Evolve and Be Free! (Seika, Faustein)

The circumstances of this job had Seika nearly rolling on the floor with laughter. She couldn't wait to see the look on Faustein's face when he saw what she had done. Ahh, it was so much fun to prank her guild members! She knew he had a tendency to introduce himself as Dr. Stein at times, the silly boy, so she was excited for him to meet... Dr. Stein! Yep, that was right, she had specifically taken this job down from the board and hidden it in her room in the guild hall before anyone else could see. Waiting for this opportunity had been hard, but when the date finally rolled around, Seika had dragged the job slip out of the mess of her room and was ready. "Faust! Youu whoo! Come with me, I have something to show you!" She yelled across the room when she saw the man enter the main atrium part near the largest area of the guild. Clapping her hands in excitement, Seika prepared herself mentally. The first thing's first was to make sure she had down pat what she wanted to say. The next thing would obviously be to make sure that they were prepared for the journey as well as the mission itself.

Honestly, there wasn't much needed for the trip there, though. Minus a few snacks perhaps to keep their energy up, Aphelia could teleport the group there without any issue. Speaking of Aphelia, where was she? Seika scanned the area for her feline companion, but eventually she shrugged, bored of looking around. Then she looked up as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. If Faustein were within hearing distance, she would smile brightly at him and open her mouth to speak. "I have the perfect job for us to do! That is, if you want to go on a mission with me? I promise I'll do my best! There's Aphi, too- she'll totally help us out if we need it. I also heard that Odhran said I could bring Lupa with me if I wanted. I don't know if Aphi is okay with wolves... she ate a lot of lynxes the other day, along with a couple of coyotes, but I think they could still be friends!"

Perfectly timing her entrance, Aphelia took that chance to slink down the stairs and enter the area. Her fur was slightly smoking, flames flickering before dying down again as she licked one paw before padding up to where Seika was standing. Aphelia was a flame bubble spirit, but for right now at least she was in the shape of a tiger. The girl leaned against Aphelia affectionately, reaching over to run her fingers through the fur on the back of her neck and behind her ears. With a low growl of disapproval, Aphelia took a few steps back and watched as Seika pinwheeled with the unexpected weight of her own body before falling flat on her face. "Ow! Hey, why'd you move away? Aphi! I'm talking to you! Hey, Aphi!" The prickly summon sniffed before turning her head away pointedly. Huffing indignantly, Seika shrugged it off before getting to her feet and rubbing her nose gently. "Seriously, that hurt... Aphi is so mean to me," Seika pouted before turning back in Faustein's direction. "Anyway, about this job! It's to help a guy named Dr. Stein! Isn't that cool? He goes by Dr. Stein! And, well, we're supposed to pretend to be zoo keepers, so it'll be fun! I've never been to a zoo, and I really like playing dress up games, so I'm sure it'll be great. What do you say?" She looked at Faustein expectantly, trying to contain herself, but her energy and impatience leaked out through the incessant tapping of her foot against the flooring.

634 Words

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Seika was glad that he seemed to be listening! Despite the occasional yawns, he was nodding in compliance, much to her joy and satisfaction. Probably, he was just tired, and this thought was seconded by Aphelia, as she could sense her agreement through the bond. When he finally spoke out loud, it seemed to solidify his acceptance, which was perfect! But... Seika pouted at the insinuation that she was a thief, saying brightly, "It's not stealing if nobody else took it first! If anyone wanted it, they would have taken it down, right? I was saving it for you! So, I don't really think it's thieving, right?" She looked at him expectantly before going on. "A-and yes, help is always fun! Jobs are more fun with others, right? It becomes less of a job or mission and more of bonding time over work!" She flashed him a cheerful grin before glancing behind her to see how far away Aphelia was. With a slow movement, she reached over to the tiger and ran her fingers through her fur, smiling in satisfaction when the spirit grudgingly let her pet her. It felt good for her too, after all, and at the moment she didn't feel like letting her pride get in the way of being stroked.

Suddenly, though, it seemed like Faustein was no longer down with the plan, as his face became.... different. She couldn't exactly tell what was happening behind his glasses, since they weren't transparent or translucent and more like reflected her own appearance back at her. Still, just judging by the way his body seemed to stiffen up and his face grew much less sleepy and more... scared? Was this for real? Was Faustein scared? Seika tilted her head in curiosity, not asking any questions yet, but instead just observing as she watched her guild mate go through a variety of emotions before apparently settling on vehemence. Her face fell a little bit more at every word that came hurtling out of his mouth, and she winced at his stutter. Something was obviously wrong. Behind her, Aphelia made no noise whatsoever, but inwardly she stifled her laughter. Seika was still trying to figure out what was going on, but as she listened, it became more clear. "You.... you're afraid of dogs?" Seika asked, her expression quizzical. "But... but Lupa's a dog! How can you be afraid of, um, canid beasts, if Lupa's a dog? Lupa is the best," Seika stated very matter of factly, ignoring how Aphelia hissed slightly. Obviously Aphelia was the best spirit ever, but Lupa was too.

Despite her confusion, Seika tried to comfort Faustein. "But, I wouldn't worry! There won't be very many um, wolves, or coyotes. Aphi just likes to eat them sometimes. But she's not going to be one of them, I don't think, right Aphi?" The mage turned to her bond mate, and the tiger shook her head slowly, her expression deadpan. "Right, so you don't have to worry! Alright, Faust? And, and, plus, um, well, I wanted to bring Lupa, but I guess I won't? That's sad though... Lupa is such a cutie," Seika sighed dramatically, even though her expression brightened up now that it seemed like Faustein's fears had been solved. "Anyway, if there are any dogs or anything like that at the zoo, I can take care of them for you!" Behind her, Aphelia rolled her eyes at Seika's attempt at sincerity. The spirit knew that rather than killing or scaring off any canines they encountered, Seika would most likely try to befriend them and either keep them with her for the duration of the job or even bring them back to the guild hall, resulting in even more interactions. "So, um, don't worry! Here, do you need a handkerchief?" She gave him a small square of whiteish blue cloth, stained slightly with blood but only on the backside, not the one she presented to Faustein. It was clean and well washed, there just happened to be a slight stain from the blood from the last time she gave it to somebody. But it was nothing to worry about, really.

