Cafe Alley Cat [Conversational/iannabben]

One train ride to Crocus later and the Lamia Scale wind magic user found herself seated in a cafe called the Alley Cat, sipping cautiously at the scalding chocolate-caramel drink she'd ordered upon arrival. The tip of a pen tap tap tapped against a small sketchbook she carried with her for use during her downtime, a bit of nervous excitement pent up behind the pen's movements. Akihime was more unconsciously doodling then actually creating anything with the intention of showing anyone or it being actually worthy of presentation - just a way to pass the time, really.

A bruise on her elbow twinged nastily after she accidentally set her elbow on the cafe table, intending to lean over and reach for a napkin from the dispenser. Ow. A little bit of a souvenir from the first job she'd ever been on since joining Lamia Scale - the ink from the guildmark stamp had barely dried when she'd scurried over to the notice board and snatched up her first job. Who knew retrieving kittens could be such a hassle? Nothing like crawling under someone's porch to retrieve two frightened kittens to really get one's wizarding career going.

Funny enough, even if the job itself had been something of a hassle, she had heard a rumor from one of the townsfolk about another wind user in the area. After a bit of inquiry, Akihime had made contact with this mysterious other wind user - though they'd never met in person, Hime had come to think of this person in a positive light.

After a brief correspondence, Akihime had arranged for them both to meet in Fiore's capital of Crocus, with instructions to a cafe she had frequented before officially joining a guild.

She had arrived 10 minutes ago, but didn't mind waiting. Sabertooth wasn't exactly close, after all.

Akihime gave a small start when she finally noticed she wasn't alone, bright blue eyes swiveling up from the sketchbook to settle on the face of the boy sitting next to her, recognizing him as the description of Ian Nabben. Bright blonde hair, bright blue eyes, check!

"You're Ian, right? I'm Akihime, it's a pleasure to meet a fellow wind user!" From what she had learned of him, Ian was in Sabertooth, and Hime was far too new within her own guild to know if any rivalries existed between their chosen guilds, but she liked to think there wouldn't be. He certainly seemed very nice, and had been kind enough to response to her letters pestering him about his magic and the possibility of meeting her.

It was always so fascinating to find someone else with the same magic as you - there was plenty to talk about, and Akihime had to deliberately take a hearty gulp of her coffee drink to keep herself from talking him into the floor.
"Would you like to order anything? They have a lot of nice flavors here, it'll be my treat." Before I start talking too much. She would've paid for his train ticket as well if she had the jewel, but Akihime was far too new to the job-taking game to possibly have accumulated enough funds in so short a time. She was currently still looking for an apartment, and was camped out in a section of the guildhall until further notice.

"Okay," she responded with a small grin, "But I'm paying next time."

He wanted her to describe her magic, huh? Well, he was definitely asking for it. When she got on a roll, it was a little hard for others to get in edgewise. "I have Divine Wind magic, which is kind of an offshoot of regular wind magic. More support-based, I guess you could say." With a name like that, she usually got some pretty wide-eyed expressions from those she actually told them the name of it, but it wasn't quite as big a deal as the name led others to believe. At least not yet, anyway. She was still a novice to her own magic, and that would only change when more effort was made to improve. To gain mastery over her element and the sword Zenma had entrusted to her, Air Cutter.

I've got a long way to go.

"I can use my wind magic to heal very small cuts and scrapes and bruises, but I mostly use it because it boosts my strength in hand-to-hand combat." She wasn't much of a long-range fighter, and her aim was...worthy of laughter, but when it came to fighting, Akihime considered herself a prominent martial artist. Zenma hadn't allowed her to rely exclusively on her magic to win a fight, her mentor had been very big on versatility and on making her a 'jack of all trades'.

"What about yours?" she asked, purposefully trying to be considerate and not chatter the entire time about herself. She was interested in hearing what he had to say, after all.

