Rabbit Amongst Tigers (OPEN)

A young woman in a nuns habit and robes walked across the desert, taking a meagre sip from her canteen before sighing and putting it back onto her belt. "Empty..." she said softly, running her tongue over her cracked lips as she put one foot in front of the other for several more paces before she fell to the soft yet hard sand. Is this... is this my time? she wondered for a moment, tilting her head out of the sand, squinting against the harsh sunlight. "W-what..." asked the nun to nobody as she could make out something in the distance.

It looked like some sort of building, like a vast tower, set against the mountains. "Maybe... they can... help..." muttered Kiersa, forcing her body to stand up once more, to place one foot in front of the other now that she had a true destination. And so she walked, and walked, sometimes stumbling, but managing somehow to pick herself back up. As she got closer and closer to the structure, she found herself picking up her pace, her breathing growing more and more ragged as she pushed herself harder to reach the supposed sanctuary and aid before it was too late.

Finally she reached the steps of the monolith and went into the cool shades of the shadows within its stone walls. "H-hello?" she called out weakly, coughing as her voice came out cracked and low. "Any-anybody... h-here?" asked the nun before she fell to the floor, her descent echoing throughout with a dull thud.

By fate or chance encounter Frederick, shadow of Sabertooth and wielder of the dark arts, stumbled upon girl that laid fully in the scorching sands. And to Frederick's dismay he knew he had to help this person, regardless if he wanted it or not.

'Tch...'

Reluctantly he stepped towards the girl, and if she was still conscious she could see the dark hooded man silhouette, that looked black as night from standing between her vision and the giant yellow orb in the sky.

As he reached out for her Frederick started to notice her clothes, which wasn't a casual attire. The clothes were more expensive, more refined. But not that of a rich person, not this was less flamboyant. No these garbs could only mean one thing. This girl was part of some church of some sorts. Or at least that was the impression that Frederick got.
Without a second thought he pulled the girl up and swung her over shoulder, and by pressing her legs against hist chest he made sure the girl wouldn't slide off.

Then with a sigh he pushed a round emerald button that was engraved into the monolith and with a clicking sounds the teleport mechanism transported him and the girl up into the sky. And onto the arrival platform of one of the most prestigious guilds in Fiore, Sabertooth.
Not wanting to be bothered much more by this he quickly entered the through the giant doors that lead in the guildhall itself. There he roughly laid her down onto a table, not to hard that she would actually hurt herself. But rough enough for other members to raise an eyebrow or two, if they hadn't already.

'One of you worms take care of this....' he'd bluntly called out before he walked away back to his room at the lower parts of the guild.

A low "eep!" escaped the young girls lips as she leaned up in her seat when a body was suddenly plopped onto the table end of the table she had been sitting at. Zinneth hissed at the darkly dressed man menacingly as she slithered away onto Aayla's arms. The young blue haired girl looked quite perplexed at the appearance of he blond and quickly got up to her feet and moved over to her side, even as the man spoke.

'One of you worms take care of this....'

Aayla's heart felt as if it was beating a million times faster. For some reason, this man's presence terrified her, and if it weren't for the young girl passed out on the table, she would have fled in the other direction while hoping he hadn't seem her. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and biting her lower lip until she heart him walking away. Only then did she release her breath and give the girl a once over.

Maybe she came from the desert and just needed some water? It didn't bother her but she knew that others had a hard time in the harsh climate. She raised her right hand, creating a small water bubble before bringing the bubble up above the girls face. A sudden noice behind her made her jump however as the bubble suddenly dropped from her hand, splashing against the girls face.

"O... Oh no~... I'm sorry... I..."
Silently, Aayla wished the girl hadn't been conscious for that. Her face turned bright red as she bit down on her lip again.

Kiersa gasped awake as the water splashed onto her face, her arms flailing for a moment in reactionary panic before she fell off the table, landing on the floor beneath. "Oww..."she moaned before she sat on her knees and rubbed the back of her head, her eyes closed from the brief pain. When she opened them, she blinked at the sight of the blue-haired girl and her little blue snake... The nun sat there blinking for a moment before she clasped her hands in front of herself and bowed her head. "S-sorry! I'm so sorry for staring! Th-that was rude of me! Please forgive me miss!" she exclaimed before the fact dawned on her that she was no longer being cooked under the desert sun.

"Umm... if you please miss... Um... w-where am I? Last... the last I re-remember is... falling to the floor... in a great tower in the desert..." asked the nun hesitantly, not wishing to offend this girl with her ignorance. She cast her eyes away as well, least she be caught staring at the rather unusual reptile and cause further perceived offence.

