Hello? [Social With Seika]

It had been a few days since Noctis had awaken, he had found his way into the heart of Rose Garden. It was much different form the untamed nature in the forest. The tall buildings towered up into the sky which gave everything a civilized industrial vibe to it. Something about being the city spoke to Noctis in some type of way. He felt drawn to that feeling as if it was familiar and comforting. The feeling of being alone but not being in complete solitude. He had taken in the different sights and views of the city as he spent a few days wandering around, mimicking what people would say and adding words into his vocabulary. He had began to slightly understand what that humans had a very complex interpersonal connections. He would watch people hurry off to work, children playing, and lovers walking down the streets hand in hand. Even though the city was chaotic there was a sense of peace and serenity in it. Along with all the beautiful scenery Noctis was made aware that the world had its fair share of cruelty and sorrow. During his stay in the city he's seen some people cry, beggars beg for food, thieves that would steal from other people. upon seeing a fight break out between two men, Noctis realized the Humans we're also capable of violence and cruelty. This obviously made Noctis sad, but he acknowledged that his views we're limited and knowledge of the world was few and far between. Thus Noctis had decided for himself to continue his exploration across the lands in hopes that he would learn what it meant to be human. A small tug on his heart also beckoned him to make a move and continue search for the source of his unknown desire to search for some unknown person or object.

The day was bright and sunny, it was quiet beautiful as Noctis walked through the city doing his best not to bump into anyone or trip anyone one up due to his small stature. His tattered gray cloak shifted due to the cool breeze that passed through the city streets. Eventually Noctis found an empty metal bench and decided that he would sit down and simply observe the people walking around. He hopped up and plopped down onto the bench and looked at the passing people with his dark hollowed eyes. He sat there not moving and unnaturally still. To a passerby one could easily mistaken him to be a large doll, or some sort of statue with how still Noctis sat there. The sun would shine over the bone like helmet he wore and the darkness in his eyes shifted stealthily inside the dark abyss of the shadows of his helmet. He simply sat there people watching, enjoying the afternoon. He didn't feel hungry nor tired he simply just existed. He simply just sat there and learned the nuances of random strangers that passed by. Eventually a young girl had come by and noticed Noctis, she would wave at him and Noctis would turn his head and raise his small arm and returned the friendly gesture. The small girl would walk over to him and placed a hand crafted flower crown on one of his horns. She giggled and ran off to go play with the rest of her friends. Noctis stared and waved goodbye. "Thank you" He said softly, but the young child would already be too far away to hear him.

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Although Seika had always wanted to visit Rose Garden, this was the first time an opportunity had actually presented itself. Described as a wonderland of magic, the city had always been on the mage's list of top places to spend at least a day exploring. The perfect opportunity had presented itself in the form of a minor mission. Aphelia had at first insisted on accompanying the girl, irate at the thought of leaving her alone to probably trip over a rock and subsequently hit her head and die. However, Seika had persuaded the feline to stay home. While she loved dragging the spirit along with her into situations she a hundred percent did not want to be in, Seika planned to purchase some birthday gifts for Aphelia today. She had the option to sneak away, but it would be very difficult given the link that existed as a result of their bond magic. The cat tended to be quite good at keeping up with Seika and never losing her trail.

So, the mage had finally persuaded Aphelia to allow her to roam around by herself, with the condition that she would always remain in heavily populated areas and never talk to strangers. Furthermore, she would wear a protective charm that Aphelia had made which sent out a summoning for help in the case of any danger. Even if Seika didn't intend to follow either of the rules under the condition Aphelia had set, she was wearing the charm, so that was something. Skipping through the gates of Rose Garden, Seika couldn't help but clap to herself as she gazed up at the glowing lacrima lights, the crystals glowing beautifully in a multitude of colors. Seika wished she could fly and just break off the glowing part of the lamp posts, then steal them. But uh, not in an illegal way. She would return them?

As Seika considered that hard, she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and naturally, bumped straight into a metal park bench, the type that was stationed at the edge of paths. "Woah!" She winced as she felt the slam of her knees against it even seconds after stepping back and taking a moment to recover the breath she had let out upon collision. "Ow... I hope Aphi didn't feel that," the girl muttered out loud, as if it would make it more likely to be true to give the hope voice. In reality, there was no way Aphelia had not felt the burst of pain run through the bond. "At least that wasn't enough to activate the summoning spell... oh?" As Seika kept thinking out loud quietly to herself, she glanced up and noticed that some kind of vaguely anthropomorphic figure sitting on the bench that she had just knocked into. It wasn't an actual person, though, and when Seika squinted a bit more closely she saw there was a flower crown on one of its mask pointy thingies. What was the word for those? Either way, she guessed that it was probably some girl's doll that she had put down to go and play. Looking around showed that there were, in fact, little kids around, so it was a decent guess. Seika took another peek around to see if anyone was watching before slowly putting out a finger to touch the dolly. She was curious if the mask just looked hard, like some kind of bone, or if it was actually soft like most plushies.

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The metal bench shook softly bringing Noctis back to reality. From his peripherals Noctis noticed a young lady it seemed to be in pain due to the impact she had made when she collided onto the bench. Noctis thought to himself as he remained still. Is okay? no... that sentence did not sound right, Noctis tried again and formed another question using the limited vocabulary he learned during his stay at the city. Are you okay?...That seemed right, before Noctis could speak he could feel a soft poke on his face. Noctis' helmet was indeed part of his body, in fact it was some sort of exoskeleton made out of bone like material. "Are you okay?" Noctis finally spoke, his helmet had covered his face completely, so no one would know if his mouth moved or even if he had a mouth. a soft gentle voice echoed from Noctis' small body, as he finally moved slowly to turn to the young lady.

