Looking for Tigers (Umb and Aay)

Chloe had arrived in Crocus around morning and was still completely lost. She heard rumors that Sabertooth has dragon slayers and wanted to meet them. She was the only dragon slayer she knew and really wanted to meet another one. Chloe hoped she could find Sabertooth's guild hall but ended up lost as she could possibly be. She thought she passed the palace ten times, and she very well may have. Eventually she fell on the floor and lay down in the middle of the road. She was getting very hot and took some water she brought and had a drink. She eventually was lifted off the ground off the ground by her cat and was hovered in the air for a few minutes as the two thought about where Sabertooth could possibly be.

"I think we should get Kiersa something to wear too... She doesn't really get out of that outfit..."
The young dragon slayer thought to herself as she walked along the streets of Crocus, Zinnath slithering by her side. The esrpent had become well known to those who lived or constantly frequented Crocus. It took people a long time to get used to the fact that a very large Sea serpent would frequent it's way through the city, but knew that to have her here, meant that Sabertooth was still looking out for them.

"Zinny, you stay here. I'm going to grab a few things for Kiersa..."
She told the Serpent before she stepped into the clothing store. Judging by the fact that Kiersa had fit into one of her dresses before meant the nun must be around her size, making t a little bit easier to shop for.

Zinnath did as she was told, at first she put her head down on the ground but perked up almost instantly as she spotted the flying cat. She began to slither away from the store, towards the being she considered her lunch when the cat suddenly flew back in the air, carrying a young blue haired girl. The Serpent stuck her tongue out, tasting at the air as she looked at the pair as if they were a more curious sight than she was.

"EEK!" Chloe said as she instantly got two watery blades in her hands which reached about 5 feet long. She entered a fighting stance in the air and was prepared to both fight the beast and run away. While that was what she was trying to do. She was really scared as could be inside and was dripping water like a fountain. She would have cried and peed her pants if Gwen wasn't there. While she may have done the latter a little bit already.

Obviously this cat was someone's pet... and so something she couldn't eat. If Serpents could pout she would have as the large beast returned her head onto the ground, turning her head away from the small girl and looking back into the shop. On her right side, under one of her long fins was a light green, barely visible Sabertooth Tattoo.

2 dresses, 2 shirts and two pairs of pants later, Aayla walked out of the store with two shopping bags n hands, a gentle smile on her face as she skipped down the single step and walked over to Zinnath non-chalantly. She placed her bags down and crouched down, putting her hand gently on Zinnath's nose.

"You look upset... Zinny is everything ok?"
She asked her Serpent kindly before looking up and around, spotting the small girl who was being carried by a flying cat... Great... another flying cat... she didn't like the creatures to begin with... the last thing they needed was wings... Mind you... Hirai's friend was alright...

Aayla stood back up, ready to grab her bags when the little girl walked up to her. She took an extra step behind Zinnath's head as the girl spoke.

"Oh uhm... yes... I am... i-is there something I... uhm can maybe help... you with?"
She asked the blue haired girl curiously, her cheeks slightly flushing as she spoke to the stranger. She was getting a little bit better at social interactions, hence why she didn't just jump on Zinnath's back and fly as far away from the girl as she could. Mind you... she wasn't particularly scary... if anything, the girl made her think a lot of herself... the shy demeanor, and the smell of water was covering this girl from head to toe, causing her to tilt her head curiously.

Zinnath on the other hand stayed put on the ground, her eyes stayng focused on Chloe.

Chloe got extremely red cheeks and continued to drip water. She was very scared and tried her best to speak to this girl. "Uh... yeah... i was.... looking.... for some.... dragon slayers." Chloe said embarrassed as she looked down at the ground as Gwen was trying to help her not be scared. This girl spoke quite similar to herself. But there was more than that, something about her seemed familiar. She wasn't sure if it was her looks, or her smell but something was weird between the two.

"dragon slayers..?"
Aayla asked clearly, glancing down to Hydrianna who suddenly perked up, lifting her head back up off of the ground so that she could look down at the small child. Aayla couldn't help but wonder who this girl was... why was she coming to sabertooth to look for dragon slayers? She couldn't be any older than herself... and she didn't sense any deception from the girl... so maybe... there was no harm in talking to her? She wasn't quite ready to reveal that she herself was a dragon slayer... actually very few people knew that she was, most just thought she was a water wizard.

"Why are you l...looking for the slayers?"
She asked, trying to make herself sound a little more assertive than she felt. 


"Are you a... a wizard then?"
She wondered, though there was no doubt in her mind that she was, judging by the fact that the girl was leaking...

"Yeah..... I'm Chloe.... of Fairy tail. Im the water dragon slayer." Chloe said as she got confident as she spoke. Still terrified of this girl with a giant serpent. Inside she was eating herself up for telling her all this and was probably going to cry before her cat rang in. "Chloe, heard Sabertooth has some dragon slayers and wants to meet some. And I'm Gwen by the way." Gwen said confident in herself, unlike Chloe. Speaking of Chloe, she just realized she peed herself when she saw the giant serpent.

