Trip Trip Fall in Love... Just Kid-ding! (Seika, Amalie)

Seika was happy to be visiting Era for the very first time! Try as she might, she was unable to contain an enormous smile as she looked up at the Magic Council headquarters. The place was just so gigantic! It felt so far away, being on top of that big mountain hill thingy. Briefly, Seika wondered how long it took for people to take the road that led up to the headquarters itself. "It probably takes them some hours, right?" She said to nobody in particular, attracting a few stares before people continued going about their business. With a shrug, Seika turned away from the view and blinked at the actual city of Era itself. One of the most modern locations in Fiore the girl had been to yet, Era was full of gleaming, shiny buildings and beautiful scenery. Despite the bustling urban atmosphere, there looked to be plenty of trees poking up, and Seika guessed there were parks, too.

Although she rarely missed home at all, this place probably reminded her the most of the Pergrande Kingdom. Well, that was, after the Neutral Grounds. The only differences were that the guards that seemed to patrolling everywhere were Rune Knights, and they could use magic! Seika tiptoed as sneakily as she could over to a Rune Knight who was standing very, very still next to a gate. She was about to ambush him from the side and yell 'Boo!' when she suddenly tripped on a risen part of the cobblestone path, ending up lying nearly flat on her face.

"Ow..." Seika made some incoherent noises as she curled up slightly, holding her forehead, but also wincing as her fingers, palms, wrists, knees, everything seemed to sting. Hopefully the Rune Knight hadn't seen her fall... although who was she kidding, he probably had seen the whole thing. He didn't seem to be sympathetic to her plight whatsoever, standing just as still and perhaps even pointedly looking in the opposite direction. That was what she got for trying to scare him, she supposed. Seika bit her lip as another sharp pain shot through her wrist as she tried to support her weight on it long enough to stand up. "Ahh... hurts," she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before blinking away the tears that were gathering at the corners of her eyes. It was just a fall! Seriously... why had it hurt so much?

Seika concentrated on her breathing as she unconsciously curled her body slightly around her wrist, whispering to herself, "It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt- eek!" She squeaked when a strong force suddenly pulled her upwards by her left arm. Even through her sweater and uniform, she could feel the person's grip and how strong it was, for lack of a better word. Firm? Solid? She furrowed her brow before realizing that she was back on her feet. "Oh! Thank you so much!" Seika said gratefully, still looking at her feet as she noticed that her tights were torn across her right knee, with a tiny bit of blood running down her leg. It didn't hurt very much, just a little sting, so she turned her attention away and looked up at whoever had helped her up. She met a pair of very cold, very elegant eyes. "Woah," Seika breathed, transfixed. Unconsciously, her left hand reached up towards the woman's face. "You... you're so pretty," she blinked in amazement.

It just then registered that the stranger was speaking, her tone rather admonishing. "Aah..." Seika bit her lip before putting her hands together in the most apologetic look she could muster up. "I'll be careful! I'm sorry for troubling you!" She clapped her hands together with a wince at the pain that shot up through her right wrist and bowed hurriedly, partially out of respect and partially to hide the fact that her eyes had begun watering again. Ahh, something was wrong with her wrist. It hurt. A lot. "Umm, my name is Taneda Akies, um, Seika, and, and, thank you for helping me," she spoke with her voice dipping as she tried to think clearly. She didn't want to just leave without saying anything, since wasn't that super impolite? But at the same time, all Seika wanted to do at the moment was duck behind the nearest tree and cry it out.

"Umm, I should go find my... mom," The girl tested the word uncertainly. Hopefully the helpful stranger would let her go without any more worries. Seika's mom was several thousands of miles away, but that was a minor detail. Just then, her stomach grumbled, very loudly, and for at least a few seconds. "Oh..." if it was possible, she stared at her feet even harder. Wow!! Way to embarrass herself in front of the super cool and nice lady. "M-my mom has food! But I eat a lot, so I'm hungry a lot," she hurried to explain, as if to avoid any further embarrassment. Why was she even making up stories for this woman? She didn't know, but somehow, there was this cold presence about her that made Seika feel guilty about existing, much less troubling her to stop and help her.

