A Hidden Killer...Whale (Seika)

Seika felt excited from the moment she woke up, her eyes shooting open as she leaped out of bed. Today was training day with Aphelia! While it wasn't often that the spirit suggested doing anything (she would much rather stay inside and sleep all day, at least until money ran out and they needed to buy food) after that fiasco in the Lycan Woods, Aphelia had insisted upon a day when they would train together. Apparently, there was still magic from the Risa Clan that she had yet to learn. That was honestly just the most precious idea to her. Not precious as in, like, preciously adorable, like coo your eyes out kind of thing, but precious as in valuable. It meant the world to Seika that Aphelia was willing to pass down her clan magic and share that important part of her with the mage. So, she was excited. Clapping her hands, Seika glanced around, confirming that Aphelia had in fact already risen. Typically the feline liked to sleep in as late as possible, so the day had already started off with an intriguingly different start. She sensed the area around her for a few hundred meters and blinked thoughtfully when Aphelia didn't show up anywhere within the radar. That meant she probably wasn't inside of Elysium's guild hall at the moment. With a nod to herself, Seika quickly pulled on the first thing she saw, which happened to be yesterday's dirty clothes and a grass stained sweater. Shoving the door open, she stumbled out, throwing her body weight around far too much. After slamming the door behind her and receiving a loud shout from one of her guild mates, Seika screamed an apology back and then was on her way. She bounded down the stairs, bouncing through the main hall. One bagel later, grabbed off of the table, and a muffin from the buffet, and she was ready. The search for Aphelia had begun. First, it would be good to check her favorite hiding spots. Though... now that Seika thought more deeply about it, the feline tended to stay in their room. Otherwise, she could be found near the ocean, or diving, but the spirit was never away for very long. Thanks to her powers of teleportation, she usually went straight back to the guild hall or wherever Seika and herself were staying at the moment. The mage found herself becoming more and more hyped up as she thought about the possibilities. Aphelia really was feeling excited today! That, or she just... really wanted Seika to practice her tracking skills. Actually, that reason seemed far more plausible, because of the mess they had gone through in trying to track that woman from the charm bracelet. Seika could clearly remember the nearly an hour of time spent on that single task. Even though she wasn't really trained in tracking, er, she never wanted to track basically, it was a necessity. And even if it wasn't and Aphelia could technically do it as a canine or some other form, the mage knew very well how much Aphelia hated that.

Finally, she caught a hint of Aphelia's magical signature. It was nearly half a kilometre away, so the mage set off at a very brisk pace, propelling herself with bubbles underneath her feet. At that rate, she made it in just under two minutes, panting lightly as she neared the tree underneath which Aphelia sat. Honestly, Seika was surprised to find trees down here. There was no light for them to grow! However, the girl guessed that some kind of light source was in fact available and just not visible to her. Maybe the tree was sticking up part of its branches and some of its leaves above ground and was much taller than meets the eye. Pulling her head away from thoughts about improbable trees growing in the city of Elysium, Seika waved her hand in front of Aphelia's face. The cat didn't react, instead opting to continue staring at what seemed to be nothing. Pouting at the unresponsive feline, Seika finally got fed up and conjured a bubble at her fingertips before hurtling it towards her bond mate. Aphelia whipped her tail across the bubble, popping it and sending a scattering of shimmering sparks down to the ground. Aside from that one quick movement, though, she remained absolutely still. For a second, Seika wondered if she had imagined the whole brief scene, before shaking off the doubt. "Aphi! What's wrong with you? Today's training day!~" Seika sang, pleased that she had the cat's attention, at least somewhat. To this, Aphelia still made no reply. Pouting and ready to throw a fit, Seika sighed dramatically before trying one last time. Playfully spinning together a series of bubbles, she fired them one by one at the feline, who batted them away without blinking an eye.

