Cats and Dogs Glow in the Dark! (Seika, Clem)

Aphelia was surprisingly playful today as she jumped around Seika's room at Elysium's Guild Hall. While Seika was unsure of what had brought on this, she was thrilled at the positive energy that flowed to her through their bond link. With a whoop, she picked up Aphelia, who for once did not yowl or complain in the slightest, and swung her around in an arc through the air. "Today is a beautiful day, what do we want to do today?" She sang as the two danced around the room, neither of them singing but both humming in an out of sync fashion. Aphelia prodded at Seika's mind, and immediately, the mage responded with an inquisitive feeling. Allowing the spirit to send her own thoughts directly led Seika to an image of a beautiful, edo style town, with lovely architecture and what looked to be several restaurants. "Hm? What's that, Aphi? You wanna go there?" A feeling of assent came through the bond, and Seika shrugged with approval. "Okay! Off we go! To the wild netherlands!~" Aphelia teleported the two away in a flash of bright light, with the mage absolutely unaware of their final destination aside from the brief pictures she had been shown.

As it turned out, the name of their vacation spot for today was Shirotsume. For almost a week now, Seika had been traveling around to different towns in Fiore that she had never been to, or in some cases, even heard of previously. All of her spots so far had been beautiful and safe in absolutely every way imaginable, which was probably the cause for Aphelia's good mood. As soon as they landed, Seika had immediately felt the twisting vertigo sensation she always had to endure after any quick forms of travel. It was a type of enhanced motion sickness, she imagined, but either way- it would soon pass. Until then, she took a seat on a nearby bench, sitting underneath a blossoming tree. While Seika was unsure of exactly where she was in Shirotsume, she could understand that it was vaguely more towards the middle area of the place, since Aphelia tended to send them careening into center of the target location.

"Aphi, I'm hungry," Seika said belatedly, and the cat gave her a look. Today, her fur was cream and brown, but on account of her good move, Aphelia had also streaked the tips with a bright white. As a result, Seika thought her friend looked a bit like, uh, some kind of popsicle? That wasn't quite the right word for it... but, that combined with the effects of fast travel and her lack of breakfast had made her a very hungry girl. "Eat your snacks," the spirit replied patiently, without her usual snark or irritation. With a light of understanding in her eyes, Seika pulled a bag of chips out of her pocket before she tore it open and popped a handful into her mouth. Afterwards, she pulled out a disposable camera and looked around. After one picture of the blossom tree and another of the bench with Aphelia sitting on the top, Seika felt ready to move on. The only question was what she should take a picture of next...? Maybe the buildings over there? They were a little ways away from where she was, but Seika sent the question non verbally to Aphelia.

562 Words

Aphelia deigned to provide her consent, and so the pair slowly moved towards the structures in sight. Even though Seika was excited to reach them, she continued to be sidetracked by things along the way. After taking a picture of one too many blades of grass, Aphelia's irritation flared through the bond. Lifting up her head immediately, the mage sent her bond mate a sheepish look before turning pointedly back towards the buildings. "Okay! Yep, let's go!" She cheered before sprinting into the city, doing her best to squash down the urge to stop and snap more photos. Once Seika was officially in Shirotsume, her first order of business was to decide which direction to head into. There was a great deal of architectural features she had never, ever seen before! Oohing and aahing at the window panes of this one building, of all things, Seika couldn't help but whip out her camera again. "Oh my gosh, Aphi, look! This- huh?" When she turned to meet the eyes of her feline friend, Aphelia was nowhere to be seen. Pouting, Seika stomped off. She would just have to find an even better building that the spirit couldn't help but be interested in! The search was a difficult one- not because of the lack of sights but rather since everything was so beautiful. Even the roads were pristine, it felt like. Where there would normally be dirt and trash scattered along the edges of the streets, there was nothing. Seika helped herself to dozens of photos of the area, but she was still unsatisfied. Something was missing! It was just a little bit too perfect. Maybe she could edit the pictures later?