"Do you hurt?" Noctis asked as he tilted his head curiously at the young girl as he shifted his small shoulders from under his tattered cloak. The small sheathed sword shuffled at it's worn harness on Noctis' back. The small creature then stood up, despite standing on the bench he was still smaller than the young girl. He looked up at her with his hollow eyes. The dark circles in his helmet cast a impenetrable darkness, which gave his face the cute cartoon like appearance. The dark circles that functioned as his eyes had no pupils nor retinas, it was simply shadow. It was as if he was a living puppet of sorts, or perhaps a small baby grim reaper of sorts. Nothing about Noctis was intimidating or scary. Even his horns on his bone like helmet was rounded at the tips, giving it a docile like appearance compared to other horned animals. Despite his small chibi like appearance. Noctis had full control of his body and was able to keep himself perfectly balanced.

He took a good look at the girl, something in his mind had noted that she would be cute in the standards of humans. She was as if she was a bundle of cotton candy that had come to life. Her hair was fluffy and very pink. Noctis had mentally nodded to himself solidifying his hypothesis that the girl was indeed cute. He then began to think what would be the courteous thing that a normal human being would do. Noctis then decided to give it a try and spoke once more. "If hurt. Want sit down?" Noctis innocently asked using a broken sentence, almost like a child learning how to speak for the first time. Noctis looked down and scowled from underneath his helmet, the sentence did not sound correct at all. he then decided to ask again. "If you are hurt. Would you like to sit down?" Noctis said slowly as if carefully choosing his words. Once he uttered the last phrase of his sentence, he decided that the sentence would suffice. He looked up at the girl proudly at his own ability to communicate properly.

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Huh, it felt hard, and smooth- not at all fuzzy or squishy. Seika considered whether it could be plastic, when all of a sudden a voice came from nowhere, but seemingly directed at her. Briefly panicking, Seika looked around, wondering if someone had seen her get hurt. But nobody seemed to be looking in her direction, so she guessed that she had simply overheard one of the little kids asking another whether or not another was okay after falling or something like that. Yeah, that had to be it, even if it had seemed like the voice was originating from right nearby.

Finally getting her heartbeat to decrease back to normal, Seika turned her attention away from the outside world and back to the doll. She was about to touch it again and try to figure out what it was made of when suddenly it moved and turned to face her. With a shriek, she stepped backwards hurriedly, stumbling over the edge of the park bench and falling on her back, her elbows catching most of her weight. Unable to move very fast, Seika stared at the... the sentient doll in horror as it asked her something she couldn't understand. Shaking her head vehemently, the girl had no idea what to do, but she figured she would have to act soon since it seemed to be on the move. The little... person? got to its feet, and stood on the bench, revealing the full extent of his body. Wait... it was actually kind of cute.

In a flash, Seika got to her feet and put her face very close to the chibi like creature's face, trying to look into its eyes. She saw absolutely nothing except for darkness. A bit disgruntled, Seika took a step back and blinked thoughtfully as she continued to just stare for a bit. While it didn't seem to be moving much, it definitely had the ability to move, and Seika was wary of that. It was awfully cute though, with small horns and an adorable looking body. Seika resisted the urge to pick it up. There was still the possibility of it being an animated but cursed doll, and no matter how adorable that was, she didn't want to accidentally summon Aphelia just because she got herself cursed. Suddenly, her attention was diverted as the being spoke again. It was... asking if she was hurt? And wanted to sit down? Seika watched as it seemed to momentarily become frustrated with itself, looking down at its feet as though concentrating before delivering the line again, this time with better grammar. Seika clapped at the new phrase, beaming with secondhand pride.

"Wow! You improved a lot in just a couple seconds," she said, somewhat in awe. He glanced up at her and seemed to be proud, and she thought he should be rightfully so. With a smile, Seika sat down on the bench next to him and tilted her head thoughtfully as she looked him over again. "Thanks for asking me if I wanted to sit! Can you understand me if I talk like this? Are you not from around here? How long have you been trying to learn the language? My name is Taneda Akies, but everyone just calls me Seika. And do you have a name? Who are you? Are you an it? Are you a boy? Are you a girl? What are you?" She peppered her bench mate with a few questions.

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Seika shrieked at Noctis, he couldn't blame her. Instead he remained calm. Noctis was well aware of his abnormal appearance, there were plenty of times people gave him such an odd look. Noctis noted that this was a normal reaction of humans, he was thankful the girl did no choose to act violently as some humans are known to do. Noctis then wondered how he could calm her down, but before he could think of something Seika had brought her face closer. This startled Noctis, he thought that she was afriad of him, but instead she seemed more curious. Noctis felt a bit of relief knowing that he would not need to explain to Seika that he meant no harm or any ill will. Noctis had always been the observer, he had very minimal conversations with other humans. This was indeed the first time Noctis had interacted with another person for such an extensive period. It was certainly a new experience that he resolved himself to learn as much he can from this exchange of words with this stranger. He noticed Seika back away when she peered into the dark abyss of his eye sockets. Truth be told, Noctis had once seen his own reflection on pund pond once on his way to the city. He too found the writhing darkness in his eye sockets mildly unsettling, thus he tried to avoid looking at is own reflection as much as possible.

She had shown signs of joy when he had found away to speak more eloquently. This gave Noctis a boost of confidence to continue on with this exchange of words and ideas. Noctis listened to her say a compliment which Noctis graciously accept. He bowed his head as a sign of thanks before speaking. "Thank you." He then found himself under fire of a barrage of questions. Instead of trying to answer each question right away, he simply patiently waited for Seika to finish her inquires. This was a lot question for Noctis to take in, but he did not want to be rude so he decided to do his utmost best to answer her questions the best he can . Noctis decided it could take some time for him to find these answers so he plopped himself back down on the bench next to Seika. His small legs did not even reach the ground, instead they playfully dangled in the air, he swung his tiny stubs rhythmically as he thought silently for himself for a few seconds.