By now, the playfulness was gone, and all that was emanating through the bond was a stern coldness. Was she that annoying to Aphelia? Fiercely aggravated now, Seika threw out a powerful blast of light, aiming for her feline friend. When the cat tried to bat it away, it hit her anyway, phasing straight through her tail. Seika's body was filled with satisfaction when Aphelia was knocked to the side, colliding with the tree that stood nearby. Immediately, Seika felt a rush of guilt. She tripped over herself in her hurry to reach Aphelia. Carefully scooping up the feline, she cradled her gently, infusing her body with magic. "Aphi? Aphi? Aphi! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" There was no response, and Seika felt as though if she'd  had her own tail, it would be lashing in frustration at the moment. There was no way to display her emotions outwardly though. Trying to calm herself down, Seika- she couldn't even think about calming down. All and any attempts to bring her emotions down under control were squashed by another wave of shame. She hugged the cat close, closing her eyes and squeezing them shut as tears began to trail down her face. Without even realizing it, her body began to glow. Sparks flew off of her skin, dancing through the air before dissipating. Eventually, enough filled the space around her that they no longer disappeared into the atmosphere, instead remaining and surrounding herself with a cocoon of fiery lights. Slowly, they focused in around Aphelia, healing her. Seika was still off in her head, wrapped up in her own guilt over harming her bond mate. Even though they were so deeply connected, she hadn't felt the pressure of damage arcing through their link. Usually when one was injured, the other immediately felt themselves take the same pain and share it equally. Seika gritted her teeth, angry with herself beyond belief. How could she have been so foolish as to let Aphelia be hurt? It was unforgivable. No matter how pompous and stuck up the cat acted sometimes, it was her job to always play the one who would be nice and be sweet. To deal with her petulant attitude without giving off genuine irritation of her own.

Without realizing it, Aphelia had woken up and was now staring over Seika's shoulder with an infinite amount of patience as she was huggled and squeezed tightly. Finally, the feline had had enough and she coughed without any subtlety. "Seika. Put me down, idiot." At hearing Aphelia's voice, the girl screeched in surprise and flung her arms open wide in a panic, accidentally sending the cat flying across the space. She was hurtled into a stone wall and hit the surface with a thump, sliding down to the rocky ground. Aphelia groaned, and Seika felt a bit of pain through the bond before it disappeared. Aphelia had collected it into herself and already healed any damage. "You are so stupid," the cat sighed, but it was fond. Seika was too busy panicking over whether she had nearly killed her friend again or not to notice that Aphelia was summoning a creature. "I'm sorry Aphi! I wasn't thinking! I'm so happy that you're alive! Aphi, I love you so much! Don't ever die, okay? If I try to kill you, you're not allowed to die! You better dodge it next time! Don't be dumb like me! Okay? Aphi? Aphi!" The cat was studiously ignoring her bond mate, until finally, she said, "Seika, instead of accidentally trying to kill me, you should learn to control your magic better." At that, Seika immediately felt another pulse of shame. "I know! And... I'm trying to. It's hard though! But I won't make any excuses! I'll try my best! Besides, um, isn't that what we're going to do today? You're training me, aren't you?" Aphelia didn't know how someone could switch from being so pathetically sorry to being absolutely demanding and accusing in the next breath. Yes, she had agreed to train Seika today and try to teach her the ways of their clan. However, she was not prepared for such an outburst of demanding energy. "Yes, and that's why I summoned Star." Aphelia tried to muster up as much patience as she could, but it was difficult with Seika's attention span and capacity to feel emotions. Not that she would ever insinuate that the girl's feelings weren't genuine, but at some point, the rate at which they switched up just made everything seem a bit shallow. "Please introduce yourself," Aphelia told the summon, who appeared to be some kind of reptile? Or just an otherwordly creature. It had a kind of glass ball on its back, filled with swirling cosmos energy and stars. It looked a bit like a turtle or something, except with a jellyfish bulb on its back instead of a shell. Seika was fascinated, and she bent down so that her eyes could be closer to the creature. Suddenly, it grew in size until the glassy bulb hit Seika directly in the face. "Star! Stop," Aphelia groaned. She had picked Star because she was the least intimidated by Aphelia and could hopefully have a decent relationship with Seika that wasn't borne out of fear. Maybe that had been a mistake. Star was respectful to Aphelia, but she liked to be mean to others and had no willingness to cooperate with them. "Star! I told you that this girl is my bond human. If she dies, I die. Do you understand? I want you all to protect her with your life," at first Aphelia had intended to tell them to listen to Seika as though they would herself. However, she had realized since making that decision that Seika had some extremely questionable moves at times and it wasn't always a sure factor that whatever was happening inside of her head was fitting for a sane individual. For those reasons, Aphelia had rescinded any decision to tell the spirits to obey Seika in that regard. However, when she summoned them, they should still generally follow her commands.

