A New Pack (Intro/Open)

A crimson cloaked figure trekked up the mountain, following a pair of ghostly wolves along an invisible path.

It had snowed a few times in her home village, and each time it had she had been amazed. Snow was quite a beautiful thing, soft and gentle, graceful yet dangerous. The sheer beauty of it never ceased to provide a stark contrast to the poverty-stricken depression that always seemed to hang over her home. Still, the experiences she had at home were nothing compared to the mountain she was currently traversing. The snow here was not graceful, but violent instead. Harsh and bitter, lacking the loving warmth that the snow she had seen in her past had.

She had always had a sort of immunity to the cold, a strange blue aura always forming around her whenever a semblance of cold crept up to her. She had been told it was a bloodline but considering that she had never met her parents she could honestly care less. Besides even if she was cold, the fact that she was being guided up a mountain by spectral wolves would have negated any doubts she had.

Once the wolves veered off Cerise assumed that the guildhall was close and continued forward, eventually stepping into the magical barrier that protected the guildhall from the cold. Almost immediately a warm smile would adorn her face, the much softer snow giving her a nostalgic feeling. Reaching up she would flip the hood off of her head, doing a quick shake of her body to get all the excess snow off. Her getup was nothing special, a dark red shirt accompanied by black cargo pants, with leather boots and gloves to keep her hands and feet covered. Completing the look was her signature crimson cloak, fastened by a silver clasp.

The guildhall itself looked rather warm, a certain air of camaraderie seeming to radiate off it, that attracted Cerise like a magnet. As she marched up towards the door a grin was practically plastered on her face, her excitement growing with each step. No time was wasted in flinging the doors open with gusto.

"Before I say anything else, I just want to make it clear that those wolves are awesome." Her voice was jovial, clear and confident displaying no signs of nervousness or hesitation.

The smile that had been slapped on Cerise's face only grew larger as she scanned the lobby, the warm feeling that she had felt outside only growing in magnitude with each passing second. Despite the place being illuminated by candles and lacrima, the entire area was still completely visible from the entrance. The dark wood that the building was covered in complimented the glow of the artificial light well, contributing more to the generally warm homey feel that place radiated.

From what she could see there were three other ways to go from the lobby. To the left looked like a large dining area of sorts, a place that she would probably be frequenting quite often as cooking was something she tended to do in her free time. Straight ahead looked to be some sets of doors, she couldn't really tell what was behind them but figured that it was something for visitors and guild members alike considering it was so open. Finally to the right looked to be a stairway that went both up and down, probably where the sleeping quarters amongst other things were located.

She was about to veer off to go explore a little in-depth before a feminine voice sounded behind her. She wouldn't lie and say that it didn't startle her a bit, she was so used to constantly watching her back that being caught off guard so easily was a completely new feeling. Thankfully the voice didn't seem to have any ill-intent behind it, so Cerise was able to hide her surprise rather well, turning around with the same smile as she had beforehand.

The woman was slightly taller than Cerise, with long silver hair that seemingly matched the snow outside, accompanied by deep blue eyes that were opposite to Cerise's scarlet ones. "Oh yes! I would like to join the guild if that's not an issue. I have some jewel if a fee is required." She honestly had no idea about the joining process, only the wild tales of trials and whatnot spun by the elders of her village.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Guild Mistress' Office-

Wearing her green-and-gold outfit and Argent Gloves, Leona was dividing her attention between guild paperwork and some letters from Nebdoui, all of which had nothing but bad news. Her home village was declining fast. Her brother's letter told Leona that the iron mine they had scouted out a few weeks ago needed to be retaken soon or the village would be unable to produce weapons for Berreb and for itself.

A letter from Chief Elijah informed her that more and more villagers were starting to leave Nebdoui to take their chances in the Tri-Council Cities. Fewer villagers meant fewer members for the militia and fewer apprentices to help her brother Leonidas. To make matters worse, Regudo and the Blue Sky Clan were busy fending off bandit raids, so they could not afford to contribute any men to retaking the iron mine. Leona frowned. It looked like she was going to have to retake the mine by herself.

Leona had to put away the rest of the letters because at the moment there was nothing she could do. She had a guild to run and guild members to take care of. Leona quietly stood up from her desk and sensed two magical signatures, one weak and one strong. The weak one must have been a mage looking to join the guild. The strong one had to be Leila Vergious, the Goddess of Eden.

Leona pushed in her chair and went down to the lobby to greet Leila and engage the newcomer.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, lobby-

Leona walked down the stairs and spotted Leila and a newcomer clad in a distinctive red outfit. Leila had beaten her to greeting the new person, but that was fine because Leona did not hold a monopoly on greeting newcomers. Leona walked over to the pair and introduced herself for the benefit of the prospective new member.

