Don't Spoil Your Dinner! (Seika)

Sunlight filtered through the windows, gently illuminating the room. Though the majority of the light was flung, scattered, across the far wall, a few stray rays fell onto Seika's face. She yawned, squeezing her eyes shut against the brightness behind her lids. "Aphi, shut the blinds," she grumbled. Nearby, said spirit emitted a few soft meows before tucking her tail over her eyes. Aphelia had absolutely no intention of moving any time soon. Seika could deal with the uncovered windows, she was a big girl. For now, the only order of business on the feline's agenda for the next two hours was to continue sleeping.

Unfortunately for her, those plans were thrown out the window. After another beat of wakefulness, Seika's eyes shot open as her brain kicked into gear. Jumping out of bed- well, tumbling out her legs still caught up in her sheets- Seika sprawled across the floor. Determinedly, she pulled herself to her feet and then turned back to the heap of linens. "Aphi! Get up, get up! Today is the day we're going to the ruins! Aphiii! What are you doingggg?" The feline could feel her bond mate rustling around inside the covers, pulling apart the bedding to find Aphelia. Instead of speaking and giving away her location (nestled between two pillows near the headboard) the spirit took advantage of Seika's current blindness and pulled down her ears to block out the ruckus. 'Let me sleep,' she hissed through the bond, but Seika was onto her. She grabbed her glasses in one hand and shoved them onto her face in a smooth movement. Now with the help of proper sight, it was easy to spot Aphelia's dark coat against the mess of pink and white fabric. "Aphi! I thought I lost you forever!" Dragging the cat away from the warmth of her nest, Seika pulled her into her arms and then in a pop, teleported them away.

---

Aphelia took advantage of the momentary vertigo the mage always experienced after fast travel and fought her way out of the girl's arms. She took a look around and immediately groaned. "Seika, you're not wearing any clothes..." It was true; the mage only had on a white nightgown. "It's okay! Just make me some," Seika shrugged before reaching out to pick up the feline again. Aphelia was hyper aware of the girl's movements, though, and deftly she backpedaled to avoid her outstretched hands. "I'll walk." There was little merit to arguing for heading back to the guild hall. While the spirit could technically teleport the two back again, Seika had already brought them to the ruins. Aphelia couldn't be bothered to engage in a teleportation battle with her friend. "You're funny. I'm not making you anything. Let's go," Aphelia snorted before turning and padding slowly in a random direction. Visually, everything told the feline they were already in the center of the ruins, yet still on the surface. In order to discover what truly lay hidden here, it was necessary to uncover a passage to the underground system of tunnels and chambers that undoubtedly existed here.

"Over here, Seika," Aphelia called over her bond mate after a few minutes of separate searching. Beaming brightly, the mage bounded over to her and stepped down the stairs the cat had found without another word. Resisting the urge to berate her for a lack of caution, Aphelia followed a few meters behind. Unfortunately, in her haste it seemed Seika had triggered a trap of some sort. An enormous stone block came crashing down in a cloud of dust in front of the spirit, blocking her off from her bond mate. Up ahead, Aphelia heard a short scream that quickly died out as Seika fell further down into some unknown depths.

Personally, the mage felt this was going extremely well! Not only had she found a secret tunnel seconds after entering the ruins, but it also was really pretty! Fishing in her pocket for a camera, Seika eventually decided to just use her iLac and snapped a few photos. Glancing around, she noticed that this chamber was rather round and symmetrical; the eyes naturally gravitated towards the center. Obediently, she stepped up to the middle of the room, where a stone box sat on a pedestal. Without the slightest bit of hesitation Seika slid the lid off of the container and peered inside. Something gold, and shiny- before she could get a good look, something came shooting out, smacking the nose bridge of her glasses at an upward angle and knocking them straight off. Stumbling backwards, she took a few unsteady steps away before falling on her butt. Wincing as her eyes watered, Seika blinked a few times before her vision cleared of tears. "That wasn't very nice," the mage said lamely. Picking herself back up, she ignored her blurry vision and proceeded to approach the pedestal again. Squinting inside, Seika could only see an indistinct golden shape. This time, she hadn't been attacked; for that reason, she figured it was safe to touch now, the trap already triggered. Her fingers reached into the box and curled around whatever was inside. Surprisingly, it was rather thin and cool to the touch. These ruins were positioned in a desert, so the temperature of the object puzzled her- ahh, she understood. Underground, everything was shielded from the scorching heat of the sun. In addition, this room must have been far enough down to not receive any warmth transmitted through stone from chamber to chamber.

Now that she had obtained her treasure, Seika felt giddy with happiness. She was officially a treasure hunter! Clapping her hands, the girl accidentally dropped the metal object. It hit the floor with a clink, attracting her attention. "Oh! Whoops, I'm so sorry," she apologized to the air as if it could respond.