"Understand you, I do." Noctis replied to her first question and proceeded to try his best to find the answers for the following questions. "Yes. From here I am not." He looked up to the skies and he would blink but the shadows of his eyes would not change so no one would realize if his eyes were closed or open. "A few days I have been trying to learn how to speak the human tongue." Noctis turned his head to face the girl once more as the girl introduced herself as Seika. Noctis quickly engraved her name along with her face into his memory. He paused once more carefully picking his words. "I... do not remember..." Noctis' voice softened as he tried to remember who he was but to no avail. "I am called Noctis... At least... I think I am Noctis." his voice was a soft and gentle like that of a child, but his voice was a little bit deeper compared to a young girls voice. Noctis felt that he was male, it was as if he just knew it. "I am a male" Noctis answered confidently for he felt that he himself was sure that he was male. the next question however stumped Noctis even more than the others.

He found himself silent for a few seconds. He was clearly did not look human, did that make him a monster? What was he? Who was he? What was he doing here? What was his purpose? Noctis began pondering these thoughts as he sank deeper into the abyss of uncertainty. Noctis looked back at Seika and spoke in soft voice, it was almost as if he whispered. "I do not know..." Noctis said in an apologetic tone, feeling bad that he had not been able to answer some of her questions. Noctis looked down at his tiny hands and almost inaudibly asked himself. "What am I?" Noctis shook his head and pushed his uncertainty away. He did not want to be rude by being self absorbed by his own worries. Instead he diverted his attention to Seika once more, he diced perhaps it was his turn to ask his new acquaintance some questions.

"What brings you here, Seika?" Noctis asked as he looked at the beautiful city scape. He wondered how truly big the world really was. "Are you from here?" He asked another question as he watched the children play from the distance. A flower petal from the flower crown found itself loose and fell to Noctis' lap. "I apologize, if my words are limited." Noctis said completely unaware how fast his sentence structures has improved. To an outsiders perspective it was as if watching a small child grow smarter and more intelligent in mere seconds. It was clear that Noctis, whatever he was, could adapt quiet quickly. It made more human, despite his small unnatural body. He was clearly an intelligent creature with the capacity to learn social cues and rules. Noctis wondered how long Seika would stay, he pondered were the conversation would go. He felt a little guilty due to his lack of experience and knowledge, he felt that his contribution to the conversation would be insignificant and small. Yet he could not pass up the golden opportunity to learn more about people and the world around him. Noctis has resolved himself to use this experience as some sort of training grounds in hopes that he could improve in his communication skills. for a brief moment Noctis wasn't lonely anymore... Talking to someone else was nice.

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Seika decided that she would listen very carefully to what the little creature was saying, since it seemed to have politely waited until she was done to talk. That was somewhat rare, and most appreciated in the mage's view. In return, she paid as much attention as she could to its own words, as short as its phrases seemed to be. It looked like it was thinking through the responses, either that or wondering how to form them. Should she maybe offer her assistance? Right when she was about to speak, even against her determination to wait for it to answer, it wiggled its feet a bit and spoke. She clapped outright, unable to contain her excitement when it said it understood her. Seika held back a small giggle at the the "I do" at the end, since it seemed so formal. But it was in a very cute way, like a little boy trying to imitate his father. Apparently, the creature was not from Fiore, but then again, neither was Seika. She waited to see if it would give her any more details about his origin, but it seemed like either it didn't want to talk about it or it simply did not know.

When it looked up at the sky, she glanced up too, wondering if there was anything there. With a sheepish smile, she returned her gaze back to the... living doll, sitting next to her. Of course it had just been trying to think of another response. She always tended to glance at her feet, rather than up at the sky. Maybe she would have to try that sometime to improve her thinking! There were likely less distracting things up in the air than on the ground, since Seika often found her attention caught by bugs and such when she attempted to focus in on a task or someone else's words using that method. Wait a second... "Ehh?" She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes flickering as she quickly shut up again, contrite. Ahh, at least she had stopped herself before apologizing and interrupting him even more. But it had just been so surprising to Seika to hear that it had only been learning the human language for a few days. Furthermore, there was no way of being able to tell if it had been learning just the western common language of English or if it had also been through the places where there were others, like Iceberg. She was about to laugh, picturing the little doll with its white mask like head, sitting on a snow drift. But it was possible that it had originated from another country in Earthland!

Suddenly, her attention was diverted as it turned to make eye contact with her. Seika restrained herself from making the squeak of surprise that would have naturally popped out of her lips. Instead, she opted to study it a little bit further, her eyes alight with wonder. It was just so cute! It then told her that it didn't remember... something, which she guessed was probably related to his identity. To be completely honest, Seika had already half forgotten all of the questions that she had asked and was just collecting the answers as they were. Even if it was not able to remember some tidbit of its past, it did have a name! "Noctis!" She sang happily, before catching herself and sending it another apologetic look. Ahh, then it told her it was a male. Alright! That was probably better than calling him an it, even if he just reminded her so much of an adorable cute huggable plushie. There was a moment of silence, which left Seika wondering if she maybe should speak up now or if he was just considering something a bit more deeply. Just then, he glanced at her again, and Seika met his eyes encouragingly. He seemed to be even more hesitant as he stated he did not know again, much to her slight disappointment. She'd thought he was about to say something cool. However, any of her own feelings about that were washed away when he asked himself in a low voice that was barely even a whisper what he even was.

At that, Seika had to fight the impulse to pick him up and whirl him around while hugging him fiercely. To distract herself, she tried to pay even more attention to him. Frankly, his English seemed to be absolutely fine. "I want to take pictures here! Also, your speaking is really good, especially for only learning for a couple of days!" She explained briefly before complimenting him. When he apologized, she shook her head and just threw him a smile. "You don't need to be sorry for that, silly!" Seika said, putting her hands on her hips in mock annoyance. "Um... as for what you asked, I'm not from here. Do you know where the Pergrande Kingdom is? If you've ever been to the Neutral Grounds, it's kind of like that," she continued, though she somehow doubted it was the case that he had already visited the city.