"Hi Star! Nice to meet you! I'm Taneda Akies, but you can just call me Seika! Everyone does! I'm so happy to meet another one of Aphelia's friends! To be honest, I thought she didn't have very many friends-" Said feline winced before pouncing up on Seika's shoulder and slapping a paw over her mouth. She pulled away when Seika licked it, snarling. "That's disgusting, Seika. And stop with the introductions. I told Star to introduce herself." They all already knew who Seika was. "It doesn't really matter. I want you to try to summon her, now." Aphelia commanded Star to return to their world through their mental link. Even though Seika was technically privy to that bond as well, she didn't really have access since she wasn't aware of its existence. Unless she tried hard to tune into the energies and magics around them, she would completely miss any nonverbal communication that was happening, aside from between herself and Aphelia of course. "To summon her, you don't need a key, or anything like that." She anticipated one of Seika's questions that the mage had been about to ask. Still, Seika wasn't ready to give it a try just yet. She had so many more things to say- "Just try it, idiot. It's not as hard as you're thinking." Seika had been ruminating over the nearly an hour it had taken for her to attempt to try a tracking spell on that golden charm bracelet.

By the time Seika had properly learned to summon all of the spirits from the Risa Clan, it was dark. Well, it was always dark, down here in the city of Elysium, but she meant... really dark. Obviously the little light that tended to seep through the cracks above had finally subsided as the sun had set. Instead, there was a shadow cast over the world from the night sky. Seika stared up at the dark cavern, leaning against a rocky wall of the underground civilization. Aphelia tapped her shoulder with a paw, and Seika wrenched herself away from her reverie. Glancing at her bond mate, she asked, "Aphi? Did you wanna go back inside?" The spirit shook her head before hopping down and beginning to pad in a direction away from where they had been training for the past several hours. It had been a strenuous session, but luckily, they had no shortage of snacks and water for breaks as well as an iLac for entertainment. Things hadn't been all work and no play. Still, it had in fact been a bit of a rough time during much of the experience, thanks to Seika's emotional troubles, aka her inability to manage her feelings. Whenever she felt unstable emotionally, her magic also experienced the same spikes. However, after today, she felt like she could manage it a lot better. Whether or not that feeling was just false hope had yet to be seen. Regardless, Seika slowly got to her feet and stumbled after Aphelia, a bit confused on where they were going but not objecting at all.

The two walked for a while until finally, she found herself and Aphelia in front of a brown wooden door. It was fairly inconspicuous in appearance, only a dark reddish tinged color with a few runes or something similar engraved in the center of the front. There was a knob, and Seika reached towards it with a small amount of hesitation. Aphelia hadn't made any sort of movement to open it up, but she often liked to follow Seika in her path rather than lead. "Go ahead, open it," the feline said outright, since her bond mate seemed to need a bit of encouragement. Without any more hesitation, her body brimming with curiosity and excitement, Seika grabbed the handle and twisted it. Without another beat, she fell forwards, not realizing that she had been putting enough pressure on the door to swing it wide open- completely open, in fact. The last time Seika had tried to open a door down here in Elysium, she could have sworn that it was like, a thousand tons heavy. This one seemed to be made of air or feathers what with how dramatically Seika fell on her face after pushing it open. "Oof! Ow..." She groaned in pain as her nose hit the floor with a sharp feeling of agony sent flying up through her face. Aphelia made a noise of either amusement or disapproval, and Seika stuck out her tongue at the feline. After putting a hand to her face, the mage healed it smoothly, blinking through the tingling sensation that always followed. It tickled, especially on her face, but Seika was determined not to make herself even more of a laughingstock to Aphelia at the moment. Breathing in through her mouth, Seika exhaled, then inhaled, then exhaled. She just had to breathe, and everything would be fine.