Despite her best attempt to maintain a straight face, Seika still winced at the woman's short words. 'Uh huh....' It didn't seem as though she believed Seika, but it couldn't be helped. Most people, even if they did doubt the truth of the girl's words, rarely did much about it. Those who chose to pry further tended to be troublesome, that was for sure, yet- somehow, running around unsupervised while looking like a school aged child was less reprimandable in Fiore than it had been back in the Pergrande Kingdom. Seika still apologized and devised excuses whenever she went into shops by herself to buy anything or essentially interacted at all with adults, but she had found it not to be suspicious. Generally, at least. The girl had chalked it up to the more lax education system of Fiore, where many children were educated informally or became apprentices at a younger age. Furthermore, she had seen quite a number of adults (that wasn't the right word, but she couldn't think of a better one- mentally elderly?) running around in the bodies of children. Seika giggled a little bit to herself, just inside her head, as she thought about the time she had mistaken an a thousand year immortal for a girl younger than herself. Fiore really was a special place. Nobody would have been so brazenly... magical, back in the Kingdom.

She had lost focus on the conversation and was startled when she felt a sudden, soft touch against her skin. It was on her wrist, and unconsciously, the girl winced, expecting pain from the pressure. Maybe this was one of those meddling kind of adults who insisted on looking at everything. To be honest, the woman hadn't really seemed like the type, though? Her mind was racing, but somehow, she still ended up being behind on what was happening to her body. It... it wasn't hurting? Seika held up her wrist and blinked at it, confusedly. As the stranger removed her hand, the girl stared, absolutely dumbfounded and unsure of what was even happening. She poked it with a high degree of hesitation. No sharp streak of pain ran through her arm, and with a wide smile, Seika vibrated happily. "Ah! Thank you! I think!" It had been the woman, right? Seika couldn't be sure, but it was polite to thank people when they did something nice for you. Otherwise, they could get mad, or... well, it would be rude anyway to ignore that kindness. But she didn't think this woman would get mad! That had been so cool. Seika beamed, only then realizing that she was being addressed.

Ahh! The stranger had been talking. Seika focused back in on the conversation, briefly panicking as she hoped she hadn't missed anything important. Unfortunately, it seemed that she was only able to catch the last bit of her words. "You are... commanding Amalie West of Dies Irae?" she guessed out loud, before realizing that the stranger was already leaving. "Oh! Um, I'm sorry, uh, Commander," people who commanded other people were commanders, right? Ah, wait, hadn't she heard the name Dies Irae before? Some of her guild mates mentioned it at times, and the girl had occasionally seen people around wearing those really pretty uniforms. They were like the woman's, so- that actually made a whole lot of sense. So she was commanding.. Amalie West, right? The only person Seika could remember associated with Dies Irae was that man, with the light white hair. Light white? Light gray? Either way, he must be Amalie West, then. Because logic. "I thought Amalie would be a girl name!" She said, trying to be conversational, as she tried to keep up with the woman, hoping that she wasn't bothering her. The commander did seem to be the type to be up to very important business only, lacking the time to socialize out on the street. "But it's a really pretty name! You should tell him that," she added cheerfully. Since her arm wasn't hurting anymore, and the woman wasn't asking strange questions about her supposed mother, Seika was in quite high spirits. "I mean, he probably already knows though. Everyone must tell him that," she amended. Hopefully she would know what Seika meant?

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When the commander suddenly paused mid stride, Seika nearly bumped into her. "Ahh! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry-" she waved her hands in panic as she stepped back a few paces to put personal space between herself and the woman. While she was all for giving people hugs, somehow she got the sense that the woman would not be very appreciative. But who knew! Maybe she liked hugs. Oh, Seika should just ask, instead of wondering about it. "Missus, do you like hugs?" The girl spoke up before realizing she had ignored what the woman had just said. Blinking at her outstretched hands that were hovering in the air in front of her, Seika slowly brought her hands up to the same level. Then, scrutinizing the commander's expression for some kind of clue, Seika decided the only thing that made sense was that she wanted a high five. A double high five, in fact! So Seika would try to clap her hands together with the woman before focusing on recalling whatever had just been said. As far as she could remember, her name had been mentioned?

"Seika! I'm Seika," the girl who was definitely Seika told her newfound blue haired friend, a bright smile breaking out across her face. "Um, as for uh, who I was talking about? I think... Amalie West?" She wrinkled her nose in consternation as she tried to remember the past few moments. What had she been talking about? Much less, what had she been thinking about? Oh yes, that was right- hugs. Even though, with blue hair and eyes and being super tall (Seika was jealous) the commander seemed to be an ice queen, the girl had thought she probably enjoyed hugs. Still, it had been a good choice, in her opinion, to avoid crashing into the other person! It was like a traffic jam. Even if the cars wanted to meet, they weren't supposed to, not like that at least. "Speaking of um, names, what's your favorite color, Missus? Er, Commander," Seika asked. For some reason, it had just occurred to her that perhaps the woman's favorite color was not blue. That would make a bit of sense, considering how seeing the color day after day could get rid of the novelty. Somehow, though, the girl imagined that it would in fact be blue. This question had been circulating in the back of her head ever since she had been pulled to her feet by the strange woman and healed. Remembering that, of course, made Seika feel grateful all over again.