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Noctis found the young girl very energetic, her bubbly nature was almost infectious. Noctis listened to her intently as he watched her move about and perform her actions, it made him wonder if he was capable of being that energetic and lively. Seika was an interesting person indeed. Noctis was glad that his new acquaintance was a good listener, the answer he gave to seemed to suffice and that also made him glad. His joy was further more increased when Seika told him that he was able to quiet fine despite only learning how to speak in such a short period of time. This conversation rooted into Noctis' mind, giving him a sort of boost in his confidence. At first he was quiet apprehensive when it came to speaking to other people, but after the exchange of a few words with Seika, Noctis felt that he could probably hold a proper conversation with other humans. Seika then suddenly gave Noctis a smile, the warm smile was bright and filled with warmth. It felt familiar... it felt like Noctis had felt the same way before...


For a split second, a face flashed before his eyes. It was a young girl, her eyes sparkled as they reflected the fireflies around her. It was almost for a fraction of a second it was if Noctis was there in that moment. He couldn't recognize the girl, but deep in his heart he knew she was someone important. The memory was warm, and comforting... yet at the same time it was so distant and far away. Noctis almost wanted to reach out this mysterious girl, but before he can outstretch his hand to grasp on this memory Noctis found himself back on the bench with Seika. A surge of emotions quickly came and went away in a flash. It all happened in a single second. Just as quickly as the memory came, the memory vanished leaving Noctis empty and hollow once more. Just as quickly as the smile curled upon the mystery girls lips, the memory faded. Without remembering that crucial clue of his past Noctis continued his conversation with Seika, not realizing what had happened. "No I have not been there, I have not been to the neutral grounds as well." Noctis replied back calmly as if nothing had happened.

Noctis wondered what it was like where Seika was from, so he mustered the courage and asked her. "Seika what is it like over there in the Pergrande Kingdom? Is it far away from here?" Noctis inquired as he tiled his big head in a curious manner. "Is it far away?... Do you miss it?" Noctis inquired, it was as if the questions had left his mouth before even registering in his mind, as if some sort of out of body curiosity had possessed him. However, Noctis quickly stopped himself. He was worried that Seika would think that he was being rude for prying too much. He certainly did not want to upset Seika, after all he wanted to become what the humans called: friends with her. Noctis wanted to continue the conversation going, after all the atmosphere, the feeling of casual exchange of words and ideas resonated with his heart. It was as if he was always looking for someone to talk to... For a moment Noctis realized, he felt as if he was truly alive, he did not feel as if he was some sort of shadow destined to fade and be forgotten in the night. For this brief moment he truly felt.... human. Deep down inside, Noctis did not want to let this feeling go. I hoped that Seika would stay a bit longer and continue to talk to him, perhaps he'll learn what it means to be human...

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For a little while, Noctis didn't say anything. The girl was left to her own assumptions and chose to believe that he was just paying attention to her words, so she smiled cheerfully as she continued speaking. Eventually, he chimed in with a response. Seika listened to it as carefully as she could, though it was hardly surprising. Since he'd said that he was brand new to speaking English, it wasn't a long stretch by any means for him to have never been around Fiore. As famous as the Neutral Grounds were, the area also tended to be unnerving for a lot of people. Some individuals had the very roots of their being in magic and for them, the Neutral Grounds could in fact even be a dangerous place.

It seemed like Noctis was talking to her, as she heard her name, so Seika forced herself out of her thoughts and nodded to show that she was listening. About the Pergrande Kingdom... ah, the girl giggled when he asked if it was far away from Rose Garden. "Yeah! It's really far," she told him, the bright humor still evident in her voice. "It's kind of stuffy, I guess it depends where you are! There's some country sides that I miss, um, once in a while. But mostly it wasn't very friendly the way it was for me. People there are kind of scared of magic."

The more that Seika thought about it, the more pleasant her experiences had been for the most part. While she had in fact been forced to escape eventually due to quite frankly being hunted down and almost executed, it was a nice place for a lot of the inhabitants. She would love to sneak back there on a vacation and visit. "I miss it a little bit," she decided. "But when I said it was far, like, it's definitely a ways away. You could use a teleporter to get nearby, though! I don't think they let you teleport straight there, though, like officially or anything." The Pergrande Kingdom seemed too wary of magic to allow standing teleportation devices inside their territory. However, she was quite certain there were locations in Bellum and Sin, for example, that one could go directly to, making the trip take quite a bit less of time.

"I came here to take pictures, actually," Seika spoke up as she realized there was a lull in the conversation. "I heard that Rose Garden is super cool! And, also, I wanted to go shopping. Um... I'm not technically allowed to leave the like, super busy parts of the city. But..." With that, she hopped off of the bench and turned to face Noctis, eyeing him with a spark in her eyes. "I never listen to what Aphi says anyway! Do you wanna maybe explore? I should actually go shopping first, though. I have to get my friend a birthday present," Seika explained cheerfully. Just then, her eyes widened as she came up with a great idea. "Wait, would you let me take your picture?" Briefly fishing in her pocket, she pulled out a miniature disposable camera. "You're really cool!" She explained easily.

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The way Seika explained where she came from was oddly relatable to Noctis, even though he couldn't remember his origins but somehow he felt that where ever he came from was almost similar in that way. He also related to the feeling of missing ones home town, Noctis did find it kind of disappointing that he did miss his home, but ironically he did not know where his home was. "I think I understand what you are saying Seika. I am not sure where my home is, but somehow I miss it..." Noctis voice trailed of lightly as he gave another futile attempt to recall any memories in his past. When nothing came to him, Noctis simply dismissed his curiosity and turned his focus back to his new acquaintance.

He watched her explain her reasons for being at Rose garden. Noctis could not help but think how nice it would be to have someone worry about him, to have another person to care for and buy presents for. Noctis was not sad, he was simply just a bit envious and quiet excited, he thought to himself that he too could maybe meet someone in this world that cared for him just as much. Noctis' perked up when he heard Seika's invitation to explore, he felt happy and honored that Seika wanted to spend more time with him despite his odd appearance. Noctis nodded his big head excitedly "I would love to explore with you" Despite his blank bone like helmet, he smiled from the bottom of his heart. When Seika also made a quick mention about taking a picture, Noctis immediately was swept away by a tidal wave of nostalgia. From the depths of his soul, the idea of taking pictures resonated with him. It was as if he had taken many photos before in his past, he could almost heart the camera shatter and the joy of capturing the beauty of the world through the lenses of a camera. Unfortunately what ever memory he had was so faded, almost like a transparent ghost that haunted the empty halls of his heart. Noctis pondered why he felt these emotions, ever since he had awaken he had never took a picture.

