To say the least, the morning wouldn’t have been unpleasant. The sun could have settled nicely on the corners of the neighbourhood houses and the clouds drifted across the blue yonder in lazy puffs, endearing her enthusiasm to continue her lovely walk. Birds would be glorified shadows amongst the sunrise as they flew overhead and the songs of the new day would be the comforting silence of a still sleeping city.

But then it wasn’t, dawn had long since passed and it didn’t go as pleasantly as he originally thought. The woman had woken up far too late than she’d wanted, followed by an ungodly urge to find herself some potatoes for dinner later that evening. She’d stare at the mirror and brush the tangles out of the silver silks on her head, then she’d dress, feeling empty without her white velvet cloak, and she’d finally leave the small, rickety inn, holding her vintage journal in her hand without so much as a word apart from paying the old woman who worked at the register, her wrinkles holding untold stories.

The streets were busy with a lively tempo as people flocked to places they were supposed to be, finding things they were supposed to do, and one young Pegasus would be there, muddle through the crowd, unknowing of what to pursue first, and how to deal with the day when she was still so hung up with how far she’s been thrown off her primary objective. Hours of waning through Orchidia streets and eating meals at diners had finally led her to the end of an empty street, a large park gleaming from afar.

It was quiet and empty, just how she liked it. With just a hint of a satisfied smile, the woman hobbled her way towards the park, in hope that it might finally be the perfect location for her to write her journal for the day. The frothy haired female sank herself onto a vacant wooden bench, her legs crossed with her journal open on her lap. She flipped the brittle sheets of the yellow pages between her fingers, until it fell onto a blank page. The moment she readied her pen, the words easily slipped onto the page as she scribbled away.

’Today, I…’

Her mind was filled with nothing but ideas to fill the pages of her tattered pages, until a force so rigorous almost knocked her off her seat. The impact caused her pen to slip off the pages, black ink running all the way across the aged sheet. Her journal, bound in red leather and faded blue bindings flew off her lap and soared through the air before landing flat onto the sand. One could see the tightness around her mouth, the barely suppressed anger in her stormy eyes as she pushed herself up onto her feet. ”Can you watch where the hell you’re going?” her voice was as icy as the winds that blew through the north, with a hint of sharpness that pierced through the cold breeze that brushed past them.

Not only was her morning ruined, Snowflake must have been very unfortunate to have her private time interrupted by some bugger who couldn’t walk in a straight line, and she watched the pages smothered with sand—the journal that she poured herself into the pages and read until she was almost cross-eyed and the words merged into nonsense. Two shining arrogant yet furious eyes had established dominance over her face as she lifted her chin even further, peering above at the man, who towered nearly a foot above her, through thick dark eyelashes. No matter who the man was, she was not one to be intimidated so easily.

Distaste; the first word that described her first impression with the dark haired. Impudent and cheeky, he had even addressed her as a ’shorty’ which—of course—offended her to a great disdain, for it was something about herself that she felt embarrassed of. Even a conceited woman like Snowflake also had her own flaws and insecurities. Despite the vulgar mouth of the man, she had to admit that he was quite the handsome one, the kind of face that would stop women in their tracks. Rugged and brutish, his masculinity was something she found attractive. She assumed that he must have gotten used to that; the sudden pause in a person’s natural expression when they looked his way followed by overcompensating with a nonchalant gaze and a weak smile.

But, all of that was nothing when he collected her journal from the ground and began reading it. Her lips parted almost out of surprise until heat rushed to her cheeks out of embarrassment and partly of anger. How could he read something that was so personal to her?! She was fuming. ”Give that back to me,” she snapped, hardly bothering to finish listening to his words and clawed the book out of his hands as if a child was robbed off their candy. ”You’re rude,” spat the female, hugging her journal tightly against her chest. If she had brought her weapon, she would have already belted his head with the wooden pole of her lance until he was unconscious.

”Snow.”

The frothy haired woman had always been polite with her words, sometimes not so much albeit, unintentionally. Yet, this man was undeserving of her courtesy, especially after what he’s done. ”Anyhow, why were you in so much of a hurry that you had to run into a bench that was right in front of you?” Though it was none of her business, she was curious as to why a man was running as if he was being chased by a tiger in broad daylight. Surely, he couldn’t have been working out.

She loved it—the name—and it was probably the only thing that she liked about herself. Perhaps she was named ’Snow’ due to the reason that she resembled the winter season; white, black and gray that filled her palettes, or perhaps it was her love for the colder days or maybe, she simply grew to become one with the season.

While the frothy haired mage uncrossed her arms, only to cross them again, she noticed how the way they conversed spoke volumes about how portrayals of themselves differed. The girl, while not the epitome of femininity, favored etiquette and stood at an elegant position whereas the dark haired man opted for a more relaxed dispute—but there was an unmistakable quiet strength and grace in him. From a distance, the duo was quite a unique sight indeed. One like the sun, bright and exotic in coloring with a free-spirited personality, and the other a polar opposite; possessing a pale and ethereal beauty, quiet and secretive—like the moon.

”Well, what kind of business? Maybe I could help you.”

No doubt, she was skeptical about the man before her, but the same treatment was rewarded to every person she has met. Regarding with suspicion wasn’t something she wasn’t familiar with. Snowflake has always been guarded at all times, approaching people with caution and keeping a certain distance between them at all times. But then, she was a woman with little words, so she found no need to converse more than what she wanted to know. It wasn’t an issue of trust rather; she was simply wary of people who could harm her.

