This is What I Wanted.... Right?

These were the only words that would come to Nikolai's mind, despite every other attempt to look for others. As he sailed forward, he couldn't seem to bring his mind off the serenity of it all. The waves were small and lackluster, the breeze was light and cool, the sky was clear and blue. Perfection. A soft smile moved it's way to his lips; Nikolai fancied himself a fairly articulate person, yet already it was all swept away. His expectations had been met and more so. As he leaned back in his small boat, letting the waves coax him the rest of the minor distance he had left, he felt his thoughts return to him, remembering his journey to the city in stark comparison to the experience of being -almost- there. It was fraught with confusion, worry, anger, panic, nearly every emotion that he currently lacked. He shoved those thoughts from his mind. This was a new start, there was no point in bringing the past with him anymore.

Nikolai reached for both of the oars currently resting next to him in the small rowboat he had purchased. Placing them back in the water, he began to row himself towards the docks. It'd be only a few more minutes before he reached them, and would be able to abandon his tiny little boat for the comfort of ground again. While he had no aversion to water, he tended to sink in it, and that was a slightly uncomfortable situation for him. As he approached the docks, he scanned for a ladder or post that he could climb up on. Spying one a few meters from his current position, he attempted to adjust his course towards it, but seemed to strike his oar on a large rock or something in the water. Completely unprepared for this, Nikolai soon found himself toppling off the boat, submersed in water before he even realized it.

Panic setting in, he forced himself back up, barely managing keep his head above water. Quickly, he swam towards the ladder he spotted earlier, gripping onto it for dear life as he did. Quickly, he calmed himself, doing a mental checklist for himself. 'Alright; Breathing? Check. Safe? Check. My bag is still on my shoulder? Check. My satchel too? Check.' Nikolai coughed, trying to force some of the water he accidentally swallowed out. After a moment, completely sure he was still in fact alive, he climbed the ladder, flopping down on the small wooden dock. He rolled his head towards the lake, watching his boat start to row out away from the dock, neither oar in sight anymore. '.....Not worth the effort to go and get it now, especially when I'll probably never use it again.'


He looked down at his clothes, all soaked through and through. His white dress shirt was completely see through, clinging to his chest and showing it to the world. His pants, a pair of black slacks, continued the clinging effort, attaching to his legs and feeling as though they weighed a ton. His entire body was dripping endlessly to boot. The other pairs he had in his bad were probably of little to no use now either. It'd probably be best to take care of this fast. The breeze came by again, the once cool breeze now causing him to shiver.


He looked around the area, trying to asses the next best course of action. Aside from a few dock workers, he couldn't see many people around. As much as he hated it, finding someone to help would probably be the best answer. While he hated asking things of others, if he could at least get guidance to a clothing store, or somewhere he could dry up, then he could continue on his journey. Nikolai's feet began to move as he thought, he himself not realty noticing, too immersed in thought. 'Alright, I just need to find a friendly looking person. That shouldn't be too hard, right? I'm sure there's someone who can give me some advice right now. All I gotta do is ask "Excuse me, do you know somewhere I could dry off? I'm looking for the guild Blue Pegasus, and I'd rather go there looking a bit more presentable." That sounded good. It was simple and direct. But then again, do they need to know about where I'm going? Do they care? What if I come off cocky, or annoying, and they send me in the wrong place? Maybe I should just ask for somewhere to dry off. But what if they don't talk to me? I'd be walking up to them completely soaked, they'd probably think I'm an idiot. Maybe I should just look around myself, I mean, I don't wanna start my new beginning with a bad reputation for walking around soaked. But people are gonna watch me walk around like this, that could already give me a bad reputation? What should I do what should I do what should I-'

As Nikolai continued his slow mental breakdown from the fear, he had unknowingly walked into town, somehow managing to do this without colliding with anything. This is not the most astounding part though. He had somehow managed to not only walk into town, but through it and up to the Pegasus Grounds, the entire time completely oblivious to it, until now. Suddenly jolted from his thoughts, Nikolai realized what he had just done. He, a lost looking wet freak, had walked into someone, in an area definitely not where he was before. To them, he'd probably look like a lunatic, big black bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, looking around in every direction, soaking wet and shivering, frozen like a deer in the headlights.

A brown haired girl, was running through the streets of Clover town, straight towards the guild hall of Blue Pegasus. Her 7 shining keys clinged against each other, all the time she was running. She was attracting some attention, as she was moving as fast as she possibly could. One of her dreams was about to come through, that being to join the wizard guild of Blue Pegasus. Though, in a hurry, Akemi, had manged to get herself lost. This was new for her, never had that actually happened.