"Assuming you are well, we intended to depart as soon as possible," the tiger shaped spirit behind them inserted, her tone dry and unamused. "Right! Um, Dr. Stein mentioned that we could meet him in Clover Town at an address... um, I have it here," Seika pulled out the job description. "After that, we're supposed to just go to Clover Public Zoo and take care of the rest. But we needed to meet with him first so he can get his chemicals and yada yada, you probably know all about that stuff, right Faust?" She smiled at him in a friendly sort of way, even though simultaneously, Aphelia resisted the urge to snort behind her. "I'm excited! I haven't ever been to a zoo, and this is supposed to be a really nice one, they're just opening it and I heard they've been working on it for a long time! Maybe we can go play with the animals after we let them out?" Seika thought out loud, just throwing out ideas and trying to make Faustein more comfortable, since it seemed like he had really been rattled earlier. Oh! Maybe he was into destruction? "I heard animals are great at destroying cities, if they're big enough or agitated enough!" She added cheerfully.

Seika: 1,538 | Kuro: 808 | Total: 2,346

Seika gave Faustein a look of sympathy when he said that he'd had bad experiences with canines in the past. "It must be awful not to be able to hug wolves and stuff like that! I don't know what I would do without being able to give Lupa kisses. But, you're really strong for getting through life without animal companions!" Seika beamed at him before doing a miniature cheer with her hands and arms. "Whatever's best for your sanity is best for me! And for the mission, I guess. But really, the mission is just for fun! And for the glory of Elysium! Wow, there are a lot of 'ands,' huh?" She laughed cheerfully and then would pat Faustein on the shoulder if he would let her, otherwise she would settle for clapping her hands in excitement. "But really, you're so cute! You have a stutter and everything! It's adorable, really," she went on, still smiling brightly. When Faustein promised to return her handkerchief, she laughed it off and told him that it wasn't necessary. She was still touched by his devotion to carefulness and cleanliness. Heck, Seika didn't take that much care of her own things, and they were her own things. But, the girl did suppose there was something about borrowing other people's belongings that made a person five times more careful. That was just a stained old handkerchief, but it was cute of Faustein to be polite and all anyway.

Listening carefully as he spoke about the beta evolution drug quickly got old, though, and Seika barely restrained herself from yawning in confusion when he began to talk about scientific journals. "That's awesome, Faust! I'm glad you'll be able to see it in action, then!" She happily exclaimed, relieved that he was no longer stuttering, as cute as the action was, since it seemed tied to his certainty and she wanted him to feel confident and happy. When he mentioned using the animals as guinea pigs, though, the girl winced. She wasn't altogether too enthusiastic at that idea, but if it made his day, so be it. The animals could die for a good cause: his and theirs. With that in mind, Seika couldn't help but giggle when he began to laugh maniacally. It was just so adorable! "Oh my gosh, Faust, you're just too cute!" She resisted the urge to try to pat him again, instead opting to turn to Aphelia. "Aphi! Think you can take us to Clover Town?"

The spirit shot her a disdainful look, as if to say, 'Of course I can, are you savant?' before suddenly vanishing all three of them, swirling them into the abyss until a few seconds later, they popped out in the middle of a busy, bustling square in Clover Town. A few people around gave them strange looks, as if questioning how they arrived so suddenly and appeared like that, but for the most part, magic was a normal part of life here. Nobody stopped to question them or anything. "Ow... My head," Seika whined to nobody in particular. Nearby, Aphelia scoffed. She always complained about the effects of teleportation, but the spirit rarely felt a thing. Sometime during few seconds the journey had taken, Aphelia had transformed from a predatory tiger into a less noticeable black house cat. Seika scooped her up, Aphelia accepting it without complaint (as she would rather be carried than walk) and then the mage turned to Faustein. "I think the right way we're supposed to go is... that way?"

She pointed in the direction east, slightly north east of where they had landed, just to the left. Setting off at a good pace, mostly due to her enthusiasm, Seika took the steps with her bouncy stride, practically jumping off the ground or skipping. In her arms, Aphelia grumbled internally at the feeling of being jostled around, but she didn't complain out loud, choosing to simply not bother. After they had walked for a decent amount of distance, they finally arrived at what Seika guessed was the correct location. She double checked the address and then peered at the door of the house; it did seem to be a house, a rather ordinary one in fact. One story, likely with only one or two bedrooms, it had chipped yellow paint and brown shingles on the roof top. "I think this is the place!" She announced loudly to Faustein, before she stepped up to the door and began to knock. And knock. And knock again. Until she finally spotted the doorbell next to the handle.

Just as she was about to ring it, the door opened, and a man in a white suit opened it none too gently. Seika blinked in surprise, her hand still halfway through the air.

Seika: 2,334 | Kuro: 1,513 | Total: 3,847

A man stood a few steps away; he was tall, and altogether rather skinny and pale. Probably, Seika guessed, mad scientists didn't get a whole lot of sunlight, spending hours cooped up in their labs or what not. She was too busy gaping at him to say something for a second until she blinked before skipping forwards into the room, beginning to chirp, "Hi, I'm Taneda Akies, but if you want, you can call me Seika- but he breezed past her and stood in the doorway facing Faustein, while she blinked in confusion, staring at an empty room. The two had a moment in which they exchanged diabolical lines of dialogue while she stared blankly in puzzlement, but a few moments later Dr. Stein stepped back into the place and began to lead them further into the house.

As Seika stepped into Dr. Stein's house (or at least she guessed it was his home) she took note of how it looked. It was surprisingly messy, er, perhaps that wasn't precisely the correct word... cluttered? There were some boxes strewn about, along with trinkets and a few plates. It looked rather well lived in and homely for someone that Seika would have expected to be obsessive about cleanliness and neatness. That just showed that not all scientists were the same or followed stereotypes! Smiling, she remembered how Faustein had reacted to being called cute. It had been even cuter, although she had refrained from calling him it any more after the last time, despite how adorable his fake scary face had been. He was so funny! Before she realized it, she bumped into Dr. Stein from behind. He had stopped walking and was standing impatiently at the entrance to his, uh, evil lair? It looked like a completely normal door, except that it was made of some kind of metal and looked to be bolted shut. Now that she actually took a look around, the area was dark, and damp. Apparently they were underground, having taken a flight of stairs to the basement while Seika wasn't paying attention.

