about her body and how she presented herself. So to get praised for her looks was something she enjoyed... Though she was very embarrassed to hear someone say it most of them time. She did appreciate it in reality. She just found it awkward.
Apparently, the man was here to take her on another adventure. But the elf could not help but find it funny with how he stated it. He was going to 'whisk her away', as he said. Like something a brave knight would do in one of her stories. She let out another laugh, this one not as sheepish as the last. "Whisk me away? You sound like a knight on a white horse who just rescued the princess from a tower." Maybe it was because she had books on the brain today, or maybe Kite really was just a knighty kind of guy. He was only missing the armor and a trusty steed.
But before she could even think about going on an adventure the demon slayer asked how she appeared to have materialized out of nowhere. Ah, yes. Everyone who came here asked the same thing. The only people who knew the secrets of the mountains were the guild members themselves and close allies. It was not a widely known secret, mostly to ensure the guild's safety.
The slayer lifted her hand to show the back of it, where her pale blue phoenix mark was displayed proudly.
"That's a secret i'm afraid. Only guild members and a select few can know..." Pausing she would give him a sly grin that mirrored his own.
"But maybe if i go on this adventure and you show me this surprise i can show you my guild in return~" It was not that she didn't trust Kite, in fact, she really did. But now as the guild master she had to be sure to share the guild's secrets only with those that she had an unbreakable bond with. She didn't want to jeopardize her guild after all. So a trade was only fair. If he was able to go through this mission with her and prove he was actually as close as she thought they were she would be able to trust him enough with one of her biggest secrets.
"What do you say? Deal?"

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Kite Wilhelm

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

❧

Seems like her comment about knights had struck something within the demon slayer's mind as he began to refer to himself as her hero. The whole thing came off as hilarious to the elf. Not because it was funny per say, though it was funny to hear someone refer to themselves as someone's knight. It made her feel like an actual fairy tale character from one of her books. She found it cute how he was having so much fun flinging that title around. She let out another smaller laugh, this time not as awkward. Did this mean she was the princess? Maybe so. She had always wanted to be a princess, even when she was younger. They held such a regal and nice presence without even trying, she wanted to be able to do something like that with the same little to no effort. It's something the slayer has been trying to imitate for years now. If it worked or not depended on situation to situation, but most of the time she would like to think she gave off the aura of royalty... Even if in reality she was just from a small family of musicians.
Moving on from that fun little moment Astrid was relieved when her fellow guild master agreed to her terms. Not that she thought he'd get angry or anything, she just didn't want any distrust between them. She thought if anything he'd maybe get offended that she needed to ask such a thing, but lucky for her the man didn't seem like he was offended. As though it was all they needed to seal the deal Astrid shook his hand within her own. The want to spit on her hand like her brother had taught her when they were children and do it that way was great, but not great enough to actually do it with someone like Kite. Lucius had told her it was even greater at keeping promises if you did something like cut open your hand and mix your blood or spit into it when you made a deal as though it meant something more than just a regular handshake, and ever since then the two had always done it that way whenever they made a deal. So sometimes when it was with other people the slayer would almost always get the urge to do it. But of course, unless the other person knew what you were doing it might seem a little gross or unacceptable. So the elf would not do it... This time. Though she did have to wonder if other people did do it, or if it was just her and her brother... Maybe they were just weird. Who knew.
Like to imitate the first time they had met Kite would offer the silvernette his arm. It has not been long since they first met, but at this point, it might as well feel like a year to her. It brought a sense of familiarity, something she welcomed dearly as she interlocked her arm with his as shook her head "i am fine. Summer can look after the guild while i am gone. There are two guild masters for a reason after all~" she smiled and followed with him to the ship.
Releasing herself from his arm once on the ship purple eyes began to look over the metal cargo room. She turned in place and caused her footsteps to rattle the floor, taking in exactly how large this was. Not as large as the guild ship mind you, but still rather large for a personal ship. She figured he must go on a lot of adventures and bring back things from them. She hadn't taken Kite as an adventurer, but honestly she didn't exactly know a lot about him to begin with anyway. Don't judge a book by its cover, as they say. While looking around a voice suddenly rung through the room, catching Astrid off guard at first, but relaxing once again when she realized it was just an AI. She heard Kite give it her full title, and then referred to her by her name. She paused. Was she supposed to respond? If she didn't would it hurt the AI's feelings? She didn't know a whole lot about AI, so she figured she would treat it as an actual person with feelings and cognitive thought. She blinked, looking up to the top of the cargo room where the voice seemed to originate from. "T-Thank you, EDI" she finally responded, unsure of what else she could really say to it.
Kite then set his coordinates to the Wakusei portals, the place where they first met. It only occurred to her now, but she had forgotten what exactly Kite wanted from her. He said he had a mission, but other than that he had not given any details. Should she ask?
Figuring it was important to ask she turned to him, but before she got to he asked her some questions of his own. Had she eaten today? She could not recall... Being so tired so often it was a wonder she could even remember her own name at times... Something she also did forget if tired enough. "I do not have a preference for our tour, however i could maybe go for something to eat." It was better safe than sorry to assume she hadn't eaten then think she did when she hadn't.

