by Today had started off like any other day, Poko had been reading within the library trying to learn as much as she could on whatever topic had recently piqued her interest, which happened to be the Phoenix Mountains, her guild base’s location. The blonde has decided to learn as much as she could about what surrounded them, it was of utmost importance that she be able to successfully understand her surroundings and as such had took it upon herself to further her knowledge. However, her stomach rumbled while mid-sentence, part way through the first volume about the geography of the area, she sighed realising that it was already lunch time and in need of sustenance of she was to be able to continue her studies, it was always unwise to research on an empty stomach, or so she believed. With that thought in mind she hopped out of her favourite armchair, placing the book carefully on top of the small pile she had picked out for her session and meandered out of the library and towards the mess hall.
Upon entering the dining area, her senses were overwhelmed by various delicious smells of today's main meals and various others that members had ordered specifically for themselves. Poko couldn't wait to taste what their head chef had cooked up today, she had culinary talent and magical meals that it it left the young blonde girl always craving the next meal. She strolled up, reading over the daily specials board, with three specific options, of course if she wanted to she was able to order her own type of meal, but she personally preferred trying new things at lunch time. In the end Poko decided to try the vegetarian option, ratatouille, as it was already made, she didn't have to wait more than a few seconds to receive her order, she scanned the guild's dinning hall, but didn't see any of her close friends and decided to instead sit alone to enjoy her food. It was absolutely amazing to say the least, even a simple vegetable casserole was made to taste utterly scrumptious, as usual.
It took Poko quite a while to completely polish off her meal as she enjoyed savouring every morsel, but when she did she sat back in her chair a satisfied look on her face. Life had been so good to her recently that she just had nothing to complain about. The blonde girl was about to finally pack up her lunch dishes and return to her research when she suddenly heard the guild hall doors open, her eyes shone a curious orange as she stared to see who would enter, perhaps it was a guild mate returning and she would have the chance to greet them. Her assumption proved to be incorrect, instead now standing before them seemed to be a half frozen man that she certainly did not recognise. Poko didn't even give a chance for anyone else to respond to his presence first, immediately she made her way over to him, her face full of concern for the man, clearly he had been out in the snowstorm for a long time. "Can I help you?" she would ask, smiling sweetly to the stranger.
The stranger eyed her tentatively, "A-ah... Y-yes..." he stuttered, although Poko couldn't tell if it was due to nerves or if he was simply still frozen. While the guild hall itself was protected by a warm barrier, it would still take a while for the frost of the surrounding blizzard to wear off. "M-my n-name's Ethan, I-I'm a l-little lost." The man admitted, as he started to shake his head, using his hand to help dust off some of the snow from his short, straight brown hair, "I-If you d-don't m-mind me asking, w-where am I?".
Poko beamed up at the man, so he was simply just lost, well she could help him then with ease. "I'm Poko, a member of Silver Wolf, this is our guild hall." she announced cheerfully, "Here let me help you warm up. I'll take you to the hotsprings and get you a some warm clothes." She stated, linking her arm in his and escorting him to the springs as she eyed him over trying to guess his size. He was a fair bit taller than her and semi-muscular, not as much as many of her guild mates, but enough that making a long trek through the mountains wouldn't be too difficult. When they got to the springs, Poko left Ethan at the door of the men's room, letting him know she'd get someone to bring him a change of warm clothing soon, he nodded and gave her thanks before going in, leaving Poko with a smile, she simply loved the feeling of helping someone in need.
Poko made sure to check up on him after half hour, asking someone to enter the male only springs in her stead, sure enough he was just finishing up and within a few minutes joined her in the hallway with a big, happy grin. "Thanks so much! I feel much better now, but I can't stay for too long, you see I'm from Peace Village and I got to make it to Dawn Village within two days. I thought I'd take a shortcut through the mountains, but instead I just got lost. If I don't head off again now, I'll be late for sure..." Ethan explained with a sigh, obviously upset about it all. "It's okay, if you like I can take you down to the end of the mountains to the station at Matza Valley, from there it's only a few hours by train." Poko offered with a cute yellow-eyed smile. The man looked like he was about to refuse the young girl's help but then remembered that she was in fact a mage at this guild and would probably know the mountains better than himself. "If it wouldn't be too much hassle, I would love that, er, Poko was it?" he asked politely.
