As the sun dragged across the sky, Mio and co relaxed under a nearby tree, sitting on top of makeshift seats cobbled together by Reku's techno cubes(dark blue cubes with glowing blue edges) and playing a match of Candy Cat Astraphobia: SCG whilst Obelisk inspected the magic dungeon, and Solus, Zinvalia and Maxikrose stood at random spots in the clearing's perimeter. At hearing Tanya's boasts of victory, Zinvalia mildly glanced at the group, her interest only peaked by the brand of the game alone which filled her with a sense of nostalgia.
"Hmmn... wonder if Xinia still remembers I owe her for that signed card," Zinvalia muttered mentally, half-heartedly smirking as she knew Xinia would've brought it up after all those years if she really cared.
"You know, it's more than likely she simply believes it will sully the gift if she pesters you for one," a regal-sounding male remarked. The sound of the voice alone, despite its non-aggressive message, sent shivers down Zinvalia's spine only being broken by the own of the voice walking out from the forest and revealing it to be Lumios, leading Zinvalia to sigh in aggravated relief.
(Lumios Luminous is a very tall, radiant fair skinned adult male humanoid wu-ling, miruku, and acolyte hybrid; he has trailing spikey woolly(like a sheep) pure white hair with two ahoges having a faint cyan glow, a glowing azure blue right eye with a yellow iris, a pure white left eye with a white iris and pitch-black sclera, a slightly anorexic frame, eight large and long grey with a golden ends plated mouth tendrils that has a faint cyan glow)
(Lumios is wearing an almost entirely white form-fitting outfit that only reframes from covering his hands and above his neck, black claw-like engravings and trimming running up the sides of his arms and legs, a regal golden fur mantle with a white fur collar, and on top of the mantle's collar is a black fur scarf with flame-shaped metal dots all over it)
"Geeze, can you stay out of my mind," Zinvalia grumbled as she slinked back, moving away from Lumios like a cat avoiding tinfoil on the kitchen counter. Lumios sparsely chuckled, finding Zinvalia's annoyance at his presence amusing as he strolled past her. With Lumios making his way straight for him, Solus mentally sighed, wondering why Lumios had to show up and dreaded the inevitable implication of the guy's appearance meant for the upcoming magic dungeon investigation's outcome.
"Come now, my wife's favourite brother, can't I take a break from my coronation preparation to indulge my daughter?" Lumios remarked boastfully with his arms raised as if he were going for a hug. Solus silently raised a hand to forehead and itched one of his forehead horns, the content of Lumio's remark filling him with a mild sense of frustration, one he couldn't bring to draw out as the thought of Sylvie wanting a sibling kept him from making a witty response.
"And why can't you and Lumina solve Kimmi-Ka's single-child woes yourselves?" Solus asked with a mix of unamusement and amusement. The two guys silently stared at each other, an unspoken conversation bouncing between them before Lumios smugly smirked, leaving Solus to advert his eyes defeatedly while placing his hands on his hips.
"Yeah... dumb question," Solus uttered as he went to rub the back of his head; However, he ended up rubbing the back of Nebula's head instead as she scaled Solus' back. Nebula poked her head out from behind Solus and plopped her chin on his shoulder, eyeing Solus with flirty puppy dog eyes as contently pressed her cheek against the side of Solus' head. Her body radiated an overbearing heat which permeated through and weighed down on Solus, letting him know exactly what was going through her mind.
"Not you too...," Solus mumbled as he covered his face to shield himself from Nebula overwhelming him with her eyes. He kept his eyes covered, only easing up and parting his fingers slightly as he felt a piercing gaze callously drill into his hand. With a mild exhale, Solus pulled his hand from his face and was immediately greeted by the bold glare of Kimmi-Ka, instinctually making him want to re-cover his face again as Kimmi-Ka stood atop her father's shoulders.