Despite the curiosity that filed Noctis' mind, he was still genuinely happy. "Of course you can take a picture. Would you like me to pose?" Inquired Noctis as he stood up on his bench, he puffed his little chest out proudly trying to stand as tall as he could get, even so he was still a tiny little creature. The small short sword that was neatly tucked behind his tattered gray cloak shifted as Noctis got up. Noctis playfully posed his tiny limbs almost mimicking a heroic pose, he certainly did not look heroic, nor did he look intimating, instead he just highlighted his adorable and dopey figure. "Is this good? Will you be joining in the picture as well?" Noctis asked curiously as he switched poses to see which Seika preferred to take a picture of.  
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Seika was excited at his affirmative response! Exploring was a great love of hers, and doing it with friends could be a lot of fun. While it was nice to just wander off on her own, this way they could see new things together. When Noctis also agreed to let her take a picture, she cheered outwardly. "Um, you can pose if you want!" She shrugged, aiming the camera at him and watching through the lens. When he stood up, she beamed and encouraged him, "Wow! You're taller than me now!" She observed, ignoring the twang of jealousy that shot through her heart. After this, she could stand on the bench if she wanted, and be taller than everybody.

For now, she took a few snap shots of him as he tried to become even bigger, muffling a laugh at his adorableness. "You're really cute! You look amazing," Seika reassured him, before realizing he had switched to a faux hero pose. It was funny to her how he had managed to, essentially, flex, despite only being a few days old- or at least, only having a few days worth of memories. That proved, in her opinion, how innate and instinctual it was. Or just how good his muscle memory was to urge him to pose like that. Either way, it was cute and Seika planned to take full advantage of it, taking several pictures. "Mhm! It looks great," she answered him, her voice full of cheerfulness. "Um, we could take a picture together! But let's do it later, I want to go see the shops before they close for lunch!"

Seika did not actually know whether that was a thing here in Rose Garden, but several stores she used to know would always close for an hour or two around noon. Except for restaurants, eateries, diners, and those kind of establishments. With that having been said, she glanced around, only to remember that they were still in a park area. There was a path that presumably led to an exit, and the field just seemed to be set in the middle of a block. Seika figured they could just head out and onto the street itself, where there would definitely be places to go shopping. "I don't know if you're hungry, or anything! But if you eat, maybe we could get food first!" Seika tugged at her hair thoughtfully before pushing up her glasses and coming to a decision. "Maybe... food first, and then a present for Aphi?" And then exploring afterwards! That sounded perfect. Her goal now set, she would try to grab Noctis by the hand and drag him along with her out of the grassy location and into the bustling city scape. The first thing she saw was what looked like a cafe, complete with an awning that was a bright, pastel pink and had white trim along its scalloped edges.

"Look over there! Doesn't that place look super cute! Let's go see?" Even though she had phrased it as a question, Seika didn't hesitate to run across the street, dodging an incoming car before hopping onto the curb. As she ignored the sound of the honk as it slowly trailed away, Seika stared at the cafe. She hoped they had sweets, like scones or something of that nature. Turning in Noctis' direction, Seika told him with excitement, "You know, Noctis! I work at a cafe, but I never really eat the stuff there! My manager tells me I'm not allowed to, or else, I would! So we should eat here instead! For today, at least. Maybe someday I can show you our cafe?" She used the term "our" very loosely, and in fact had replaced the word "my" since she completely realized it was in no way, shape, or form, hers. It belonged to Dagger Corp and not her or any of the workers in the cafe. Still, she and them took care of it and manned it and all, so she felt a little bit protective? Possessive? Something like that.

675 Post, 1144 Seika, 1651 New Total

Noctis stood still, when he noticed Seika began to take his picture. He waited until she was satisfied with the photos she took before releasing the pose he held. He hopped off the bench and approached Seika, now that he was on the ground it was evident with how small Noctis really was. He stood about three feet tall and a maybe 10 inches on top of that. He looked up at Seika with his big black eye sockets which essentially functioned as his eyeballs, from Seikas cheerful voice and happy facial expressions Noctis was sure that his new compatriot was having fun. Noctis' head tilted tot he side just a little bit when she mention lunch. Noctis realized that he had not had anything to eat in perhaps three to four days. He was not hungry, nor did he feel weak. Noctis simply assumed that whatever he was, he did not need to eat food like humans normally would. Yet curiosity got the best of him, Noctis wondered: What did food taste like? Noctis had a wave of nostalgia hit him, when he thought about food, but before Noctis could dwell on his thoughts any further, his small tiny hand was taken by Seika. He was dragged along to the general direction Seika pulled him. It was not difficult to move Noctis, after all he seemed very light.... almost too light...

Despite Seika having bigger strides, Noctis was able to keep up with his cheerful new compatriot. His tiny little legs pitter pattered on the cobble streets as he looked around at the area that surrounded them. "Food... I do not recall needing sustenance... however I am curious what human food tastes like..." Noctis mused as he wondered what kind of food he would get to eat with his companion. Noctis allowed himself to be led by Seika, her hand was warm and comforting. Is what people call friendship? Noctis wondered tom himself. He was truly glad to have met Seika. The two made their way throigh the city, until Seika found a shop that caught her attention. Noctis turned to the direction where she pointed. "Yeah that place does look enjoyable to eat at." Noctis nodded, he simply agreed it wasn't like he had any preferences. Seika rushed forward with reckless abandon, the car passing by swerved just in time. The whole ordeal nearly gave Noctis' tiny heart a heart attack. "T-that was close.... we should be careful." Noctis said nervously as he watched the car that almost hit them drive further away. He shook of the goosebumps he felt and followed Seika's lead twoards the shop.

