Bad Luck Bracelet (Seika)

It was a fairly nice day in the guild hall today. Seika was lounging around in her room, waiting for Aphelia to wake up. Early on in their relationship, the girl had learned that waking up the cat when it wasn't absolutely necessary would result in a fate that had one wishing for death. Essentially, she would be both scratched, insulted, and pranked for the next month or so. Often, the peachy haired mage was willing to take that risk. She wasn't afraid of Aphelia per say, (she was definitely afraid of Aphelia the majority of the time) but more of a cautious individual who didn't wan to get hurt unless she had to. (Seika was not a cautious person whatsoever.) Either way, today was not the day to face the wrath of a fuming, early awoke bubble flame spirit. For this reason and the aforementioned aka not mentioned at all reasons above, Seika had yet to wake up her companion. However, it was fairly nice on her own. The room was spacious enough; having grown up with a tiny bedroom that she shared with her mother, Seika was never one who needed a lot of space. She could definitely appreciate luxury as well as grand living, and while Elysium's rooms were somewhat modest she could tell that the origins of the furniture and other furnishings were mysterious and had history in their own right. Today, Seika intended to drag Aphelia along with her on a job. The only problem was deciding which one. With a yawn, the girl pulled herself up off of the chair she was sitting in- well, half laying across with one foot in the air and the other twisted strangely around her body- to get dressed. Despite her love for different armors, fashions, and fabrics, Seika wore the same thing most of the time. She wasn't rich and couldn't afford to actually buy more than a few outfits. Furthermore, the storage space, while more than enough for all of her belongings, wasn't exactly a three room walk in closet or anything. Well, she guessed that some of the rooms were bigger, but Seika had chosen this one and gotten all comfy and she wasn't about to move if she didn't have to. So she got dressed. Her clothes consisted of that slightly oversized sweater, along with the uniform remake of her old school's dress code from Pergrande. Sometimes she acknowledged that it was strange to wear a school uniform everywhere, especially one that was so tied to her history like that. But the girl had gotten used to those clothes, and she also felt more like a proper student when wearing it. As if someone would be less likely to mistake her for an adult; because of course, Seika didn't want to be seen as a grown up. She wished to remain a kid and would rather be interpreted as a runaway student or truant one than a young adult of whom responsibilities and standards were expected. People were so much easier on children, for the most part at least, after all.

Once she had finally gotten ready, Seika went to the bathroom and did all of her hygienic stuff before returning to the bedroom. Aphelia was still sleeping away, the soft mmrs of her breathing louder now that Seika's thoughts weren't holding the majority of her focus. With a smile, Seika slowly ran her finger along Aphelia's head, and the purrs deepened ever so slightly. She held back a laugh and then withdrew, heading for the doorway. For some reason, the girl always felt better sleeping with the door open; it was weird of her in some ways, especially since she didn't know all of the guild mates and some of them were most definitely certified crazy. Yet some how, it was reassuring to be able to see what was going on, if anything was actually happening. Of course, when she needed her privacy she would happily close the door, but Seika didn't desire that very often. Oh, come to think of it, she had changed with the door open, had she not? Shrugging, the girl closed the door gently behind her to prevent anyone from surprising Aphelia, before she headed down the hallway in the direction of the stairs.

Their guild hall was one of the most beautiful places Seika had ever been. While the mage was an avid photographer and adored taking pictures of many sights, she still considered Elysium's home to be one of the best ones. Her love for the underground city was just barely outshone by her adoration for their guild hall in the center of it. She could remember the first time she saw it clear as day. The magma running down in twin pools next to the sides of the entryway, the gleaming white marble amid the darkness, the way the paths were narrow and hovered over what felt like a dark cavern, that would lead to a drop off over boiling hot molten lava. It was just so stunning, the contrast of burning heat and the cool, slimy stones, and the starkness of white against the black of darkness and shadows that hung and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Shaking her head to break the reverie she had fallen into, Seika focused on the cause that she was ready to give her life for: the guild's values. While it might have seemed silly to be willing to die for something she had no part in making, the girl wanted to help. She honestly would be ready to die for numerous causes, if only for the sake of just doing whatever she wanted, but Elysium was a bit different. All along, Seika had wanted a home, and Elysium had showed her the life she always desired, given her that place to stay and people to be with. Furthermore, the goals of them as an organization fit her perfectly. People had a flawed understanding of morals nowadays; they thought it was okay to do things like hunt down innocent wolves and kill them just because they had slain a pet deer or something like that. Seika wouldn't pretend to always do what she thought was right, especially because she let her temper get the best of her sometimes. But she knew that arbitrarily deciding what was good and evil was a problem with society, and Elysium intended to fix it. They had lost so much from the dictators who demanded certain artifacts, important pieces of history, be thrown away or discarded simply for being dark. That was a shame, and Seika, along with her beloved guild mates, wanted to see them restored to their proper place and given respect.

She had become distracted again. With a laugh at herself, Seika swung her body over the banister and sat on top of the short post at the top of the stairs that would lead down to the main part of the guild hall, the hall itself so to speak. Inside there, it was well lit, but still dark feeling somehow, and damp. It was hard to describe... Seika felt like she was in a swamp, but on land, like with stalactites but algae and other vines hanging from the ceiling and small fires flickering all over the place. Despite the cool toned scheme of the room, it was very warm, and Seika sighed happily as she felt the air sweep past her in a gentle breeze. Somehow, it was always more stale, the air in the upper parts of the guild hall, but somehow it was also colder. She guessed it had to do with the magma underneath the structures of Elysium, which sent warmth up through the stone and other rock or structures. She slid down the banister with a squeal before landing on the floor. Nobody else was currently in the hall; it seemed like getting up at this hour had been a good choice. While she was excited to socialize with them, Seika had wanted to do a bit of exploring, and she felt like had there been people around, she would have made a beeline for them instead. Getting off track was fun and all, but she wanted to stay focused rather than babble around.

Before anything, though, came breakfast. Seika tiptoed carefully (just for the fun of it, honestly) to the fireplace, where she sat for a few moments, enjoying the heat, before she reached next to the fireplace. There was a wooden cabinet there, which she had discovered early on contained pantry items that were perishable, such as bread and jam, crackers, that sort of thing. In the one next to it was another cabinet, but with significantly longer lasting items, such as a jar of honey that Seika grabbed eagerly. She went to get a knife from the other room, the kitchen, and then came back to sit down in front of the fire, where she spread the honey on a slice of bread and then bit down. As per usual, it was delicious. One hand full of the bread and honey pseudo sandwich, Seika got to her feet and headed for the back of the room, where there was a board hanging with posted jobs. After exploring the city of Elysium some more today, Seika intended to go out and complete a mission, or maybe a few, if she could manage it and find ones to her liking. Despite being picky with food, Seika wasn't exactly choosy with work, per say. More so, she didn't have the skills for all of the work that was available, especially since many of her guild mates were much stronger and brought in customers that wanted very bad and evil things done that she couldn't even hope to accomplish in her current state. Her eyes flickered over the board, reading the names of the missions first, then going on to see the jewel reward posted as well as the description itself. She balked at the price tag on some of them; three hundred thousand jewels was actually insane. Clapping at the amount, she squinted at the lettering underneath before she laughed. It figured, this one required a high profile assassination of a target that was most certainly guarded by at least eight S-Rank mages, not to mention had the notice of the Rune Knights and their protection as well. Shaking her head with amusement, Seika went back to browsing for jobs that were more in her ability range. She had Aphelia, so... she wasn't really worried too much about dying, but more about not being able to accomplish the task.

Eventually, Seika decided to take a break from reading. While she knew there was less work available for dark and independent guilds than for the Magic Council approved legal guilds, there were still plenty of people offering unsavory or just plain non sanctioned jobs. Not all dark guilds did evil, horrendous things. Seika had seen many a job available that was simple resigned to dark mages because the light guilds considered them above such things, or the Magic Council didn't approve of it for some reason. This was why Elysium needed to break the cycle of judgement and power that held Fiore and the rest of Earthland in its grasp. If there was nobody like the Magic Council making rules and preventing people from having individual freedom, life would be a lot better. They could design a new world, a utopia where things were equal and everyone could live their best life. With a smile on her face at that thought, Seika sat down at a table nearby to finish eating her bread and honey. While she did so, she considered her options for exploration on this fine morning. So far, she had already ventured through a great deal of the guild hall, but she definitely had not yet seen all there was in the marble palace. That was an option, then. However, Seika felt like today she was more interested in looking at the city itself, and seeing what kind of people had taken up residence there. After all, the city was a haven, an underground settlement for people who had been lost in Sin or had made it here to escape from something or another. Everyone who lived in Elysium had built a new life either from their old one or unrelated to their past. It was a space to be safe from the outside world and decide what to do next. Licking the crumbs off of her lips, Seika slid off of her seat at the table and headed for the exit of the main room.

In the hallway, it was simple enough to follow it until she reached the heavy, beautiful doors of Elysium's guild hall. From there on it was just a few more steps until she was essentially able to see the cavern system, although she was still technically in the front part of the building, just it had an open area that was jaggedly broke to see the light. Seika studied the paths in front of her. Directly to the front, the path that went straight forward, was the way to leave Elysium and return to Sin. She didn't want to take that just yet, so instead she turned her gaze to the left. There were ways there that she had ventured to before, and they led to some shops and an underground market that was for the residents of Elysium as well as traders and other dealers who came to sell their wares temporarily before returning back home or leaving for another site. On the right, though... there were paths that she had yet to take. Seika nodded; the choice was obvious. She trotted down one of the unpaved, rocky roads, blinking as she walked into the darkness. While it was light enough for her to see the outline of her shoes, strapped onto her feet, she couldn't see her fingers individually. When it was this dark, Seika usually felt a bit of unease, and today was no exception. She could deal with it, though. Especially considering how soon enough it was over, rather suddenly actually, and she was stepping into a well lit cavern that had not only fires but lanterns posted on the sides of the room and on the walls, with a chandelier in the middle. It was a surprisingly low hanging ceiling; well, not very low at all, really, probably like ten meters or something like that. High enough that falling would mean death or broken limbs. But it was shorter compared to what felt like the never ending ceiling of the main part of the cavern in the underground city. Seika took another look around. There weren't any people in sight, but there were doors in the sides of the room; now that she thought about it, the doors were marvelous. It seemed that doorway shaped holes had been cut into the stone and replaced by a kind of dark, but warm wood that was engraved with runes and swirling, well, not quite swirling but rather intricate, ornate patterns. The engravings were further inlaid with what appeared to be either gold paint or another slightly shimmery, golden substance.

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Suddenly, Seika felt her heart drop in her chest as another consciousness began to send a stream of foggy thoughts and vague feelings into the inside of her head. It seemed like Aphelia was awake, and the girl felt a bit of panic rise in her before she shoved it away, knowing that the feline would interpret that as something bad or reason for worry. Causing Aphelia to worry caused further restrictions to be placed, which cased unhappiness, which caused chaos, which caused an even more irritated Aphelia, which.... was really very Not Good, to say the least. For this reason, Seika quickly backed away from the glowing doors and the brightly lit room, despite the part of her that was screaming to explore further. Oh well, she could always come back. The branch wouldn't just disappear on her, right? Unless.... but no, Seika couldn't worry about that now. Clearing her mind of curious questionings about what could possibly lie behind those doors, she turned slowly, something still singing to her from the room, and tore herself away. She shut her eyes and hurried in a straight direction, before she tripped on a dip in the rocky ground, flailing momentarily before faling and skidding across the ground. Her knees were scraped, and she could feel the sting of air into the scratches as she picked herself back up into more of a sitting position again. Seika winced as the bond flared, Aphelia's concern skyrocketing as she felt the pain transmitted through. Blocking out the questions that came fired at her rapid style through their link, Seika got to her feet unsteadily, her eyes still closed lest she be tempted by the golden light of the cavern. Slowly she walked forwards, feeling around with her feet to make sure she wasn't stepping off into the magma or anything. At one point, she put the toe of her shoe into the lava and screeched none too delicately, but quickly she hopped backwards and pulled away. As a result, she fell backwards and hit the back of her head with a harsh clunk. Inside the guild hall, Seika could feel Aphelia's outrage at her further injury, accompanied by the pulsating command to return this instant.