Aphelia completely ignored the mage for now, occupied by much more important things. Seika could heal herself without much trouble, even if it did momentarily hurt or tickle. And as much as the feline found it hilarious, she couldn't afford to be distracted for too long. This room was dangerous to be inside of for extended periods of time. "Seika. Pay attention." The spirit closed her eyes, hoping that Seika was watching. Praying, in fact. Then in one smooth movement, she transformed. In a few seconds, there was a woman. Or maybe a girl? She stood at least five inches taller than Seika, and had silver hair and wore a black hat. Her clothes were blue, and appeared to be made of some kind of technological material. The reason Seika thought that way was because of just.. how they looked. It was difficult to explain. But, she supposed they could be some kind of armor as well, since there looked to be silver metal plate on part of her body.

"Woah! Aphi, that's you, right? Is that another one of your human forms?" Even though the spirit far preferred to remain in the shape of a cat, any cat really, whether it was a large predator or just an ordinary shaped house cat, she could shift to humanoid shapes on occasion. Seika had seen her do it twice before, each time taking a different human shape. One had been somewhat dark skinned, with vibrant, glowing blue markings and eyes that were almost made of pure energy. Cyan light, or something like that. It was hard to remember- Seika hadn't gazed upon her for very long before they'd had to continue moving, since it had been for a mission. The other time, Aphelia had pretended to be the daughter of a noble in order to get them into this fancy party. For that reason, Seika was pretty sure that that human image had been modeled off of an actual person. Therefore, she had been doubtful it was actually anything like what Aphelia wanted to look like. Either way, though, the girl of course already knew that her bond mate's true form was a mass of bubbles and sparks and pure magic. That, and a gold fish. It was a toss up between either. Whether someone considered Aphelia's original solid form to be her true form or if her spiritual energy and magic by itself was her true form. But still, Aphelia had preferred shapes when it came to the way she transformed herself. Seika was thinking about that. When Aphelia went out to buy groceries and such like that, provided she didn't steal them and actually spent money, she probably went as a human? Seika had never really seen it. But this could have been her true form.

"Seika, stop thinking so much and come here." Aphelia's voice was slightly lower than usual, or maybe it was rougher? Despite how difficult it was to tell, Seika just blinked before nodding and obeying her, getting to her feet and walking over to her friend. As soon as she was within arms reach, Aphelia held out her arm and as Seika extended her own, Aphelia pulled her closer, roughly. "Don't move." The girl had absolutely no intention of doing so; after hearing those words enter her brain, she went completely still. Almost instinctively, Seika even tried not to breathe very much. Suddenly, the world went white. All around her, she felt as though everything was spinning, until eventually, it came back to a stop. Seika felt... strange. Almost as though she were a different person. Or maybe it was in a different body? When she looked around, and looked up at Aphelia, it felt like she was the same distance away. However, the feline was staring at her with what looked like a strange expression. "Hm? Aphi? What's- huh?" Seika's hand flew to her throat, where she rubbed it hesitatingly. For some reason, her voice felt a little bit lower. Well, maybe lower wasn't the correct word? It was more... minor? Seika struggled to figure out what was happening, before Aphelia finally said out loud, "There's a mirror. Go look." She pointed to the side of the room, and when Seika walked over, she nearly tripped over herself in astonishment. "Ehh?" Aphelia ignored her shouts of confusion and just determinedly kept on talking. "While we are in this chamber, magic is greatly enhanced. The only issue is that the atmosphere also slowly poisons the magical core of anything inside. I needed to show you this, though. This is your Sibylline form. Now that we have unlocked it once, it will be far easier to do so again."