Noctis listened to Seika speak about her job, he could see the pride she wore when she spoke about her work. Noctis felt happy for her, and wondered if he too could find a place to work or perhaps belong too. "I would love to see the cafe where you work at Seika." Noctis smiled, but no one would see for his bone like helmet obscured his face. "If you are working there. I am sure that the cafe you work at is a very wonderful place." Noctis nodded as he gave Seika a tiny thumbs up with his small shadowy hand.

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541 words, 7192 Total

As they had been walking down the streets- or more like rushing, in any case- Seika was barely paying attention to her surroundings. Instead, she ignored them in favor of listening to Noctis. He had his own thoughts to say about food, which she found extremely interesting! Rather than interrupt him, though, she only took in everything that came out of his mouth. Well, even if he didn't need food, it was nice that he was curious about it! Personally, Seika thought the good feelings and fun of eating was the biggest reason to eat. Otherwise, a person could just consume nutrient tablets to the same effect. For this reason, she nodded her head approvingly at his words and they continued to move along nicely. When she waited for his response after pointing out the cafe, Seika felt a flutter of happiness at his agreement. The ecstatic nature of her happiness was so much that she didn't feel a single ounce of worry when they were almost hit by a vehicle; after all, it was nothing a little healing spell couldn't fix. That, or a trip to the hospital- but the two were magical beings, so surely any damage from something as mundane as a car crash wouldn't have been too bad... right?

Now after going on about her work place for a bit, she listened carefully as Noctis replied. He hadn't needed to say such nice things about her job, but it was so sweet of him. And that thumbs up had just been the most adorable thing ever. "You're so cute, Noctis!" She would make a move to pat him on the head before trying to grab his arm again to tug him inside. All the while, she thought about the best possible way to sneak him into the cafe at Dagger Corp headquarters. While visitors were permitted, she found that the majority of them were limited to certain areas. Almost all of her customers were actual employees, taking a break or picking up their morning coffee. For that reason, she wasn't certain whether visitors could come freely or not. Perhaps they had in fact been frequent patrons and she simply was not aware of that fact. Shrugging internally and deciding to think more on it later, she led the way as they entered the cafe here in Rose Garden.

Just from walking in, Seika could tell that this was the type of establishment where they would have to order something at the front of the room first, and then they could find their own seats. Rather than having wait staff, it was much more efficient to only have people preparing the orders and manning the cash registers, for places such as these. With a determined nod, Seika marched up to the front, joining the line at the very back. Her eyes focused, she pushed up her glasses before eyeing the menu posted on a wall nearby as well as above the registers. "Um... Noctis, what do you want?" She turned to her new friend, her expression inquisitive. "I think I'm going to get hot chocolate," Seika decided, ignoring the fact that outside, it was probably seventy degrees, more or less. Hot chocolate was always the option. In addition, it seemed like this place did sell bakery treats, so she was extremely interested in those. But she wanted to wait until she was close enough to see them through the glass, in person. Better let Noctis know, though. "I also want to get a piece of cake or something! I'm going to see when we get up there. But you don't have any money, right? I'll pay! Do you know how to order? I can order for both of us if you want," she erupted slightly with a few half concerned questions, assuming that as a newly borne... entity... he probably had very few possessions and might not understand how buying things worked.

655 Post, 1799 Seika, 2847 New Total

Your so cute was a phase Seika brought up multiple times. Noctis had an inkling what it meant, but he did not want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings. So Noctis took a gander in finding out what the word "cute" meant to Seika. Perhaps Noctis could understand what made hims so "cute". Once the two found a suitable place to sit down,  Noctis followed Seika to the vacant seats. He climbed up the seat like a tiny mountain climber climbing on top a equally tiny mountain. Once he was able to get to the seat, he plopped himself down, but he was still too short, so only his stubby horns peeked from the top indicating that Seika did in fact have a companion, a small companion but a companion nonetheless. Noctis tilted his head towards the soft music playing from the cafe, he swayed ever so gently from side to side and turned to Seika. "Seika. What is cute? Why am I cute? I do not recall doing anything cute?" Wanting to make eye contact with the pink haired girl, Noctis had to lift his chin up so his head would peek up from the low angle. His dopey big cartoon like eye holes focused on Seika curious to see what her response would be. "What kind of feeling do you get when you see something cute?" Noctis would constantly have to try to make himself seen so his tiny head would bob up and down like some sort of whack a mole machine. When Noctis was asked what he wanted, he took the menu, which was nearly one third of his height. To open the menu fully Noctis had to spread his arms wide as if trying to give the menu a big hug. Noctis did not want to be a burden, nor did he want cause trouble. "...I do not know what I want to get... I was told by a person that money is important to people... so whatever cost the least of money I would like to get that." Noctis closed the menu and placed it back on the table as he confidently shared his simple request. "How does one get money? I would like to return the money you used to spend on me. It would only be right to repay you." Noctis nodded, thoroughly convinced that his response was the most logical choice. After Noctis had learned most things in this world was not for free and money was something the most if not all people needed in this world. Noctis knew that he would need to figure out a way to acquire the worlds currency if he was to assimilate into human society, but how much money did he need? How quickly can one make money? What are the means and methods? These were questions buzzing in Noctis' mind like a hive of busy honey bees. Noctis also began to ponder, if there would be any place that would be willing to take in such a weird creature like himself.

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WC: 504 words, Total: 8351 words

As Seika stared at Noctis, who was slightly swaying to the gentle music of the cafe, she resisted the urge to throw her arms around him. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't help how adorable he was! But when he straight out said her name, she snapped to attention. "Noctis! Yes, hi! Oh-" But she was done for when he asked what cute was, and why he was cute. Actually, thinking about it, how did he know he didn't do anything cute? If he didn't know what was cute... oh well, that just made his actions all the cuter. Without another word, she scooped him up and pulled him into her arms into a soft, cradle like hug. "Noctis, you are just the babiest cutie ever! Cute is when you just want to coo at something and it's super um... adorable, and pretty! Endearing, that's the word! I love you!" She was about to clap, but remembered just in time not to drop Noctis. "So that's the feeling I get! Um, when something is cute. I just want to like, take pictures, admire it, maybe give it a hug, you know?" She beamed at him from above, but with the angle, it was possible he might not have been able to see. After asking him what he wanted, she grabbed a menu and put it into his hands, which he took despite the size of it. It seemed like he didn't want to request any help, for he just opened it on his own. Seika muffled a noise of amusement at the sight; she wanted to take a picture of that, Noctis with the menu and wide, wide arms.