"Correct." Poko stated, "We'll leave in ten minutes, I just need to grab a few things and we can be on our way, meet me at the guild entrance you came through earlier." she beamed as she ran off to head to her dormitory to grab her snow clothes, an extra coat for Ethan and a few travelling supplies. With her magical abilities the trip would be a lot faster than normal as they could fly over some of the mountain ranges, however her magic would only last so long so they would have to deal with some hiking, she would try to save most of her magic for the uphill parts, that seemed like the brightest plan. Once she gathered all her things in her large, brown backpack as well as planned out their journey she returned to the guild hall entrance, waving at Ethan as she walked up. "Alright let's go, be sure to stick by me and," Poko quickly looped a long rope around the two of them, tying it up in a knot that couldn't be undone without a little help with magic. It was long enough that if need be she could leave him to fight off beasts, but short enough that they wouldn't lose sight of each other in the blizzard. Ethan didn't say anything about it, in fact his expression told her he was more than happy to allow the two of them to be connected.
"Let's go then." Poko said, Ethan nodded, his face a little pink, but Poko didn't seem to notice as they made their way out of the guild base and towards the endless snow storm. The young blonde made sure to create a wind barrier around the two of them, to protect them from the harsh weather, which worked for the most part. Poko was well versed in getting through the blizzard and within the hour they were out of its reach, coming to a much calmer, but no less cold region of the mountains. "Well that's the hard part over at least!" Poko reassured her companion with a toothy grin, to which he returned with a cute smile of his own. "But now we have to take care not to run into too many creatures, there's a lot of magical beasts out here, for the most part they leave travelers alone, but you never know for sure."
"Ah, yes, actually I ran into some creatures on my way through already, in my panic I left the main trail and ended up in the storm..." Ethan admitted, looking down at his feet in embarrassment, to which Poko simply giggled, "It's alright, everyone makes stupid mistakes sometimes, luckily you found our base so now I can make sure you get to your destination safely and well on time!" She announced, beaming up at him with a smile so adorable it sent the boy into a furious blushing, turning his face away. Poko hadn't noticed however, as she was already heading off towards the trail she knew would take them to the valley. It was a well worn trail by the members of the guild on their journeys north, of which Poko herself was well acquainted, she used a bit of her aerokinesis to help speed them along, after warning her travel partner of course, she didn't want him to freak out this high up and accidentally slip and fall, or anything.
Poko heard the howl of nearby wolves in the mountains, setting off her fears, which she tried desperately to ignore, her eyes shining silver. Ethan didn't seem to notice her uneasiness, which was probably for the best, it would only make him just as scared. Luckily for both of them, they didn't come across any furry beasts, however, instead they found themselves walk straight into a trio of Ice Wraiths, a rare, but not extremely uncommon sight within the Phoenix Mountains. Poko knew all too well how to deal with them, "Take cover behind those rocks, I'll deal with them, don't come out till I give the all clear." She said quickly, untying herself from the shared rope, she didn't want it to hinder her in this battle. While they were easy enough for her to deal with alone, three could be pain. The boy nodded in her direction and did as he was bid, quickly hiding behind a large boulder nearby, occasionally peering behind to watch the female mage in action.
Poko quickly forced the air around both her hands and between her shoulders to condense, forming both a long, pale, nearly invisible sword and feathered like wings to match. The Wraiths while together, didn't seem to act as a unit, but individually instead, two of them shooting icicles in the young girl's direction while the other attempted to charge her head on, opening its mouth to reveal a jaw full of glistening ice-cold razor sharp teeth. "Not today buddy." Poko muttered to herself as she dashed towards him at lightning speed, seemingly teleporting in the air as she avoided the ranged icicle attacks and simultaneously met with the charging wraith, the flat part of her wind sword's blade striking it on the centre of its head. This caused it to rear up in surprise, putting it into a dazed state rather than simply cutting or slicing its hide. She didn't want to harm the creatures, simply scare them away so they could make their way safely to their destination. After all, she believed that death of all living creatures should be avoided when possible, no matter how evil. However, she also knew that death was sometimes necessary and she was willing to kill if need be, she just hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The creatures that had been shooting the ice from their mouths looked just as confused as to how she had moved so quickly, however they didn't hesitate and began firing again, sending ice flying towards her. Poko nearly didn't notice in time, only just dashing to the side and avoiding them as they hit the ground where she had been previously positioned, already they began to take aim at her again. These creatures sure were persistent. The blonde girl pulled a ribbon out of her pocket, quickly pulling her long flowing golden locks into a ponytail, it was time to get serious, a job that was much easier with her hair out of her face. Once confident, her eyes turned a bright red, full of fierce determination to send these creatures packing and ensuring the safety of her client. "Just get out of here!" She yelled, dashing, sword in had, swinging at the two next to each other at the same time, this time cutting them slightly enough to wound them, but not fatality injure them. Given a few hours they would be able to magically heal themselves with the help of the ice and snow in the area.