Seika looked back at Aphelia, who was already leaving the room, walking at a brisk pace before she seemed to realize that her bond mate wasn't following. With a huff, Aphelia turned around, forcibly grabbed Seika's wrist, then yanked her with her, opening the door and tossing the girl outside before pulling it shut behind them and latching it tightly. "You're actually stupid. We can't stay in there very long," Aphelia sighed. For some reason, Seika felt even more dazed to be scolded by her while in this state. Whether it was just odd because Aphelia rarely took on a human shape or whether it was her own new form that added the confusion was unclear. Either way, things were... odd. "Seika. Pay attention." The mage snapped her focus back onto Aphelia's face. "Um, yes! Aphi! I'm paying attention, don't worry!" She tried to reassure her friend, who was absolutely not buying it. "Right. Well, how you look right now is your Sibylline form. We're going to practice magic now." Without an ounce of hesitation, Seika agreed cheerfully, already shaking off the dizziness from before. Within the next hour or so, the two went over spells that Seika was already familiar with. Mostly bubble rains, fiery spark storms, that kind of thing. However, something new seemed to be on Aphelia's mind, to teach to her. Shields. Even though Seika did know how to cast a few shields and she was sure of how to heal and buff her allies, she didn't have as many strong ones as Aphelia seemed to want to help her create. Create? Learn? She wasn't sure if Aphelia was teaching her things from memory or helping her create spells from scratch. "Aphi, where are these coming from?" She finally asked, as they were taking a break. Finishing her sip of water, Aphelia slammed her water bottle down, her extremely human eyes glaring into Seika's own. It was definitely odd to be confronted by a human Aphelia and made things ten times more anxiety inducing. "Sibylline magic is yours by birthright. These spells are woven into your being, and mine." That didn't really help Seika with understanding anything, but she guessed it basically meant that Aphelia had figured it out along the way.

"Okay! So, these forms... how do I go back to looking the other way? Do I look like this all the time now? When did you first discover that you could look like that? Why that form?" Seika let forth a barrage of questions that Aphelia looked disgusted by. "You have always been able to change shape at will, Seika. We share all of the same abilities," she reminded the mage, first off. At that, the girl looked dumbfounded, but she plowed on determinedly. "Okay, um... but how come I never shapeshifted before? And what does this have to do with Sibylline... stuff, then? If I could change how I look all this time!" Aphelia seemed to be visibly holding herself back from face planting into the closest wall. Seika took the time that she was waiting for a response to try to focus on her magic again, popping out a shield that was glowing. Then she threw her arms out in the opposite direction, and the shield morphed shape, becoming thicker but smaller. It was... malleable! This was fun! While Seika was messing around, Aphelia yawned before sending a bolt of magical energy at the shield. It popped it easily, and Seika pouted. "Think about the poppability," the spirit told her. At that, the mage couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Poppability! Pop... bubbles! The amount of poppableness... I get it! You're funny, Aphi!" At this, the spirit's expression became completely deadpan. It had not been a joke. Ignoring the cackling mage, the feline- er, human, went on, "This shape is helpful for channeling Sibylline magic, but naturally, after you become powerful enough you will be able to use any form." Aphelia's own magic was from the Risa clan, but she could use Sibylline magic thanks to her bond with Seika. After plenty of practice, it wasn't necessary to use a different shape in order to effectively channel magic. Their forms were similar. If Seika had examined them side by side, she would notice that even though Aphelia was taller than her, they had several features in common with each other. Such as their hair color and the shapes of their faces and so on. Even the garments that these forms naturally wore were from the same origin.

"I first discovered this form long ago. Shortly after we met, in fact." She had seen Seika accidentally shift several times before, but since the mage had never mentioned a desire to learn how to shift, she had never given her any further instruction, assuming Seika knew about the ability but just didn't want to use it. The same went for summoning; up until recently, Seika hadn't paid any attention to Risan summons. The handiness aspect came in recently, because of the necessity of Seika to access more of different types of magic. "Focus on supporting your shield. Don't let me pop it," Aphelia informed her, before sending another bolt of Sibylline magic flying towards Seika. The mage steeled herself, reinforcing the bubble but failing to keep it intact. The bolt tore through anyway. Seika's forehead furrowed, and she looked especially confused. "But- I swear that this bubble deflected stuff before?" At this, the spirit shook her head. "Your shields may deflect most normal attacks, but some have a special property to go right through them. You need to be better," at that Seika winced. Aphelia was so blunt! But, she was right. Concentrating, Seika poured magic into the shield until it thinned out, becoming less of a thick bubble and more of a shimmery one. This time, when Aphelia threw magic towards it, instead of phasing right through, it broke the bubble, most of its power being absorbed before the rest knocked into Seika, sending her flying backwards with a pulse. "I got it! But that one was weaker than the others..." Seika was excited, but also disappointed at the same time. It felt like with every step forward, there was one back. But she would keep practicing. If the penalty for being able to ensure her shields weren't susceptible to being popped was having them be weaker, well... she would find a way to strengthen them! That was what practice was for.