"You should be sorry!" A voice scolded her, and she immediately tumbled over in pure astonishment. "The first person to pick up our key in years, and you drop it right away!" Another speaker chimed in, the tone similar to that of the first. By this point, Seika was too dazed to respond. She was hallucinating, right? Aphelia told her that when she heard voices, it was just make believe, and she should ignore it. But... at the same time, Seika wanted to talk to them! They must be her friends, if they were talking to her, right?

"Sorry! What did I do?" The girl rubbed her eyes, still extremely puzzled. Had she dropped anyone lately? Well, Aphelia, but that didn't count. "Idiot. You dropped our key," a flash of blue suddenly materialized in front of Seika, and her entire vision was filled with two faces. Very very close to her own. Even with bad eyesight, she could tell they belonged to some kind of animals. Probably a fearsome creature? Aphelia had told her many of those prowled within the ruins- "Oh! You're... deer?" Seika contemplated their faces a little more, from the small snouts to the large, delicately pointed ears. "Maybe fawns?" She wondered aloud.

The two animals glanced at each other, and Seika stifled a laugh at how well they matched. They could have been twins, except for the slightly different colors of their pelts and how one had a star symbol on their forehead and the other, a moon. "Are we fawns, Mini?" The darker blue one, with the star, asked the other. In return, it scrutinized the questioner. "You're a fawn, Gemi, so I'm betting I am too," the moon-marked one finally responded. For some reason, Seika felt certain that she was a girl, or at least, female in some way or another. Equally, the other seemed to be a boy. But- "Shouldn't you know what you are?" Seika asked, blinking at them in concern. She knew what she was! Wait... did she?

"We can look like anything," Star-Gemi said. Seika couldn't quite decide what to call each of them, since they had addressed each other a certain way, but sometimes people had nicknames that nobody else was allowed to use. "She must like deer," Moon-Mini said. "She must," the other twin agreed.

Just then, Aphelia's yowling finally cut through their bond. 'SEIKA. YOU ABSOLUTE BUFFOON. HOW DARE YOU GO AHEAD WITHOUT-' Ignoring the ferocity in her tone, Seika perked up and sent a cheerful message back. 'Aphi! Where did you go? I found some friends!' Immediately, the feline fell silent. 'I've been calling you for ages and couldn't get any response. I'm going to try to teleport to you. Maybe it will work, now that it seems like my magic can function again,' the cat told her briefly, before suddenly popping into existence in the same room. Morphing into a human shape, Aphelia stomped over to Seika and put her face close to hers. Eye to eye, she hissed, "Why do you insist on running into unknown areas like that? Don't be so reckless. If you get hurt, I'll get hurt, too. Do you want me to get hurt? Is that what this is?"

From nearby, one of the siblings... twins... coughed quietly. "Uh, hate to break this up, but in case you didn't know, we're spirits too," Aphelia glanced in their direction and then turned back, ignoring them completely, even when he kept on talking. "And we haven't been summoned in ages, isn't that right, Mini?" The other fawn made a noise of agreement, and the first one went on, "So the guardian might be gone, but I figured you would want to know that there's an ancient spell over this place that triggers a sand monster to come and attack anything that disturbs our pedestal. But, the settlement that used to live here might have moved away, so, uh, carry on?"

Right on cue, an enormous creature burst from the ground, sending a scattering of rocks everywhere. Aphelia sent the twins a scathing look, hissing, "I bet you summoned it," before she grabbed Seika's hand and teleported her back above ground. Well, tried to, at least. Nothing happened, and suddenly the previously large stone chamber felt a great deal more cramped as the sandy crocodile lookin monster stalked towards them. Aphelia shoved Seika behind her, but the mage pushed her arm away. "No, don't worry Aphi, I'm sure it's nice-" She had stepped forward and extended a friendly hand to the beast when it suddenly lunged forward, chomping down. If not for a sudden golden light that engulfed the creature, holding it still, Seika would have lost her arm where it met her shoulder. Aphelia followed the path of light over to Star-Gemi. The golden magic was flowing freely from what seemed to be every pore of his body. "Mini, go do the thing," he told his sister, and she nodded before stepping forward, her figure already changing shape. "Oh, be careful, that's not a friendly crocodile!" Seika squeaked out in fear, ready to grab the fawn away if not for Aphelia holding her back. Both mage and bond mate were utterly surprised when Moon-Mini morphed into another sand monster! She was even larger than the actual one. Seika wanted to take a picture of the two. Wait, if Star-Gemi could transform as well, there would be three of them! The girl was about to suggest that, since a picture with three would be even cooler, when a harsh glance from Aphelia prompted her to shut her mouth.

"What did I tell you about eating humans during the day? You'll spoil your dinner," Moon-Mini scolded, her voice rattling in her throat, sounding nothing like it had before. "If I catch you doing this again, you're grounded for a week. Now go back home," she instructed the sand creature, who seemed cowed by her words. Star-Gemi's golden light disappeared, and the monster made no move to attack, instead turning and slowly slithering back into the depths of the ruins. There was a moment or two of silence, before Seika erupted into applause. She let out a few whoops, cheering enthusiastically. Even Aphelia begrudgingly muttered a, "Nice work," while Seika was completely astounded. "That was amazing! You guys are so cool! I love you!" The two twins didn't seem to know how to react, as Moon-Mini shifted back into her fawn form. "Uh, thanks... love..." the male twin tried to answer in turn, but she could barely get a word out as Seika gushed about the short lived battle. "Seriously, that was so cool! You were like, pow! Now you can't move! And she was like, boom! Now I look like you! And- ohh, hey, what's your names?" Seika bounced around the room, narrating a summary of the battle before coming to a stop within a meter of the two, her eyes shining with curiosity. Aphelia hadn't been able to hold her back any longer.