Suddenly, her stomach grumbled again, but this time much less loudly than the first, and for a shorter period of time as well. Seika threw the commander a smile and laughed awkwardly. "Um, sorry, no matter how much I try I can't train it out of that," she chewed on her bottom lip with a little bit of self consciousness. People like the commander were so polished, and proper, and tall, and blue. She doubted that their stomachs ever grumbled like that.

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Seika gave the woman a bright smile when she accepted the high five. Even though the stranger seemed to be a little bit chilly, the bubble mage was excited at the prospect of her acceptance, nonetheless. When the commander dropped her arms back down, Seika didn't say anything, instead opting to continue beaming at her. Just grateful for the warm reception, she watched as the other woman seemed to be mulling things over at the same time as she herself was thinking. When Seika managed to describe that she had been considering more about Amalie West, the woman said nothing, but after she asked about her favorite color, she finally spoke. Apparently, she had it wrong? What did the commander mean- ohh. Seika's nose crinkled up in confusion. The commander was Amalie West? But... that was wrong! She withheld her thoughts, however, and instead opted to listen more as the commander told Seika very plainly that it was her name and she was most certainly a woman. Well, the name had sounded feminine, but the person Seika knew to be Amalie West was most certainly a male. Unless he wasn't? Er, she wasn't? The mage wracked her brain as she tried to think back to the posters and other adverts she had seen. It was possible that secretly, that person had been a female. And she was disguising herself and standing in front of Seika right now!

It was all very confusing, so it was good when it was broken up by the sound of Seika's stomach rumbling, as embarrassing as it had been. Her small attempt at brushing it off seemed to fall flat, although Amalie West(?) did not say anything outright, instead ordering her to follow the taller female. She appeared to be heading in some specific direction that Seika was unaware of as she trailed behind her. As they moved, it became harder and harder to match her pace, so when Seika finally arrived to a stop next to Amalie, she had already been standing there, next to what was apparently a stall. Seika tilted her head around the older woman to get a better look. The vendor was selling... um, were those the foreign corn and flour things? Seika had eaten some of them once, in either Joya or Midi. She had trouble differentiating between the country names sometimes, as disappointing as that could be. Still, Seika did get the feeling that something was different between the um... torties that she had eaten back then and the ones she was confronted with now. Amalie ordered a...cape? With strawberries and chocolate sauce! Seika understood that part, at least. She eyed the food, ignoring the way her stomach bubbled slightly. Determined not to let it grumble again, the girl forced herself not to think too hard about food.

Just then, Amalie asked her what she wanted. Momentarily at a loss for words, Seika stared at the commander dumbly. "Um... what do I want? Maybe someday, I want to become a woolly mammoth! I heard that they're extinct, so I want to learn how to be one so I can bring them back again," she beamed at the commander, but her eyes kept drifting away and onto the food nearby. Everything looked good, especially since Seika wasn't that picky of an eater, no matter what she claimed to her guild mates. There was a difference between enjoying all types of edible dishes and wanting to consume fried cat hairballs. Dog biscuits were good though! Seika made herself a mental reminder to try to remember to buy some for Lupa, since there were some gourmet ones that she really liked to eat too, and sharing them with Lupa meant more treats and fun for both of them, together.

At this point, Seika's thoughts had drifted back to the conundrum from before, and she took a short breath before finally saying what was on her mind. "Okay! So, um, I hypothetically believe you, Missus. Commander. Erm, that you're Amalie West. Even though I know that Amalie has white hair..." she whispered that last part, barely audible under her breath. After all, the girl had been made very certain of that fact. Her source was one hundred percent credible, which meant that even if she chose to believe the blue haired woman, nothing could change the truth! Still, Seika would go along with whatever the commander said for now. In the end, she would believe the word of... wait, the commander? The mage braided the ends of her hair absentmindedly as she tried to work through the puzzle of what was happening. The person who had told her the white haired man was Amalie West... who had that person been, again? Seika frowned. It seemed that she couldn't remember the exact source. But still, it had to have been credible, for her to originally believe it.

