Howl with the wolves (Rank D job)

Job Info:

Rinni Faithe stared in awe at the blue tattoo on her left hand. This was like a dream, it couldn't possibly be real. Did she actually join a guild? She couldn't stop doing double takes at the wolf head symbol that proved to the world who she was. She had a home. A pack, as they called themselves. And it was ironically befitting to her appearance and magic.

Today, Rinni and Timber were on a mission. Their first job. They were climbing the Phoenix Mountains together. Their goal: to reach the peek, build a campfire, and howl at the moon with other pack members. They weren't on this journey by themselves. 4 other Silver Wolf pack members had agreed to join the new girl. Everyone seemed so intrigued by her. She wasn't sure why. Maybe cause she was a wolf, or maybe just because she was new.

Rinni was nervous. Her body trembled, and her ears rested flat against her head hidden beneath her hood. So far, only Laila, Guild Mistress Leona, and anyone else who caught a glimpse that day in the dining hall knew what Rin looked like. She's still ashamed and tries to hide beneath that dark hooded cloak of hers.

Maybe one day she could come out of her shell and be comfortable in her own skin. But for now, it was up to the Silver Wolves to try to at least make her comfortable around them. They were her family now. A family was something she never had before. She wasn't sure how to behave nor how to feel about any of this. Guess she'd have to learn.

[word count 280]

Wearing her green-and-gold outfit with Argent Gloves and Adaptable Armor plus a backpack of supplies on her back, Leona left all her weapons back at the guild hall except the knife in her boot. She felt confident enough to leave behind her Nightshade Machete and Silver Longsword for three reasons. First, she was on home territory and could rely on the aid of the spirit wolves. Second, she was in the company of other guild members. Third, her magic was more than strong enough to repel the average intruder.

Leona followed behind Rinni while making sure that they had not been followed by forces hostile to the guild, whether it was Dark guild members or bandits. The spirit wolves made an excellent early warning system and first line of defense. If they required help from the guild members, chances were high that the spirit wolves would seek out and alert Leona to the threat. Leona would then rally other guild members to fend off the threat.

"Are you doing OK so far?" Leona asked Rinni. Rinni still appeared to be self-conscious about her appearance and was trying to conceal it with her cloak. The blonde hoped that the new member would find her place in Silver Wolf.

[Word Count: 210]

Trailing a bit behind was a man who seemed not to have a care in the world. Despite his inherent clumsiness and his awareness of it, he still chose to make a game of hopping rock to rock as they forged their way up the mountainside. Was he full grown adult? Yes, but that didn't keep Ike from enjoying himself whenever he got the chance.

Funny thing was he was actually prepared for once. The whole deal was to get to the top and build a fire, and while there might be some kindling and trees here and there, chopping them down later when they reached the right spot would be a giant pain he'd rather not do. Even if it could be done with magic, wouldn't it be smarter to be prepared before hand? Freshly cut wood didn't burn well anyway. Too green and wet. The black haired male might have a tendency to leap before he looked, but not when it came to travel and exploration, which he had categorized this event under. That said, on his back there was enough dry wood for a good sized fire. Perhaps it looked silly, but he was quite a bit stronger than he looked.

Soon he encountered a problem, though. His hopping and balancing act was thrown off by the extra weight on his back, so after a little while of amusing himself behind the guild master and one of their even-newer-than-him newbies, there was a sharp yowl and a heavy thunk. The lone male on this mission had toppled backward!

"I-I'm turtling! Help!" Ike squawked, laying on the pile of wood on his back in a very uncomfortable position. Neither his hands nor feet could reach anything to help right himself, so possibly the oldest of the group was left uselessly flailing and whining until someone came to help pull him forward back onto his feet and the path in general.

[322]

Breakfast was another random pick by Song that morning on what she ate. Lacking a preference, it was hard to pick what to eat in the guild outside of random pointing. The had lead her to eating french onion soup, toast, egg, and a fruit salad. The drink was simply warm spiced cider. Being blind, she was more likely to memorize the feeling of a person's magic. No matter how good she was at sensing things, it didn't help her see faces, or know what color was. To find out how someone looked, the spider would need to touch someone. This was also one of the reasons why appearances meant only something to be curious about. It was just sad that people tended to not enjoy getting touched as much as she wanted to touch. Why don't people want hands on their faces? She would get to do that eventually, though probably not with Yuvon. If there was one thing she learned about him, it was that he really cared about covering his face for some reason. In any case she dressed in her usual spider silk red shirt that day, leaving with her bag. The child had signed up to meet a newcomer at phoenix mountain to camp and do guild bonding stuff. The idea of bonding with guildmates sounded nice. She missed the closeness of family that had been in the orphanage within her old home. From traveling through the silver wolf mountainous area, her empty bag was slowly filled with onions, garlic, potatoes, spring onions, large mushrooms, radish, burdock root, sumac, and ginger root.