"Hi there. I'm Leona Jarnefeldt, Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf. I see that you've already met Leila." Leona introduced herself to the crimson-clad youth.

Cerise's eyes lit up like Christmas lights once it was explained that money wouldn't be required for entry. Honestly, the process seemed a bit too easy so far no fee and no signs of having to pass any test or trial. Although perhaps this contributed to the explanation that it was a 'sanctuary for mages', a family that anyone was able to join if they had the will and intent. In some ways, it was similar to how she grew up, a naturally close-knit family who trusted one another. However, in other ways it was completely different, the community that she grew up in was rather selfish only looking out for those born there, any outsiders were considered just that outsiders. She didn't blame them of course, growing up the way she did you had to distrust anyone you didn't know personally, as betrayal was commonplace.

Thankfully she had always had less of a bleak outlook and was always willing to give people the benefit of a doubt, which was probably why she doing so well with these people so far. She noticed someone walking down the staircase out of the corner of her eye but was a bit too in her thoughts to pay the blond woman much attention, it wasn't until she heard the two women actually introduce themselves that she was pulled out of her thoughts.

The guild master now deemed Leona certainly looked the part, with golden blond shoulder-length locks, accompanied by a green and gold outfit befitting of one in her station. Of course Cerise could care less about what she was wearing, simply happy to get a warm welcome from such a high ranking individual.

After doing a respectful albeit awkward bow, Cerise would give the same courtesy that the pair of women gave her. "My name's Cerise Arledge, novice mage looking for a place to hone my skills. It is very nice to meet both of you!" Her voice was full of cheer, obviously excited about how everything was turning out. The experience so far was blowing even her best-case scenario out of the water.

"Oh uhm, we can go into the dining area if you want?" She didn't really know the lay of the land quite yet, so she simply gestured towards the only place where she saw comfortable looking seats. Plus it would give her a better opportunity to look at more of the guild, although she was probably going to explore every nook and cranny later anyways.

Leona had seen that Leila had already told the young woman a bit about the guild, namely that one did not have to pay to become a member. The crimson-clad young woman, whose name was Cerise Arledge, seemed to be particularly happy about that part. There was probably some important context behind that, but Leona considered it to be in poor taste to ask newcomers about their financial situation because it would make her and Silver Wolf look elitist. Elitism went against everything that Silver Wolf stood for. If elitism were a facet of the guild, Leona would have never even seen the front door of the guild, let alone the Guild Mistress' office.

Leona listened to Cerise talk and tried to think of a good way to keep the flow of conversation going naturally when the new mage came up with the perfect way to do so. She had just asked to carry the conversation into the guild's dining area, which was a great idea. Leona needed something to take her mind off of the declining state of her home village... the company of Cerise and Leila plus a cup or two or three of coffee would go a long way towards making the day better.

"I don't see any problem with taking this conversation to the dining area. How about you, Leila?" Leona asked the Goddess of Eden. While it was not exactly necessary
to ask Leila's permission, the silver-haired mage had spoken to Cerise first and asking permission was always a good thing to do because Leona did not want to shove Leila out of the conversation. Leona also respected Leila because the latter was the founder of the guild she was currently in charge of. The blonde did not want to deliberately disrespect Silver Wolf's founder and the Goddess of Eden.

Cerise wasted no time in following Leila and Leona to the dining area, the prospect of a warm beverage putting a little extra pep in her step. As soon as she took the first step into the dining room though, that pep instantly vanished in favor of a stillness. The area was beautiful, with dark wooden tables and padding on the chairs that looked really comfortable. Every table was adorned with flowers that looked perky and healthy, while extra light was provided with candles no doubt to make it more comfortable for guests. She even saw things like a bar and private side rooms, probably for parties and whatnot.

Of course, she had seen nicer and gaudier dining rooms amongst her heists-but that was the problem. It was always during her heists, like a constant reminder that she was destined to only hope and dream of being able to be around things that nice. She had never been..allowed to be in a place like this before, and the sheer fact that this could potentially be an everyday thing made her have to pause to let her brain catch up.

Once she realized that she had been standing there staring she quickly broke out of her stupor and moved to sit down at the closest table in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. She hated being caught off guard, and the fact that something as simple as a dining room could do that to her made her realize that she would have to expand her expectations by quite a bit if she didn't want to be blindsided like that again.

She had no idea what to order, or even how to order for that matter, and decided to let the guild master go first so she could just follow the woman's lead. A moment passed before the questions she initially had in her mind came back to her, and she figured asking them was a good way to pass the time. "I understand that one of the guild's primary focuses is on magical research if it's no issue, could you expand on that? Like are there any specific fields you focus on or are you all-encompassing?" She made sure not to address the question to one specific person, as she was sure both were capable of answering considering they both headed the guild at one point.