"Let us get down to business. I have been preparing this concoction for years. It is finally time for the great reveal!" He informed them, as he unbolted the door and pushed it open with no small amount of effort, signifying its weight. Seika took a look around the lab. The room they had just stepped in was empty except for four crates stacked in the middle of the room, but there were doors all along the sides of the space. She guessed that there was a whole maze of laboratories down here. "In each of these are thirty doses of my beta evolution compound. I intend to administer it to each specimen in the zoo. I will require your assistance in the process," he gestured and explained rather succinctly. Seika supposed that he had set it up all like this so they wouldn't have to mess with things much, and she was tempted to peek into one of the crates. With the way he was standing in front of them at the moment, though, it didn't seem encouraging of those type of actions. "Mister, I have a question!" Seika raised her hand enthusiastically, and Dr. Stein gave her a dark look before nodding. "Do you want us to carry the compounds? When will we be leaving? Are we trying to release the animals tomorrow morning or later today? Since, it's almost ten in the morning now, there's still time if you wanted to do it today! Ooh, and also, can we play with the animals? Who do you think is going to be there?"

Dr. Stein shot her another gaze full of malice before he snarled, "Silence! You do not touch the compound. I will inject it into each animal, you fools simply must escort me into the cages. After I have observed the results and collected the data, I do not care what happens to the animals further. You will face petty zoo keepers and animal tamers, perhaps Rune Knights if they are alerted in time." He glared at her in a way that dared Seika to ask any further questions. Aphelia had had enough of Seika's attempts to procure herself a death wish and jumped into the girl's arms, purring loudly to distract her from further angering the villain.

He surveyed their team once again before nodding in apparent satisfaction. "We leave immediately."

Seika: 3,077 | Kuro: 2,347 | Total: 5,424

Seika squeaked when Dr. Stein unleashed his annoyance on her, but she was uncowed and about to open her mouth again when she felt a warm, slightly vibrating mass weigh down her arms. Aphelia was being unbelievably cute right now, strangely so, but the mage wasn't about to complain. She slowly pet the spirit, her attention completely lost from Dr. Stein, thankfully. Absolutely not paying attention as Faustein gave her wise and cautious advice in a low, almost inaudible tone, Seika was bouncing up and down with happiness inside at how complacent Aphelia was being. "You are so cute!" She cuddled the cat eagerly, to which Aphelia barely restrained herself. It was for the sake of the mission, but if the mage made baby noises at her one more time, she could not be held responsible for anything that ensued afterwards.

With a little bit of a muddled mind, Seika listened as Faustein talked to Dr. Stein a bit more, apparently asking for clarification about the mission. All she picked up was that they should be not harmful. Which, Seika figured, she could do! With a smile, she cast a spell over the scientist; it was a shield that was transparent, almost invisible except for a faint glimmer under sunlight. Should anything attempt to direct damage towards Dr. Stein, it would protect him. "Don't worry, Doctor! We got you," Seika told him, smiling brightly. While he seemed unamused, he snapped his fingers at her and then proceeded to lead them out of the basement, the drug carried carefully. Seika was prohibited from assisting in moving the crates, much to her chagrin as she stood by the sidelines pouting with an extremely satisfied looking Aphelia cradled in her arms. Instead of her, Faustein helped by himself, but it seemed like the two diabolically inclined researchers had matters handled, as they very delicately loaded the magical vehicle. When she got bored of watching them work, she looked around and saw a butterfly fluttering near a flower. Seika was surprised that there were flowers blooming along here; however, she had been equally astonished by the normalcy of Dr. Stein's evil lair. All in all, it wasn't particularly unusual for bulbs to be planted all around cities in order to improve the landscaping.

Wondering what was taking so long, Seika yawned before turning back to the truck, only to see that there was nobody else standing around. With a puzzled expression on her face, she walked around the mobile once, then again, before her face suddenly turned understanding. "Ohh, you guys are done!" She hopped in the back, still petting Aphelia as the spirit purred gently. "Why didn't you tell me?" Seika asked curiously, half yawning. As they drove, the rhythm of the car began to lull her to sleep, but she forced her eyes to stay open. The drive was a short one, as Clover Town was fairly easy to navigate and despite its large size, they were only travelling a short distance anyway. Seika supposed she could count herself fortunate that they did not actually have to span over a day to do this job; had they been forced to wait in the cages until tomorrow morning to release the animals, she probably would have fallen asleep and been unconscious through out the entire ordeal. Now at the zoo, they pulled up to the back, near a staff entrance. Seika realized belatedly that the vehicle was disguised as one meant for transporting animal feed, such as hay, oats, and the like. With a smile and a salute towards her fellow infiltrators, Seika straightened out her clothing. She had worn a work outfit to disguise herself as one of the zoo staff, so they could blend in.

Seika: 3,701 | Kuro: 2,883 | Total: 6,584

As patiently as possible, Seika waited for Dr. Stein and the other Dr. Stein, this one Faustein, to go get changed. While they were busy disguising themselves, she considered whether it would be worth it to change Aphelia. "Aphi! Do you think you should change shape?" She held up the spirit in her hands high, as if simultaneously praising her and inspecting her stomach. Currently, the bond companion was in the shape of a regular house cat, though with well groomed fur and the delicate bone structure and posture of a hundred thousand jewel purebred.

"Stop looking at me strangely," Aphelia hissed, swatting at the air as her tail lashed in annoyance. Seika wailed dramatically, spinning around in circles and carrying the cat with her. "I can't help it! You're just way too cute, Aphi!" To which the spirit's eyes flashed and she gave Seika the most disdainful look before opening her jaws and pantomiming sinking her teeth into her wrist. "Ahh! Calm down, Aphi, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Seika immediately dropped the cat, who landed on her feet and sniffed the air with contempt. Behind them, it seemed that the two evil mad scientists had finished putting on their zoo keeper garb. In Dr. Stein's hand there were what looked to be identification cards that were presumably for the job. Though Seika was offered one and went to grab it with confusion written all over her face, she looked nothing like the picture on the card. Yet, as soon as she touched it, the photo melted away into one of her own face, with her name printed neatly underneath the portrait.