It was around the phoenix mountains that she added three-cornered leek, chickweed, blackberries, elderberries, and blueberries. Quality clothes and fabrics were easy for her to make, the silk from her being more valuable than the child could comprehend. When the girl did finally catch up to the pair that had started the journey to begin with, what she didn't expect to find? A guild member panicking and stuck on their back. Couldn't he just detach the pile of wood, get back up, and pick the wood up? Maybe this is why it was nice to be a spider, you can let go of a load without concern if it falls apart. Her silk threads allowed easy tying and binding of any items she wanted to carry that were light enough to hold. What did she do when finding this? One might think the right thing to do would be to help him up. Song felt the best way was to get the person off the bundle of wood. The eight legged girl walked up before pushing at the bundle. This would push and move the wood until the others feet could reach the ground. She wasn't going to pick them up or ask if they are okay. That in itself never really occurred to her, only to get the person to be able to walk again themself. Her pale yellow blind eyes pointlessly looked over the person that they could not see the details of before patting the top of his head.

"There there." Why did she do this? The last time she ever had to help someone up was with kids younger than her. Still, after that she got off the wood then went back to walking.

Words: 562

Behind the wolf-girl trailed Guild Mistress Leona, a clumsy and childish young man, a creepy spider-girl, and a very unusual young woman who for some odd reason preferred to remain as far from the group as possible. Rinni had only been with the guild for a short time and was still learning who was who. If memory served correct, the three behind them were called Ike, Song, and Kita. She wasn't going to bother learning last names right now. It was hard enough remembering everyone's first name. She hadn't known a friend since that knight who took her in, and she'd rather make a good impression with her new friends rather than slip up and forget their names.

Behind her, she heard Leona ask about her well being. "I'm fine, Mistress. Don't worry about me." In truth, Rinni was freezing. Her feet sunk deep into the show the higher they climbed. It was difficult for the small girl to walk as her height of 5'3" caused the deeper sections of snow to rise above her ankles. Even Timber seemed to struggle slightly when walking so the wolf decided to make a game of it. He began to leap through the snow, bounding effortlessly ahead of the humanoids behind him.

"Show off."

The two only stopped when they heard a male voice behind them calling for help. Both Rinni and Timber's ears twitched and perked up. Rinni's ears created small lumps under her hood, the tip of her tail flashing in and out of view as the high winds of this mountain range blew her cloak about. Girl and wolf both looked back to see what the trouble was only to spot poor Ike flat on his back attached to the logs he had decided to bring along for their camp.

Rinni smirked in amusement and had started to head back to help him until she spotted Song climbing over him with those creepy spider legs of hers. This caused Rinni to freeze where she stood and give an involuntary shudder. She was really scared of spiders and wasn't looking forward to hanging out with one. She also noted before they started their little hike that Song enjoys touching everyone and everything. Apparently, the child was blind. That didn't bother Rinni as much as the fact of her being half spider. This journey was going to be harder than she planned.

"Hey, look at it this way. The girl is a wolf spider, so we should get along great!"

"Easy for you to say. You're not afraid of spiders."

"She's not a spider, Rin."

"She's half spider..."

"And you're half wolf. Remember how you felt being bullied. Give the girl a chance, at least."

Rinni shook her head and sighed, her ears flattening once more under her hood. "You're right, Tim. I... I'll try to get... to know her..." Just as long as Song didn't get too close or try to touch her, she probably won't panic. Hopefully. Maybe. Rinni turned and continued her hike toward the peek as Timber leaped and bound through the snow ahead of her.

[855/750]

Leona looked behind her and saw that she was joined by new arrival Ike Fukunaga as well as older guild members Song Talea and Kitalpha Aurence. It had been awhile since the last time Leona had seen Kitalpha... in fact the last time she had seen the blonde guild member was during the search for the Testament of Stars. She was glad to see the guild member again because it was nice to have older guild members to help guide the new ones.

Ideally Leona would do it herself, but she was frequently away on jobs of importance to the guild, like securing books from the Order of Lightbringers and keeping the sultan from deciding to annex or wipe out Nebdoui and its allies. Leona would have to slow down and help the new members with their jobs by ensuring that they had an experienced and powerful protector at their side... if they wanted it. Eoduun had been by the Guild Master's side during the turbulent early days after Poko left and now she needed to make times to help the new members. She could make room on her schedule to help Rinni, Eros, and Usagi find their place in Silver Wolf. For now she would make sure everyone got to howl at the moon.

"Hi Ike. How's it going?" Leona asked one of the newer members. She had worked with him during the exploration of Tsak Ordahic with Fairy Tail and West Fiore Trading Company. She still did not know the full extent of what he could do, but he was only slightly less powerful than she was. Still, magical power was not everything.

She panicked when she saw that he had fallen over. She rushed to his side and extended a gloved hand to help him up, a blush coating her face after asking a dumb question. Song had sprinted to his side and made it just a little bit before the Guild Master did. She had pushed the hapless Ike to his feet by using the wood he was carrying as leverage and the situation had been resolved. Leona lowered her hand and felt awkward again.