"We can hear you calling us Star and Moon in your head," Moon-Mini finally stated, "That works. Our proper name is Gemini. I'm Mini, that one's Gemi," she tipped her head towards her brother. "Oh, so you really are like twins! Gemini, and all that!" Seika clapped with excitement. Meanwhile, Aphelia was highly suspicious. Gemini? The last she had heard, the Gemini key was in the hands of a dark mage. How had it gotten into a dusty box in a series of ruins in the middle of the desert? Perhaps it was a trick, and said sorcerer was around here somewhere. Her eyes scanned every inch of the room, boring into the dark crevices. "My name is Taneda Akies, but you can just call me Seika! So, what do you like to do? Where did you come from by the way? I was just like, here by myself, and suddenly it was like, poof! Two deer! Not that it was a bad thing, because like, I looove deer, but you know, it was a surprise-"

"Because of this," Aphelia cut her off, stepping forward to crouch down and pick up two objects, fallen less than a meter apart from each other. She walked back over to the mage, and the room was oddly void of any noise as she set Seika's glasses back on her nose and held up a polished golden key. "The Key of Gemini. If it's here, then another summoner isn't holding it," she musted aloud, while Seika grabbed it and held it even closer to her face until it bumped into her glasses by accident. "Gemini's key? What does it do? Unlock the door to their house?" Seika turned towards the fawns and smiled at them, and Star-Gemi lifted up a hoof to wave at her before his sister bumped him on the flank and he put his leg back down. "I didn't know deer lived in houses like us," Seika tugged at her hair thoughtfully. "Seika... no, just no. You remember how summoning works, right?" The feline-turned-human prodded her friend in the ribs to bring her attention back to their conversation. "Yes? Okay," she went on, seeing the mage nod. "Some spirits require a key to be summoned. This is one of those," she gestured to the gleaming metal key Seika was clutching.

"Ohh, I get it! But what spirit does it summon?" The mage made a noise of understanding, but then asked for further clarification; Aphelia moaned out of sheer frustration. "Seika. Keep up. The fawns are spirits. Together, they make Gemini. Seika, are you with me?" Already, the mage was getting distracted, rubbing at the key with fascination. "For god's sake, Seika, pay attention. You know what, whatever. I'll deal with you later." The bubble spirit let out a sigh before leaving her friend alone and heading over to where the twins were still watching. She stood in front of them as they stared back. Finally, Aphelia gave another enormous groan before she rubbed at her eyes. "I'm too tired for this. I'll handle all of this nonsense tomorrow." Seika blinked as she felt Aphelia's magic signature suddenly disappear. Glancing around, the mage saw no sign of her bond mate. She had teleported away.

Seika turned to the twins, smiling brightly. "Okay! Now that Aphi is gone, I have lots of ideas! So, you can turn into any shape, right? Well, what if you became me, and then I became myself- wait, I'm already myself- and then we take a selfie? We'll be like, triplets! And..." The two spirits gave each other a long glance. The temptation of pulling an Aphelia-esque disappearing act was becoming more and more irresistible...

Unfortunately for them, the girl was determined not to let them out of her sight. While that wouldn't have stopped anyone normally, the puppy dog eyes she cast them accompanied by trembling lips did the trick. Eventually, Seika managed to cajole them into taking a group picture with her while the two fawns were in their natural forms. Well, what she supposed were their initial shapes as baby deer. Even though the spirits had infinite capabilities for transformation; Seika understood that. There wasn't much she could do to understand what the distinction was between the first form she saw them in versus their original forms. Perhaps the one they took while in the celestial spirit realm? Seika had heard stories about what went on in there. How there were so many people... er, spirits all in one place was mystifying to her. Whatever they did have fun with inside that world must have been amazing. Still, the majority of her summons were not celestial spirits and had their own clans or races that welcomed them back home when they were not summoned to Seika's location.

After successfully snapping a photo with the three individuals, Seika had another idea to try. She had already mentioned it to them, which meant it took even longer to convince the twins. They had already heard her terrible plan and vetoed it silently among themselves. Nonetheless, with her innate powers of persuasion, aided by a little bit of magic (shh, don't tell anyone) Seika managed to coax Star-Gemi into turning into one version of her, while Moon-Mini also became a clone of the mage. Together, they posed for a picture as triplets, while Seika squealed with delight in the center. In addition, they took versions with three Star-Gemi fawns with stars on their foreheads and ones as Moon-Mini and moons marking their brow. It was utterly perfect.