Akemi slowed her pace, moving slower through a big street of Clover. She actually started to pay a little attention now, though at the same time, she wasn't really fascinated by the town, but more so of the guild that resided in this town. That guild was Blue Pegasus, the guild Akemi had wanted to join since she was a child. Her mother, who by now had passed away, had told her a lot about this guild. She just hoped it would live up to all of her expectations.

She soon noticed the guild hall, up a long case of stairs. She blasted off running again, as fast as she could, to the stairs, then up the stairs, all the while her keys kept on clinging, hopefully the spirits didn't mind. Well they probably did, but oh well. They understood why she was doing this, maybe not Fluffy. But that was Fluffy.

When she had reached the top, her eyes moved around the hall. Her hues were filled with awe, as her mouth was open a little bit. This was just like she had expected, magnificent and fabulous. In other words, perfect. Though, she wanted to look down the stairs, to see the town of Clover.

As Akemi turned around, she instantly pressed her face, into someone's wet chest. Making her face wet as well. This was just gross to her. She almost instantly slapped the man and yelled at him: '' Watch where you are going, you, you lunatic. '' Akemi was furious, her clothes were stained with water, though they just needed to dry. Her black sweater and checkered skirt both, wet. This day just took a turn for the worse.

It was a precious morning. And by precious Blaise meant calm. He was simply walking around Clover, having a nice time, until he remembered he had some work to be done in thr Guild. A sigh escaped his lips as he headed towards the Guild Hall, his katana on his back.
As he walked towards the guild, he noticed two new faces in the guild. One of them was a tall, black haired boy. He was soaking wet. And in front of him was a brown-haired girl, who slapped the boy.
Love quarrel?
Blaise walked to the couple and looked at them with a blank expression. '' Excuse me for being curious, but who are you? I have never seen you around. And if you are not from the guild, please do not make scenes in it.'' He said, looking at the boy and the girl. He then turned to the girl in particular, and rose an eyebrow. '' Are you ok?''

Nikolai's head seemed to turn in every direction, trying to process everything that was happening, his mind running a mile a minute. "Ok where am I definitely not the docks looking around it looks somewhat familiar I think I've seen pictures of it and he mentioned Blue Pegasus which means I'm probably at the Pegasus grounds Then there's this girl who I walked into oh god why did it have to be a girl relax Nikolai you can handle this just calm down and think calm down and think calm down and think calm down and think cal-" Nikolai's jumbled thoughts seemed to collapse on themselves, giving him a blank expression for a second. He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

He turned to the girl, he owed her an apology first. He bowed down, very stiffly and over-the-top, making sure that his head was low enough so he wouldn't see her. 'Good, this should help and calm me.' He stammered out, "I-I'm terrible, terrible miss. I w-was lost... I had no-no idea where I was going. I-I owe you an ap-apology. Name an-anything you want an-and I'll gi-give it to you.... My name is Nik-Nik-Nikolai Granit, and Ill d-do whatever I can to make th-this up to you." He straightened himself, looking at her apologetically.

He turned away from the pair, running his hands through his hair, attempting to fix it and calm down again. The hardest part was past him, that was good. Now, to face the second figure. From what he could tell, this man was from the guild. That was lucky, now he found someone he could talk to. At the cost of his first impression. He turned to Blaise, giving him a clearly nervous smile. He took a deep breath, seeming to have calmed down.

"I'm terribly sorry sir. I didn't mean to cause a scene, I swear. As I said to her, I got lost trying to find the Pegasus Grounds, but I seem to have stumbled upon it. I'm Nikolai Granit, and I came here to Clover Town to join the guild, though I had a minor mishap with my transportation here, as you can tell. I was trying to find somewhere to dry off before coming here, but I managed to make it here instead, I don't know the layout of the town very well. I hate to be a bother, but could I ask you for some assistance? Like I said, I need somewhere to dry off, then I would need some assistance in joining the guild. Could you do me the favor of helping me with this? I will definitely repay the favor." The entire time, Nikolai seemed very stiff, awkward, and formal. While he had calmed down from his encounter with Akemi, he still wasn't very comfortable talking with strangers, let alone asking something of them. Everything right now was outside of his comfort zone, but he had to persevere.