"I'm glad I don't have an exceed..."
Aayla muttered more to herself than to the pair in front of her. She quickly shook her head though as she focused on the young girl. There was no way she was a water dragon slayer... it wasn't possible unless there were two water dragon's roaming around? Or... what if Hydrianna had finally had enough of her, and decided to take on a new dragon slayer? No... there was no way her mother would do that to her, or to Zinnath... would she.

She started to fidget nervously when a certain scent caught her nose, causing her to scrunch it up
before offering her hand to the young blue haired girl.

"Well... miss Chloe, Gwen... it's nice to meet you... my name is... well... Aayla Mizune, and this is Zinnath... she's big but... uhm she won't hurt you... I didn't think it... it was possible but uhm... I'm a water dragon slayer too...Lets get you some new clothes... from the store ms Chloe... you're all wet... then we can talk..."
She said before waiting to take the young girl into the lothing store she had just stepped out of.

Chloe had noticed the smell herself and toke her hand, shook it and started walking with Aayla. "Um, yeah, where did you learn your magic?" Chloe asked curious if she too got it from a lacrima. Chloe had the reddest face she ever had. She just met a dragon slayer, and instead of showing her skill, she peed herself when she saw her pet. Meanwhile Gwen decided to fly over to Zinnath and try talking with her in animal in animal language. "It's nice to meet you Zinnath!" Gwen said happily holding out one of her paws to the serpent.

"That explains it... Uhm, well... Hydrianna taught me... "
She said softly as she carefully guided the small girl into the store where she took her to a section more befitting her smaller size. From there, she busied herself picking out a new outfit for the younger girl while tryin to take in the fact that there was another person just like her standing right behind her. She wasn't raised by Hydrianna... well technically, she was only partially raised by the dragon... having only come across her after she had joined Sabertooth.

She took a deep breath before retreiving a blue dress that would drop down to the young girls knees and offering it to her.

"So you've never actually met a dragon..?"
She asked softly, curious as to how a lacrima could do the same thing a dragon could when it came to bestowing magic on a person. Maybe... maybe she should Take Chloe to the Calm Sea... and see just what a lacrima created dragon slayer could do... but then again... she was young...

Chloe smiled and took the dress before saying, "I've never met a dragon, it's always been my dream though. Although my mentor was very nice, except the fact he never allowed me on land. But its not an issue when you eat and breath water." Chloe said happily coming out of a dressing room with a dress on. "But luckily I got on land on my sixteenth birthday, even if it wasn't under the happiest circumstances...." Chloe said remembering her master's death. "I can thank Fairy Tail for that." Chloe said smiling at how three wizards saved her life. "Uh, so yeah..." Chloe said happily.

Aayla's face went bright red as she looked at the other girl with a look of shock on her face. Sixteen? She was older than she was? She looked more like she could be Aayla's little sister than her older sister. Her face grew more and more red by the minute as she waited for Chloe to change and come back out, pacing lightly to try and figure out what to do.

"H...how old a...are you Ms Chloe?"
She asked now as the girl got changed into the dress and they moved to the cash where Aayla offered to pay for it. It was her fault the girl had gotten scared after all. As they walked, she held her hand to he head as if reeling from everything she was finding out. M...maybe it wasn't going to be such a good idea to test Chloe's skills... she was already so much older... and spent her whole life in the water... unlike her... she spend her whole life on land, and then promptly shoved into cages frequently.

She shook the thought from her head as she spoke only once she received an answer from the other slayer.

"I uhm... if you don't... if you don't mind... I'd like to... to see what you can do... a...as a slayer I mean..."

"Oh, I'm nineteen." Chloe said as she went to the register and promptly bought the dress herself. No matter what Aayla said. She smiled as they went outside and looked around. Gwen and Zinnath were still outside and chatting as Chloe said, "Ok, but im really not strong at all. And you were trained by a real dragon, my mentor only knew about water, not slaying.

Zinnath wasn't exactly... chatting away. Her tongue would stick out and wave as she tasted at the air, staring at the small cat with a simple gesture of head tilts. It was very difficult for the predator not to bite down on the cat...

"Nineteen... I...I'm only... 14..."
Her face went beat red as she suddenly say Chloe in a new light. She might claim to not be strong... but she had been a part of the water her whole life right? She'd been raised by someone who loved her... had she ever really known pain like she had? Well... honestly it would be a blessing if she didn't... but personally, she thought that, that pan was what made her who she was today.

"That... that's ok... I think it... it'll be fun... just to s...swim with another... water dragon slayer..."
She said as she looked over to Zinnath.

"We could g... go to the calm Sea... Zinnath could take... uhm could take us there n...no problem..."