For some reason instead of fearing her, they just seemed to get angrier. "Ugh." Poko groaned as all three suddenly fired simultaneously at her, requiring her to dash away again. "Okay then, no more Mr Nice Guy." she announced, a shadow over her face, if they wouldn't leave of their own accord, then she would have to force them to. She allowed her sword to disappear, the air returning to its original form, before condensing the air above her to form tiny razors, sending three at each of the wraiths. They tried to dodge but her attack was too fast for them, sending them screeching a blood curdling howl that made Poko wince at the sound. She didn't want to hurt them, but if they didn't leave soon, she was going to have to make a fatal blow, she didn't want that. "Please, leave." Poko commanded in a voice so strong and powerful it made the creatures question their ability to beat her. As if understanding all three suddenly took off into the air, away from her as fast as possible. Poko let out an audible sigh, glad they finally got the point, her eyes returning to a calm, relaxed blue. "You can come out now." she whispered only just loud enough for Ethan to hear from behind the rocks. When the blonde girl turned to look at him, he seemed so shocked, as if he had completely underestimated her. "Th-that was AMAZING!" the boy yelled as he suddenly embraced the young girl in a hug, "I wish I could fight like that!" realising he was still holding her, he quickly let her go with a blush.
"I-it was nothing..." Poko squeaked, blushing now herself, very few people had ever complimented her on her magical abilties and it always caught her off guard, not to mention the sudden closeness, it was all a bit too much for her, "L-let's get going, we're not too far from the valley now." She muttered, quickly turning to hide her face as she removed the ribbon from her hair, allowing it to flow down naturally again. Ethan nodded, the rest of the journey was quiet, neither knowing what to say to break it, too nervous they would embarrass themselves further. Within a few hours they found themselves at the station, where Poko bid her new friend farewell, giving him a small hug. Much to her surprise he refused to let her go without payment, saying it was the least he could do for all her help. Poko tried to explain that it was more than enough just knowing she had helped someone, but he completely ignored her, shoving a small bag of jewels in her hand before winking and heading to catch his train. With that Poko found herself alone again, unsure what to do with herself next, whatever it was she would do it with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.
Upon entering the dining area, her senses were overwhelmed by various delicious smells of today's main meals and various others that members had ordered specifically for themselves. Poko couldn't wait to taste what their head chef had cooked up today, she had culinary talent and magical meals that it it left the young blonde girl always craving the next meal. She strolled up, reading over the daily specials board, with three specific options, of course if she wanted to she was able to order her own type of meal, but she personally preferred trying new things at lunch time. In the end Poko decided to try the vegetarian option, ratatouille, as it was already made, she didn't have to wait more than a few seconds to receive her order, she scanned the guild's dinning hall, but didn't see any of her close friends and decided to instead sit alone to enjoy her food. It was absolutely amazing to say the least, even a simple vegetable casserole was made to taste utterly scrumptious, as usual.
It took Poko quite a while to completely polish off her meal as she enjoyed savouring every morsel, but when she did she sat back in her chair a satisfied look on her face. Life had been so good to her recently that she just had nothing to complain about. The blonde girl was about to finally pack up her lunch dishes and return to her research when she suddenly heard the guild hall doors open, her eyes shone a curious orange as she stared to see who would enter, perhaps it was a guild mate returning and she would have the chance to greet them. Her assumption proved to be incorrect, instead now standing before them seemed to be a half frozen man that she certainly did not recognise. Poko didn't even give a chance for anyone else to respond to his presence first, immediately she made her way over to him, her face full of concern for the man, clearly he had been out in the snowstorm for a long time. "Can I help you?" she would ask, smiling sweetly to the stranger.
The stranger eyed her tentatively, "A-ah... Y-yes..." he stuttered, although Poko couldn't tell if it was due to nerves or if he was simply still frozen. While the guild hall itself was protected by a warm barrier, it would still take a while for the frost of the surrounding blizzard to wear off. "M-my n-name's Ethan, I-I'm a l-little lost." The man admitted, as he started to shake his head, using his hand to help dust off some of the snow from his short, straight brown hair, "I-If you d-don't m-mind me asking, w-where am I?".