Leona's glance then turned to Song Talea, the heroine of the Santa invasion who stopped the not-so-jolly man's plans to punish all of Earthland for the actions of a few by giving an emotional plea that made Santa reconsider his plans and leave without further violence. Song had held her own during the fighting and seemed to be a good team player. She was doing quite well for herself in Silver Wolf.

"Hi Song. I'm glad that you made it!" Leona greeted the half-spider member of the guild.

Leona spotted Kitalpha hanging back from the rest of the group. Kitalpha was someone who she had met a couple of times but had never really gotten to know. All the Guild Master knew was that Kitalpha had been part of Silver Wolf before Leona was recruited by Leila herself. Leona respected the older member's wish to have some privacy and gave a wave of her gloved hand. She then turned back to Rinni, who was leading the group.

Leona saw that the wolf-girl was doing all right and making her way through the snow without much trouble. Timber was looking after her until the Guild Master could get there. Rinni seemed to be slowly but surely adapting to life in the guild. It would take time for the newcomer to adapt, but Leona felt that she would get there given enough time.

[Word Count: 600]
[Total Word Count: 810/500]

While for most it'd be embarrassing to fall backwards and get stuck at his age, Ike seemed to lack the ability to get embarrassed on his own account. He was just happy people were around to help him get back on his feet, since the firewood was rather important for this whole shindig to happen. Otherwise they'd be less howling at the moon and more like aggressively teeth chattering at it instead.

Having a half spider half kid pat him on the head was one of the more odd things he could place in recent memory. He blinked a couple times in response, though said nothing. He didn't know any other spiderkids, so this could be normal for their culture for all he knew. Ike might rare think things through, but he tried to be mindful of deepthroating his own foot. "Thanks," he responded with an awkward grin, turning his carmine eyes on the blonde approaching at the end. He didn't miss her stifling her chuckles, though the jello mage was far from insulted. He chuckled himself now, fully able to laugh at his own situations and showing her it was okay to do so as well. Ike didn't take himself seriously at all. Laughing was good for the soul and he fully encouraged everyone to do so. He quite enjoyed making others laugh, even if it wasn't intentional sometimes. "Yes, she's very helpful at helping clumsy idiots from turtling, isn't she?" he commented to Kitalpha, reaching to scratch the back of his head. If no one had been paying attention to him before, they were now, weren't they? Jumping from boulder to boulder had been a dumb idea.

He'd even earned Leona's concern. Being unable to answer her question earlier due to his own misstepping, he chose to answer it now that she was blushing at the obvious answer. "Smooth as sandpaper, boss!" the black haired man chirped, now starting to move ahead once more. Most of the group had converged on his location, but the newest of the guild continued on ahead with her wolf. He'd yet to meet the young wolf girl, but surely during this hang out he'd get the pleasure at some point. It'd be rather silly to volunteer for an event and remain a long wolf...ha! Get it? Lone wolf? Silver Wolf? The girl was a wolf girl? Haha, his mental joke caused him to snort to himself. "Let's catch up with the leader of the pack. This wood is getting heavy and I'm ready to make a warm fire. It's so cold up here..."


[753/500 - WC met]

Songs blind eyes glanced a bit to the new female voice, a bit confused by the words. "That's just normal helping?" It was normal to her anyway. She couldn't see Rinnis expression, thus had no idea that anyone there had any fear of her. Because of this the girl didn't react to it in the slightest. When it came to snow? The arachnid half was from a people that simply naturally had a lot of balance as a whole. She could walk on snow, sand, and in general a lot of random surfaces that aren't always easy for those with two legs. While it didn't mean the youth couldn't trip, it did make it a little harder. Her blind eyes soon moved to look at leona. The smaller of the Taleas waved to Leona, sporting her normal cheerful smile. "It's fun going to different places and I wanted to meet the new person. The snow is really easy to deal with now after I got used to the weird sound dampening effect it has on an area, its a lot like sand." The desert could get as cold as ice at night, so the cold part wasn't so off at certain hours too. The sand type of desert was a lot less wet than snow though. Her feet quickly moved along the  chilled ground, pausing when she heard the mans words. Did he insult himself? "I always thought it was just harder to walk on two legs? Is it harder to walk with two legs?" Of course now she was wondering herself. Song had only ever had eight legs her whole life. When puberty hits, her human secondary traits will develop more, as will her spider ones. Spiders gain their colors and marks, some even gain more of a firm carapace. "Is there a way to find out?" Now the girl was curious, but was there really any way to find out? Two legs tend to be thicker than spider legs, like they should be firm? But shes noticed humans tended to trip more often and for more reasons than the desert arachnids have. Oh! Warm up? "If you're cold I could quickly weave you up a coat if you want. My silks good at warmth and durability, this shirts a good example!" She patted her young flat chest, pulling at the fabric a bit to show its thickness. She had quality spider silk!

Words: 404
Total: 966