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This lady was just super adorable! The more she hung around her, the more she felt like she was experiencing some kind of state of peacefulness. Seika wondered if it would be too much to ask to take a picture of her. Nothing was nothing without um, going for it! Er, was that how the phrase went? Shrugging, she was about to speak up when the woman suddenly began to speak very firmly, and rather slowly. It was pretty easy to understand! Well, except for the fact that there was so much of it. Even though she was nodding along to the words, eventually, it just became tooooo many words to hold in her head at once. What she wanted to eat... food! Other things weren't that good, right? Um, right, they were at the food stall. That was nice. And the Commander had ordered a crepe, she remembered! Meanwhile, though, the girl had to take a break to process what she had been told so far. It was just too many words. Ah, okay, that was good, now back to listening... choose something from the cart... okay, she could do that... glancing at it, she spotted a bottle of chocolate sauce.

What a pretty, warm colored bottle! Seika tried to remember the reason she was supposed to pick something from the cart. If it was for a magic trick, maybe a bottle would be perfect. Otherwise, one could never go wrong using chocolate sauce on anything! Except maybe papers. They could melt, er, get soggy. "The bottle of chocolate sauce," she said proudly, glad to have helped out the Commander with whatever choice she had been trying to make. Ooh, maybe it was the toppings for her crepe? That would make a whole lot of sense, although, hadn't she already chosen strawberry sauce- wait, no, she had picked chocolate sauce, that was right! Well, in that case, Seika would just have to pick something else, wouldn't she. "Ahh, wait, sorry! I think strawberry sauce is good, it's kind of like strawberries," she told her. Because of that, it would compliment the actual strawberries on the crepe.

Now that her task was all taken care of (Seika still felt very happy she was able to help out the woman by helping her choose) she paid attention again to what she was saying, her mind clear. Mm... Commander Amalie West, that was such a pretty name. Wait, what? The mage's forehead crinkled up as she tried to piece together that. So, this woman was the Commander. And then... Amalie West was... right, so, there was only one solution. "Oh, you two are married, right?" She was saying something about working with Ambassadors, which must have meant she was a very important person. It made sense she was in Era, then! There were tons of diplomats from other countries, and those were called Ambassadors, as far as the girl knew. But what she really focused on was that thing about the partner. Yes yes and more yes, she did know that guy with the white hair! She had seen pictures. And the Commander said he was her partner, which made perfect sense with her marriage theory. Married people always went on taking each others' names and stuff like that. "So you're Amalie West now," Seika nodded in comprehension. It all was coming together.

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The vendor didn't seem to be about to answer the statuesque woman's question, so Seika chimed in helpfully. "Nope, you didn't stutter! You actually speak really slowly and clearly, it's nice! You have an amazing voice," the girl clapped, unable to contain her enthusiasm when she was voicing her thoughts out loud. Not only was the woman's way of speaking nice, but she just overall seemed to be an incredibly sweet individual! It was really unnecessary to buy her the bottle, though. Unless, wait, it actually made sense to buy it for Seika and then have her carry it. Smiling happily, glad that the commander wasn't wasting any money, she hefted the pot in her own arms, and wedged the bottle of strawberry sauce in the crook of her elbow, next to her ribcage. There, a nice little spot for it! She could hold it like a baby. Ooh, and it looked like she was going to be holding the crepe too! That was- oh, wait, never mind! Still, it looked like the woman was enjoying her snack.

As the two of them moved along, Seika was happy to just listen to her for a little bit more. So, they weren't married... anymore? But, either way, it seemed like the name had stuck, judging by how she confirmed that she was indeed Amalie West now! The mage was overjoyed to have a proper name to refer to her by now, in her head. "Are you planning to get married again someday? Are you eighteen?" Now that she did know the woman's name, though, the girl wasn't quite certain how she should call her out loud. "What do you like to be called by? Just Amalie?" Previously, erm, if she could remember correctly? She had been calling her just 'Commander,' because of not knowing her name. Or not believing her name. Either way, it was the same difference! Mostly, at this moment in time, Seika just wanted to know more about this cool woman.