Scrambling to her feet, this time with her eyes open, Seika yelled loudly, hoping that Aphelia could hear, "I'm coming! Don't be so impatient!" The cat appeared to hear, because annoyance immediately seeped through the bond, the mind link transferring bits and pieces such as 'idiot' and 'use the link' and 'why would you...' but Seika was done listening. She inspected her foot, wincing as she tried to put weight on it. It was surely badly burned, but it was nothing that their dual healing factor couldn't fix, and she could always throw a spell at it to speed up the process. Since, of course, Seika was ready to go out right away, as soon as they found a job at least. And as soon as she managed to convince Aphelia not to lock her up in the guild hall to prevent her from getting into any "foolhardy accidents," oh Seika remembered that speech quite well. She grimaced again at that thought before hurrying along, limping slightly but mostly just dealing with the pain as it slowly sunk into her body and became more and more natural with every step. Being of the rather rushing, energetic sort, Seika ran around a lot, and although she wasn't particularly clumsy, getting hurt ended up being a part of many adventures. It wasn't in itself an adventure nor a pleasant thing, but she wasn't as cowered by pain as she used to be.

Aphelia's voice echoed through the bond. 'I can hear you thinking about foolhardy accidents,' she projected at Seika, extremely clearly, in fact crystal clear to the point of all of her scathing inflection coming through as well. The mage winced; there was a reason she had yelled back at the feline, since using the bond to communicate very precise thoughts such as full sentences was hard on the mind and gave her a headache later. The cat got the gist of how Seika felt about the situation and said snappishly, 'If you didn't wander off I wouldn't have to use it like this. Now where are you?' To which the peachy haired girl didn't bother to reply mentally, instead yelling again out loud, "Aphi, I'm coming! If you missed me so much, you could just say so instead of giving us both a migraine!" Honestly, the cat was like a tsundere or something. Half the time she completely ignored Seika and whatever she said, yet somehow she still wanted to be close to her so she could ignore her face to face. Seika huffed out an indignant breath at the idea. Aphelia said that she made no sense sometimes, but really, it was the spirit that had the least sense between the two. Sure, they basically shared brain cells, but Seika was pretty sure that she used them better than that cat. Since, at least she wasn't giving off mixed signals all the time! But no matter how frustrating Aphelia could be sometimes, Seika knew that the flame bubble spirit loved her. She loved her back, too, but it was still annoying to be bossed around all the time and called for like this. Especially since Aphelia was the one sleeping in! Wasn't it supposed to be her who was the unorganized one sleeping through alarm clocks?

Her tirade of complaining thoughts was interrupted by Aphelia's voice, loud, clear, and present. "Hey! Have you been standing out here all this time? I told you to return to the hall," her words rang out, echoing slightly in the cavern. Seika looked up, not a single bit of surprise showing on her face even though she was inwardly a little bit confused as to why the cat was there. Didn't she say that she was coming back? The cat continued to glare at the girl, since she wasn't responding. "Idiot, say something," she hissed. When Seika still just stared at her, her brain failing to work for some reason or another, the felin rolled her eyes before padding forward with a roll of her tail in the air behind her. The word 'Whatever' echoed briefly through the bond before Aphelia twisted her tail around Seika's leg and vanished both of them in a pop. They reappeared in Seika's room, right in the center and next to her bed. Briefly tired from the use of magic, Aphelia hopped on top of the bed and circled around twice before settling down amidst the blankets, with her back to a pillow. While she was waiting for her idiot to regain the ability to speak, Aphelia licked a paw carefully. It wasn't long before Seika managed to come to, her vision still slightly blurry and her head throbbing gently, but painfully. Recognizing the after effects of teleportation in the slight tingling that ran through her body and the warmth across the surface of her skin, a bubbly, fizzing sensation, Seika said, "Thanks Aphi," before she plopped down on the bed next to her. Throwing her arms to her sides and over her head until she resembled a starfish with her feet on the ground and hanging over the side, Seika groaned.

"Why did you go out so early?" Aphelia asked mildly, her annoyance gone as concern replaced it. She jumped down from the bed and padded over to examine the burned shoe tip of the mage. Shaking her head with a disapproving expression set in her eyes and across her muzzle, Aphelia whispered a few words before swiping a paw through the air over the injury. It melted away, and the cat could feel the pain subside from her own back paw as well. The cuts, scratches, and scrapes that the girl had managed to receive from her own stupidity and clumsiness were already healing, so the cat didn't bother to waste energy on those. Instead, she leaped back up onto the mess of bedding and curled up next to Seika, waiting for an answer to her question. "I just wanted to explore..." she half whined. "Plus you didn't wake up yet and I didn't want to bother you, so I figured I would look at the jobs that are available. Since, I wanted to go on a mission or two today, Aphi. Maybe even three if we can manage it." She turned her head slightly so that she could see her bond mate, her eyes expectant as she rested them on the feline. In return, the cat shook her head in disapproval, even though her heart was warmed slightly by Seika's omission that she had purposefully let Aphelia sleep rather than trying to wake her up. A wise decision, since if the mage had dared disturb her sleep, Aphelia would have had a lot more injuries to heal. "We can do a job today," the cat finally said, her eyes unreadable at this point, though her tail flicked in the air before settling down with the end of it resting on Seika's arm.

Said girl sat up abruptly, her eyes shining with excitement. "Really? We can?" She asked, her voice bright and spotted with enthusiasm. With an inward groan at the trouble this would probably cause, Aphelia mentally prepared herself before nodding stiffly. "Oh my gosh, yay! That's great! Let me just go down and find one that's perfect, this is going to be so much fun, Aphi!" The mage tried to grab for the cat to pick her up and swing her around in a celebratory move, but the spirit nimbly dodged out of the way, well accustomed to Seika's antics. "You're not going anywhere, idiot. Stay here, and I will pick out a job. A single job." While Seika had become stronger recently, she was still concerned for the girl. Two or three jobs in one day wasn't a good idea, even if they were easier ones. She needed more rest too, what with the chaos that had been happening lately thanks to joining Elysium and meeting a few troublemakers, both in and outside of the guild. Aphelia slid off of the bed, her tail flicking to keep her balance as she left the room and took the stairs gracefully two at a time. She stepped up to the guild board, studying the available missions with practicality but also acknowledging what might appeal to Seika. Since the mage wasn't exactly a heroic type but did like to help cute or innocent people or animals, Aphelia carefully grasped the edge of the chosen slip with her teeth before ripping it down. Now carrying the mission description in her mouth, careful only to touch the margin so that no ink would run due to her saliva (and it wasn't healthy to ingest those kinds of chemicals or pigments, either, for the most part), Aphelia went back up the stairs to return to Seika and her room.

Entering the room silently, she stopped when she saw Seika, snoring away, her limbs spread out in an ungainly fashion. Her movements slowed, and she made sure not to make any noise as she approached with delicately stepping paws. As Aphelia gazed at her friend, companion, and bond mate, she felt a surge of affection. Despite the fact that she constantly criticized the girl and they both badgered each other, there was an underlying connection and a fondness that ran more than skin deep. They were not only connected emotionally but also spiritually, and it was at times like this that Aphelia remembered it. She took a shallow breath before dipping her head to drop the job on the floor; then the cat turned around, her tail swishing lightly. She would let Seika sleep; the toll of going through a painful injury (even if she had experienced worse before, it was still not just a walk in the park) and then healing it came out of her, too, even if Aphelia was the one who had used the magic. After all, their cores were irrevocably connected. As she left the room, Aphelia was tempted to close the door, but she was cautious of awakening her sleeping charge. For that reason, and also because she was aware that for some odd reason or another, Seika preferred it open most of the time, she left the doorway unblocked. Concentrating her focus on their link for a brief moment left her with a perfectly clear picture of all of Seika's vitals, including her levels of magic power and energy. It looked fine, just slightly depleted; it wasn't even enough to cause an urge to sleep, normally, but despite Seika's typically high energy, she had feline characteristics just like Aphelia and both enjoyed a good cat nap every now and then. For Aphelia, more than every now and then.

The feline trotted back down the stairs and entered the main portion of the guild hall again, where she jumped up onto a table. A few guild members were now trickling downstairs; these were the early risers. For some reason Seika had chosen to get up at around four in the morning, which was an absolutely disgusting time to rise, and it was for good reason that Aphelia had not awoken and followed her. But now it was just past six in the morning, and the sun was leaking out over the horizon; even if it was impossible to see directly from down in the underground city of Elysium, there were plenty of holes and tiny fractures of space in the ceiling and walls for light to shine through. Many of them seemed to be reinforced with glass, or some enchanted, crystalline substance, to prevent rain from passing in, but allowing beams to make their way down into the dark, cavernous settlement. Aphelia greeted a guild member whom she had met before, but she didn't bother to carry on a conversation. Instead, her interest had been piqued and held by the several fridges in the corner of the room. There was a kitchen portion of the main large dining hall in Elysium, where members could cook, provided they weren't incompetent enough to burn down the place. It was extremely resistant to fire and most worldly methods of destruction, but she had seen a few guild members accidentally burn their pancakes and have to answer to Janet or one of the aces for it.

Aphelia patiently waited for someone else to open the refridgerator that she wanted, for her. Although the feline could have technically opened it with magic, she wanted to rest for now as her shared core with Seika could use a little bit of recuperating. The actual magic she had performed earlier hadn't taken as much out of it as Seika's stress and pain from before that. Thankfully, most of everyone in the guild was fairly considerate when it came to helping their fellow organization members out. Pets and other companions were well taken care of, and it was only a short amount of time Aphelia had to wait before someone else headed to the fridge she wanted to access. At that point, all it took was a polite, "Could I use that after you?" and the man nodded and left it open as he departed with his food. She could close it herself, of course; it just took a push of the paw and the thing would swing closed and seal itself shut again. No opposable thumbs necessary.

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Peering inside the fridge, Aphelia searched for the food that she knew she could eat. As a flame bubble spirit, practically everything was edible through combustion, but she had some food that she actually preferred. Namely, meat. There was some cheeses that the feline was an absolute fan of, but the one thing she never ate or consumed in any way, shape, or form, (if she could avoid it, that was) had to be fish. Having been born as a fish herself, and not a carnivorous fish such as perch or salmon. Well, carnivorous wasn't precisely the correct word; major predatory sharks such as the great white shark were more carnivorous, since they could eat mammals like seals. Aphelia meant fish that ate other fish. She was not on of them, and proudly so, thought the bond companion as she nudged the fridge closed with her right paw, her left paw supporting the packet of sliced meat that she held in her mouth. While she could scent the delicious meat from her current position, Aphelia was not a complete animal. She waited until after making sure the fridge was properly sealed shut to leap delicately up onto a table, where she lay down the package. Proceeding to tear it open with her teeth, she pulled out one piece of thinly sliced meat (it turned out to be pork, or ham, which wasn't that bad but there was definitely better that she could have had). Today was a fairly calm day in the guild hall, it seemed. There was nobody running around with their clothes on fire, nor were there any invasions or interruptions from outside sources. Occasionally, Aphelia had woken up to a supposed raid and had to help out. Seika normally didn't pay any attention to those sorts of things, and Aphelia would sleep through them if she were less worried about her life being in danger. Not everyone had the luxury of being as uncaring and unbothered as the idiotic peach haired mage.

As she was eating, Aphelia kept an eye out for anyone she knew. While the cat was fairly acquainted with the majority of the guild, she didn't actually know most of them. Instead, it was more of like, she had asked them to open the fridge for her before or to help her use the toaster. Only maybe two or three mages aside from Seika had directly interacted with her. On this morning, it didn't look like any of them were around, which was absolutely fine, and perhaps even preferred in Aphelia's eyes. She disliked interacting with sentient creatures so early in the day, including Seika, though that was often unavoidable no matter how much or hard she tried to sleep in. Withholding a sigh, she licked her nose for a second since there was a small sliver of ham stuck to it. Twitching at the sensation, Aphelia briefly mused on what they should do today. Undoubtedly, Seika would wake up some time soon, and she would desire to go on that job that Aphelia had left on the floor. It was the feline's hope that Seika would carefully read over the description before agreeing to take the mission, but of course she knew that would not likely be the case. At some point, the mage's curiosity or boredom would get the best of her, but as soon as she woke up and saw it lying there like a mark of approval, she would probably bound down the stairs and beeline straight for Aphelia. Mentally, the companion prepared herself for that turn of events. Likely they would be meaning to leave straight away as soon as Seika woke up, though of course Aphelia would insist that Seika double check she had all of her belongings as well as some snacks for along the way, to keep her energy up. The true question was whether she ought to teleport the two of them or let Seika keep up her strength and focus a little more by walking. Although, it was tentative whether that would actually be the better decision. They could make a long, fabulous, Earthland wide journey of it, with taking a boat and all to Fiore, but obviously it was not going to happen. The only two practical and realistic options were either Aphelia's own magic or the utilization of one of the guild teleporters.