"Woah! So cool, it's like magic!" Seika clapped after she slid the lanyard over her head, the badge hanging down in the center of her chest. "Oh, I guess it is magic! Wow, magic is awesome," she cheered. Just then, Faustein stepped a bit closer and gave her a suggestion, all the while with his eyes moving around in a slightly confusing manner. Perhaps he was worried about whether there were any dogs around? Either way, he looked to be on the watch for something. Seika tried to pay attention to what he was saying, but she was dejected when he suggested that she go on... sentry duty. Really?? Being the watch man was the most boring part of it, and she wanted to see the animals up close. "Fine," Aphelia agreed before Seika had a chance to say anything at all, much less protest.

With a hmph, Seika pointed in the direction of the center of the zoo. "Fine! I'll watch or whatever! Aphi! You create a distraction! Ooh, wait, what if you pretended to steal a stuffed animal and run away? You could bring it back for me at the end! Okay, if there's a baby whale, or any kind of whale, or orca, that would be the best. After that, I would love any lions or tigers or leopards or cheetahs or other cats, or if they have wolves we could get one and give it to Lupa, like a mini her-" Aphelia hissed at the insinuation that she run around a muck and pretend to be some common thieving street rat of a feline. With one smooth movement, she shifted from an ordinary domestic house cat into a full size, fully grown lion. A lioness, probably, judging by the fact that it was Aphelia and knowing her tendency to always want to be female regardless of the shape she chose.

Meanwhile, all the time during their conversation, Faustein had long since left and was busily doing their thing, going ahead and entering the cages. She noticed that sometimes another zoo keeper would interrupt them, but luckily nobody seemed to suspect a single thing. Deciding that it wasn't worth the annoyance of watching them have the joy of interacting with the animals up close and anesthetizing them, then injecting the drug or whatever Dr. Stein wanted, Seika focused on Aphelia. The now a lion spirit was certainly causing a bit of a clamor. While she wasn't directly attacking anyone, she was prowling around, slinking from one exhibit to another, surprising any zoo goers that she passed by. A few zoo keepers stopped and began to whisper to themselves before one ran off towards the main offices, probably to get a higher up or check if this was some sort of publicity stunt or if that was an actual escaped lion. Seika had to admit that it was probably much easier than making Aphelia run around and steal stuff from the zoo souvenir shops, but.... she had really wanted an animal plushie.

Pouting, Seika skipped over to the nearest booth. There were a few shirts hanging from the top of the little structure, and lots of jewelry was laid out across the counter. However, she was more interested in seeing if there were any stuffed animals; and there were! Behind the T Shirts, hanging from the roof, were strings of plushies. Seika thumbed through them with an enormous smile on her face until she came to a fluffy wolf, which she cut off of the garland hanging animal display thingy with a small wisp of concentrated magic. After taking a quick look around and inside of the booth, it seemed like there weren't any workers around to help her check out. With a frown on her face, Seika reluctantly left a decent amount of jewel under one of the boxes on top of the counter, with the edges of the bills barely peeking out. Hopefully they would see it and not worry about any theft that could be traced to the plushie and her.

Seika waited at the general center of the zoo, watching mostly from her peripheral vision as Dr. Stein and Faustein worked efficiently, appearing just like normal hardworking employees getting ready for the official release time in less than an hour. There were already so many visitors milling about, though; they had been allowed in regardless of the official rules, which was good, because Seika didn't want to have to wait around until the zoo was formally open to get the party started. She was getting bored of this, especially with not being able to actually pet the animals at all. For this reason, she couldn't wait until it was time for them to be let free. All of the cages were either loosely shut or left unlocked but closed, giving the false appearance of security. Now it was just time to wait for them to activate whatever the laboratory thing did; honestly, Seika had no idea what the scientists were even doing, all she knew was that as soon as the animals started going berserk and rampaging, breaking out of their pens and attacking visitors, it was time to act and join the chaos. In preparation, Seika pulled off her glasses, rubbed them clean of smudges, then popped them back on so she could see better.

Seika: 4,865 | Kuro: 3,464 | Total: 8,329

As soon as Dr. Stein activated the compound, it was obvious. The animals began to contort and writhe around, much to the confusion and terror of any zoo goers who were looking at the exhibits at the time. It was all the more unfortunate for those near the pens when they broke out just a few seconds later. The evolved animals seemed to have no end to their hunger for violence, aggression mutated beyond pacification... except for by the animal tamers, as Seika witnessed with fascination. She paid no attention to anything around her, especially as there seemed to be no danger near her area since she was in the middle of everything. There were many other targets before her, it would become apparent enough. Seika wondered if the animals would even overtake Clover Town if they managed to escape into the surrounding area. She was becoming a little bit bored of just watching them wreck things and kill people, though; Seika preferred her animals to be fierce but friendly. Hugs were better than hatred.

She was surprised enough to take a small step in shock when her guild mate appeared all of a sudden nearby her, with Dr. Stein accompanying him. Or was it him that was accompanying the other scientist? Either way, the two seemed to be on the same wavelength, which Seika thought was just so cute! It was nice to see Faustein meet someone with similar interests. Faustein seemed focused though, and not much interested in socializing over research or whatever they liked, when he told her that the animal tamers would need to be taken out, Seika first paused and scratched her arm as she thought out loud. "Taken? Taken out where-" Just then, a transformed rhinoceros charged at the three of them, and Seika shoved up a shield that bounced it back before she turned to Faustein to continue her conversation. "Don't worry! I'll take them out. You and Dr. Stein have a nice time, okay? Tell me if you do anything cool so I can take pictures!"

With that, she skipped towards the two animal tamers, who were working profusely on every animal they could get into reach of; she stopped several meters away and was now decently far from Faustein and Dr. Stein. Honestly, it was just so cool to her to see them in action! But unfortunately, they would have to be dealt with. She looked around to see if there was anything that would be good to use as a distraction. Just then, her eye caught Aphi, still in the form of a lioness, but now lounging on a nearby low hanging roof top. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to her, probably since she looked to be pacified already.