However, when he spoke, the lightness of her mood vanished away a teensy bit, and she pouted at Noctis. "No! Whoever told you that is wrong! Money is important to some people, but, it's not more important than people! You're more important than money, so get whatever you want! Plus, I have lots of money, so it's whatever," Seika giggled, ignoring the memories of Aphelia screaming in her ear and telling her to stop spending fifteen thousand jewels on gallons of hot chocolate every month. They could do whatever they wanted! Money was easy to get. At least for people like her, people from Elysium, where there were plenty of jobs as long as you were willing to do work once in a while. Plus, she got lots of free food and all that free housing and everything, so her expenses were less than most people. "Um... the way someone gets money..." She got distracted, watching Noctis stretch to return the menu to the table with his adorable little arms. "You can do lots of things! You see this cafe, like, the owner is getting money from us! So you could run a business if you want. I work at a cafe like this, I told you, right?" She shifted her weight just a little bit, moving Noctis around ever so slightly in her arms. "You're really light, did you know that? So cute," Seika paused before returning to her original train of thought. "But um, yes! You can get money from working in any kind of way. If you want, I can help you find a job! But don't try to repay me or anything, that's mean," she scolded him.

Seika put him down on the table and then picked up the menu and peered at it herself, eyes blinking as she stared at what was there. "Right! Well, then I'm going to order! You stay here, okay? I'm a be right back!" She flounced over to the counter, leaving Noctis behind at the vacant table and seats they had chosen. After waiting briefly for her turn, she greeted the person at the cash register with a wide smile. "Hi! I'd like two hot chocolates, a piece of um, chocolate cake, and a piece of lemon pound cake. Oh and, and, um, a red velvet cupcake!" She handed over a note and the worker gave her back some change, which Seika carelessly dropped into her pocket without counting. Moving over to the side, she waited patiently for her baked goodies and the hot chocolates, before carrying the tray over, laden with three plates and two cups. "Okay! Noctis, here's one hot chocolate for you, one for me. You wouldn't tell me what you thought was good, but, that's okay, cause you probably don't know what you like yet." He had said to get whatever was the cheapest, but she wasn't doing that, it was a terrible reason. Maybe it would work for some people who just wanted anything and didn't have a lot of money, but she had money, so there! "So I got you different things! Let's share, okay? After you learn which you like best, then we can get more of that hopefully. So this one is lemon pound cake," she pointed to a thick slice of what looked like yellow, buttery bread, "I really like that. Um, and this is chocolate cake," Seika gestured to the dark brown slice of moist cake.

"And finally, a red velvet cupcake! Hold on, I'll cut it in half for us," she got up and went over to the side of the room, where there were all sorts of utensils and cups for water. Grabbing a knife and two forks, she skipped back over and slipped into her seat. "Okay, there we go!" Peeling the wrapper away from the cupcake, she sliced it evenly in half and grabbed her own, sliding the rest over to Noctis with the wrapper and plate it had been on. "I also got you a fork, in case you wanna use it! But I usually just use my hands," Seika spoke around a mouthful of red velvet cupcake. In the background of her memories, she heard Aphelia screaming about not eating with her mouth open. Wincing even though the cat wasn't even listening through the mind link at the moment, Seika hovered her mouth in the air, covering it slightly. Just enough to shield any messiness from Noctis' view, wile still allowing her words to come out. "I think this might be my favorite, but, anyway, I think it's all good! And drink your hot chocolate," She put down the hand that was holding the cupcake for a second, still keeping it in her hand but just resting her arm on the table. Once she had finished chewing, she moved away the hand that was acting as a barrier and pointed to the hot cocoa. "It's really good!" She cheered. "But it might be hot! So be careful," Seika warned as an afterthought.

1118 Post, 2917 Seika, 4469 New Total

Noctis was puzzled at first, but due to Seika's sheer passion and energy, Noctis was able to somewhat understand what she meant when she called him cute. He was still puzzled what made him so "cute" in Seika's eyes. If he was so cute to Seika, did that mean that others thought that he was cute as well? Noctis simply shrugged off his curiosity, he seemed to make Seika happy by just existing. He thanked Seika when she handed him the menu. He heard Seika make a noise but it was muffled, he had to lean to the side to take a peek from the open menu that lay on his lap that was obscuring his upper body. Noctis giggled at the sight of Seika's glee. It was nice making someone happy. He suddenly found himself in Seika's arms, it was warm and soft. The embrace was comforting and nice. Is this the reason why humans hug each other? Noctis wondered, he memorized the feeling and remembered to associate hugs with a good feeling. Noctis liked it so much he wondered if he would get hugs from other people in the future.

Noctis noticed the put on Seika's face. What did he do to upset her? Was it something he said? Once Seika explained her stance when it came to money, Noctis came to understand as well why she seemed a tad bit upset. He felt bad, he realized what he said could have been misconstrued as rude and insensitive. However, it did not seem to be that Seika was too upset or offended with what he had said. As soon as she giggled, Noctis' heart felt relieved. He certainly did not want to cause Seika any heartache nor did he ever wish to make her upset. He was glad that she saw through his foolishness and corrected him with kindness and care. "Hmmm if that is the case... I will make a note of that... But I do understand what you mean... one can always acquire more money...." Noctis paused, and the next words that he spoke surprised even himself, as if deep in his heart he knew it to be true.... or perhaps he had experienced it in the past... "...yeah... you can always get more money.... but when someone is gone.... you cannot replace them... because everyone is unique... there won't ever be another like that person if they are gone..." Noctis mused solemnly. He closed the menu and put it on the table. "I apologize if I sounded rude earlier... thank you for understanding and clarifying." Noctis bowed his head as a sign of sincere thanks.