Akemi still looked a little angry, it would take more than an apology to calm her down, though the apology did help fairly well. She was a sorry for slapping the man and when the other person came over to them, she got a little embarrassed. Akemi wasn't sure on what to say now, she didn't know what the person who walked over to them wanted, well except knowing who they are. But due to her being still angry, as the man asked if she was okay, the only thing that came from Akemi was a tsk. She had no plans to answer the person, though someone did.

Suddenly Akemi placed her hand onto her keys, feeling a small signal from the golden one, Aries was trying to tell her something, to summon her, so that is what Akemi did. She pointed out the key, said the right words and soon a girl, with pink hair, white woolly clothes and horns stood in front of the two guys. She did a quick bow, before saying: '' I'm terribly sorry for my owners words and personality. She isn't the easiest person to be around. '' Aries stopped for a second, sighed and continued: '' We are here to join Blue Pegasus. My name is Aries and my owner is called Akemi. ''

Blaise's eyebrow shot up as the girl turned to him and a Tsk escaped her lips. He shrugged and turned at the guy again, grinning. '' No need to repay me, mate. I'm not that of an arse that to make you repay me a favour. C'mon. I'll go and show ya around our perfect guild, and well, I'll get you join it. You look like a cool man. C'mon, follow me.'' He smiled at the guy.
He then remembered that the girl was still there and turnd around and faced the girl. '' Are you here to join too? If you are, you should follow me too and don't be so cold towards me.'' Blaise said, his eyebrow rosen. He made her a signal to come along, and began walking towards the centre of the Sabertooth Guildhall, hoping the two new members were following him.

Nikolai was fairly nervous, taking a moment to mull over everything he just said in his head and make sure he hadn't screwed up, not paying attention to the others while he did. He seemed mildly shocked at Aries' sudden appearance, since he hadn't noticed her be summoned. 'A woman just appeared outta nowhere... Did I just not see her at first? No, I would have noticed her....' Nikolai inspected her, a light blush starting to appear on his face. 'She's... She's... She's so cute.... She looks so gentle, and kinda, and sweet, and caring. I could just imagine getting to know her, I bet she has a cute laugh too, and-" Nikolai shook his head, snapping himself back into reality.'Stop. Stop that. It's just a random girl Nikolai, don't go planning out your life. Let's think, she just appeared out of nowhere, was she summoned? It could be that the other girl is a summoner? That could explain why I never noticed her.' Nikolai listened to Aries speak. She called her owner, his assumption was proven correct. So she was here to join Blue Pegasus too? And he got her wet too, he seriously owed her an apology.

He turned to Blaise, starting to relax a little when Blaise smiled, but still seeming fairly tense. 'Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought. I mean, I found Blue Pegasus, and someone who seems fairly nice. And now I can get a tour of it. While I'm soaking wet. And got someone else wet. And get water all over their guildhall. Nope, still as bad." Nikolai sighed, but followed Blaise closely, standing beside him, though slightly behind him. He looked around the area, impressed at the grandeur of the grounds.' Thank you. I still wouldn't feel right now repaying you, I think you deserve something for your efforts, though we can talk about that later. As for how cool I am, I can't say much about that, I'm not exactly good at dealing with people..." Another breeze came by, and Nikolai shivered. "Unless that was supposed to be a pun at how cold I am, which infact yes, I am pretty cool." He let out an awkward chuckle. He seemed to be calming down, and was becoming less formal and stiff, but he still had a while to go before casual. He looked around, trying to find somewhere where he could dry off. "Is there anywhere I can dry off, as-as well as.." Nikolai tried to remember the name Aries had said. "..Akemi? I don't wanna get water everywhere, and I'd feel bad if she had to walk around cold too because of my mistake."

When Aries spoke to the two, Akemi felt really bad. She hadn't wanted to lash out at the guy, but just couldn't have kept her emotions down. She was a little jealous of Aeries, the lamb girl managed to be nice to people all the time, something Akemi could never do. She would always find a thing to complain about and eventually insult someone. She finally broke out of it, shaking her head.

Her eyes darted to Nikolai, just as he had said her name. A frown appeared on Akemi's face, she felt a little weird to be talked about like that. She wasn't used to it. She almost immediately walked closer to Nikolai, grabbed him from his shirt's sleeve and dragged him after her. '' Come on, we don't want to make anyone wait. '' Her voice didn't have an angry tone anymore, maybe it sounded a little annoyed, but no one could really tell, well no one but Aries, who was trying to keep up with Akemi.