Aphelia guessed that Seika preferred her own magic, judging by their track record when it came to taking jobs in the past. To be completely honest, the cat had no idea why that was the case. After all, it seemed like it gave Seika a greater sense of vertigo, dizziness, and other unpleasant side effects of the travelling than the guild sanctioned method. Furthermore, it did drain a tad bit of their shared power, but that was not as much of a factor. Still, Aphelia did not care if it affected Seika badly. What the girl wanted, she supposed she could fulfill regardless of Seika's safety. Despite what some idiotic individuals claimed, Aphelia did not give any thoughts to Seika's conditions aside from what affected her own state (which was practically everything, thanks to their bonds in both the physical, magical, and spiritual sense, but she dismissed that notion). Either way, the feline was largely stuck waiting for the girl to awaken, since she was not about to go and wander off, unlike a certain someone. Still, the time passed quite quickly, and it was not very long before Aphelia felt the stir of another consciousness inside of their shared mind space, Seika's vague, blurry thoughts trickling in through their bond link.

Seika was awake! The feline contained her excitement, forcing it down into a state of indifference, ignoring the fact that Seika could feel her true emotions. Within a few minutes, the mage came barreling down the stairs and rushed into the guild hall. She seemed torn between greeting basically every single member in the room and beelining straight towards Aphelia. In the end, she chose to rush for her bond mate before snatching her off the table in her hands and holding her up in the air as she swung her around as if offering her to Jesus. "Aphi! Is it true? Tell me it's true!" She laughed happily, her excitement uncontainable as it burst out through her smile, the trembling in her hands, the brightness in her eyes. Aphelia mock yawned, putting a paw to her mouth in a dignified fashion even as a light twinkle (and the cat would never acknowledge it if one accused her of it being there) glimmered in her eyes. "Might be." To which Seika exploded in happiness, dancing around the room, much to the combined amusement, annoyance, and chagrin of everyone else in the room. She broke into half song, except she couldn't really sing because she didn't even know what she was saying and singing. It was a racket, and Aphelia quietly enjoyed every last second of it. Although the feline was tempted to ask if Seika had read the job over carefully, she did not even bother to voice that question out loud. She knew the girl would either enthusiastically lie about it or blurt out a million reasons why Aphelia should still let them go on the mission and then hit the ground and read it right there, lying on the floor. Nobody really knew with Seika; her unpredictability was mildly concerning at times. But Aphelia could be sure that she had not actually fully comprehended the job yet, that was for sure.

"We'll be heading to the Lycan Woods," Aphelia informed her, a bit less grumpily than usual as a smile pulled at the edges of her mouth along her muzzle. Seika acknowledged her with a loud whoop, cheering as she pulled Aphelia into another dance number. The cat debated whether or not to add a bit of a sarcastic tinge onto it, but she knew that wouldn't get them anywhere. It was tempting though. Clearing her throat, she spoke again, "To the guild teleporter?" It was a question, because ultimately she would leave the choice up to Seika, but the feline honestly believed that using the guild's method of travel would be much more beneficial for both of them. Of course, Seika shook her head vehemently. "No! I wanna use your teleportation, it's much more fun, and I don't like sharing with the others," she nearly shouted. The aforementioned "others" turned to look at her before a few just shook their heads. Nobody really seemed offended, and for good reason. Seika didn't always think before speaking, and blurting out that she disliked using the same equipment as her fellow guild members, while it could be offensive, was just the preference of a little girl who wanted her own stuff so it could feel special and separate from the rest of the horde. "Very well," Aphelia acknowledged, though inwardly she was pleased by Seika's love for her Risan magic. Without much more further ado, the feline closed her eyes briefly, channeling the power that was so natural to her. It was only another blink of a breath and then the two were standing in Lycan Woods, or in Seika's case, more like swaying unsteadily on her feet, with Aphelia in her arms, looking down precariously. "Idiot, I swear to the gods above, if you drop me-" but Seika seemed to regain her balance, despite the fact that her eyes were a little bit wild, her hair frizzy, and her body still leaning to one side. "I won't drop you, Aphi!" The girl reassured her loudly, although judging by the way her hands shook ever so slightly, Aphelia was hardly comforted.

"Carry me properly, then" she advised, her tone a bit dry with humor though at Seika's obvious determination to lie about her state despite their bond that had the cat knowing exactly how bad the mage was feeling at the moment. Obeying the suggestion, well, it had been more of a command, Seika nestled the cat within her arms, a much more secure and safe position. Then blinking the dizziness out of her vision (it definitely did not work, but it was a good try nonetheless) she squinted at the area in front of her. "Where are we, Aphi?" Seika asked curiously, blowing her bangs away from her face. "In Lycan Woods," the cat responded very simply. "Today we are going to help a child find her mother." There was a bit more to it than that, but the cat couldn't be bothered to talk for long periods of time. So instead, she sent images and memories to Seika through the bond, of her reading over the job description, researching more about the series of events, and so on. Apparently, a young girl had been found running around with apparently no purpose or way of having arrived there. The woods were extremely dangerous, but she was unharmed except for any mental trauma from being apparently abandoned by her mother. According to the girl herself, her mother had told her to hide in the trees before disappearing abruptly and not returning even after a few days had passed. The girl refused to give much more information, but it was likely blocked out of her memory or simply too scary to talk about and acknowledge that it could have actually happened.

Their job here, then, was to find the girl's mother. It was important for them to remember that there had been hunters who went out to look for the woman and never returned, signalling that something very dangerous, probably multiple somethings, lurked in the forest. Therefore, it was equally their task to locate the hunters and either bring back their corpses or rescue them from whatever fate might have befallen them and prevented them from making a safe and timely return. The job requesters, the local hunter's association, essentially, had asked that if the hunters were in fact dead, the mages who took the job should attempt to return their remains so that a proper burial could be held; if it was impossible to recover the bodies, any items that provided proof of their deceased status would be much appreciated. Aphelia could understand that, since closure was important to many families in order to be able to continue going about their lives and to pick up the pieces after a loss. It was better to know that someone was truly gone than to be left wondering and hoping, only never to have those wishes fulfilled or confirmed. Either way, Aphelia finally transmitted the last bit of information to Seika. The little girl's mother had been wearing a golden charm bracelet when she was last seen (only a bracelet, apparently, much to Aphelia's cringing amusement and Seika's confusion) and had vibrant green eyes. Beautiful, really. But the last clincher was that apparently, the hunters had been carrying weapons and survival gear not only because they were searching for the missing woman but also because there were werewolves in the forest.

"Ehh? There's werewolves?" Seika nearly screamed in surprise, before she looked around in excitement, as if hoping to see a werewolf pop out of the trees. Groaning inwardly, Aphelia said very slowly, "Yes, Seika. These are the Lycan Woods, named because of the Lycans that reside within the forest." An expression of understanding overtook the girl's face, and she said very loudly, "Ohhhh, that makes so much sense!" Though Aphelia was wincing the entire time she spoke due to the volume of her voice (really, Seika couldn't keep it down, even when she tried to whisper it came out louder than speaking for some people) she supposed that it wouldn't be a bad thing to be attacked by werewolves. After all, the cat was feeling rather hungry, despite having eaten earlier; it was likely due to the minor loss of magic from the teleportation she had utilized to get to the job location. Alternatively, she was just a glutton and loved eating literally all of the time. A combination of the two, most likely. Removing those thoughts from her mind, though, as they were just distractions at this point, Aphelia nudged Seika's arm with her head, curling her tail around her bicep. Or, where her biceps were supposed to be. "Just go straight, I teleported us facing the correct direction," she guided the mage gently. Or as gently as Aphelia could get, it was actually more a curt and straightforward order than a gentle suggestion, but oh well. Same difference.

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Without much hesitation (the little that did show probably stemming from unsurety and curiosity at wanting to explore in other directions) Seika stepped forward, still looking all around her. Aphelia rolled her eyes, pin pricks of bright blue flashing as she laughed inwardly at Seika's curiosity. "If you keep moving this slow, a werewolf is going to jump out and bite you," Aphelia drawled, licking on paw before putting her head down on Seika's arm, resting comfortably. The mage seemed unperturbed by the idea; if anything, her eyes grew even shinier. "Really? We'll get to see a werewolf? That's great! Aphi, which direction again?" The cat groaned mentally at her forgetfulness and excitement and indicated with a flick of her tail to continue just going straight forward. "Kay, thanks Aphi! By the way, what are we supposed to look for? Like, do I just keep walking until I find the girl's mommy?" At this new question, Aphelia moaned out loud, the peace and tranquility of the forest disturbed yet again. "I showed you, idiot. We find the bracelet first," the spirit reiterated yet again, referencing when she had run Seika through the whole set of memories and images that pertained to the job. "Ooh, yeah, that's right!" She clapped excitedly, letting Aphelia fall to the ground. "Idiot," Aphelia muttered. She had landed on her feet, but it wasn't pleasant to all of a sudden be touching the dirty forest floor. Granted, there was a surprisingly short amount of undergrowth, and the grass and dirt was fairly clean of any bugs or space that was covered with leaves or dead matter. Instead, the woods looked surprisingly manicured. The way they were headed, forwards, there was a pretty wide, and open area in the trees, almost as if the path were inviting them inside. Aphelia hadn't thought seriously on it before, but now she was even more wary of what might be inside. "Be more careful, Seika," the feline murmured, her voice serious as she scanned the area.

"I am being careful! Besides, I- eeeek!" Aphelia swiveled her head upwards immediately to see what was happening, only to discover that Seika was being... 'attacked' by a flying insect, probably some kind of fly or bug that was harmless but actually rather large. The cat stiffled her laughter, although she appreciated Seika dealing with it for her. "Just keep walking, it will-" Just then, Seika conjured a massive amount of bubbles and sent them flying at the bug, trapping it inside one of them before the rest were hurtled to the side. She brought the bubble and its captive closer, peering at the insect that was hovering around inside, flying at the walls and trying to escape. "Bubble Prison! This is what you get for trying to attack me!~" Seika scolded it. She moved along again, the bubbleified insect still hovering in the air as Seika brought it along, levitating it with magic and the natural air current. "My prisoner now! Don't worry, I'll take good care of you," she cooed at the creature, while Aphelia took the opportunity to get a better look. It was much bigger than she had originally assumed, and the large stinger and striped body led Aphelia to believe that it was a killer wasp or a hornet. Probably some kind of touched by magic type though, considering its size and surprising aggression towards Seika, whose aura and stench from spending so much time in Sin often naturally scared away nonmagical beings, no matter how much Seika tried to make friends with them and succeeded afterwards. It wasn't of much consequence to Aphelia what had attacked them, though, since it wasn't important- "Ow!" Dear, what had happened now?

Aphelia turned to her human companion again, only to see Seika falling in slow motion onto the forest floor, her left foot flailing as her right had hit a rather large tree root, one that the cat had stepped delicately over without a single issue or even an extra second that altered her gait. "Seika..." Aphelia padded over, shaking her head in amusement as the mage struggled to her feet. "Ahh! Why didn't you warn me," she whined, only to pout when Aphelia gave her a very dry, unamused look. It had been so obvious. Half a minute later, the mage seemed to have regained her breath and had no injuries, so the two continued. It was only a few minutes after that when Aphelia realized that the wasp or hornet or whatever thing had disappeared, Seika's concentration likely having been broken by the fall. With any luck, it had left and would not be returning to bother them any time soon. However, knowing Seika's luck, in actuality it was returning to its hive and bringing back a whole horde of wasps to hunt them down. Aphelia shuddered at the thought before she padded insistently forward, ignoring Seika's shout, "Hey! Aphi! Where are you going? I can't walk that fast, you know!" She was lying, not to Aphelia's amusement whatsoever, as evidenced by her completely deadpan expression when the mage ran to catch up with her bond mate. When Seika finally was even with the cat, she leaned over with her hands on her knees, panting heavily.