Chloe was very scared and started walking with Aayla. "Uh, well.... that.... sounds.... fun.... i really... like swimming." Chloe said extremely shyly as she looked down at the ground and dripped water like crazy. "And... i... know.... i'm really... weak.... but i wanted.... to meet... dragon slayers.... to have... them... maybe... teach me... some things." Chloe said as she went completely red, embarrassed that a 14 year old was that much taller than her. "I'm sorry... for... offending... Hydrianna...." Chloe said with a small tear on her cheek.

"... what do you... what do you mean? Offending Hydrianna? You didn't... come on... I don't really know what... what I can show you but we'll find out... when we get there... kay?"
She said to the small girl as she walked up to Zinnath and gently put her hand on her nose before grabbing her shopping bags and jumping up onto Zinnath's back.

"I know that... you can fly her Gwen but... i bet Zinny's a lot faster..."
She said with a slight smile as she motionned for Chloe to join her on the Serpents back. She really wasn't sure what a dragon slayer of the same type could teach each other... but maybe she could start the young girl off on some starter spells? depending on what she knew... she would also have to be careful that the young girl didn't encounter... well... her while they were underwater..

"Well.... Hydriana.... gave her lacrima... to make a..... powerful wizard... but instead... it made.... me...." Chloe said ashamed as she cautious got on Zinnath as Gwen got on her shoulder. Chloe put on extremely red cheeks as she told about herself. When she was on the serpent she was scared but was more scared of what Aayla would do when she found out how much of a disappointment she was.

"Everyone starts somewhere... Don't worry"
She said with a smile  zinnath shifted, spspreading the large Normally camouflaged against her body. She spread themthem wide before taking of into the ssky with only two heavy beats of her wings. 

They weren't so high up that  felt uncomfortable yetyet, she didn't how the other dragondragon slayer would text to riding on zinnath... She knew moron sickness was a weakness for them... Zinnath didn't  her, but it  bother her.

" before hydriana took me ...   only skill I  really knew was how to turn my body into water... "
She explained lowly, getting a little more comfortable around the fairy tail girl.

" i cry... All the time... Even now i have a of trouble... You know.. With some practice, I know you will become better. "

"Yeah, but.... i dont know anything but making water. I can't do.... anything really..." Chloe said quietly as she started shaking and falling over on zinnath from motion sickness. She looked like she was about to throw up until Gwen picked her up and flew her next to Aayla. Chloe smiled as she was no longer sick but instantly put on ashamed face when she got sick in the first place. "But... your not... deadweight..." Chloe said sadly.

Spoiler:

"You can only make water? What kind of spells do you use..? I'm more of an offensive type slayer than support... so if you'd be better at support... well I don't really know any of te slayers that can help with that..."
She said softly. She was about to reach back and grab onto Chloe to stop her from falling when Gwen scooped her up and flew next to Zinnath. The large serpent had to slow herself down to keep up with Gwen and not leave her in the dust.

"Sorry... I don't get sick on Zinanth... so I didn't think you would... Sorry..."
She apologized again, however it didn't matter too much as they had already covered most of the way to the calm Sea. 

Zinnath began her descent onto the beach, earning quite a few stares from the locals just enjoying the sun. She blushed but turned her back to them, pretending they just weren't there. She put her bags down on a shaded spot of the sand and flipped off her sandals.

"Alright well... how about we start with a little race..? See that Island over there? I'll race you there."
She offered the young girl as she took off her skirt, discarding it over her bag of belongings before removing her top and putting it there too.  She too made a habit of wearing a bathing sut underneath her clothing, what sane water slayer wouldn't? It was a plain blue one piece suit, with a few yellow stripped designs that led into the Sabertooth logo on her right chest. Now that she wasn't wearing any clothes, you could distinctly see a blue sabertooth logo, lined with a white border on her left arm. You could now also see the many scars that adorned Aayla's young body, her wrists and ankles both had scars as if there had been straps there. Down her arms were the light markings of being stricken by lightning magic, and you could faintly see the slash scars on her back. There was even what looked like a large bite mark on her right thigh. She had grown so used to them, that she herself never thought of anyone else mentionning them...

"Well, you ready? On go, 3, 2, 1, Go!"
With that, she didn't even look back at Chloe before running into the water with a smile plastered onto her face, her body already looking clearer as her water body began to fade into the water. Once it was deep enough, she dived in, and listened closely for Chloe following her.

Chloe looked at all of the scars on the sabertooth wizards body as she thought about how futile she must sound. She was wearing a bathing suit very similar to Aayla's but Chloe's had a mixture of blue and light blue colors. Chloe cautiously made her way to the water and started swimming as fast as she could. She was barely keeping up with Aayla, when BAM! The enchanted gloves on her arm fell off. This caused Chloe's arms to explode into blood and for her and the gloves to start sinking, Chloe going unconscious.