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(Kimmi-Ka is a teenaged humanoid miruku/kitsune, acolyte, and alkorian hybrid with the appearance of a kid; she has long woolly hair: half snow white(left) and half blond(right) hair all with lime hair tips, a pure gold right eye with a pink/lime gradient pupil in the shape of multiple concentric white stars, a glistening deep blue left eye, fair skin, nine large and long[tripple her height] blond to snow white gradient coloured fluffy fur-miruku tendril tails with lime coloured tips, glowing fingertips, and slightly curved upwards glowing ram-like horns on the sides of her)
(Kimmi-Ka is donning a sized-down version of the school uniform Mio and co are wearing, excluding her wearing a hooded school jacket made from pure black gelatin with glowing white dots all over it)
"When more cousins, Uncle Solus?" Kimmi-Ka asked, her voice so cold and calculating it made Zinvalia shiver like she were in a blizzard in the nude.
"And I thought her father's tone was bad," Zinvalia muttered mentally while crowding her mind with the mental image of Candy Cat characters to defend against any further mental spying. Whilst Solus continued to be pestered by Kimmi-Ka, Tanya's eyes sparkled before raising a playing card to the sky triumphantly as she stared down her brother with an obnoxious amount of smugness that made Mercury scoff at her.
"Get on with it would you," Mercury said unamusedly as he tossed the playing cards in his hand onto the table. With the corners of her mouth arching upwards into a contentious grin, Tanya swiftly and vigorously slammed her playing card into the table, startling Mio during her match with Reku, and flinging all the playing cards off the table.
"Haha! Looks like I win... eh?" Tanya announced before her cocky demeanour melted away into bewildered shock upon spotting Lumios and Kimmi-Ka. Mercury faintly smirked, finding his sister's shock satisfyingly pleasing while resting his chin on his fist.
"That look suits you, you should keep it," Mercury remarked mockingly. Almost in a trance, Tanya dismissively waved a hand in Mercury's vague direction while keeping her gaze locked on Lumios and Kimmi-Ka.
"Yeah, whatever. That's like... the soon-to-be king and his daughter right?" Tanya asked bewilderedly. The question shocked the trio, goading them into turning their heads and receiving the same shock Tanya received upon noticing the other members of Zelkio royalty. Despite the initial shock, the group of teens slowly turned back to each other and Tanya covered her head as she placed her face against the table in disbelief.
"Talk about a shell shock," Reku remarked slightly nonchalantly as he rose from his seat. Mio mildly nodded as she cast her gaze back to the other group, focusing on Kimmi-Ka in particular given her attire. While mid-stare, Kimmi-Ka abruptly swivelled her head a perfect 90° and locked onto the teens with a soulless deadpan stare, startling them and making them all flinch to the point of almost falling over. After a slightly extended period of time, Kimmi-Ka slowly turned away from the group and focused on Risu's tail, raising a hand to the tail and swatting at it.
"Talk about intimidating... and she's also one of our joint-class classmates," Tanya grumbled exhaustedly before slowly leaning back in her chair until both of them swung backwards and crashed into the ground with the chair bursting into cubes on impact. Mercury meekly rubbed his head, mentioning Kimmi-Ka probably knows about the Star Leader system and was gauging which one of them was her Star Leader.
"Oh, yeah... I think I did mention it to her when I mentioned I was going to be Kara's," Destiny remarked cheerfully as she sat on a chair between Mio and Reku. At hearing Destiny's remark, Mio and Reku eased up slightly with Reku briefly chuckling, mentioning he completely forgot Destiny was the country's princess, and making Destiny giggle at how absent-minded Reku can be. As Destiny's giggling hammered in her brain, Tanya groaned her displeasure into the table while mindlessly asking if Destiny also happened to mention the magic dungeon mission to her family as well. Without hesitation, Destiny readily confirmed Tanya's suspicions, leading Tanya to groan even louder to the point it made the adults turn their heads and wonder if card games were really that intensive.