Just as she finally managed to catch her breath, Aphelia pointed behind her with a paw. "A raccoon," the feline said, to which Seika blinked. "What?" She asked, intrigued as she turned around to see what was there. Upon witnessing the scene, her heart dropped. "Oh my gosh, so so cute!" She raced over to the raccoon and was about to touch it when Aphelia said, "Wait." There was a soft command in her voice- soft was the wrong word to describe it, but there was a definitive note of warning that had Seika backing away even as she had almost went into melee range. "Why? Aphi? What's wrong?" Although the spirit failed to reply, her eyes were trained on the raccoon. Seika had turned around to face the cat who was behind her, but she followed her gaze back and furrowed her eyes as she stared at the animal in confusion. While the mage didn't see anything at all unusual about the creature, Aphelia's intent gaze showed that there was something more to it. That was, unless the spirit was trying to prank her. With that thought suddenly flashing through her mind, Seika crossed her arms with a huff and gave Aphelia a pouting look. "Aphi, if you're just being a meanie because earlier I wouldn't buy you elk meat, then I'm not going to pet you for a week!" It was a weak threat, because any time Aphelia grudgingly consented to being pet, Seika jumped at the opportunity, but Seika was curious as to whether or not this was actually a joke or some ruse. When Aphelia failed to respond, ignoring her bond mate completely, Seika sobered up slight. However, it didn't last long. She began to tap her foot impatiently, looking at Aphelia, every once in a while glancing back at the raccoon, which still had not moved. Suddenly she felt herself being moved, her entire world shifting, her body tugged away from the scene and forwards in Aphelia's direction but too fast for her to understand any of what was happening.

"Ahhh! Aphi! I- Woah! Stop! I can't tell what's going on, what's going on, what's wrong?" She was screaming at this point, so loud that smaller forest creatures scattered meters ahead of them and around in a radius as they approached, Aphelia bounding away from the area in the shape of a large cheetah... ish? creature, some hybrid without a doubt, Seika tugged along for the ride. When they finally stopped, they were far from the place from before, and Seika had thoroughly lost her voice from screeching for an explanation. Normally, she really loved to go fast, zizzing around or flying especially. But when it was without any word like that, Seika was pretty annoyed; she had wanted to pet the raccoon and possibly become friends with it. Was Aphelia jealous? Was that what this was about? "Aphi, if you're jealous of the raccoon, just know that I love you the mostest every, more than anybody else ever!" She peered at the cheetah hybrid to gauge her reaction, but there was absolutely nothing. Instead, she received back a silent, but almost fuming expression. Anger was a rather rare emotion to see on Aphelia's face. Although she was often annoyed or irritated at Seika, or bored or lazy, the spirit did not often become enraged. Because of this, Seika stopped talking and waited for Aphelia to explain. And explain she did. "That raccoon had rabies, Seika," she finally said before she dropped her haunches, seemingly relaxing. "Rabies? But what's that?" The girl asked, her eyes burning with confusion. "Wait, isn't that like a disease or something?" She asked.

Aphelia did not reply right away, instead opting to shift back into the form of a regular house cat, her fur black, almost tinged green underneath the trees. "Yes, it is a lethal disease that is uncurable for most humans after a certain amount of time has passed," she cleared her throat, coughing a little bit and sounding winded, before she continued on, explaining in a rather un Aphelia like manner, but also following completely Aphelia know it all ordinary behavior. "Despite the existence of a treatment, you are allergic to a great many of immunity inducing injections." "Ehh? I am?" Seika was shocked by this information, to which Aphelia snorted. "Yes. One would think you would be aware of your own allergies, but I only discovered this after attempting to get you vaccinated against the dragon flu last year. I'm assuming you don't recall the instance." Her voice was dry, but slightly fond, as Seika struggled to bring the memory of that ordeal to the front of her mind. "Umm... Are you sure that even happened?" She squeaked, questioning the cat. "Yes, even if you cannot remember it," Aphelia told her, the mirth now evident in her voice. "If you say so, Aphi..." Seika muttered, before she brushed off her sweater and straightened out her uniform and collar. "Anyway, we should go! I don't know what direction we're supposed to head now," Seika winced before giving Aphelia a sheepish smile. "Did you ever know the correct destination?" Aphelia asked, and much to Seika's dismay, she couldn't immediately respond that she had, without being lying.

"That doesn't matter! You picked the job, so, anyway, it's hard to remember all of those small details. Where are we supposed to go, Aphi? Especially from here, like, I don't know which way we ran," Seika tried to justify her situation, but the feline simply shook her head at the girl's half baked attempts. "I took us east, so we should head this way," Aphelia inclined her head in the correction direction, her tail flicking as she rose to her paws and began trotting off that way. "Eh? Aphi! Come back! Oh my gosh, are you leaving me again??" Seika chased after the cat, who began to walk a bit faster, constantly staying ahead of Seika despite keeping her movements in the manner of a leisurely pace. "Hey! Are you trying to lose me?" The mage huffed as she ran as fast as she could after the spirit, who seemed to be absolutely unbothered. "You- you're doing this on purpose! Well joke's on you, Aphi, cuz! I know you care about me~" Seika sang, somehow managing to act playfully despite how she was barely managing to keep her bond mate in sight. While worrying about losing each other wasn't a huge deal, thanks to the inbuilt tie that was essentially a tracking mechanism, Seika disliked being separated from her friend. Equally, though she despised the idea and would never admit it, Aphelia would worry if the mage were out of her sight for too long as well. Aphelia groaned audibly when Seika began to tread down this path again. Not wanting her bond mate, whose life was inexplicably tied to her own, die, did not mean she cared about her like that. Like legitimately. Aphelia sniffed and turned her head even further away in the opposite direction, continuing to move at a fast speed.

Until... "Stop." All of a sudden, Aphelia halted all movement, her paws coming to a stand still while Seika ran past her for a few more meters before managing essentially screech to a stop. "What is it, Aphi?" The girl returned to stand next to the cat, her eyes blinking as she looked around but failing to catch anything out of the ordinary. Was Aphelia alright? Perhaps she had just required a rest to take a break. "I know what you're thinking, idiot. Look over here," Aphelia's voice rang out, disrupting the mage's thoughts. With an expression of understanding, Seika crouched next to where Aphelia was pointing her paw, only to see a glimmer of gold lying behind some foliage. Immediately, Seika stuck her arm in the center of the leafy plant, wincing when she scratched herself. "Idiot... be more careful," Aphelia muttered as she felt the echo of pain through the bond. However, Seika paid little attention as she drew out a glittering golden charm bracelet, laden with different figurines and symbols that were linked to the main loop. "Oh! This is... the woman's thingy that we were supposed to find?" Seika concluded out loud, her tone still questioning. Aphelia gave her a dirty look before she turned her gaze away from the ground and the bracelet. "Of course." Seika nodded, unbothered by her tone. "But, Aphi, what do we actually do with it? Like, sure it's pretty and all, but I can't track people with something like this. It's not like I'm a dog, I can't smell her scent or do those cool things Lupa can- ohh," suddenly her line of vision shifted back to Aphelia. "No, don't think like that, Seika," the feline warned her, but the girl plowed ahead anyway. "You can turn into a dog and sniff out the mother!" Seika concluded happily, a bright and relieved expression on her face.

"You are actually savant," Aphelia told her plainly, before she indicated the bracelet that Seika was holding with her tail. "Track it with your magic," the feline said impatiently. Seika furrowed her brow, confused thoughts littering her mind. My magic....? But that didn't make any sense to the girl- after all, she couldn't do anything complicated like that with the spells she had managed to create. "But, Aphi, I don't know how to cast any tracking spells like that," she protested, to which the cat shook her head firmly. "You may not have ever specifically created a tracking spell, but your magic is innate. Our magic can do nearly anything, if you let it," she said lowly. That wasn't quite true, but in the sense that it could be applied to almost any task, there was merit to her words. Aphelia wanted to Seika to just use her innate magic to cast a tracker spell without practicing before. "Focus on the feeling of wanting to know where the owner of that bracelet is," the spirit advised.

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They had been sitting here for nearly the past forty minutes, and Seika was becoming frustrated. "Aphi! Why won't it work?" She hissed through her teeth before throwing the bracelet down at the ground onto the leaves and dirt. Nearby, Aphelia yawned unsympathetically and ignored the girl, just as she had been doing for the last twenty five of the minutes. In the beginning, the feline had offered some advice, but as time droned steadily on, she became more withdrawn and irritable. Neither of the bond mates were particularly patient, and this situation was aggravating for the two of them. With a completely done expression across her face, Seika slumped to the ground next to the piece of jewelry and lay on her back. The side of her cheek barely did not touch the bracelet. Seika threw her arms out to the side until she looked like a stick figure or someone trying to make snow angels in the dirt. "Aphiiiii," she whined, "This is taking too long. Can we do it later? Let's have a day when we practice magic like this, and stuff, okay? But I wanna go home, I'm sick of the woods, and I'm hungry," she let it all out in a rush, her eyes stinging with frustration. Aphelia looked over at her friend and resisted the urge to also drop down and face plant into the earth. "Seika, we can't leave until we finish the job," she said, her voice steady despite the irritation that threatened to leak into her tone. "I know! And I wanted to take this job! Or not this one in particular, just any job, but you know, I wanted to do it! It's just that this is impossible! I've never done a tracking spell before," Seika muttered.

Finally giving in, Aphelia told the girl, "Alright, I'll shift and track the mother." If nothing else, it was beginning to get darker; the sun was still nowhere near the horizon line, but it was blocked by many of the trees as it traveled lower in the sky. Aphelia had no desire to be out in a werewolf infested forest during the night. Even if they could theoretically change shape at any time during the day, at night the urge was much stronger and their monstrous instincts became overpowering. Reluctantly, the spirit stood on all four paws before her body melted away, sparks flying as she rebuilt it with a canine shape and a more pointed snout, bulky body, and fluffy tail. Now as a wolf, Aphelia resisted the urge to howl as soon as she was done and instead nosed at Seika's sleeve. "Move, you're on the bracelet," the spirit said irritably, her voice rougher than usual and low with her tight temper leaking through. Visibly with a start, Seika made a noise of confusion but then pulled her arm away, along with the sleeve of her sweater that had fallen on top of the golden piece of jewelry. "Oh! Sorry Aphi!" She squeaked, and the wolf grunted in return. She dipped her head to sniff the bracelet, and then immediately she cringed backwards. "What a god awful stench," Aphelia muttered before standing back to her full height. "We'll be going this way," she inclined her head to the west- or was that the south? Seika honestly couldn't tell, but either way, she nodded with determination. "Yes! Alright, let's go!" She took off at a sprint, and Aphelia, rolling her eyes, shifted into the form of a jaguar before making a move to follow. Right before she leaped after her bond mate, though, her ears twitched as she caught what seemed like the noise of breathing. Immediately her head snapped in that direction, and the world became silent for a few seconds as she tried to pinpoint the location. Eventually, her mouth twisted and she backed away before turning and running after Seika. It wouldn't be good to get too far away from the mage. But as she bounded across the woods, jumping the logs and leafy bushes that threatened to block her path, Aphelia's mind hovered over the presence she had felt that had probably been watching them for quite some time as they had been loitering near the bracelet, trying to do magic. It was a mistake she wouldn't make again.

