The sweet, warm aroma of a freshly baked apple pie filled the small lobby of Fujino's Bakery, kissing the noses of everyone within a mile's radius. Ms. Mana Fujino, as her name tag read, crinkled her nose as far as it could possibly go. She was fed up with it. The pink paint, large glass windows, glass display cases nonetheless, even the tile painted with a white and pink checkered pattern did everything but deter customers. The bakery was an unintended tourist attraction in their city of Koro, and Mana's parents ate the attention up, while she herself simply wanted a day where not one customer walked through the heavy front door, dinging as it opened.
She stood behind the cash register day in and day out, repeating the same greeting and send off every day since she had graduated high school. It had gotten to the point that almost any type of ding, ring, or bell made her want to greet someone; no matter the location. She leaned onto the counter beside her register, emitting a loud exhale as she bent over onto it. She lowered her head into her hands, overcome with boredom.
"You seem to be having fun, Mana," a familiar voice chirped as the entrance opened slightly, ringing loudly, followed by a rapid pace of footsteps approaching where she had dissociated herself.
"Welcome to Fujino's Ba-" the pink haired, and emerald eyed young woman robotically began as she noticed the figure manifesting into her peripheral vision.
"No need for that," Gairma dismissed her, waving her hand to stop her from continuing. She set her dirty, dainty backpack onto the counter with a loud thud, ignoring the others around her who looked on in disgust as they diverted their gaze from the desserts in the displays. "Guess who got accepted into Koro's Adventurer's Guild," she sang out in melodic excitement, posing with a smile as if to reveal a major act.
"No idea," Mana smiled back with sarcasm, while over-the-moon at the sight of her sister. Gairma had been away at the local Koro university for the past couple months training to enter the state's guild network. She had secluded herself from everyone and everything to focus solely on her training; she was adamant about getting in on her first try. "I missed you, Gairy!" Mana shouted, standing up from the counter and immediately abandoning her post. "I'm leaving, mother!" she yelled into the back as she took her frilly apron off and draped it across the counter.
"I hate that name," Gairma frowned, with the slight curve of a smile.
"Of course you do, Gairy, but let's leave before I have to hear what Mom's got to say," Mana exclaimed, ignoring her sister's complaint as she began darting towards the door while her mother's angry marching began to rapidly approach from the kitchen, becoming louder with each stomp.
Gairma grabbed a strap of her backpack and swung it behind her, mounting it to each of her shoulders as she followed Mana out of the family bakery. The two dashed down the sidewalk as mother Fujino burst through the door after them, yelling as she watched them disappear into the vast crowd of faces. Her cute plump stature was more grandmotherly than motherly, but her temper was of a Rotted Lion and Mana knew to get as far away as possible when she got ferocious.
"I love our parents," Mana began between the huffs of catching her breath, "but when you hate the smell of birthdays, perhaps a much-needed break is in order?" Gairma began to hyperventilate with laughter as she remembered when she felt the same way only a few months prior.
Even though they knew their mother had not left the bakery, they had continued to run past every shop, parlor, and restaurant on the strip before turning a corner towards the direction of their childhood hideout and immediately coming to a halt.
Their hideaway was a wooden cave made of connecting, curved trees at the base of the protective, cement wall that surrounded the city; only this portion, due to the Korokin Forest being extremely dense on the other side of the wall, was one of the least guarded sections of the entire barrier. It had been that way for as long as the Fujino Sisters could remember.
The two were 20 years old but were sisters for only 15 of them. Gairma's parents were both killed on a fighter's guild quest when she was only 5 years old. Due to circumstances, she was put into the care of her older brother, despite barely being an adult himself. Unfortunately for the two siblings, her brother recognized being Gairma's guardian was too much for him to handle and decided to put her into the care of their city; Koro in the state of Parnt. However, only a few months after being sent to foster care, Gairma had a new home. If by fate, Mana's parents, unable to conceive again, opted to bring a child into their home another way, and happened upon Gairma. Both Mana and her parents fell in love with the beautiful little girl instantly, and it was if Gairma had been a part of their family their entire lives.
The sisters' personalities are very different, yet they work together so well due to their care for one other. Gairma is always the go-getter, the one with a can-do attitude and always must be doing something. Mana on the other hand, prefers to be in solitude, away from others and gets away whenever she can. The only reason she hadn't been fired from the family business yet is because her entire family is the staff.
While Mana has long, wavy pink hair, Gairma has a black, straight bob that teases her shoulders and bangs that tickles her eyebrows. Instead of emeralds, her eyes were a light shade of brown that resembles caramel. She's also shorter than Mana, but no more than 6 inches, but Gairma often tries to gaslight her, unsuccessfully of course, into thinking they are at least the same. Though, where their true differences arose was, not because they were unrelated by blood, but because Gairma was born with the magika stat, unlike Mana who was not.
"I'm so happy for you," Mana gleamed, making up for her lack of congratulations previously, "but I never understood why you chose them and not the mage's one at least?" She questioned her, confused at her decision given her abilities. She always thought that those with the ability to use magika always went to the mage's guild to hone their craft. The population that was born with the extra stat knew they were considered lucky and rarely wasted the opportunity to try and master it.
To control any element and to manipulate fate.... Mana truly wished.
"Magik is boring," Gairma replied flatly without hesitation. The two continued on steadily, making their way towards the northern most part of their city walls where their hideaway was located. "I want to be able to explore the world, not just go on these jobs to simply slaughter, or heal the ones that want to slaughter." She adjusted her backpack with a quick shift, "I want to be at the front of the group finding magnificent artifacts, not watching from the back as others make discoveries."
"Well, what about-"
"The Castle of Discovery scientists stay put," she interrupted Mana, already knowing where she was going, "Who do you think helps supply guilds with contracts? They get the data they need without ever seeing it in person first." She looked at Mana with a stare of daggers, "you think that's me?" Mana went quiet. It was true, Gairma had never been one to sit back and watch, she was always the one to be hands on and achieve the things she wanted in life directly. Joining the adventurer's guild over the mages was one and the same. "I'm not smart enough to be a scientist anyways," she smirked, nudging Mana gently. "And I'll still be able to learn kickass spells in the guild, just at a slower rate."
"Yeah, I suppose you still can. I'm just scared for you," Mana admitted. While the adventurer's guild was less dangerous than the fighter's, it didn't lessen the chances of a fatality by much.
The adventurer's guild mainly focuses on discovering new places and scouting enemies, while also helping the Castle of Discovery by fulfilling contracts that involve collecting numerous different types of data such as rot samples. Adventurers are trained in stealth over anything to get what they need done, and to report back as quick as possible. They still encounter monsters which they must eradicate, but they are typically low level as adventurer's contracts come in after the fighter's guild had cleared out areas for them already.
"There's no need to worry about me," Gairma reassured her sister with a convincing smile sprawled upon her face. "I can assure you, I am probably more of a fighter's guild type of gal, but I figured I'll just carry a bunch of newbies in the adventurer's guild instead," she raised her arms into the air, bending them into a flex, "if you can't tell, I've already gained 5 levels."
"Well, I've already assumed you did," Mana mocked, "you can't be accepted into the guild unless you pass training, which gives you 5 levels as is," she laughed. Gairma crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at Mana jokingly while making blah noises.