Noctis leaned forward ever so slightly, as he listened to Seika's explanation on how one could acquire money in this world. It seemed that in order to obtain money, one need to have an occupation or work. He listened carefully and made a mental note that eventually he had to find some way to work and provide a living for himself. Seika graciously offered to help him find a job, she then told him it would be rude to pay her back. Noctis was a bit confused, but did his best to understand where she came from. Noctis pondered for a second and then had a wonderful idea. "Okay will not try to return the money you spent on me. In return... perhaps next time when I get enough money... maybe I can be the one to treat you next time?" Noctis suggested, he did feel a little bad that he could not contribute monetarily, but he also did not want to hurt Seika's feelings. Noctis thought it would be nice if they could continue meeting and talking in the future.

Eventually Seika went to place their orders, and soon enough she returned with a feat of sweets. Noctis could smell the sweet aroma of the pastries. He watched in wonder as Seika began listing out the names of the desserts she had placed before Noctis. Noctis picked up a fork with his hand, and cut a piece of the lemon cake. He heald it up to his head only to realize the helmet he wore had no opening. Heck, Noctis wasn't even sure if he had a mouth he never even seen his own face, because he never tried to remove his helmet. Noctis put the fork and lemon cake down. He tried to take of the bone like helmet on his head, but to no avail it was stuck. Noctis was not hungry but he really wanted to try the food. "Hmm" muttered Noctis completely stumped. Noctis, once again tried to take off his helmet, he tired to pulled with all his might, to the point where it started to hurt his neck and face. He stopped and realized, maybe the helmet was part of his head. With a sigh Noctis looked longingly at the delicious looking food that sat in front of him.

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WC: 826 Words, 10,295 Words Total

As she waited for Noctis to try the food and had been going over what exactly each thing she'd ordered was, Seika's mind was still on what he'd said. You can always get more money, but when someone is gone, you cannot replace them... It was a nice idea! She didn't know where he had gotten it, but it seemed pretty wise, for like, someone who was his amount of days old. Well, she didn't technically know how old he was, but she meant, with that amount of memories. After all, the likelihood that he had actually existed for much longer was proving to be more a more of a possibility as time went on. When he seemed to think about it, she gave him plenty of time. Instead of talking more, Seika waited as he picked up the fork. She continued to ruminate on what he had said in the past few minutes. It took a little while for things to sink into her mind, but that was okay! She could just bring them up again if they were important, whenever she finally understood. It seemed like he wanted to treat her some time? That was okay with her! At least, it was a much better idea than what he had been trying to suggest before- paying her back for the meal outright. Friends gave each other gifts all the time, so treating each other was okay. Still, she didn't want him to think about it like you pay for my meal once, I pay for yours another time. That was too... she didn't know the word. Too much calculations? Seika hated having to do boring math. Now, fun math was a whole other thing.

Apparently, he had come to an odd conclusion, because Seika heard a noise come from his direction. Snapping to attention, she gave Noctis a smile, wondering why he wasn't eating. "Hmm?" She imitated him with a confused expression on her face. "Noctis, why aren't you eating?" Just then, she witnessed as he lifted up both of his arms and began to try to tug at his little face mask thing. "Oh! You need to take off your hat?" Seika made a move to reach over the table, but then she realized that if Noctis couldn't take it off, she probably couldn't either. Well, unless he simply wasn't strong enough. No matter how impulsive the girl could be at certain moments, though, she wasn't going to risk hurting her new friend. There had to be a better solution. If he didn't have a mouth... wait, what had he said before? About eating? Seika wracked her brain to try to remember, but she was stumped. The mage couldn't think about whether or not he had said he needed to eat; however, she thought she recalled something along the lines of it not being necessary. So maybe there was no way for him to eat? If so, that would be really sad...

"Noctis, um, I have an idea!" She picked up the fork and the bit of lemon pound cake that he had on there. After a moment of thinking, she put it back down. That... might not work at first. She had to think of a better way to deal with solid food. But hot chocolate! That might work! Grabbing Noctis' hot chocolate, she opened up the little hole on the top and bent the tab over so it would stay open. Then, leaving it sitting on the table in front of the two of them, she held her hands over it without touching the cup. Slowly, hot chocolate slid out of the opening and formed into a bubble. "Um, okay, so..." Seika tried to focus while speaking, making sure not to drop the bubble of liquid that she had gotten. It was still connected to the rest of the hot chocolate, like some kind of globular stream. "I think... well, my bubbles can usually pass through um, solid things. Like walls, and stuff. If I put in enough magic! You know?" She was having a hard time figuring out how to properly word her explanations while also maintaining the bubble. "A-anyway, I can try to pass it through your mask?" If he agreed, Seika would send it floating at his face, focusing on phasing it through his mask if possible and then allowing it to reform into a liquid once it was inside his mouth. That was, if he had a mouth behind there somewhere. If he didn't... uh, Seika guessed there would be hot chocolate randomly inside of Noctis? On second thought, perhaps this wasn't the safest idea.

774 Post, 3691 Seika, 6069 New Total, -5000 for B-Rank Free Form, 1069 New Total 2

Noctis thought for a short moment. "Sure why not?" He allowed Seika to phase the hot chocolate bubble through his bone like helmet. Noctis was greeted with a warm sensation, then was met with with the sweet taste. Noctis' eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Wow that was delicious" Noctis muttered in awe as he looked up at Seika. "Thank you so much for the treat" Noctis bowed his tiny head in thanks. The two continued on their meal talking and discussing about things here and there. Noctis thoroughly enjoyed himself with his new found friend. Once the meal was over the two went on their own way promising each other that they would meet each other once again in the near future.

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WC: 112
TWC: 11,012 [WC enough for 2 B ranks or 1 A rank Job]