As the two ran, nearly side by side now, Seika didn't pay much attention to her surroundings. She found that by simply focusing all of her attention on pushing the maximum amount of energy into her legs and body movements, she could run super fast and efficiently. Her body seemed to have some kind of auto pilot mechanism that allowed her to handily dodge any incoming obstacles such as tree branches, roots, etcetera while running. It was only when she was walking absentmindedly and not looking where she was going, even with peripheral vision, or alternatively concentrating too hard on certain aspects of her visual senses and missing some things, that Seika was prone to tripping and falling. However, the girl did wonder when they were meant to stop running. In her mind, the mother would just melt out of the tree line at some point and they could screech to a halt, double back, and pick her up, maybe heal her a little bit, before bringing her back to the little girl. Judging by the feelings of tension and anxiety Aphelia was sending through the bond, though, that either wasn't the case or she was just having a rough time out here in the forest. Seika did understand that shifting into a canine shape had definitely not been one of Aphelia's most enjoyable moments. Still, considering how she had been a wolf before and for quite a while was actually stuck in that form, it was the best option for what they needed, since the pair knew that Aphelia's nose could track accurately. Speaking of tracking, Seika wondered why Aphelia wasn't being more specific about the path that the mother had taken. Was it really the case that she had simply ran and ran and ran in the same straight direction they had? Right when she was about to turn to the spirit, the question on the tip of her tongue, Aphelia finally spoke.

"Stop here," was all that she said before she veered off of the path and stood very still for a moment, her ears pointed straight up as she stood there. In one smooth motion, Aphelia shifted once again into her lupine form before she sniffed at the air delicately. An odd expression crossed her face, before it morphed into something like consternation. "Disgusting," she declared before dipping her head to the ground to sniff along the path. Actually, now that Seika thought about it, it made the most sense that the woman had taken off this way, since there seemed to be a sort of path of trampled twigs and under growth. Meanwhile, Aphelia seemed to have detected something on the scents on the ground itself, since she lifted her head up with an expression of understanding on her face. "Aphi, maybe you should stay in that form, cause like, what if the scent changes a direction or something?" Seika half suggested, half asked. She was thinking pretty deeply about this situation, since there was something uneasy about Aphelia's emotions that had rocketed through their link earlier on. It was so unusual for the spirit to let herself feel that way; er, or maybe not uncommon for her to actually feel that way, Seika wouldn't know, but to let them transmit to Seika through the bond channel was something that almost never happened. The flame bubble spirit tended to be quite closed off and non receptive to communication through the bond. She must have been very surprised, or something of that sort.

Although the spirit made no noise of agreement or any other inclination of her acknowledgement, she did not shift back into a feline form. With this lack of protest, Seika took it as a small victory (for the both of them, really, since things would be easier this way) as she followed after Aphelia, who was now heading in a bit of a different direction and away from the supposed path. "Maybe we should have brought the bracelet with us," Seika wondered out loud, and the feline- no, canine- cast her a deadpan look over her shoulder before turning back. She then continued padding slowly for a few more meters before she finally said, "Please tell me you are joking, Seika. You have it in your pocket." Immediately the girl's hand went to the pocket of her oversized pink sweater, and she slipped her fingers in only to make contact with the cool metal. With a noise of surprise, she pulled out the slightly dented charm bracelet, shining a low gold in the light of the setting sun. The shadows that were forming from the lower angle of the sun stretched across it in some spots, breaking up the shape even more. "Oh! I do!" Seika said plainly, and Aphelia groaned audibly but didn't say anything more. "Aphi, do you want it? Maybe it can help you with your tracking!" Seika spoke up to the spirit, who determinedly did not respond and continued to move along, sometimes changing direction just slightly but very apparently following the path that the woman had taken. Deciding that the spirit probably already had everything she needed, Seika dropped the bracelet back into her pocket and quietly followed after her friend.

As she was passing by a tree, Seika thought she could hear someone else's foot steps. Thinking it was probably just her drained mental state after all of that attempting to do tracking magic, she bit her lip and was about to speak out loud when Aphelia sent a strong feeling of caution through the bond. More than just caution it was like an alarm, a red alert to stop moving, stop making noise, stop talking and don't start talking... all of that. Immediately, Seika ceased to exist. Her body melted away into the light, and she held her breath to avoid reforming. As the girl floated along, an incorporeal spirit, she marveled at how it felt. Seika hadn't even known that she could do this! Aphelia seemed equally surprised, and Seika could just hear the lectures and training time that Aphelia would force on her later. Maybe to do the tracking spell earlier, all she had needed was a strong dose of fear as an incentive sent through their link. Better not tell Aphelia that, Seika knew though, or else she would find it incorporated into the spirit's already exhausting teaching methods. Anyway, so as Seika was drifting along, she listened to what was happening. She could see it and also not see the scene, because in a strange way every particle of her could pick up on the life force in everything within its radius. And it was a rather large radius, her sensory- a few hundred meters. But simultaneously, she had lost her actual eyes and therefore any official vision. In this way, it was a bit confusing and most certainly disconcerting, even if she did still understand and interpret the new sensory information as pictures and images akin to something like that which came from normal vision.

Although Seika was safely floating around, she hadn't forgotten about Aphelia. Trying to focus on the presence of the spirit, the girl tried to ensure her safety by floating over to her and hovering protectively nearby. She felt a strong surge of annoyance through the bond but persisted, confident that she was in the right spot. If Aphelia was irritated that Seika was trying to protect her, so be it. Obviously whatever had tried to attack them, or was hunting them, or whatever, already knew about their location. It was too late for Aphelia to try to run. She shouted through the bond, trying to get her friend to stay still even though she knew being yelled at got on the spirit's nerves. Of course, it was as predicted. Instead of staying still, Aphelia lunged out of hiding, transforming into a snow leopard and tackling the enemy that Seika couldn't see. She heard the sound of savage attacks, the ripping of fur from someone's body. As no pain flared in the bond except for what seemed to be from some scratches, Seika sighed in relief that Aphelia was unhurt. After a few more minutes of listening to the fighting, the noise died down, and Aphelia's voice rang out through the bond. You can come back now, she informed Seika, sounding a bit drained. Filled with concern, Seika's magic flared before she dropped down into a solid form once again, a heap on the ground with her knees in the grass. Blind as a bat because of her missing glasses, Seika fumbled around, feeling for them gingerly. Eventually, the plastic frames bumped against her knuckles, and the mage snatched them up, feeling a sensation of relief as her vision was restored. Even though there were dirt clumps blocking her vision, Seika only wiped them away half heartedly before turning and looking around for Aphelia.

Spotting the feline a few meters away, Seika immediately jumped to her feet, wincing at the pain that shot through one of her legs. She limped over to the spirit, who was in the same of a snow leopard still, and lying on the ground, very still. Tentatively, the mage put a hand on Aphelia's coat, feeling the softness of her fur. There were no visible wounds, and while Seika could feel the stinging of a few shallow scratches, no major pain existed. So... why wasn't Aphelia awake? The girl hovered around her protectively, anxiety building up. After another few minutes of nothing happening, she shook the leopard gently and finally turned away. Nearby, Seika nearly had a heart attack when she saw the corpse of a Dire Wolf. It was enormous- double the size of the normal wolves she had seen, at least. Seika stared at it, unwilling to come any closer. Still, it felt wrong to just stay here and be right next to it, especially with Aphelia looking as vulnerable as she was at the moment. Hesitation written all over her face, Seika took in a deep breath before wrapping both herself and her bond mate in a bubble of magic. Lifting them up off of the ground, she pulled the two up until they were hovering in the air. Even if they had been on a trail, it was getting to be very dark by now, and Seika knew it wasn't good to stay on the ground during the dark in places like these. She landed on a wide branch in one of the bigger trees, sturdy enough to support both her own and Aphelia's weight. However, just in case, she layered several shields around her friend, and a few for herself, adding buoyancy charms and bubbly properties that would break any sort of fall. That having been done, she scooted a bit closer to Aphelia and curled up against the leopard's side. It was nice to sleep with her. They both needed to relax after that- it had been so chaotic, and Seika still wasn't sure exactly what had happened. Far off, she thought she heard howling, but it could have just been an owl, or something- not a wolf. But... even if it had been a different animal, there were other wolves out there. Both dire wolves and the lycans that Aphelia had been talking about and that were described in the mission.

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When Seika woke up, she immediately felt sore. All of her limbs were tired, from the energy that had been drained out of her yesterday as a courtesy of all the running and adrenaline rushes. Aphelia still seemed to be sleeping away, which was an improvement. Last night, she had been knocked dead unconscious and was barely breathing. Today, her chest was rising and falling steadily, and as she leaned against the snow leopard, Seika felt comforted by the deep noise of rumbling in her chest. Aphelia was a snorer, even if she would never acknowledge that fact. Normally, Seika was a pretty heavy sleeper herself, but she did wake up at strange things and sometimes couldn't go back to bed. It was morning though, and since there was daylight, it was now time to do work! They had to find the mother before she spent too much time in the Lycan Woods. Or else she might be killed and eaten or something terrible like that. Of course, provided she hadn't already been murdered or had another awful fate befall her. Seika could hope that the person hadn't been endangered by their refusal to keep going through the night. Even if normally she would have been happy to go without sleep for the sake of helping out the little girl and her mother, Aphelia had needed rest. Seika wouldn't endanger her friend. Aphelia's safety was priority, and not just because it also ensued her own. She cared about the feline spirit immensely. Plus, it was just like, common sense not to wander around during the night; even if Seika had been willing to break that rule, she just knew Aphelia would have thrown a fit if she were conscious enough to do so. Well, maybe not exactly thrown a fit outright, since the cat was so mysterious and had to keep up that stoic exterior.

Still, through their link, the spirit would have been screaming at the girl for her idiocy, if not just commanding her to stay put. It did no good to keep thinking and thinking on what she maybe could have done differently, though. By now they were reaching morning. The dawn was light on the horizon, and even though Aphelia was still sleeping, her bond mate was slowly getting to be more and more awake. Seika by her very nature was a morning person. She liked it when the sun got up because she felt like she could get up at the same time, and be energized and ready for a day of hard work. Or a lot of fun. Both weren't mutually exclusive or anything. Anyway, for now, she was stuck waiting for her friend to wake up. There was always the option of disturbing her sleep, but there was definitely a lot a lot of hesitation within her when it came to that. So they did just sit there, with Seika still half way lying against the snowy leopard. The reassuring rumble of her snores continued to vibrate against her back. They needed a game plan. While Seika was the first to say heck to all of the calculating and thinking and endorse just running around with enthusiasm, she knew that they were in a little bit of a time crunch of a situation here. It was necessary, then, to be efficient about things. And efficiency wasn't a bad thing, really! Even if it was nicer to just be able to enjoy the flowers and their smell or however that saying went, she didn't want a little girl to die for no reason.

Luckily, Aphelia seemed to be waking up gradually. The mage could feel her stirring against her body, and unconsciously she leaned a little bit away. it was never good to trample the feline's tail or anything when she was in the process of rousing herself from the dream land. Suddenly, a good idea occurred to the girl. With a large smile on her face that might have even bordered on mischievous, Seika whipped a camera out of her pocket and began taking pictures of her bond mate. Even though the flash wasn't on, there was still a loud clicking noise that resounded in the nearby area with every snap of the camera. Finally, everything started to happen all at once. Moving in a blur, Aphelia tackled Seika off of the wide branch, sending both of them hurtling towards the ground. With extreme reaction speed, the spirit also threw a bubble shield around both of them, which was great because the mage was no where near prepared to give them any sort of protection from the fall. The bubble managed to bounce around a few times, sending them boinging all around against tree trunks as if they were stuck in a giant hamster ball. It was actually a lot of fun! Even though the entire time, Aphelia was yowling in a surprisingly uncharacteristic way. Actually, that probably made things ten times more fun! Seika was screeching her brains out along side her bond mate, feeling like they were on a roller coaster physically even as she was swept away along on a roller coaster of emotions.