An echo suddenly emerged through her mental link with Aphelia. Hm? What's wrong, Aphi? Seika rarely asked direct questions and used words when communicating non verbally; she preferred to either simply speak aloud or send through more vague thoughts and feelings. In times like this, though, when Aphelia was too far away but wanted to reunite, Seika needed more specificity. As a response, she received an image of a shimmering dragon on top of a dumpster. "Ehh?" Out loud, Seika was visibly shocked. That was such a cool dragon! She had to take a picture of it! Without another thought, the mage closed her eyes, spreading out her magic until she found Aphelia's core. There seemed to be some other presences nearby, although Aphelia was staying a fair bit of distance away from them. Seika conjured herself a large bubble and hopped inside. This way, she wouldn't be running around on the pavement and making too much noise. Directing her new vehicle to float over to Aphelia's location, it wasn't long before she saw her friend. Where? As much as Seika wanted to scream and shout out of excitement, she had to be quiet. Some people didn't like their picture taken. Suddenly thinking of an idea, the mage held out her hand and another small bubble grew out of her finger tips. Tossing it through the air, it floated up until it could see the scene from above.

There was a figure standing in front of... a wall, as far as Seika could tell. The reflections she got from the bubble were a bit blurry and covered with an iridescent sheen. Still, she could in fact see that beautiful dragon from before! Oh, and another dragon! Wow, so many dragons. Seika felt inspired to create one of her own. They seemed to be talking to each other, though. She had to hear better. Without another moments' hesitation, she morphed the surveillance bubble into a small dragon that was just as delicate but a bit bigger. Mm... it wasn't exactly right. She probably had to get closer to see the one on the wall better. But, trying to be friendly, she let the dragon swoop down to the ground and had it let off a shower of little bubbles to become more noticeable. Ignoring the warnings of caution Aphelia was letting off, Seika directed her own giant bubble to float over too! She landed on the roof top above the dumpster. Taking a few steps forward would have her falling off and either onto the dumpster (as long as the dragon wasn't there, or was it incorporeal?) or onto the ground, if she missed her landing. Peering over the side of the roof, Seika waved at the two strangers. "Hi! I like that dragon!" She pointed to the painted one on the wall. It was beautiful! Was it finished? She would love to take some in progress photos, but if it was too late for that, she would settle for . Without waiting for a response, Seika aimed at the graffiti and snapped a picture. Then another- then another. After that, she pointed it at the stranger and took one of them, and then one of the dragon on the dumpster. "So cool!" Meanwhile, Aphelia was fuming, still a ways away, unwilling to come closer. Seika's bubble dragon had begun a dance routine or something like that, doing swoops and swirls through the air nearby.

1417 Seika, 1826 Total

Seika took a pause from snapping pictures to stare at her bubble dragon, which was now looping in figure eights and elaborately executing a series of complicated aerials. Unconsciously, as she followed it with her eyes, her body also twisted around to track it across the area. Even though Seika couldn't dance, she eventually gave into the temptation to attempt to do so. Enthusiastically, she jumped around and then tried to do a cartwheel, tumbling down onto the ground. Unfortunately, it resulted in the mage fumbling once she was upside down and butchering the landing. Now a heap on the ground, Seika took a moment to admire the world upside down before a voice interrupted her reverie. "Maaaagiii?" Seika drew out the word questioningly as she let her legs fall on the pavement completely, using the momentum to pop her head up. Now in a vague sitting position, she tilted her head in the girl's direction. At least, her voice had sounded like a girl! One could never really assume, Seika guessed. But she sure looked cool either way! "What's that?" The mage blinked at the masked stranger.

At that moment, her question was evidently answered when the dragon from before peeked out of the dumpster. Oh! When had he gotten in there? Seika's nose crinkled in confusion before she raised her camera lens back up to her face and peered into the screen. Flipping through, the girl found the pictures that were supposed to be of that dragon- in her hastiness, Seika hadn't realized that he had moved. All she had gotten was half of a dragon tail sticking out of a dumpster. Well, it was lucky that he had come back out then! Beaming at the dragon, er, Magi was his name, wasn't it? Smiling excitedly at Magi, she leaned closer to him even as he brought his head up close to hers. Up on the roof, Aphelia panicked at the sight of her bond mate well within reach of attack. One chomp and Seika would be a goner. The mage herself, however, was unconcerned. She reached up to pet the dragon on the nose before pausing and sending him another smile. "Huh?" He was talking. Um... erase those photographs? Oh, of course! They had been kind of blurry anyway, and she had barely gotten his tail in the photos of him. They definitely didn't do the beautiful creature justice. What else had he said? Seika wasn't sure, but it couldn't have been important.