Poko beamed up at the man, so he was simply just lost, well she could help him then with ease. "I'm Poko, a member of Silver Wolf, this is our guild hall." she announced cheerfully, "Here let me help you warm up. I'll take you to the hotsprings and get you a some warm clothes." She stated, linking her arm in his and escorting him to the springs as she eyed him over trying to guess his size. He was a fair bit taller than her and semi-muscular, not as much as many of her guild mates, but enough that making a long trek through the mountains wouldn't be too difficult. When they got to the springs, Poko left Ethan at the door of the men's room, letting him know she'd get someone to bring him a change of warm clothing soon, he nodded and gave her thanks before going in, leaving Poko with a smile, she simply loved the feeling of helping someone in need.
Poko made sure to check up on him after half hour, asking someone to enter the male only springs in her stead, sure enough he was just finishing up and within a few minutes joined her in the hallway with a big, happy grin. "Thanks so much! I feel much better now, but I can't stay for too long, you see I'm from Peace Village and I got to make it to Dawn Village within two days. I thought I'd take a shortcut through the mountains, but instead I just got lost. If I don't head off again now, I'll be late for sure..." Ethan explained with a sigh, obviously upset about it all. "It's okay, if you like I can take you down to the end of the mountains to the station at Matza Valley, from there it's only a few hours by train." Poko offered with a cute yellow-eyed smile. The man looked like he was about to refuse the young girl's help but then remembered that she was in fact a mage at this guild and would probably know the mountains better than himself. "If it wouldn't be too much hassle, I would love that, er, Poko was it?" he asked politely.
"Correct." Poko stated, "We'll leave in ten minutes, I just need to grab a few things and we can be on our way, meet me at the guild entrance you came through earlier." she beamed as she ran off to head to her dormitory to grab her snow clothes, an extra coat for Ethan and a few travelling supplies. With her magical abilities the trip would be a lot faster than normal as they could fly over some of the mountain ranges, however her magic would only last so long so they would have to deal with some hiking, she would try to save most of her magic for the uphill parts, that seemed like the brightest plan. Once she gathered all her things in her large, brown backpack as well as planned out their journey she returned to the guild hall entrance, waving at Ethan as she walked up. "Alright let's go, be sure to stick by me and," Poko quickly looped a long rope around the two of them, tying it up in a knot that couldn't be undone without a little help with magic. It was long enough that if need be she could leave him to fight off beasts, but short enough that they wouldn't lose sight of each other in the blizzard. Ethan didn't say anything about it, in fact his expression told her he was more than happy to allow the two of them to be connected.
"Let's go then." Poko said, Ethan nodded, his face a little pink, but Poko didn't seem to notice as they made their way out of the guild base and towards the endless snow storm. The young blonde made sure to create a wind barrier around the two of them, to protect them from the harsh weather, which worked for the most part. Poko was well versed in getting through the blizzard and within the hour they were out of its reach, coming to a much calmer, but no less cold region of the mountains. "Well that's the hard part over at least!" Poko reassured her companion with a toothy grin, to which he returned with a cute smile of his own. "But now we have to take care not to run into too many creatures, there's a lot of magical beasts out here, for the most part they leave travelers alone, but you never know for sure."
"Ah, yes, actually I ran into some creatures on my way through already, in my panic I left the main trail and ended up in the storm..." Ethan admitted, looking down at his feet in embarrassment, to which Poko simply giggled, "It's alright, everyone makes stupid mistakes sometimes, luckily you found our base so now I can make sure you get to your destination safely and well on time!" She announced, beaming up at him with a smile so adorable it sent the boy into a furious blushing, turning his face away. Poko hadn't noticed however, as she was already heading off towards the trail she knew would take them to the valley. It was a well worn trail by the members of the guild on their journeys north, of which Poko herself was well acquainted, she used a bit of her aerokinesis to help speed them along, after warning her travel partner of course, she didn't want him to freak out this high up and accidentally slip and fall, or anything.