Finally, they rolled to a stop, the hardened bubble vanishing as Aphelia finally let her magic give out. Panting heavily, the cat backed away from her friend, her eyes wild. "What the h*ll, Seika?!" The sharpness in her tone did not go unnoticed by the girl, but she really couldn't be bothered to care. "Ehh? What do you mean? What did I do now?" There was no note of sarcasm or false accusation or even amusement in the girl's voice. She was just genuinely wondering what on earth she had managed to do to irritate the feline spirit now. Shaking out her pelt and huffing a little bit, her nerves still slightly frazzled, Aphelia growled, "You were taking pictures when I woke up and the noise scared me half to death." That was an unusual admission for the giant cat, but Seika had to admit that this situation was in itself a little bit um... out of the ordinary. They were in a forest, after all! One that probably had lots of werewolves and stuff. Speaking of the lycans, weren't they meant to be hunting down that mother who probably got stolen away by those buggers? Seika clapped her hands before starting off in a random direction. Behind her, Aphelia's voice cut through the air in a half yowl. "Hey! You never answered!" Oops, that was right. She had given her bond mate a response inside her head, but not like, officially said it out loud. Well, couldn't she just read her thoughts, anyway?? Blinking in confusion, Seika turned around, still moving in the same direction. Now pedaling backwards frantically at a running pace, she gave the spirit an exaggerated shrug of a gesture. "I dunno, Aphi! But let's go! I think I got an idea!" The predator hissed at that, leaping forward to gouge her claws against the bark. "You absolute idiot! You have no idea where you're going!" Reluctantly, she took chase, unwilling to let her mage out of her sight, lest she get both of them killed.

Rushing through the woods, the two of them searched for the lycans. It wasn't long before a stench caught Aphelia's nose. She headed in the direction of the smell, stopping shortly after getting to a clearing. It only took one paw into the area before she saw what was going on. Seika, come over here. She called over her bond mate quickly, and the girl obeyed, curious as to what was happening. From there on, it only took a few minutes for her to get to the feline's destination. Even though there were traces of impatience settled into the lines on the snowy leopard's face (not that she would like, ever, ever tell Aphelia that she had wrinkles! Because she didn't wanna get clawed or smacked!) the feline surprisingly said nothing about her taking her sweet time. Instead, upon catching sight of the girl, the spirit tilted her head in the direction of the clearing. "Looks like we found our hunters," the spirit rumbled, her chest vibrating as she spoke. While her fur slightly shook, the cat didn't seem phased whatsoever. A bit interested, or intrigued, if anything. "Ooh, hunters? Cool! I wanna be a hunter some day, Aphi!~" Seika cheered before rushing forward, peering curiously at the bodies. She picked up a sword off of one of them, tossing it around experimentally. "So cool! Hey, Aphi, can I keep this?" Yanking at a bright blue gem pendant that hung on one of the corpses' necks, a little off to the side of their torso and chest nearly falling onto the grass, Seika tried to grab it.

The spirit shrugged, her tail swaying slightly side to side as she inspected the bodies. "We have to bring back any items belonging to them, if at all possible. The bodies too." At least, that had been their preference. The wishes of the villagers who had hired the mage and her bond mate. Even though, they had in fact acknowledged that the remains might not be able to be returned depending how many had been killed and whether any hunters were left to assist their friends in carrying the corpses, the actual weapons or survival equipment they had taken was to be brought back as evidence of their untimely demise. That way, the families and such would at least have some closure. Aphelia didn't tell her friend that, though. After all, if Seika wanted to take some jewelry off of their bodies, she had no intention of stopping her. They could always say nothing was there or that they had been unable to really find the hunters' stuff aside from discovering their dead bodies. What with how the bodies seemed to be marked with claw gouges and slashes from werewolves, there was no telling if the lycans had pillaged the bodies afterwards as well. Mauling and taking their stuff afterwards. Speaking of the actual injuries evident on their corpses, Aphelia felt confident in saying this had been the work of the werewolves. She sniffed at one of the bodies a little bit more closely before drawing away with a pained look in her eyes. With her muzzle slightly twitching, the feline spoke. "Obviously a werewolf's work," she gestured to the scene in front of them with her head. Seika was paying absolutely no attention, instead rifling through the dead bodies. There was a little bit of sympathy within her; obviously she felt bad for them because they had been murdered! But like, they were already dead, right? So there wasn't anything that could be done, and plus, she had pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind in favor of oohing and aaahing at the shiny things. The mage held up a shiny golden dagger and slipped it into her pocket. It barely fit, but once it was in, it was in! The interdimensional space could hold practically anything of any size.

"Aphi, what does this do?" Seika struggled to drag out a handle from underneath one of the bodies. Noticing her struggles, her bond mate slowly padded over before flicking her tail towards the object. It flew out from beneath the corpse, slamming into a nearby tree. Seeds and leaves fell as a result of the impact, shaken from their branches. One acorn booped Seika on the nose, and she looked slightly cross eyed trying to stare at her appendage before shrugging it off. "It's raining I think! Um, but anyway, what was it?" The object seemed to have disappeared after all of the commotion. Finally, she managed to locate it, fallen in a bunch of brush and leafy fronds. The mage paused to look at the plants. They were so cool! Tempted to take pictures, the girl's hands twitched as she tried to stay focused on reaching towards the tool that was buried half into the dirt from the heavy fall and the force with which it had hit the ground. Once her fingers were barely a hair's width away from the metallic, smooth and finished handle, she gave in and pulled away from the bush. Whipping out her camera, Seika snapped a few pictures enthusiastically. With how the light was right now, the sun barely over the horizon and not strong enough to cast spots of light from the upper foliage all over the scene, everything looked rather pristine. Just for good measure, she turned around and started taking photos of the bodies and the scene. Then, after sneaking in a couple of Aphelia- "I saw that, Seika,"- and watching her friend roll her eyes, albeit a bit playfully (just a bit though, and maybe only in her imagination) the mage reluctantly stuffed her camera back into her pocket.

She heard the clink of it hitting something else inside, possibly that shiny dagger from before. But to be completely honest, the mage didn't really mind if things got beat up. That was what magic was for! To repair them! Plus, woah, she had almost forgotten about that item thingy. Rushing back over to the bush, Seika shoved her arms inside and began rummaging around. Her forearms and wrists became scratched up by the leaves and plant matter, but luckily, her bond mate had already noticed and begun to heal them both. While the human counter part of the bond could stand to be a lot more careful, the feline understood that Seika would be Seika. That didn't prevent her from casting a scolding glance at her friend when she finally stood next to her, holding what seemed to be a kind of net. It wasn't really that big, like length wise. However, the hole was surprisingly wide, and it seemed like even Aphelia could fit inside if she wanted. Maybe it would be a little bit of a squeeze, but still! Eyeing the feline out of the corner of the eye, she was about to make a move to fling the opening of the net down and towards her friend when the spirit caught on. Rolling her eyes, she held up a paw. "I'm not a butterfly. Don't try to net me, Seika, or else you won't like what happens next," she warned, only half joking. Actually, less than that. The spirit was in every way prepared to deal out some punishments that Seika wouldn't enjoy, like no dessert or having to figure out how to leave the forest herself. Even though the girl would probably love that, just being able to wander around inside the Lycan Woods by herself, the feline couldn't afford to have the other dying on her. It would be such a pain. Clearing her throat, the spirit shrugged her shoulders to loosen the tension that had slowly settled in as they were staying fairly put. "Come on. We still need to find the mother." And she stood up on all four legs, stretching her haunches before turning in the direction of the scent. After a while, it had become more and more easy to get a sense of the mother's distinctive trail. That was a relief, because there was no way she was shifting into a wolf again to try and track it by smell, nor was she going to trust Seika's magical tagging abilities. That had wasted nearly an hour of their time at the last try.

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Anyway, so the point was, Aphelia had no intention of letting them waste any more time. She took off at a rather brisk pace, making sure out of the corner of her eye that Seika was keeping up. Everything seemed to be going just fine when suddenly a dark shape hurtled out from the side among the tree line. Immediately, the feline skittered back, coming to a stop even though her mage kept sprinting forwards only to be tackled by a wolf. It wasn't a werewolf, at least- it didn't seem like one. Instead, it resembled the dead Dire Wolf that the girl had seen earlier. They had been attacked at that point in time, too. It was scary how all of that was becoming a common occurrence. Even though they didn't look too scary, well, they wouldn't be getting cuddled any time soon. That was reserved for Aphelia! And Lupa! Lupa was best doggo and wolfie and canine in general. But the Dire Wolves, despite their rather fearsome appearance, were in fact very large and would possibly give good hugs. If, that was, they weren't trying to gouge off the mage's face. "Seika! Pay attention!" Aphelia yowled from nearby when a wolf leaped at the girl from behind. There were three of them, it looked like. One was a nice chocolate brown and had rather warm eyes. Seika thought that that one would be even better for hugs, but she didn't exactly have time to debate internally over the others because one was lunging at her again. Barely avoiding getting slashed across the chest, she skittered back, not out of range but enough to give her time to throw up a small shield in front of her body. The wolf's claws smashed into the barrier, the force sending it flying backwards.

"Ooh! Wait, hold right there! You look so cool!" The girl tried to fish around in her pocket, only to be sent flying backwards when one of the other Dire Wolves crashed into her from the side. It seemed like they had been extending their claws to scratch at her torso, but luckily the wounds weren't severe. All it took was a slight bit of magic and she felt good as new. "That wasn't very nice! I was going to give you a photo op!" The girl pouted, rubbing a bit of dirt off of her face. This was really such a cool and exciting scene, in her opinion! She took the chance to grab a few more photos, trying to stay away from the fighting while the three wolves circled around Aphelia. It was amazing since it looked super artsy and everything. Almost like her bond mate was some kind of white marble statue and the wolves were worshipping her? There was a chance that the spirit was, in fact, a goddess. Perhaps that was why she hadn't wanted to transform into a canine shape; it was too close to home, her being the goddess of wolves and such. But then what was Lupa? After all, the mage had been certain that Lupa was the queen of all creatures that were related to dogs and wolves and even bats, maybe. "Seika, look away!" A shout came from inside of the clearing, and the girl craned her neck to look before recognizing the feline's words. It had definitely not been a growl, which meant she had changed shape?? Squeezing her eye balls away from the world and safely behind their thin lids of skin, the girl barely made it in time before a blinding blast of light shook the area. The trees, she swore, well, not actually because she didn't see it and couldn't even tell what was happening, but she could feel it okay?? The trees were like, peeled from their bark and stuff! It was insane. She wanted to clap, but the intense force of Aphelia's spell or magic or whatever she had just done was too much and she couldn't muster up enough strength to move her arms from where they were glued at her sides.

Eventually, though, the pressure did subside and she was able to crack her eyes open to see that Aphelia was panting slightly, now in the form of a smaller domestic house cat. Around her, the three Dire Wolves seemed to be in, uh, a dire situation. Well, at least, they looked to be blinded, and maybe crippled? It was difficult to tell because Seika was still pretty certain that she had blind spots from how bright the light had been even behind the protection of her eye lids. That must be the little reddish spots in her vision. But anyway, even through them, she could see that the wolves were no longer moving. Well, they were kind of stirring? But it was a sort of like, I don't know what's happening, someone help me, kind of movement. Seika wanted to go over and hug the chocolate one, but in the middle, Aphelia looked utterly exhausted. Even though the spirit was such a stoic... er, maybe caustic? Something like that, anyway, she was usually that kind of person in general. Or uh, that kind of spirit in general, she should say. Anyway, the girl didn't have time to think about anyone else besides her bond mate. Almost as if instinctively, her magic reached out and curled around the cat, wrapping her protectively in several layers of bubbles and warm, heated air that was filled with fluffy sparks. As odd as that sounded, well, it just made her look like she was coated in several sheets of sparkly, iridescent bubble wrap. Satisfied, the girl projected as many healing strands of magic and powerful supportive spells as she could into the little package that she had wrapped up her friend into.

Around the spirit, the wolves seemed to stir a little bit more, maybe reacting to the magic. As much as Seika wanted to just like, let them play around or circ le Aphelia like they were trying to summon a demon out of her body, the girl wasn't really in the mood to have fun right now. Despite her normal tendency to just go around without a clue of what was happening, she could tell that her bond mate had gotten hurt. And the mage drew the line at Aphelia or Lupa being hurt. Taking a short breath, she exhaled slightly, sending a spiraling line of bubbles at the wolves. They knocked into their heads, distracting them from trying to focus on Aphelia, who was still nearby. The feline spirit looked to be some what out of it, obviously aware of the situation but unable to really move at the moment from what it had seemed. Apparently, that spell or attack or whatever the bright light had been had taken a lot of magic power out of her. Seika would have to definitely train with her bond mate for more than just the tracking spell. Honestly, she didn't really want to learn how to track people magically. Not when she had better ways, like um... just following their core? Although, now that she was thinking about it legitimately, that really only worked with Aphelia. Frowning at the thought, Seika put her musings away for now and focused on the situation at hand. It was her job, for now, to take care of all of their enemies. She had to protect Aphelia! Sending more bubbles flowing through the air towards the wolves, they knocked them back even further. The three seemed to catch onto the mage's location, though, even as dazed as they were looking now. Carefully, all at once they split up, in a smooth set of movements. It was actually really interesting to see. Seika wondered if they could communicate telepathically, just like she and Aphelia could. Speaking of being able to talk through their thoughts to the flame bubble spirit... the girl wasn't really picking up any of the other's thoughts. Shrugging a little bit at that, she figured her friend just didn't have anything pressing enough on her mind to transmit it through their mental link.