But after a minute or so of dragging, Akemi stopped and let go. She had realized how forceful she had made herself seem, it was like her to be forceful, but she really had wanted to give off a good first impression, which she had failed by now. With a swift movement, she turned to Nikolai, looking at him with a shameful expression: '' I'm sorry i lashed out at you, i can't control my temper sometimes. '' A faint blush was see-able on her cheeks.

Suddenly, before he could even get a response from Blaise, Nikolai found himself torn away from him. While he realized Akemi was dragging him away from their guide, he was in too much of a panic to stop her. Try as hard as he wanted, words refused to come from his mouth, and instead he found himself completely at her mercy. It seemed Akemi was a forceful person, and as soon as Nikolai realized this, he felt a chill run down his spine. He was completely at her mercy.

When the pair stopped, he took a second to breath, turning away briefly as he tried to calm himself. That was way too close for him, even if it was just her grabbing his sleeve. When she started to speak, he turned around, preparing for another scolding. However, when he got an apology, he was even more confused. His mind running a mile a minute, Nikolai looked around wildly, avoiding any lingering eye contact on her and trying to figure out what exactly was happening. "I-I-I-I m-mean, you h-have no reason t-to apologize, I-I was th-the one who b-bumped into y-you a-and got you w-wet and it-it's all m-my f-fault so y-you have n-no reason to apologize an-" Nikolai's brain overheated, causing a small break as he finally gasped for breath. After a moment, he managed to successfully achieve eye contact with her, his pulse now settling at a normal level. "I-I'm sorry, I must have b-been really, really, annoying. I'm n-not very good with people, as y-you could p-probably tell... I caused you trouble a-and I s-seemed to have up-upset you. I-I am severely in your debt r-right now, and I-I will repay you."

He looked around the area, before realizing they had lost Blaise. Now they had no guide, and he was certainly clueless as to what to do now. Akemi seemed to know what she was doing though, so for the time being, it seemed best to accompany her. He extended a hand, giving her a shy smile. "I-I should introduce myself proper. I'm Nikolai Granit. P-Pleasure to meet you." He looked around again, confusion showing on his face. "S-So, would you h-happen to know what to do now? I know I-I'm at least soaking w-wet and lost."

Nikolai shivered under Akemi's grip, clearly not comfortable with the physical contact. At least she didn't seem mad about the wate-


When Akemi tightened her grip on Nikolai, he almost immediately started cowering in her grip, barely making eye contact and shivering much more intently. Handling physical contact with a man was possible, with a girl it was scary. Handling aggressive physical contact from a guy was terrifying, from a girl it was impossible. He nodded furiously as she spoke to him, his voice trembling with fear. "Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes, it-it w-won't." As soon as she let go of him, Nikolai turned around once more for a breathing break. Things were quickly spiraling beyond his control. On one hand, having someone like her around would most likely help him deal with joining the guild. On the other hand, he didn't know how much more of her she could take.

When she called for Aries, Nikolai realized he had completely forgotten about the spirit. He had been so busy dealing with his issues he hadn't even realized she was still there. He felt slightly bad for it, but wasn't going to mention it at all. When Akemi started speaking again, Nikolai braced himself and faced her again. Her mood seemed to have improved, and that relieved him, but he was still weighing the pros and cons of staying with her. 'She's totally right though I'm going to look like a complete idiot maybe I should just go home and come back later but I don't have anywhere to stay in Clover so where could I even go I need to dry my stuff but I need to sign up to do that but I don't wanna sign up wet I'm completely trapped how do I get out of this-' Nikolai's thoughts stopped as if they'd ran into a wall; physical contact. As Akemi grabbed his hand and started to drag him, Nikolai began preparing a list of 36 complaints he'd attempt to voice promptly, to have it ripped in half by Aries grabbing his other hand. Rendered completely ineffective by the fearsome double physical contact, Nikolai was helpless to their dragging.

Realizing he had to at least try and do something to fix the situation, Nikolai tried to think of a conversation topic. Literally anything possible was acceptable right now, so long as it could actually manage to leave his mouth. They were headed towards the guild hall, that's good, it made the chances of finding the guild master higher. "S-S-So, ummmm, Wh-What are-H-H-How d-Wh-What, ummmmm." Nikolai reached and reached for a conversation topic, trying to calm himelf somehow. He wasn't good at talking to people. He was good at replying to people, but taking the first step was completely beyond him. "Wh-Why are y-you joining B-Blue Pegasus?" Such a weird question, but it was the best he could get in his current state.