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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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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