"What..? No It's ok... I... uhm..."
Aayla took a step back, raising her hands in front of her as if in defense of the blonde's actions. She wasn't too sure what was goign on here or who this girl even was. Judging by what she just said though, she must have passed out in the desert, and that darkly dressed man from before must have found her and brought her to safety. At least, that's what she assumed.

"You're in the Sabertooth Guild hall... we're actually way up in the... in the sky above the uhm... desert..."
She said softly, finally lowering her hands when the other girl fell silent. 

"One of our members... he brought you up here... what ...if you dont mind me asking... what were you doing in.... in the desert?"

Kiersa cringed as the girl took a step back and took up a defensive posture. Not a great first impression... she inwardly bemoaned before she head where exactly she was. "Sabertooth?" she asked, in case she hadn't heard the blue haired girl correctly. When she was asked what she was doing there, the nun frowned and looked away, hiding her face behind her habit for a moment, her hands lowered down to her robed legs, scrunching the fabric slowly in consternation.

"I..." she began before she paused, taking in a slow breath as she looked back at the girl in front of her. "I need help... My... my convent. It was... it was destroyed." she began, her hands tightening the fabric within as she bit her lip to keep herself composed. "...A demon destroyed it... and all of the sisters were... It was..." Kiersa trailed off, taking in another breath in a vain attempt to remain calm as the still fresh memories began to rear their heads. "The nearby village as well... all of them... I'm the only... the only survivor..." the young nun said, sniffing a little before furiously wiping her face with her sleeve.

Kiersa looked up at the girl imploringly. "Please... I need to... I need to get stronger... so I can... so I can stop it... Can... can Sabertooth help? I... I understand that guilds require pay..." she trailed off as she began to check her pouches before sighing. "I don't have any jewels to pay with... but... but maybe I can do something else to pay?"

"oh yes the price for power is always high" said a feminine voice behind her a hand patted her the sister's shoulder "in this case I suppose that you body and life should be the price for power" the woman behind her was past the middle of her twenties taller than most men and somewhat muscular and her hair was a strange almost flaming shade of crimson "and by that I mean a life time of training and working here...with us looking for power alone is an empty endeavour" she said sitting besides the nun "sister welcome to saber tooth we strive to justice and upholding chivalry we wouldn't let you alone at a time of need"

Aayla's demeanor had turned rather serious as she listened to Kiersa speak. So then demons were still out and about destroying villages as they pleased and ruining lives... She quietly wondered what drove them to do these things... was there some larger picture she just wasn't seeing yet? She bit her lower lip and balled her own small fists before taking a deep breath.

"Kiersa... You're safe here... I promise."
She said as she moved to kneel down before the blond. Zinnath took the opportunity to slither off of Aala's body as the young blue haired mage leaned forward and put her arms around the blond, bringing her into a tight hug.

"Maybe we can get stronger together... I promise I'll help you fight them... if we ever find them..."
Never had Aayla promised to fight anyone but the beasts from her own past. Normally, she would shy away from any fight... but recently, now that she was in Sabertooth, she slowly found a little bit more courage every day to face the future. Besides, she had vowed to herself she wouldn't let anyone else suffer the same as she had. So, she would help Kiera.

"Why don't we go see Mr Zenshin, and uhm... make you one of us... that is... if you want too..."

"Eeep!" said the nun when the crimson haired woman suddenly appeared, so focused was she on the blue haired girl that she hadn't heard her approach. The young nun's face went blank for a moment as she tried to figure out the woman's meaning about her body being payment for the guild's services... She did not need to dwell long before the matter was cleared up. "I..." she began to say, biting her lip as she thought about the prospect of spending her entire life training.

Her train of thought was broken by the sudden hug from the first girl and her words. Part of her wished to decline the offer, to beg her to stay away from Uru, to keep as far away from the demon as possible... but the fact was she needed to get stronger. And the nuns had always taught her to accept help wherever it came from. Hesitantly Kiersa returned the hug before slowly nodding. "A-alright..." she said before squeaking as the snake trailed itself along her boot. "Umm... is it... Um... venomous?" she asked, eyeing the snake cautiously.