Cupping her hands around her mouth, Seika yelled over to her bond mate, "Aphi! Can you take care of those people for me?" There was enough screaming that her shouts did not go noticed except for a young man who stopped to stare at her before pointing accusingly and beginning to scream something. However, he was very unfortunately silenced by the loud crunch of an animal attack when a tiger pounced on him, having been stalking him as prey beforehand and taking advantage of his distracted state. Seika shrugged before looking back at Aphelia, who was giving her a dirty look. "Aphi! Cmon, please?" She tried to cajole the spirit into helping her, to which the feline seemed to finally move, all at once in a blur bounding over to Seika and grabbing her by the scruff of her uniform. Still moving unimaginably fast, Aphelia tossed Seika into the two animal trainers with a loud crash.

Unable to understand at first what had happened, Seika squeezed her eyes shut as pain shot through her entire body. "Ah..." she muttered, but it came out more as a garbled moan. Meanwhile, one of the animal tamers had been knocked against the side of a cage and appeared to have hit his head, blood streaming from the wound, while the other hovered over her uncertainly. "Miss? Miss, are you alright?" He leaned towards her and put a few fingers to her neck, checking if she was alive or not. To which, Seika opened her eyes slow, struggling to sit up. Her body was healing quickly, but she was still confused on what had happened. "Oh... hi there," Seika smiled at the animal tamer, who was too shocked to say anything. Mimicking his movement, she put her fingers to the side of his neck with a frown. "Are you okay? You seem a little bit-" Suddenly, she was cut off as he screamed in agony, the flesh of his neck seemingly burning away, the wound deep and reaching to the bone. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Seika withdrew her fingers with an apologetic wince, but he was already dead. Quickly getting to her feet, Seika hurried away from the two bodies, biting her lip in uncertainty.

Seika: 5,697 | Kuro: 4,169 | Total: 9,866

Before this post begins, WC is the following:
Seika: 5697 | Kuro: 4946 | Total: 10,643. (-10,000 for A Rank Free Form as -5697 from Seika and -4303 from Kuro)

New Kuro: 643 and New Total: 643 before this post begins.

As Seika slunk away from the corpses, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she saw Faustein on the other side of the zoo. He seemed to make a move in her direction; either that, or he simply was noticing her position. When she was able to comprehend that he was investigating some sort of animal nearby, Seika shrugged her shoulders off. She couldn't be worrying about Faustein, since he would probably hate it, what with how he reacted to being cooed over and called cute earlier. Keeping that thought in mind, Seika was about to turn away, when she noticed something flying through the air in her peripheral vision. Starting at the movement, Seika stepped unconsciously back a few paces before realizing that it was far, far away from her. She went to go turn back to Faustein to ask if he had seen the same thing, since to her, it was simply a blur. However, before anything further could happen in the way of communication between the two of them, she witnessed it as he was savagely attacked by some... mysterious enemy. Just the thought of it made her angry! How dare they shoot Faustein in the back? That must have been what the movement was earlier: the flight of needles as they targeted either him or something else, presumably missing, since she could only see the needles from that attack she had seen firsthand stuck into his flesh. Withholding a shout of panic, Seika was about to cast a series of supportive spells when she realized that he had disappeared. Before she could even try to scan the area or guess where he might have vanished off to in that short period of time, a hand grabbed her roughly by the sleeve of her sweater, pulling her along away from the scene. Although it hurt her internally to leave him behind, Seika was now confronted by this new strange entity, who was yanking her at an angle where no matter how much she tried to crane her neck, she couldn't see.

"Um, please let me go!" She squeaked out, slightly terrified but mostly petulant at the fact that she had been about to go and try to rescue Faustein, but this stranger had prevented her from doing so! Not to mention, she absolutely needed to go find and retrieve Aphelia. Even though the spirit was extremely capable and in all senses immortal, Seika still needed to make sure she wasn't hurt whatsoever. "Whoever you are-" When she tried to get out another sentence, she was quickly interrupted by a hand clapped over her mouth. "Shut up, girl! I'm trying to help you! You can't just stand around off in the clouds like that, if I hadn't grabbed you a bear would have bitten your head off," a low voice snarled at her. Zipping her mouth shut, Seika tried to contain her confusion. This was someone trying to help her? But, they weren't doing anything that she wanted. She wanted to go back to Aphelia and Faustein. Instead, they were nearing the gates of the zoo and were already several exhibits away from where she had last seen her friends. "Mmph!" Seika tried to speak, but she was still unable to. Finally having had enough, her magic melted out of her and sizzled against his skin, causing him to pull away sharply. "Ow! Damn it, what was that?" She heard his brief mutter before she scrambled out of the hold, now loosened from his distraction. Without another beat, she tried to turn and run in the opposite direction than where they had been headed, but she accidentally tripped on a divet in the ground.

Wincing and rubbing her knee slightly, Seika stood up unsteadily on her feet. Ignoring whatever the man was saying now, she glanced up to see if he was trying to drag her away again. As she saw his appearance, she stopped suddenly. It was a mostly dark uniform, with sections of silvery white and a familiar blue. A Rune Knight. Immediately, Seika's nerves increased tenfold. No matter how much she failed to react to some of the time, she understood that when it came to people like Dr. Stein and Faustein, Rune Knights were bad news. She herself had nothing against them and in fact loved their pretty armor and gleaming weapons, but this was a terrible time for them to show up. Seika wondered briefly for what reason they could possibly be here, before it suddenly hit her. Of course they intended to put a stop to the chaos that was happening at the zoo! Quickly, Seika's mind raced at the possibilities. If Aphelia was found on the scene, especially in the form of a wild animal such as a lioness or tiger, there was a high possibility she could be taken captive or even killed. Faustein was suspicious, and if Dr. Stein was taken prisoner, she was pretty sure Janet would be upset and she didn't want to upset Janet by failing the job. Also, no matter how mean Dr. Stein had been earlier, she didn't want him to get in trouble either.