The man, as he introduced himself as Caius, quickly dismissed the topic to what was written in her journal, just as fast as it was brought into discussion. She felt dubious of what he’d seen from her journal, but seeing how he’d attained the information that she was from her guild already made her the more apprehensive.

’What was he to do with this information?’, thought the female.

The demon slayer raised her left hand to her temple, as she tucked a few strands of loose white hair behind her pierced ears, flashing her Blue Pegasus insignia that was located on her forehand. ”Blue Pegasus,” uttered the female before adding, ”I’m assuming you’re a mage as well. Perhaps you could tell me which guild you’re from.” It wasn’t hard to notice that the man was a mage, particularly when he entered the scene, the woman easily registered a presence that had been thickly surrounded by potent magic.

Never once has Snowflake ever heard of such services, especially not one that was called ’Amazoon’, and even if she did, she would know what these were for. The woman could only raise a curious eyebrow at his explanation with her arms crossed over her bosom. ”Hm, I see. That sounds convenient,” she nodded in approval. ”Perhaps I might use one of those services at one point,” she mumbled under her breath, her words directing to no one in particular as she rubbed her chin with her finger in thought, pondering that she should make use of these businesses as soon as possible for her own convenience.

And, as Caius indicated a bow towards her, which she took it as an act of sarcasm, Snowflake peered down at the man through her thick, dark eyelashes whilst she dismissively brushed her hair past her shoulders. The arrogance that glinted in her eyes displayed that she was indeed a proud member of the guild, Blue Pegasus, when Caius addressed the topic. She was also—once—the master of the guild, though she had to surrender her title due to her own affairs as well as the guild’s. It was as if a burden was lifted off her shoulders, when she was no longer the master and somehow, she felt relieved that she’d finally returned to being a regular member.

”Oh, so guildless then. Interesting.” So, he was a mage with no home to return to, she thought. It finally made sense to her as to why he was wandering around and partaking himself in businesses like these, though it only made her more interested in the man that stood before her. Albeit, he was just as obscene as his intriguing personality when she caught him mentioning about his guild emblem being located in an inappropriate place that caused her to immediately reply in disdain, ”No, thanks. I doubt anyone wants to see it.” Her sentence hushed out into almost a whisper, hoping that he wouldn’t hear it but if he did, Caius would eventually know how she felt about such things.

Seeing how he apologized for his actions and his so-called ’puppy dog’ face, Snowflake considered him a rather decent man. She figured that it wouldn’t hurt to have some lunch with him and perhaps get to know him behind than his amusing and fun-loving façade. Besides, she was already starting to get hungry now that it was lunch time. ”Sure, tacos it is.”

The woman almost winced at his uncivil way of describing the tacos, but did not let any words pass her lips and simply followed the man’s lead. The walk to their destination was rather short and quiet, with not too much of an exchange of words but that was also mainly because Snowflake was a woman with little words. She did not find the silence uncomfortable, rather, it was something she found comforting; something she sought for whatever she did. Patches of snow crunched beneath her feet as her foot broke the layer of snowy crust and her breath steamed before her like a banner.

Snowflake enjoyed everything about this kind of weather; the satisfaction of being the first to make an impression in a blanket of freshly lain snow, the subtle crunch underfoot as she strode forward and the best bit of all—the sight of low hanging shafts of sunlight illuminating the sparkling whitened scene in front of her.

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, the icy beauty took in the sight before her, noticing how the seats were easily filled though. It must be decently popular in the town, she thought. Nonetheless, the woman wasn’t much of a fan of this sort of food, but it was never a bad opportunity to try them for once. The female was rather surprised by the choice of alcohol, especially this bright in the day, though she didn’t question further. ”Good choice of drink,” she looked at the male seated across her. ”Whiskey, please.” It was as if Caius had challenged her to order a strong glass for herself as well.

Alcohol was what she turned towards to during her worst days, consuming the liquid just like water. But, the woman was never an alcoholic. A dignified woman, she was—she wouldn’t let such things ruin her pride nor her reputation. Nevertheless, alcohol somehow became the elixir of her life; her cure. The glisten in her eyes shrouded for a brief moment as her thoughts wandered, until Caius’ words woke her out of her reverie.

”I must say, this is a pretty decent place. Surprised how I never stumbled upon here.”

As he leaned closer to her, the woman didn’t bother to move an inch. Instead, she locked her gaze with his and proceeded to stare at him with her dead eyes like she usually would. Up close, she could clearly inspect the features on his face and dare she say, he was quite the man for his age. ”Well..” she paused, unsure what to say. She certainly wouldn’t tell her story and why she left out to travel to a mere stranger she met at the park. ”…I guess I got lost on the way.” She shrugged. It wasn’t really a lie, since she didn’t have any intentions to travel to Orchidia, to begin with.

”I wasn’t really requested to assist in the demon incursions, rather, I happened to be a victim of it and ended up getting rid of them with a…comrade,” she finished her sentence. It was quite an unfortunate event for her, though she must say she was lucky that Faye was at the scene—more like, she was stalking her. ”Did you participate in the battle as well?” She wasn’t certain if she could trust the man and his words, but for now, she didn’t really pay much attention to it and so far, he didn’t seem like he wanted to harm her either.