"I totally understand! Let me take better pictures! I'll delete the other ones!" She lifted up her camera and aimed it directly at Magi's face. "You are just so cool! I promise to get rid of all the bad photographs, Mister Magi, so don't worry about that." Suddenly, an idea shot through Seika's head. She blinked and clapped her hands with visible joy."You two should take a picture together! And one with your art, too! It's such gorgeous work, you know?" Reminded of the masked artist, she aimed the camera over there and snapped a couple more from this new angle. It was hard to focus in on the graffiti as well, but Seika did manage to get some of the painting in the photo. Things would be way easier if these cool people would cooperate and pose, though. She sighed inside. Artists were so finicky sometimes. But they were super creative and had their own processes, so she understood! Still... maybe there was a way to convince the two of them that photography was an art form on its own? "I'm trying to make an album of all the best things in Fiore! But, like, I need to give credit, you know? And the picture would look even more amazing with you guys in it," Seika whined.

2051 Seika, 3083 Total

"You'll pose?? Great!" The mage clapped her hands, ecstatic that the duo was willing to help her out. Even if she wouldn't show her face... whatever that meant! She was already wearing a mask, wasn't she? And she had a hat, too! But- ooh, what was going on now? Blinking in curiosity, the girl watched as magic flowed over the other female. Suddenly, it was as though she had become like, a whole different person! Her build was the same, and her silhouette and all, but... Seika was absorbed in examining the little differences. Like her eyes. They were so much glowier? But she could hardly remember what color they had been before. That had to be something she would check later! If there was a later, of course. Clearing her throat and trying to pull herself away from being absorbed by the transformation, Seika made a pleased noise. "You look super cool!" She told the other girl, enthused at being permitted to take a picture. Or two. Well, she planned on taking more regardless of the specific numbers. Tilting the camera at juuust the right angle so that the two were standing in front of, but not covering their vibrant artwork, the mage snapped plenty of pictures. One was bound to have turned out perfectly! Beaming at the pair as she moved the device away from her face, Seika said, "All done! Thanks again!~"

She watched as the girl's clothing and appearance slowly melted back into how it had looked before. Once it seemed to be completely returned to normal, the mage leaned forward, trying to stare into the stranger's eyes. Seika found it a little bit hard to catch her gaze, mostly because the other seemed to be busy picking up all of her artsy equipment and belongings. Sighing lightly, the girl shrugged her shoulders, her sweater flopping around. Well, maybe she could try to get a better glance later! Asking, now, while she seemed to be peak business, was a little bit rude. Aah, the dragon was talking?? Turning to Maagi, Seika stared at him, enraptured, as he spoke in a low tone that seemed like it could shake the earth if it were any louder. "Ehh? My photo album... ooh! Well, let's see..." the mage shoved her hand in her pocket, trying to fish out the little booklet she kept updated almost daily. The only problem with having an interdimensional kinda storage space was that it uh, got a little bit cluttered sometimes. "Okay! Here we go!" Pulling out the album, which was no more than ten or twelve centimeters its longest way, she flipped through. "Hmm... well, I have lots of pictures of Aphi... and oh! A couple weeks ago, we visited the zoo!" Seika held the book out a little ways away from her open to that mission's pages, trying to scrutinize whether the photos were nice or not. There were a bunch of animals rampaging around... they looked awesome! Just as she was about to go and show it to Maagii, Aphelia's voice rang in her head, the cat still hidden a bit away but monitoring their conversation through the mind link. Seika, there are dead Rune Knights in those ones.

Making a face because she had just gotten excited about showing off the neat evolved animals, the mage let out a huff before flipping a little bit further. "Actually, the zoo trip was kind of a mess... kay, lemme try to find some good ones... wow, I really need to take better photos! These are all blurry," she pouted before leafing through a bit more furiously. The pages seemed to never end, enchanted with magic to be able to hold thousands even though the original booklet was only meant for a hundred and fifty. As she went about doing that, the girl glanced up every once in a while to check on her new friends. When she saw that the other person seemed to be closer to being done with packing up, Seika asked cheerfully, "So what's your names? Mister Magi and...? Oh, I should introduce myself too, right?" She broke off into a small explanation of herself when Aphelia hissed through the bond that she was being nosy. "I'm Taneda Akies, but you can just call me Seika, anything else is weird," she went on, unbothered of whether the question had a frosty reception or a pleasant one. She didn't mean to be nosy, but..! They seemed like really awesome people. Wait, was the girl taller than her? Squinting at the other, Seika tried to gauge her height... hmph, she'd better not have been taller!