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Kite Wilhelm

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

❧

Jokes? The AI even knew jokes. The elf really had no idea how advanced AI had become...
As soon as Kite told her about this strange function the ship wanted to prove him correct and asked a question, a sort of wind up for the joke. What do you call cow with no legs? Well physically impaired if she wanted to be blunt about it. But Astrid wasn't the best at jokes, so she wouldn't answer with her first thought. Sitting on it for a while she eventually gave up trying to think and stared back up to the roof. "I do not know. What do you call a cow with no legs?"

Ground beef. Of course. Ground beef. It took her a second to get it, but as soon as she did the silvernette let out a small snort before erupting into a wild fit of laughter. Her arms wrapped around her chest tightly, as if she had to hold herself up to prevent herself from falling to her knees. "Ground beef! Of course! That's a good one." she let out through her laughs, wiping the corners of her eyes to rid them of the tears building up from laughing so hard. Finally after a few seconds of losing herself to her easily impressed humor her fit calmed down and she gasped back in the air she had lost in doing so, though a few stray giggles still managed to escape from her lips from time to time. "That's brilliant, i'll have to remember that one" she smiled. This AI really was like a human, cheesy jokes and all.
Now after laughing so hard she really did build up quite an appetite. Maybe laughing really did burn calories.
Noticing the sudden emptiness in her stomach she wiped away the few remaining tears from her eyes before grabbing onto his hand. "That sounds lovely."
She followed his lead through the ship, impressive by how it could look so much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. A few steps and hallways later, they would find themselves in the kitchen. A kitchen of all things... Honestly you could probably live in this ship if you wanted to. It was big enough, and had pretty much everything a house had and more. She began to wonder if she actually did live in here... Though she guessed it wasn't really any of her business, but it wouldn't surprise her. Not with the busy lifestyles mages lived these days. They practically lived and breathed their work. It would be convenient to live in a ship.
Stepping over the bulkhead she let got of his hand as her eyes landed over to where he was currently pointing, towards a wooden table and chairs. It was funny to see such a old style set in a futuristic airship, but it was nice to see not everything needed to be so high tech these days. "I have nothing against pancakes, they sound nice right about now."
She seated herself across from where he was currently beginning to make some pancakes, as to not obscure their vision from one another of course. Her feet propped themselves onto the bar of the chair below her, being annoyed by the fact her feet didn't quite touch the ground. Seems her height once again got the better of her, even here.
"I do have questions. I assume you didn't drag me out here just to serve me breakfast, so what and where exactly is it that you are taking me to? Oh, chocolate chips are fantastic, merci."
Chocolate chip pancakes... Talk about a food she hasn't had in a while. Just the thought of them was enough to make her stomach rumble. But even more so she was curious about where he was taking her. It wasn't everyday that Kite asked for her to go somewhere with him, so it left the slayer in a state of question, especially with how vague he was about it in the first place.
She rested her hands onto the table, intertwining her fingers together properly.

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