"don't worry her partner hasn't attacked anybody from the guild yet " responded Adelheid chuckling "well sister welcome to saber tooth I'm sure that you will find more that you are looking for " she said patting the nun on the head "before talking with Zen we should go eat and drink I just came back from a job with Silva and the nun looks a little tired " she proposed smiling at the two girls as she let out a yawn "Aayala are you also hungry? we should use this chance and continue with our conversation from before "

Aayla couldn't help but chuckle lightly as Kiersa asked about Zinnath, and as Adelheid answered for her. She never really put much thought into Zinnath's appearance before, she had grown so used to it, the serpent was just natural to her.

"She does have some venom, but don't worry, she won't attack anyone unless she has too. And even if you do get bitten..."
She leaned in close to whisper into Kiersa's ear, as if not wanting the snake to hear.

"Her venom can't kill you. It just kind of numbs where she bit you. that's all."
She said with a light smirk as Zinnath hissed at the blue haired girl before slithering away from the pair as if upset. Aayla chuckled lightly as she finally looked back to Adelheid and nodded.

"Ok. I am a little hungry."
She pushed herself back up to her feet, and extended her hand towards Kiersa.

The nun let out a slow breath of relief at the blue haired girl's, Aayla's if the red head was correct, words. She did not want to experience the effects of venoms again for a very long while. When food was mentioned by the red-head, Kiersa was about to shake her head, again because she didn't have any jewels and did not wish to burden anyone... then her stomach decided to betray her and growl quite loudly, causing her to blush furiously.

Kiersa accepted the hand up, brushing down her robes after she was stood up. "I... I suppose I could have a little something to eat and drink..." she said softly, blinking her eyes a little as a wave of dizziness hit her. She shook her head a little to clear the sensation away before looking to the others as if nothing had transpired.

"don't worry we will be guildmates from now on I will invite you as a courtesy."
"I have invited to dinner to girls a lot less cute than you anyway" she said helping the nun get into a seat in the table "plus you seem to have gone through plenty in a little time so is only natural to lend you a hand" she smiled at her and patted her shoulder "Aayala make her some company while I go get some food and something to drink ok? " she asked to the bluenette as she got up and went to get something for all to eat.

As Adelheid left to get them something to eat, the young blue haired wizard led their new companion to a proper table where they settled down to eat. Aayla sat there nervously, now fiddling with the edge of her dress as she anxiously awaited for Adelheid to return with food, drink and something to talk about.

She nervously glanced over at the young nun and bit her lower lip nervously.

"So uhm...a...are you a wizard then..?"
she said lowly in an attempt to create some conversation.

Obel appeared in the guild at that moment, her hair ruffled by the wind. She looked around with her piercing yellow eyes and located the only people she knew in the guild; Aayla and Adelheid. She drifted over to them and sat next to the without a single word. As she pulled out her bag of bonbons she noticed that there was another sitting at the table. From the looks of it she was a nun. Obel looked up at the new person and stared at her curiously whilst chomping on sweets.

"Um... I... I suppose so..." replied the nun when Aayla asked her if she was a wizard. "I was... I was trained in Holy magic so... don't know if that makes me a... wizard or not." she said softly before spotting the girl with the bonbons looking at her. "Um... hello... I'm Kiersa Bec..." she introduced herself, a little unnerved by the sheer silence of the nomming girl staring at her.

Obel tilted her head whilst listening to the nun speak, she blinked and then offered her bonbons to her. She seemed friendly.

Adelheid came back with with a roasted chicken in one arm and a bottle of soda in the other smiling at the girls "oh hi Obel want to join us for some food and talking? where you girls talking about magic? holy magic seems like a interesting thing though I'm not sure I have ever meet another practitioner " she said serving the food and drinks too all the girls.

Obel looked at the chicken before her and prodded it with her fork. 'It looks funny' she said before dropping her cutlery and resuming to her bonbons 'What magic do you all have?'

"you r...really use holy magic..? I've never met... uhm... someone like that."
She said as she scootched over, making space for Adelheid as she came back withthe large chiken. Frankly, she wasn't hungry but was just trying to be polite to their new recruits, and to her friend.

"Oh me... I uhm... I'm a water dra... Uhm... A Water Wizard..."
She quickly corrected herself, not read for anyone to find out that she was a water dragon slayer... she still had a lot of training to do with Hydrianna and didn't want anyone to know until she was stronger...

A lot of training with Hydrianna. She gasped as she placed her hand in front of her mouth and abruptly stood up in her seat.

"Oh no! I'm... I"m so sorry... but I forgot... I... I need to get to my job! t...there was a time... limit and I... oh no im... im going to be late..."
She said as she got out of her chair and smiled to Kiersa and Obel.

" Welcome to Sabertooth! "
She said before quickly picking up Zinnath and darting away.

[exit thread]