With her mind made up, Seika was about to sneak off to try to find a way to combat the Rune Knights, when suddenly that same rough grasp tugged her backwards again. "Oh no you don't," came the rumbling voice of the same Rune Knight from before. "Ah! But, Mister, my friends are still back there," Seika cried, unable to stop the out pour of tears that had been threatening to spill over all this time. "I have to go look for them!" She insisted, her eyes glistening. The man didn't hesitate as he picked her up and began to carry her out of the zoo, passing through the gates. "Don't worry, we will find your friends if they are still inside," he reassured her, but Seika was one hundred percent not convinced. How would they even know what her friends looked like? And plus, they might try to fight them! Aphelia and Faustein were good at fighting, but if they got hurt because of the Rune Knights, she would feel extremely guilty. Seika chewed on her lip thoughtfully as the man set her down next to a small crowd of other visitors who had escaped the chaos within the zoo. Seika took the opportunity to look around. It seemed like there were around ten Rune Knights- well, she'd better count them up properly. That was one, two three, four over there, which made seven, plus the one with the fancy outfit, which made eight. She guessed that others had probably already entered the zoo, though.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Seika thought about Faustein. She thought about Aphelia, and how both of them were likely to get hurt if she didn't act soon. Keeping those thoughts in her mind, she inhaled deeply before making the decision to slowly leak out bubbles, which conglomerated into a cloud around her. It failed to attract the attention of too many people aside from a few civilians, since most were busy on their phones or watching the zoo. Once her form was completely obscured, and she appeared to be only a rather large cloud of bubbles, Seika flared out her magic power, attracting the immediate attention of all eight Rune Knights. Without saying anything, she slowly backed away, giving the impression that the bubbles were moving. Then all at once, she threw out a bubble storm, wincing as it hit a large part of the crowd, but feeling a hint of relief when one Rune Knight bore the brunt of the wind and collapsed onto the ground. The others weren't so badly affected, thanks to their comrade. However, Seika wasn't yet finished. She gathered up more magic and thrust it out in front of her, creating a mess of blindingly bright bubbles that rendered all of the onlookers blinded. While they were unable to see, she sent out spumes of flames at them. Unable to dodge, now four of the Rune Knights were on fire, and while they weren't completely out of the picture yet, it was a start. Soon the fire would continue to burn them, the pain and damage eventually rendering them unconscious if still alive. The remaining three who hadn't been blinded were now charging at her bubble swarm, but taking a deep breath, Seika conjured an enormous bubble and propelled herself up into the air, floating through the sky.

From her vantage point above the crowds, she bit her lip as she concentrated on casting her magic. The clouds above shone with sudden rainbows, and a few people in the crowd murmured in wonder despite the terror of the circumstances. However, the light from the rainbow was busily draining away their defenses, and when Seika threw down an enormous splatter of foam, it burned right through the skin of everyone it touched, putting another Rune Knight and a great deal of civilians out of commission. Still safely hidden inside of her mess of bubbling, fizzing sparks and bright flashing lights, Seika counted up the remaining Rune Knights that were possible threats. There was one... and then there was the one with the fancy uniform. Oh! Seika nearly made a noise of consternation out loud when she saw two more Rune Knights sprint out of the zoo and into the area. It looked like there were four, then. Three of the more ordinary looking ones, and then that Rune Knight with the suspiciously big hat. All of them had chains in their hands, and even if they had not yet reached her, she was wary.

For Second Job:
Seika: 1618 | Kuro: 643 | Total: 2261

Seika slowly stared at Faustein's face as it appeared in front of her own. Where- where even had he come from?? Glancing down revealed that his neck was stretched out several meters, poking out between the trees like some kind of giraffe. She giggled at the sight, her voice obscured naturally by the bubbles, which insulated all vibrations including sound waves, from going in and out. "Oh! Hi Faust!" She said, although her voice was muffled. Noticing that it was inaudible except for someone who was actually inside the cloud of bubbles with her, she adjusted the magic to allow her voice to travel properly. "Faust! Oh my gosh, you're so cool! How did you get up here? Um, a strategy?" The mage tried to remember the meaning of that word. It was a plan, right? She could recall Aphelia giving her instructions on how to stick to the strategy for a previous job.

Speaking of Aphelia, the spirit was definitely the mage's priority right now. All of these Rune Knights had been her targets in case they tried to go after her friends, but now that she had confirmed Faustein's safety, it was one less person to worry about. "I wanna find Aphelia, so you take care of the Rune Knights, okay? Call me if you need any help!" Several bubbles popped off of the cloud Seika was currently inside of and wrapped themselves around Faustein, offering protection. This shield would hold for a while and continue to regenerate over time. Aside from that, it could also provide him a damage boost in case he would use such a thing. With all of that taken care of, Seika and her cloud floated over away from the crowd before landing on the inside of the wall of the zoo several meters away from the proper entrance. The girl thought she saw some more Rune Knights heading toward the parking lot and crowds of civilians, making it more than just a group of three and the leader. But, she couldn't really be sure. Her focus was scattered right now, since her brain was only thinking of Aphelia.

Her bond mate shouldn't be too hard to find. As the girl ran around the destroyed zoo, there didn't seem to be any more of the mutated animals around. Most likely, they had already been subdued or broken out of the cages and into the surrounding area of Clover Town, rampaging to their hearts' content. Seika was happy for them. Of course she loved freedom! It hurt to see all of the beautiful creatures locked up and forced to stay in such a small space when they could be flying through the air in powerful leaps and having fun. Despite her sympathy for the imprisoned beasts, though, Seika would never forgive them if one had harmed Aphelia. In some way, though, she doubted that could be the case. Aphelia was plenty capable, and- ah! Hurrying over in the direction where she had suddenly felt a pulse of magic, Seika pushed her way through a broken gate into what seemed to be an animal pen.

There, sitting on a perch high above her head, was Aphelia, in the form of what seemed to be a peacock. "Ooh, Aphi! You're so pretty!" Overjoyed just at reuniting with her, at first Seika didn't notice anything else. A second later, though, she was fawning over how beautiful Aphelia was in this shape. "I wanna take a picture!" Seika dug around in her pocket, looking for a device she could snap pictures with. By the time she glanced up again, holding her iLac in hand, the spirit was gone. Pouting visibly, Seika threw her hands up in the air, chucking her phone into the nearest wall. A moment later, she felt bad for doing so and climbed into the sunken area, filled with wood chips, in order to pick it back up again. After five minutes, one cracked iLac screen the richer, she set out again to track down Aphelia. The best place to start was probably by following her magical signature. Unfortunately, the feline was adept at hiding her trail. Even with their connection, Seika had a hard time pinpointing which way she had escaped off to. Nonetheless, as long as she focused hard, she could definitely try to just go in the same direction as the slightly pull her magic core naturally possessed toward the spirit...