Anyway, she decided to just focus on the wolf who was right near her. Sending a burst of flame towards it, Seika was surprised when it immediately flinched away. Oh no, wait, had she hurt it? Rushing forwards, she touched its fur to make sure it was alright. Immediately pulling back, the wolf snarled as it revealed a dark, burned imprint where the mage's hand had been. Oh... right, that thing again. Whoops. In the past, the mage had discovered that when she was like, feeling super strongly about something or just not in control of her emotions, sometimes her hands could get kind of hot. And like, burn through things. It was a pretty bad time for anyone she was touching. But that wasn't the point! While she felt bad for hurting the wolf, maybe it would stop trying to mess around with Aphelia, then! Seika stuck her tongue out at it, but immediately switched to a surprised face and let out an eep sound when it jumped towards her, slashing at the air with its claws. "Aaaah!! It was just a prank! I'm sorry!" Screeching, she scattered away from the clearing, fleeing into the line of trees. Scary! Meanwhile, she could feel Aphelia also running. Even though the people who had hired them had technically told them to kill all of the werewolves they saw, well... Dire Wolves weren't really wolves, right? She felt a pressure against her back and whirled around, only to notice that her bond mate had hopped on, her claws snagged into the pink sweater that she wore. "Ehh? Hi Aphi! Oh, do you want my sweater? Here you go!" She slipped the fabric off of her shoulders and let it tumble to the ground, still moving. Just then, she tripped over a root of a tree that was sticking up and out of the ground. Seika went flying forwards, but also backwards, at the same time.

Unfortunately, her body kept going due to the momentum, so her feet were caught out from underneath her and stayed stationary while the upper half of her body was flung forwards. Meanwhile, Aphelia was clutching desperately at the sweater. She had been practically abandoned, but her rage fueled her and made her even stronger. The spirit rolled her eyes and flexed her spine experimentally from where she was lying on the ground after being tossed away like a piece of trash. Picking up her friend's sweater even though she had been the one to throw it away (it was magical, after all, and the enchantments had cost plenty of money to ensure that Seika wouldn't accidentally stab herself with a knife while running) Aphelia morphed into an enormous panther and leaped after her bond mate. There weren't very many things to do while running. Except for to worry about their health and safety, of course, but it ended up being pretty much a lost cause as due to their two mishaps, the wolves caught up with them quickly. Seika's trip had probably prevented her from getting separated from the feline, actually. Which was good, because they both could have gotten murdered separately, technically, but together they might be able to take them on. Even if that hadn't been the original plan. Aphelia turned on the nearest wolf and drove her arm into the side of its neck. The poor creature had been lunging at her, sure that its jaws would be able to do some damage, but she decided to just imbue her arm with a bunch of magic. The sparkles gave it a powerful effect, sending an enormous amount of heat swirling around it. it also added a certain sharpness; not like a pair of scissors or a needle tip but instead of more of like a hardness, like an edge that wouldn't hurt a person unless they slammed into it and sliced open with one's own momentum.

Anyway, the result of it all was that the wolf's neck was now spurting with blood, and Aphelia was covered in all of it. Her fur in this shape was quite dark, nearly black, but the red liquid still showed up as it coated the tips of her individual hairs and caught the light. By now the wolf was dead, hitting the forest floor with a quiet thud that was surprisingly loud in the gentle light of the rising sun and the silence of the forest aside from the panting of the wolves and the human and the spirit, all staring at each other. She had a lot of work to do still, Aphelia did. There was not only the other two wolves to take care of, but she also had to make sure that Seika wasn't eaten by a Dire Wolf while she wasn't watching. There was no telling, after all, how many were left, sulking in the trees, hidden from sight. The spirit took a brief breath before she threw a sparkling shield of crackling, fiery energy around her bond mate. "Seika, climb a tree," The mage blinked at her in momentary confusion before shaking her head up and down. "Mm, okay! See you later, Aphi!" She waved good bye to the spirit before scampering up the nearest tree, easily walking on its trunk thanks to how broad it was across and such. There wasn't much to do up here. She felt kind of bored and already wanted to be down there again with her bond mate. However, she understood that it was nice to take advantage of the ability to float around and use bubbles underneath her feet to propel her upwards or stick to surfaces. It was like magic! Well, it literally was magic, she guessed. Meanwhile, below on the ground, Aphelia was busy fighting. Seika decided to throw some spells at her, in case it would help. Before the cat could even tell what was happening, she had several layers of buffs on her that added strength and speed. Even though Seika kind of specialized in more of magical defense, she had ways to help out her allies physically! Aphelia was really into like, clawing peoples' faces off. Well, it wasn't fair to put it like that. But she definitely used magic too, like just now. So Seika was happy to return the favor!

The large feline felt the layers of magic settle onto her body and rolled her eyes, but inwardly she felt warmed knowing that Seika was in fact supporting her. It was much easier for the feline to move around and fight in this environment. Well, together with her friend. They tackled the wolves with a fairly large amount of ease, not really needing to sustain very many injuries. The great thing was that even if they did get hurt, Seika was well prepared to just heal it all back up. Even though her spells weren't exactly super strong in that regard, she definitely wasn't unprepared to support in that aspect. Defensive abilities weren't always enough and couldn't with stand all of the damage all the time. Luckily, the Dire Wolves weren't as dangerous as actual werewolves, which the pair had yet to encounter in the Lycan Woods. Well, it was possible they had been being watched. After all, Aphelia had felt those eyes on her. The fight was monotonous; she found that fighting dogs, or canines, was surprisingly simple as long as they didn't have more human like thoughts or characteristics. No matter how intelligent they were, they tended to go for the same places and had similar weak spots, too. Aphelia managed to use a combination of well timed bright flashes of sparks and steaming bubbles to confuse the wolves and drive them to flee. Unfortunately, she was not in the mood to have them go back and bring more of their Dire Wolf friends to hunt down herself and Seika. For those reasons, and also because the villagers had wanted them to kill all the wolves they saw, she put them down. It was more of a mercy than anything at that point, thinking technically, because they had melted fur and misshapen forms from the fight. They were barely able to walk straight, one with a definite limp on the right side while the other simply seemed exhausted and tottering on the edge of falling any second.

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When all of those werewolves were taken care of, Seika happily snapped a picture of them. Aphelia gave her a terse nod, assuming it was for evidence. Well, it technically could have been? To prove to the hunters that they were, like, doing their jobs and all! But mostly, the girl just wanted the picture for herself. After all, she was making a beautiful photo album. In the end, when ever that end was, there would be plenty to look at from all of her adventures. Speaking of photos, Seika was thinking that she would have to do something a bit more dramatic with the end of this mission. Maybe a lot of fire? Aphelia glanced over at her with a dubious expression on her face, reading her thoughts as they came along due to her excitement that quite literally thrust them through the mind link towards her friend. Dangerous idea, Seika, the feline yawned, licking a bloodied paw. The girl beamed. That wasn't exactly disapproval! If Aphelia didn't outright say no and tell her that she was stupid or dumb, it might as well have been a ringing endorsement to be completely honest. So, the mage decided to think of more ideas to make the ending photo shoot even more spectacular. They still had to find the female werewolf, but her attention was suddenly diverted by a loud crack coming from a nearby bush. "Ehh? Who goes there!? Reveal yourself!" Seika pointed a threatening hand at the wiggling brush, even though curiosity and wonder sparked in her heart. "You better come out! Otherwise, I can like, kill you! And that would be bad," she told the moving silhouette. It seemed to be pretty small, and it was barely visible through the ever brightening light of the morning. Speaking of the morning, it was probably getting to be closer to the afternoon.

Seika felt hungry as a result of not eating any time yesterday after the middle of the day. She had originally come out here with Aphelia in a state of being under the impression that this task could be finished in less than a day. Otherwise, she would have packed more lunch for the two of them so that it could be also used for dinner. And for breakfast. Because boy, was Seika feeling really hungry. She cast Aphelia a plaintive glance, only for the cat to roll her eyes in response. "When we finish this, we can get as much food as you want. Let's find the mother werewolf," the spirit said very simply. Groaning in response, Seika whined, "But I'm hungry now! We can come back later!" Just as she was saying that, a giant shape lunged outside of the bush at them, clawing through the air. It was a werewolf- a lot bigger than the little bunny silhouette the mage had originally pictured. Along side the werewolf were two others of its kind, who also slunk out of the tree line and into the clearing where they had stopped. Seika's arm had been scratched by the werewolf as it leaped forwards, but she still had her arm, so that was a good thing. Aphelia muttered a healing spell for her bond mate, and felt the pain subside for both of them. For a split second, the two sides stared at each other, weighing the odds of success if one were to attack or stick to purely defending. Then, in a blur, the werewolves all darted out from their hiding places. One of them shifted into a human, or well at least, a hybrid form. It was confusing to try to understand what was going on and whether they were truly human. However, Seika guessed that they were pretty much as smart as she was. Or well, probably smarter to be completely honest. On the other hand, the vibes she was getting off of Aphelia told her that they were much smarter and faster than Dire Wolves, but that they also had to have their draw backs from the human quick thinking and intelligence. Apparently, this was their aggression. There was a way to bait them into attacking.

The human looking mage werewolf threw a ball of dirt at Seika. Well, that was essentially what it was, but in reality it was a clump of earth enhanced with magic and imbued with so much force that it hurtled towards her at nearly five hundred meters per second. It knocked into the girl, punching a hole through her stomach. Doubling over in pain, the mage felt like suddenly she couldn't breathe. But then, luckily, the sensation passed as it became numb before knitting itself together, the flesh healing smoothly thanks to Seika's natural regeneration, enhanced by her bond mate's presence and own magic. While she watched it in fascination, it occurred to her to whip out her camera and try to snap a few pictures. Unfortunately, the human werewolf cast another wave of magic that echoed through the air, distorting it until it slammed into the girl's body. She had been protected by then, by a thin shield that absorbed all the damage before vibrating it back. The force exploded off of her, smashing into the mage and sending them flying away. Even though Seika tried to take a photo of the scene, with him spiraling away into the distance, she couldn't pull her camera out fast enough. "Ahhh! That's not fair," the girl complained, pouting as she tossed her camera back into her never ending pocket storage space. There was still that werewolf, trying to attack her, but it was doing so blindly due to the lash back from its last spell. The two ones who were in their proper wolf forms seemed to be circling Aphelia. The mage decided to lend her bond mate a hand, sending a shower of sparks over towards the nearest werewolf. It snarled in pain and then turned to swing its head in the direction of the girl. Making a small noise of surprise and also fascination, the mage stepped forward, eyes wide and staring at the creature. "So pretty!" She took one, then two, then three pictures, of the wolf from different angles. One had the half melted side of its face in, the pain on its face obvious and excruciating, while the others were more reserved in manner.