Akihime almost winced. Did that come off as bragging? Her fears were confirmed when Ian looked completely put out despite having wind magic, and she was quick to rebuke him for his views. "There's no such thing as weak wind magic," Akihime smiled. "Cheer up, Ian. For the record, I have the worst aim in probably the whole of Lamia Scale - no, the whole of Fiore! It's why I can't do long range attacks. Just hand to hand combat, and sometimes, on a bad day, I can even miss those."

He shouldn't be feeling down about wind magic, it was one of the four elements - something that had a part to play in some of the most phenomenal weather related events known to man/wizardkind. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Windstorms. It was such a powerful element, it took special people to be able to manipulate and control it like they did.

"You can fly with it? I'm so jealous. I mean, I can probably fly with mine but..." She took a hasty sip of her drink, which had cooled down considerably. "I'm not too pleased about heights." Akihime was admittedly kind of chicken about that sort of stuff. Heights, spiders, thunderstorms -- all of her least favorite things. And yet I've got the ability to fly.
She could've laughed at herself then, for just how silly that was.

Her face registered surprise in the soft lift of her eyebrows and slight widening of the eyes, clearly having not expected such an offer to be made. Teach me how to fly? "Well..." And here she was trying to cheer him up when she couldn't even handle flying, an ability unique to wind users out of all the other elements! Ridiculous.

Taking in a deep breath, Akihime was silent for a moment, clearly thinking it over, her eyes straying from Ian's to study the plastic cup full of coffee she'd been drinking out of earlier, not really seeing it.

Finally, she looked up and smiled a little. "Only if you promise not to go too high. I really can't handle heights." And don't laugh if I throw up or something awful like that. Just the idea of being so high off the ground, with everyone becoming ants and the ground suddenly looking so solid, and her bones suddenly felt so glass-like.

Plummeting to her death was pretty high on her list of nightmares, right next to drowning.

"I'm willing to give it a try." She put on a brave face, though her insides were all fluttering with discomfort and worry. If Ian could do it, so could she - but... it was still pretty terrifying.

"R-Right now? You want to try right now?" Her voice rose several octaves outside it's normal speaking range, Akihime staring at him with an openly nervous look. Ian had promised not to fly too high or go too far, but she still hadn't expected him to start instructing her now. Wasn't this a little too soon to be confronting her fear of heights?!

He didn't give her much choice to protest - though she probably wouldn't have said anything, since he'd already walked out of the door. Stuffing her belongings back into her pack, Akihime followed after the Sabertooth guildmember, already feeling her stomach tie itself into unbreakable knots. The breeze was nice, enjoying it was hardly an option when she was already so worried about falling. If they were only a few feet off the ground, that would be alright, she could manage that - but anything higher and her courage just had a tendency to collapse, blown away by the wind.

"Should we find an open field or something?" She asked, looking to the blue-eyed boy beside her. "I don't wanna make a scene or bump into any people." Besides, landing on the very solid looking streets of Crocus was not high on the top of her to-do list right this moment. At least grass wouldn't be so bad.

Enjoy it? Akihime wasn't so sure if she could ever enjoy flying completely, but being comfortable with it was bound to be an improvement. Taking in a deep breath, Akihime made the leap (literally), attempting to hop onto Ian's back without chickening out. A sudden wave of nerves hit her all over, and Akihime gritted her teeth hard, bright blue eyes flitting to and fro as she held onto him tight.
"Okay. Let's go." And get this over with! Her first instinct would be to shut her eyes and hold on for all her might, but that would be both pointless to this lesson and not very comfortable for the Sabertooth wind-user.

Come on, keep it together Hime! Don't wuss out, don't disgrace your guild's name so soon after you joined! Besides, he already promised he wouldn't drop you.

With the honor of her guild in mind, Akihime took another sobering breath, holding it, and looked out straight ahead, past Ian's shoulder to their surroundings, trying not to think about the ground rapidly vanishing beneath them.