On Second Job
Seika: 2,357 | Kuro: 1,398 | Total: 3,755

Before this post begins, WC is the following:
Seika: 2,357 | Kuro: 2,803 | Total: 5,160. (-5,000 for Visit to the Zoo as -2,357 from Seika and -2,643 from Kuro)

New Kuro: 160 and New Total: 160 before this post begins.

Listening carefully to the thrumming of Aphelia's magic through the bond, Seika concentrated and tried to follow the tug in her stomach. Unfortunately, allocating all of her attention to the magnetic feeling in her gut resulted in completely ignoring her surroundings. Within a few meters of walking, she tripped over something on the ground, toppling forwards as her feet remained several centimetres behind where her body had expected to go. Her expression full of petulance, Seika slowly sat up from her sprawled out position. Her knees stung with scratches, and her hands were all scraped up, only bleeding slightly. The wounds were barely surface deep, but dirt was pressed into them from the fall. Rising up slowly and wincing as she was forced to put pressure on the cuts, Seika finally managed to get back up on both feet. Immediately, she kicked at the nearest stray rock on the ground. Rubble left over from the animals' havoc, it was undoubtedly something similar which had stopped her so rudely in her path. Making a noise of condescension, Seika turned away and back in the direction of Aphelia's magical signature. Even though the spirit was not actively communicating with her, the mage could sense her bond mate's simultaneous amusement and derision. Obviously she had experienced Seika's pain shoot through her own paws and legs and understood what happened. Unless... she could have directly seen the events transpire. That would better explain the amusement; even though Seika did fall somewhat frequently, it wasn't common enough for Aphelia to be able to immediately guess that she had been hurt of her own mistakes and not from an enemy. (Well, in Seika's opinion, it wasn't the first thing that came to mind.)

Keeping this option as a possibility, Seika scanned her nearby surroundings, sensing the bond the entire time. She focused her eyes on the area from which she felt the slight trail of Aphelia's magic. From there on, it was easy to spot the feline. Now in the form of a... pigeon? "Idiot, I'm a hawk," the spirit scoffed as she took flight and soared over to Seika. Surprisingly agreeable, Aphelia landed on her shoulder, ignoring the pain that shot through both of them when her talons dug into the girl's flesh even through her sweater and shirt. "Hurry up and finish this job so we can leave," Aphelia was unamused at the amount of time and effort this mission had taken. Even if it had been brightened up by the opportunity to toss Seika into a fence and a couple of strangers, and also to watch the girl trip over the cement (there hadn't been any rubble there, just a crack in the pavement) she was tired of her day being sucked away. There were plenty of other things on Aphelia's agenda- like sleeping. Watching lacrima films. Eating meat. Important things.

Sighing, Aphelia prodded Seika's ear with her beak. The girl cringed away from the feeling before she blinked and changed her actions entirely, instead pressing her ear closer to the bird. "Ew, you weirdo, what are you doing?" Seika ignored her words and instead reveled in the cool temperature of the bird's... skin? That wasn't skin. Well, whatever it was, it felt really nice and refreshing, like stretching out against a tile floor in the middle of summer. Today it was extremely sunny and hot outside, and in her sweater, Seika was sweating. Wait, sweater, sweating? Was that what sweaters were made for, so that people would sweat while wearing them? Immediately, the girl became ten times more suspicious of sweater manufacturers. All the while, Aphelia felt herself turn more and more irritated. "Just go take care of those Rune Knights and let's leave," she yawned. The girl let out her own short sigh. Aphelia didn't understand the dangers of capitalism! She had heard so much from uh... that one dude, about how capitalism and giant manufacturers like clothing companies were ruining their world. She had to protect Fiore! It was important to think about the intents of the people who were making what they wore on their backs. "Seika, stop with the conspiracy theories. You know what, we're going." Without another word, and more importantly, without letting the mage turn over another inane thought in her head, Aphelia teleported the two of them away.

Initially, the spirit had hesitated because her bond mate always experienced sickness after fast travel. However, she had decided that it was unacceptable to allow Seika to ruminate on the evils of capitalism any longer. As soon as the teleportation was complete, though, Aphelia regretted against utilizing instantaneous movement, especially for such a short distance, because Seika threw up as soon as they landed. The spirit herself was grateful she managed to stay out of the way, but as her bond mate retched onto the asphalt that made up the parking lot outside of the zoo, the hawk could not help but think it might not have been worth it. Any of her ponderings were disrupted by a sudden murmuring as it rushed through the crowd nearby. Although it pained her to do so, she reluctantly left Seika's side and flew over the group of civilians, heading closer to the gate of the zoo. There she saw Faustein, apparently delivering an evil monologue appropriate for a villain of his caliber. She honestly tired of talking to her opponents quite quickly, but the more she listened to what he was saying, the more she could admit that it was a nice bait. Obviously it was a bait- they attacked without thinking right after he was done, and accordingly, he finished them off cleanly. It was almost a magic trick, and Aphelia briefly morphed into a human, becoming one with the crowd before starting to clap and cheer. In a split second, she shifted back into the form of a bird, but not before the morbid clapping took hold in the mob, spreading until the parking lot was thundering with applause.

The noise made it more difficult for the Rune Knight Captain to understand what was going on, but he thought they were cheering for him. Most likely, the majority of the crowd was; but of course, there had to be some who were excited at witnessing the deaths of the law enforcement members. Taking advantage of the commotion and the man's distraction, Aphelia soared up into the air and then sent a flurry of sparks directly at him, stunning him and dealing damage in a pulse of searing heat. Since her mage seemed to be incapacitated (Aphelia did feel a bit sorry for putting her in extra pain, but she simply couldn't listen to the girl drone about the dangers of capitalism any longer) the spirit would have to take matters into her own hands. Er, feathers. Flying up higher, she soared in a circle above a large group of the onlookers. With a sharp screech, Aphelia sent boiling bubbles plummeting down, scorching and burning away the flesh of anyone who was hit. This attracted the Rune Knight's attention, though he was unable to move. The bubbles would continue to burn away at the victims who had been struck. Aphelia took advantage of the captain's focus on the civilians to send a stream of silver flames towards his torso, knocking him back and badly burning him. While she let the fire take hold on his clothes, the man still trying to fight off the effects of the stun, she glanced over to Seika. The girl seemed to be doing.... fine. She had stumbled over to a nearby pick up truck and was currently throwing up all over the bed of the vehicle, while leaning against it for support.