Poko heard the howl of nearby wolves in the mountains, setting off her fears, which she tried desperately to ignore, her eyes shining silver. Ethan didn't seem to notice her uneasiness, which was probably for the best, it would only make him just as scared. Luckily for both of them, they didn't come across any furry beasts, however, instead they found themselves walk straight into a trio of Ice Wraiths, a rare, but not extremely uncommon sight within the Phoenix Mountains. Poko knew all too well how to deal with them, "Take cover behind those rocks, I'll deal with them, don't come out till I give the all clear." She said quickly, untying herself from the shared rope, she didn't want it to hinder her in this battle. While they were easy enough for her to deal with alone, three could be pain. The boy nodded in her direction and did as he was bid, quickly hiding behind a large boulder nearby, occasionally peering behind to watch the female mage in action.
Poko quickly forced the air around both her hands and between her shoulders to condense, forming both a long, pale, nearly invisible sword and feathered like wings to match. The Wraiths while together, didn't seem to act as a unit, but individually instead, two of them shooting icicles in the young girl's direction while the other attempted to charge her head on, opening its mouth to reveal a jaw full of glistening ice-cold razor sharp teeth. "Not today buddy." Poko muttered to herself as she dashed towards him at lightning speed, seemingly teleporting in the air as she avoided the ranged icicle attacks and simultaneously met with the charging wraith, the flat part of her wind sword's blade striking it on the centre of its head. This caused it to rear up in surprise, putting it into a dazed state rather than simply cutting or slicing its hide. She didn't want to harm the creatures, simply scare them away so they could make their way safely to their destination. After all, she believed that death of all living creatures should be avoided when possible, no matter how evil. However, she also knew that death was sometimes necessary and she was willing to kill if need be, she just hoped it wouldn't come to that.
The creatures that had been shooting the ice from their mouths looked just as confused as to how she had moved so quickly, however they didn't hesitate and began firing again, sending ice flying towards her. Poko nearly didn't notice in time, only just dashing to the side and avoiding them as they hit the ground where she had been previously positioned, already they began to take aim at her again. These creatures sure were persistent. The blonde girl pulled a ribbon out of her pocket, quickly pulling her long flowing golden locks into a ponytail, it was time to get serious, a job that was much easier with her hair out of her face. Once confident, her eyes turned a bright red, full of fierce determination to send these creatures packing and ensuring the safety of her client. "Just get out of here!" She yelled, dashing, sword in had, swinging at the two next to each other at the same time, this time cutting them slightly enough to wound them, but not fatality injure them. Given a few hours they would be able to magically heal themselves with the help of the ice and snow in the area.
For some reason instead of fearing her, they just seemed to get angrier. "Ugh." Poko groaned as all three suddenly fired simultaneously at her, requiring her to dash away again. "Okay then, no more Mr Nice Guy." she announced, a shadow over her face, if they wouldn't leave of their own accord, then she would have to force them to. She allowed her sword to disappear, the air returning to its original form, before condensing the air above her to form tiny razors, sending three at each of the wraiths. They tried to dodge but her attack was too fast for them, sending them screeching a blood curdling howl that made Poko wince at the sound. She didn't want to hurt them, but if they didn't leave soon, she was going to have to make a fatal blow, she didn't want that. "Please, leave." Poko commanded in a voice so strong and powerful it made the creatures question their ability to beat her. As if understanding all three suddenly took off into the air, away from her as fast as possible. Poko let out an audible sigh, glad they finally got the point, her eyes returning to a calm, relaxed blue. "You can come out now." she whispered only just loud enough for Ethan to hear from behind the rocks. When the blonde girl turned to look at him, he seemed so shocked, as if he had completely underestimated her. "Th-that was AMAZING!" the boy yelled as he suddenly embraced the young girl in a hug, "I wish I could fight like that!" realising he was still holding her, he quickly let her go with a blush.
"I-it was nothing..." Poko squeaked, blushing now herself, very few people had ever complimented her on her magical abilties and it always caught her off guard, not to mention the sudden closeness, it was all a bit too much for her, "L-let's get going, we're not too far from the valley now." She muttered, quickly turning to hide her face as she removed the ribbon from her hair, allowing it to flow down naturally again. Ethan nodded, the rest of the journey was quiet, neither knowing what to say to break it, too nervous they would embarrass themselves further. Within a few hours they found themselves at the station, where Poko bid her new friend farewell, giving him a small hug. Much to her surprise he refused to let her go without payment, saying it was the least he could do for all her help. Poko tried to explain that it was more than enough just knowing she had helped someone, but he completely ignored her, shoving a small bag of jewels in her hand before winking and heading to catch his train. With that Poko found herself alone again, unsure what to do with herself next, whatever it was she would do it with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.
[WC: 2656]
