Welcome to Gaia! ::

When Jove found out the name of the second student he was to be a "Big Brother" to, his first emotion was relief. One big dope of a dragon was enough, but this one had encountered him only on good terms in the past. And having a better sense of her from the start, Jove had prepared a map of a different variety.

With the rolled up map in hand, he once again waited outside the gymnasium for the student he would begin to mentor. It was frosty out, with a layer of snow on the ground, but he couldn't be bothered less by the temperature. Hopefully Ishild had gotten his letter... Ren didn't know for sure where her room was, so he had to ask some other students around the monster dorms... And only one or two remembered the ghoul with the fangs. Well, lots remembered the little chupacabra, but not the tall one with the spiked tail.

The little pup paced through the snow as he waited, although admittedly he had arrived early. Waiting in his room had been too difficult.

Jove shook his head, a soft expression on his face that served as a smile would to any other student. No, she wasn't really late at all. Time could be pretty relative to a little ghost who didn't sleep or age, and she was here after all.

The pup's tail wagged as he handed her the map he had prepared, the heavy parchment rolled into a scroll and tied with a ribbon. It still smelled of ink and dust to his sensitive nose, despite the time he spent carefully marking down the important landmarks and making notes. It was not a map of Amityville like he had given his other 'sibling', rather, having a sense of the arctic wyvern ahead of time it was a map of the surrounding area. The less explored woods of the school grounds. The wild places.

Jove seemed content to hand the map over, unconcerned with whether Ishild opened it now or on her own time. He would show her now, and she could use the map to visit her favourite places later!

With a slight tilt of his head to beckon her to follow, the pup trotted off towards the woods without a word.

Jove had never been an overly sociable pup, and even with all his school experience the only sign he was still attending to his companion were the fluffy ears turned backwards. Occasionally they flicked forward or to one side, taking in the sounds of the woods, but mostly it was Ishild's footsteps he was listening for.

He took them deep into the woods, making a relatively good pace despite the height of the snow reaching up his little legs. But the deeper they got, the lighter the snow became, giving way to crisp, sheer ice. Everything seemed to have a glittering crystalline exoskeleton this far in. And when Jove finally stopped in the middle of a frozen pond, it was clear the ice would even take his larger companion's weight.

He seemed not chilled at all as he knelt down on the ice, and brushed the light dusting of snow away to reveal a deep blue interior. The pool was deep. So deep he hadn't even found the bottom in the summer. Probably not even Ishild, with all her height, could touch the bottom.

Jove's fluffy tail wagged behind him. This had definitely been a good idea, taking Ishild out into the woods instead of showing her notable places on campus. She seemed right at home in the ice and snow, shedding that ...frosty exterior completely.

Yup, this was what being a Big Brother felt like. He would have to show her all the places!

He briefly put one hand on her shoulder to catch her attention, and then took off across the pond. She would have plenty of time to revisit the pond on her own, it was marked on that map and still close enough to the school that it was one of the easier destinations to find. Jove would even go with her again if she wanted!

But for now, he wanted to keep moving. Their next destination wasn't too far off!

Jove's ears swiveled as Ishild caught up, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she peeked at the map. He was right, she'd be able to find all these places without a problem later on. And just as long as she wasn't skipping classes to go wandering, he wouldn't mind running into her on his own solitary walks.

It was only a short time before the terrain began to change. The ground sloped down gently at first, and Jove had to take them almost uphill until they arrived at the edge of an icy precipice. It was a small creek, having worn itself into a ravine over years and years of spring floods and winter freezes. Tree roots protruded from the edges, and dripped icicles that shined even in the pale light. Even the soil had a mysterious glittery quality to it.

The pup walked along the edge of the ravine for a time, and then came upon a place where a tree had fallen across the gorge. It's dead branches had been mostly snapped off over the years, but one long and thick one had come to rest leading down the steep bank. Jove hopped down and walked along it's frozen length, remarkably free of slips or missteps in his heeled boots.

This was the best time to come here. While it was dangerous in another couple months after everything thawed and the October rains came, right now it was a cold paradise. Even the creek itself was frozen solid at the bottom of the ravine, and Jove walked right over it to the other side, where the soil seemed particularly shiny. His pale fingers scratched at the ice, and then at the soil, and pulled away a small flake covered in dirt so he could show it to Ishild. It was the mica in the earth that made it so shiny, even before the ice came.

The pup wagged his tail. He was connecting! Even though Ishild was a good foot taller than he was, Jove felt proud to be a 'big brother' at that moment. She seemed like she was having a good time, and even if she didn't understand his behavior at times, she had an inquisitive mind, and soon realized what it was that made these locations remarkable.

And she wanted to keep going without pausing for a snack break! Not that he couldn't provide something to munch on, it just would have meant a long detour and possibly an even longer search through the snow. His nose was good, but such a thick layer of ice crystals made picking up ground scents more difficult.

Jove took them back up the dead tree branch and across the little creek, and deeper into the snowy woods. It was a long walk. The trees, bare of leaves above, started giving way to small pines, and then even larger pines, with drifts of snow piling up in between them. The little ghost began having a hard time wading through it, even using his invisible tendrils to push snow out of his way as he moved forward.

Jove was initially startled to see Ishild's massive natural form, but the shock wore off quickly. His brother had a big natural form too, not quite that big, but big enough. And gryphon-rides were probably similar enough to arctic-wyvern-rides...

With a grateful tail wag, Jove scrambled up onto Ishild's spiky back, using his ghost tendrils to help with the ascent. It must have felt peculiar, having so many little fingers grasping and tugging, but the pup was incredibly light, even when considering his small size. When he finally reached the top, he sat down right on her shoulders, little legs danging on either side of her neck.

He wagged is tail and looked around. He could see so much from up here! If only he were a taller student, maybe he could enjoy this sort of view more often.