On Third Job:
Seika: 1,290 | Kuro: 160 | Total: 1,450

Aphelia noted with satisfaction that Faustein seemed to be more than able to take care of finishing off the captain of the Rune Knights. She turned her attention back to Seika. The girl was currently rolling around on the pavement, having slipped away from the pick up truck. Or more accurate, slipped down the side of it, probably clutching onto the vehicle all the way. Aphelia winced at the notion. Swopping down, still in the form of a hawk and not attracting the attention of any civilians nearby, she landed on the ground a little bit a ways from the crowd, in an open space in the parking lot settled in a position between the ruckus that was going on and where Seika was. It wouldn't do to fly down directly close to the girl and either startle her or cause her more nausea. Even if that was a silly thought, it was better to be safe than sorry. Once her feet hit the ground, Aphelia smoothly transformed back into a house cat, her eyes shifting around the area as well to make sure that nobody had seen her change shape. One double check later, and she was quite certain that she was good to go. Half padding, half leaping over to her bond mate, the feline surveyed the scene. There was vomit everywhere, much to her displeasure. Although to be honest, the cat didn't really mind. She could just... there! With a sweep of her paw, Aphelia vanished all of the gunk, also sparing her senses from the stench that was lingering around the area.

Faustein came by and said something, before heading off. Aphelia had only given him a curt nod, unable to really feel concerned for him. The spirit could tell he was completely focused on their mission, and felt confident about his next steps in order to complete it, while Aphelia's priority was Seika. Eventually, she managed to get the girl to her feet, and then she gave her an apologetic look, considering the next best course of action. While it would be fastest for Aphelia to teleport them back home, that wasn't a wise idea, especially considering how things had turned out last time. For this reason, the feline resolved that they would have to return home the old fashioned way, either by means of travel by train or something else. It wasn't a very practical idea to take a route by land, or even by airplane. It would take a while to cross all of those borders to reach Sin, and in fact Aphelia was not even sure if they had flights to that disaster of a nation. Instead, she decided to use a public teleporter. Perhaps it could raise some questions when they paid money and set the teleporter to go to a country full of beasts and dead people, but by the time anyone questioned it, they would already be through. Those teleporters were a little easier on the stomach than her own magical travel, for some reason.

Glad to have to come to an understanding, Aphelia hauled her bond mate up, shifting into a human form to better support her weight. After a few paces of walking slowly, surrounded by chaos all around them as a few of the mutated animals who had escaped were ravaging Clover Town, Aphelia became frustrated with their slow progress. Deciding to just go for it, since there were so many wild animals around anyway, she changed into the form of a large tiger and put her nose under the girl's form, eventually managing to roll underneath her body and drape Seika across her back. Good enough. Now with her cargo, the spirit took off in the direction of the nearest public lacrima travel station. After travelling just a few blocks, she managed to locate one. The Elysium guild hall shouldn't have been open to the public; anyone who tried to enter from a magical device such as this one would normally have their body or magical energy, or spirit or- whatever- throw with great force from the premises. However, since she possessed an Elysium guild mark, Seika was able to portal straight into her room, for example. And Aphelia did so. She sighed with comfort as the two sprawled across the bed, the feline feeling extremely tuckered out. Her bond mate, of course, was still uselessly half unconscious, breathing and shifting around ever so slightly but otherwise unresponsive.

Aphelia would usually have been happy to be lazy and sleep with Seika for the rest of the day, but she had business to take care of. In a flash of bright light, the spirit teleported out of the guild hall and away from Sin. Within a split second, she found herself back in Clover Town, right where they had started. It was simple to retrace their foot steps back to that little house where Dr. Stein had first opened their door so rudely. Even if Aphelia could insult Seika and belittle her, the spirit did not take kindly to anyone else doing so. She slipped in through a window, pretending to squeeze herself underneath an open pane while in actuality phasing through using magic. Just a precaution in case there were any security cameras around, what with new lacrima technology one could never be quite certain who was watching. Fiore had lots of privacy laws, but still, it was nice to be careful in civilian areas like suburbs. The people tended to be fairly well protected. In addition, they were on a street, and while it was a little ways away, the traffic lights could likely indicate the presence of cameras to make sure law breakers in that aspect were caught. Or at least, their vehicle numbers were recorded in case of any future encounter.

Once inside, she stalked her way down the stairs to the cellar. Just as she had predicted, Dr. Stein was inside. Sensing his presence, Aphelia concealed her own and silently shifted through the wall, rearranging her own molecules to accommodate the presence of the cement. Now past that barrier, she was faced with the sight of Dr. Stein, staring nearly straight at her. Fortunately, her visual appearance was concealed thanks to magic, and a mixture of the shadows that stretched over the edges of all of the rooms. Regardless, Aphelia stilled all of her movements so as to remain undetected. His gaze was already passing over her, just momentarily glancing over there as he moved around the room and thought to himself, grabbing different tools and using them before replacing the utensils in their original locations. As soon as his back was turned completely, the feline darted forwards, her paws crackling with sparks as she slammed an enormous blast of magic into Dr. Stein. After a few moments passed with no movement from the crumpled figure on the ground, the feline licked a paw in satisfaction before twitching her tail. An inferno burst from her fur, spreading quickly in the lab thanks to the magical energy Aphelia had pushed into the flames. Leaping away gracefully, the cat left the scene. Now she could sleep. Her reward for this good deed would be to eat all of the elk meat in the guild hall and convince Lupa to beg for Odhran to buy them more. If that didn't work, they could always both transform into dogs and frighten Faustein into doing so. A large species such as malamute would probably work. Her body filled with contentment at the possibilities circulating through her mind, Aphelia vanished from Clover Town and reappeared in Seika's room, in Sin.

On Third Job:
Seika: 2,563 | Kuro: 640 | Total: 3,203.

From Seika as this is a solo, -2,500 words only from Seika for B Rank Free Form