Then she thankfully put it out of its misery, sending a giant bubble to envelop the werewolf and float it up into the air before popping with a loud sound. The explosion rattled the canopies of the trees ever so slightly, and sent a shower of rain- er, red liquid, sprinkling down on the scene. Aphelia was busy dealing with the other werewolf, but she appeared to be utterly bored, just sending spell after spell flying towards it while keeping herself well shielded. Even though these werewolves seemed to be harder to deal with than the Dire Wolves from before, they felt some how to be less of a threat, in Seika's opinion. Maybe it was that even though they had been a surprise, jumping out from the bushes like that, there was a human mage among them and that had made it feel like any other fight. Plus, Seika loved dogs! They were amazing! And so were wolves. But these kinds of werewolves, who were intelligent and basically humans, just with a hybrid wolf form... they weren't really true wolves. Instead, they were fake! Humans masquerading as wolves, some kind of mixture that she didn't have to be nice to. Not that Seika had struggled against the Dire Wolves because of any kind of pity or anything, but- "Pay attention," Aphelia hissed, gesturing to the other side of the clearing. The last wolf was trying to back up into the line of trees, but Aphelia sent a line of bubbles flickering through the air and aiming for the beast's paws. It yowled in pain as they exploded at their feet, erupting the ground with little holes and also nearly taking off the appendages themselves. "Well? Are you going to take a picture or not?" Aphelia held a bubble hovering in her hand, and she was looking at her bond mate with no small degree of impatience. Even though she was able to hold off for now, it wasn't going to be long before her desire to just get this all over with won over with her willingness to wait for Seika to get the perfect shot. Nodding enthusiastically, the girl whipped out her camera once again and began snapping away.

Once all of that business was taken care of, the pair of bond mates continued on their way. At this point, Seika seemed to look a little bit uh, like straight out of a horror movie. Gore was splattered across her clothing, and there were plenty of spots of red seeping even through the initial layer of the fabrics and leeching to stain the surface of her skin. "Okay, Aphi! Where are we going next?" The mage whistled a little bit, trying to make the noises go along with a tune that had been stuck in her head during the fight with the three werewolves. "Seika, stop that," the spirit shushed her linked mage, before growling slightly when the girl refused to be quiet. Clapping a paw over her mouth, her ears pricked ever so slightly. "I hear someone." It was quiet, suddenly. There weren't many noises coming from around them, as if even the forest had decided to hush in response to the spirit's admonition. The spirit suddenly encapsulated both of them in a giant bubble that floated up until it contacted the under sides of the upper most branches of the trees. From their new vantage point, Seika's perspective on the issue itself immediately changed. Her eyes sparkled with a sort of fascination, and she wriggled around to try and free herself from Aphelia's hold. "Mmph!" There, right in front of them, well at least several meters down and on the ground, was the perfect site for a photo op. A werewolf seemed to be pacing around in a clearing, circling around the empty spot in the center of the area with a ferocity that could have almost been scary if not for how plaintive it seemed. "Do you think that's the momma werewolf?" Seika asked loudly. In return, the figure on the ground immediately snapped to attention, turning its head to face the two of them up in the air. Howling, it screamed up at them, emerald eyes glowing even in the brightness of the afternoon.

"Seika! The mother is a woman, not a werewolf!" Aphelia said, though it sounded more like a spat out curse as she tried to maneuver the bubble away. They didn't have time for this. "Really? Cause it seems like she has the same green eyes and she likes this bracelet." At that, Aphelia glanced over to her bond mate, and her hands tightened on Seika's sweater. "What are you doing" The girl was clutching at the golden bracelet, and waving it out in front of her, hovering over nothing but the air. Suddenly, a thin, dark projectile shot out towards them, piercing the bubble before either had a chance to react. The two tumbled to the ground, the trees and branches barely stopping and slowing their fall before they landed on the forest floor with no small impact. Aphelia seemed to be in a worse state, as Seika was able to unsteadily get to her feet for a moment but the feline couldn't even move hardly. The mage tried to get a sense for direction before another, much larger projectile slammed into her rib cage, sending her flying a couple meters until she hit the trunk of a tree. "Ow..." the girl groaned, trying to feel around for her glasses. She stopped once her hand bumped into something, feeling around it more until she realized it was furry and a little bit warm. Squinting at the weird object, she touched up the fuzzy pillar until she realized it was a wolf paw leading up to the haunches. Yelping in surprise, Seika shoved herself backwards, doing a half of a crab walk, still too bent out of shape to really get up and scurry away. "Eh- eh? What do you want?" She asked the werewolf curiously, her fear sort of melting away as she realized the werewolf was just mostly looking at her. "Daughter." That was the only word that the mage got out of her before her eyes darkened and she growled at the girl. "Ah- ah! I don't have your daughter! Do you want your bracelet?" Seika held out the golden charm bracelet tentatively, stifling the desire to take a picture of this beautiful werewolf up close.

The werewolf shifted into the form o fa human in one smooth movement. She looked like any mother, really, maybe minus the vicious look in her eyes and the furious appearance she had overall. Covered in scratches, and with a questionable amount of blood... although Seika guessed that she herself wasn't doing so well on that front. These clothes were probably on the burnable side. But she and Aphi had just recently enchanted them so! She kind of didn't want to think about the inevitability of having to deal with cleaning them. Washing things was really fun, especially with all of the bubbles! And Seika didn't even mind scrubbing. Probably, Aphelia would just sit around and watch her. Suddenly, she was jerked out of her thoughts by a sudden wetness against her fingers. Cringing away, the girl blinked at the wolf snout pressed against the golden charm bracelet. When had the woman shifted back? Oh well! She dropped the piece of jewelry in the dirt and leaf litter that was on the ground, before slowly scooting away. Not out of fear, but rather, to have a wider field of vision as she pulled a camera out of her pocket as quietly as possible. "Hey... you're looking for your daughter, right?" There was no response, and the werewolf growled lowly, baring her teeth. "Um, okay! Well, we know where she is! Plus, like, I think she misses you a lot. We were actually hired to find you, so... wanna come back with us?" The mother didn't really seem to be open to the mood of talking much about this subject, but Seika felt like she could tell from her not so aggressive attitude anymore that she was more and more accepting of the suggestion. Even though she still growled and acted pretty scarily, there wasn't that same violent ferocity. Instead, it had been replaced by an urgent sort of intensity. "Yeah! I promise, that's like, my job! I'll take you to her," Seika took her changed attitude as an encouraging sign and slowly pushed herself up to a better sitting position, before managing to haul herself to a proper standing pose. Wondering where Aphelia had gone, she surveyed the area before deciding it would just have to be a matter of following her trail magically.

"Um, come with me I guess? We need to find a way out of this forest. But don't worry, Mama Wolf! We'll get you back to your baby!" The mage gave the creature a perky smile before she tried to skip away in the direction of her bond mate's aura. Unfortunately, the injuries she had sustained were to such an extent that she was unable to actually skip, instead stumbling before coming to a stop. "Whoops! Let me just fix that," Seika muttered before she waved her hands over herself in a complicated and useless motion. The only point of it really was to keep her hands occupied while her mind tried to focus enough to channel the magic. "Okay there!" Now with her body and limbs thrumming with healing magic that slowly knit together all the broken cells, repairing anything that was out of place, the unusual pair headed off to find the spirit. Notably, as soon as they were within vision of her, an exasperated tinge could be felt through the bond. Seika, didn't she want to eat you? The enormous feline padded towards her friend, her own injuries perfectly fine because of the transference of her mage friend's magic. "Aphi, this is um... Mrs. Charm Bracelet! We're going to take her back to her daughter!" Even though the female creature did not seem overly enthused about returning home, she also was way less energetic about everything, including eating the girl alive. So the mage just took it as a good sign that she had mellowed out by now and they were friends! All that was left was to find the right way to go... "Over here," the spirit said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She stepped forward, slowly leading the way out of the Lycan Woods with the two other members of their odd trio on her tail.

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As they went on walking, Seika glanced at the woman who was trotting along next to her in the shape of a wolf. "Um... maybe do you want to turn back into a human for now? Or like, your hybrid form? I bet your daughter would think you're really cool either way, but!" The mage paused, not really sure what she was trying to say. To be completely honest, the girl thought it would be totally awesome to have a werewolf for a mother. Especially the hybrid form, because like, how cool was that?? However, Aphelia had other ideas and was urging the mage to try to persuade the mother to be as unscary as possible. Furthermore, it did make sense to Seika that maybe her daughter could recognize her more easily. Those super bright green eyes were pretty distinctive in her opinion, but then again, lots of animals had really bright and beautiful jewel toned eyes! Like... Aphelia! Glancing in the direction of the spirit, the mage gulped when she saw the intense and aggravated glare coming back at her. Yeah! Definitely super bright and beautiful orbs that were one hundred percent boring into her own. But anyway, she was just kidding, so there was no reason for Aphelia to be so meanie bajeanies about it. After all, Aphelia was more of a person than herself to be completely honest. Cause she had multiple summons with her and each was their own individual!

Anyway, the girl waited to see if the mother werewolf would make any kind of reply in regards to transforming back. It was a slow process, but she felt like the woman was in fact considering it and simply hadn't made up her mind yet. Finally, the answer came in a slow shift of paws to hands, furry limbs to legs. Within a minute or so, the woman stood in front of them. Seika took the opportunity to snap a picture of her. She was surprisingly normal looking, the blood stains from before that had been splattered all over her coat now where to be seen. Instead, she wore what looked like normal hunting gear, with a dark cape, trousers, and shirt. Her appearance was pretty ordinary and reassuring. With how focused Aphelia was at the moment, the group made it back to the edge of the forest within less than an hour of straight walking. Their pace hadn't been overly rushed; in fact, there was a steadiness to the woman's demeanor that seemed almost at odds with how anxious and snarling she had been earlier. But Seika was impressed, all things considered! And she was definitely looking forward to the training day she would have with Aphelia after all of this was over. Maybe not directly the next day, because well, that was a little bit too soon, given all that they had been through. But the day after that would be nice! And if Seika slept for like, a super long time, it might as well be the exact same day! Sleeping was like a time skip, after all. But now wasn't the time to think about later! Future Seika could be concerned about training. Instead, the mage pulled herself back to the present, and smiled brightly at the row of mages and hunters who came to greet them.

Obviously, they hadn't expected them to bring back anyone who was actually alive. Before anything at all was said, she pulled out her camera and held it up. "Group photo!" She pointed it at the nearest face, which happened to be the that of the head of the hunters, and snapped a blinding picture. The flash illuminated the face of the girl next to him, the daughter of the werewolf mom. It was getting to be a little bit farther into the afternoon by now, but even if the sun was bright and beating down, it was directly overhead and blocked partially by the thick line of trees. Therefore, her face had been mostly hidden by the shadows. The wind also had been going in the opposite direction, moving towards the direction they were aiming to walk into. For that reason... the mother werewolf had not, at first, realized that was her daughter standing in front of her. But as soon as the flash did its work and lit up her features, everything went to chaos. She leaped towards her daughter, morphing into a wolf at the same time. Biting into the shoulder of the man standing next to her child, the mother tore open his torso before moving on to the next nearest mage. From there, it became a blood bath. Aphelia just wanted to leave, but Seika felt obligated to stay, at least for a little bit. She cast a shield spell around the little girl just in case she was accidentally caught in the cross fire.

To be completely honest, she didn't seem to be too terrified, instead transfixed as she watched her mother maul all of the hunters and other village goers. Aphelia guessed that the two were mostly outsiders, but that the settlement had felt obligated to help. Either way, it had been odd for the two to go out in the woods anyway, and even more unlikely for the mother to return like this. Especially like this. Like, as a werewolf. But regardless, it wasn't their place to worry about it any longer. It was time to go on and head back to their guild hall. Nudging Seika, the spirit caught the attention of her bond mate and slowly redirected her to walk away from the scene. They weren't responsible for any of this chaos, technically. If anyone asked, there was plenty of ways to deflect the cause of this massacre away from the mage and feline pair. Watching as Seika yawned, the spirit wrapped a blanket of warm sparkling magic over her friend to keep her warm. With being soaked by a shower of blood and going through multiple adrenaline rushes in the past several hours, she deserved to just go home and sleep for a while. Even Aphelia would admit that her partner had done well. ...It was a different matter of if the mage herself actually wanted to take a rest. Knowing Seika, she would just feel like jumping straight into another mission again. Sighing lightly, the cat teleported the two of the back to Sin, where they easily slipped into the underground city of Elysium. After getting a bite to eat in the general guild hall, the two of them slunk up to their room, not even bothering to peel off their dirty clothes or change or take any kind of shower or bath before stuffing themselves straight into bed. Seika patted Aphelia, who curled up in the shape of a domestic house cat. And the feline couldn't even bring herself to mind, she was already drifting off to sleep.

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