Oh, and to help her out! She wanted that too. "Ah, I almost forgot! Your strawberry sauce!" She pulled the bottle out of its position, nestled in the bend of her arm. Holding it out to the woman, she waited for her to accept it, or motion for her to pour it over the crepe, or... something like that. Actually, now that she was squinting between the two of them, Amalie and the strawberry confection... she thought maybe there were some similarities. The pot of strawberries was also really pretty! Once again, she wondered if it would be too rude to ask for a picture. Had Aphelia been here, the mage would have asked her bond mate for advice. As of right now, the best option, in her opinion, was to wait a little longer on that front.

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Wait. Twenty seven?? But... she looked like she was eighteen years tall. Like, shouldn't someone who's twenty seven be almost twice her height since they were almost twice her age? Thoughtfully, Seika squinted at Amalie. "Hmm," she let out a low, pensive noise as her brain tried to process this information. "Marriage is cool! I want to get married someday. That way I'll have someone who will watch Aphelia for me while I go on all my adventures," she told the blue haired woman very straightforwardly. "And we can be best friends and stuff. It'll be cool!" Marrying someone was a good thought, but in reality, Seika didn't really know much about how it worked. Once, she had researched it a lot to do a presentation at school, but that was ages ago. Anyway, marriage just seemed like a super nice thing in general. But that was all head thoughts.

"Thank you for the strawberry sauce!" Seika beamed at the woman, overjoyed at the gift. It was just so sweet of her. What the mage had even done to get this type of kindness, she had no idea. Maybe Amalie was just that kind of nice person. Yeah, that had to be it. "You're a really kind person," the girl told her with a bright smile. She then went on to think about the question the other had asked. Well, if they were to think about the word near, it just kind of meant anywhere close, right? But close had the same problem.

In Seika's opinion, she kind of lived far away, but it could maybe not be far for some people. "I dunno," the mage finally settled on just that, shrugging her shoulders as she delivered a vague non answer. But she did then go further into specifying a bit. "I live in that giant monster thingy, but if you use the teleport thingy, it'll take you right over here or anywhere! So not really that far away," Seika did her best to explain. It was a little bit difficult, mostly since she herself wasn't really familiar with a map of Fiore or Earthland or anything. Distances were weird when it came to magic, because they could all be crossed super easily. "Do you?" The girl imagined that maybe Amalie was the type of person to live in this cool kind of city, with the giant buildings and big person stuff with mages from around Fiore.

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Seika nodded very sagely as Amalie said she would take the girl's word for her kindness. "Yes, yes, you should definitely believe me! I'm always right! Almost always," she beamed brightly. Even if some other kind of people, a lot of people from what the blue haired woman had said, disagreed, it didn't matter what the haters said! They were wrong. Maybe their minds were clouded by Amalie's beauty or something like that. Mmmhm, that had to be it. Seika knew from experience that sometimes, people were so taken in by Apehlia's cute fur and they wanted to pet it so badly that they forgot she had a personality as well. Perhaps that was a magical cat thing, though. Either way, the comparison still stood! Also, it was possible that due to her blue hair, people thought she was colder in her demeanor. Since blue and water and winter and snow and stuff like that. Nodding to herself, Seika barely managed to catch what the woman said in response to her own question of whether she lived far away or not.

"Amber Island? Is it very pretty there?" Seika would expect any place with that sort of name to be really, really gorgeous, like, all orange and tropical and glowing. But maybe Amalie's surroundings would match her appearance, in which case, it would be all red and gold and formal looking. Kind of like a ballroom. "Are you a dancer?" Seika squinted at the woman who was eating her crepe. There was something super graceful about her. Maybe she could turn into a leopard or some other kind of cool animal that could do those rawr pounce moves and bounce around. Or she was a bird that could fly super high? All of those animals would be great dancers as well, the mage was sure. Also, also, also! It was already confirmed that she had amazing magic. Since, Amalie had healed her earlier. That was definitely really nice of her, and remembering this instance only solidified Seika's notion that this woman was certainly a kind individual.

The magic itself, of course, added more credibility to a possible special animal form. Snow fairy, maybe? The girl pulled at a few strands of her hair to keep her fingers busy while her mind was working away at the possibilities.

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Seika was always right. That was the thing, wasn't it? Now, even when she couldn't be sure that what she was thinking and saying were the correct things, she could somehow still be certain. Such was the unfailing positivity and lackless confidence that came from absolutely not understanding a situation.

Amalie had something special about her. Maybe it was how even though she had appeared busy, the woman had made time for Seika. Maybe it was something else. But she was special.

Seika didn't spend much time around special people, in case they discovered something different about her. The part that she wanted to keep hidden. And it felt like Amalie might be too close to the truth. It was time to leave.