2825 Seika, 4393 Total

"Magenta is a cool name! Nice to meet you then," she beamed happily. And... the girl's name was Clementine! That was a really pretty name. Seika thought of lovely palm trees when she put that name in her head. There weren't very many palm trees here, unfortunately, but that might be a good thing! After all, it was entirely possible to die due to a coconut falling on top of a person's head. Therefore, palm trees could be considered dangerous, although less so in comparison to the many scary things in the world. "Do you-" Seika tried to ask the other girl a question, only to stop talking in favor of listening when the other began to speak! Yay! She was warming up to Seika, right? After all, friends used nicknames.

"Okay, Clem then! I- oh, you have to go?" Seika frowned in a pouty sort of sadness, as it was made known to her that her two newfound friends had to get going for some kind of appointment. That was really unlucky. "Umm, I'll see you," she waved as enthusiastically as possible to the girl, who had given her a cute kind of wave before walking off. Aww, Clem was so nice.

She turned her attention to Magi and was about to give him a smile and a good bye as well. However, the dragon showed no signs of moving. Tilting her head to one side, Seika ran her fingers through her hair, picking apart the strands with her fingers as she regarded the dragon with curiosity. "Mister Magi, Clem is leaving, shouldn't you- oh?" Seika's voice rose in excitement when Clem's companion spoke up, saying that they didn't need to be leaving until later in the day! And that they could talk to her! She loooved talking to people. "Waiiit, for real? Yay!" Guess Seika was actually super lucky instead of being unlucky.

Smiling to herself, she got so caught up in her brief happiness that she barely noticed Clem was back until her gestures surprised the mage. "Ahh! Don't hit my head! Aphi said if I hit my head too much, my head will get ugly and all my brain cells will want to live somewhere else." That was a really scary thought. How was she supposed to have a brain without brain cells? It made no sense. Umm, but what was Clem saying... about the dragon... oh, yeah! "Because magic!" Seika told Clem very simply and happily. "Look, I can make anything. Kinda," the girl added on as a sort of disclaimer. She didn't want to be a liar after all. Channeling her magic through her palms, the girl enlarged two bubbles until they were perfect sizes to stack on top of each other. Then, she made one more tiny one and put them together to make a bubbly snowman.

Once the three bubbles were locked in place, eyes and stick thin arms and even a hat and nose sprouted out, made of the same bubbly substance. The snowman danced around Clem to the beat of Seika's clapping. "Do you like magic?" She asked her newfound friends.

3346 Seika, 5370 Total

Seika smiled even more brightly when Clem complimented her magic. The other girl liked it! That was a relief and also sent a sense of pride through the young mage. Magic was such a big part of her every day life that she couldn't imagine a separation between herself and her powers. They were woven into her identity, really. She tore herself away from her thoughts to focus on the reality that she was currently living- the conversation with her newfound friends. So, the girl was also exceptionally excited to hear that Clem and Magi also liked magic. In the past, Seika had met a few who were either completely indifferent, didn't understand, disliked, or even feared it.

"Paint dragon? Made of magic..." To Seika, a paint dragon sounded like it was probably made of paint. That didn't necessarily mean magic. Although, she guessed that in order for paint to like, get alive, it had to have some kind of magic! And Clem... she had some as well, according to the painter herself. With wide eyes, Seika watched and listened to the snap of her fingers that initiated a notable shift in appearance. From the nice warm color to a really bright pink purple, and then to a super contrasty style! It was amazing!

"Is your magic kind of about like, colors and appearance?" That was the mage's best guess. So far in their time together, most of Clem's attention and energy seemed to be funneled into her street art and paint dragon friendo. Combined with the power she had over her own physical look, it made at least a bit of sense as a guess!

3622 Seika, 5938 Total

While it was nice to talk to Clem, both her and Aphi seemed like they had other places to be. Their encounter would be short, but sweet. Maybe in the future or an alternate reality, they could become good friends.