Maya and Fen had teased Sophia a bit too much, and the blonde got a little upset. To teach them a lesson, she then teleported the duo to a remote location inside the jungle where they were on their own and had to find their way back without help. Most of the time, the cat-girl and the wolf were bickering, but they eventually also came up with a plan to get out of their predicament.
“So nice and quiet around here~.” While she was on her own, Sophia used the time to relax a little. “I’m bored!” It didn't last long until she couldn't pretend to like it anymore. “The two idiots are also walking in the exact opposite direction from me or the cottage for quite a while already, so they'll probably be lost forever… Imagine being that bad with directions!”
Letting out a small chuckle because she couldn’t say that while staying serious, she then started looking around to distract herself from getting even more bored. Soon enough, she found something that tickled her interest.
“The magic concentration around here definitely has gotten a lot denser, huh?” The tiger concentrated on the pink and purple particles floating in the air around her. As Sophia was one of the few in the group who could see raw or environmental magic, and most could only vaguely feel it, Fen and Maya hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary earlier. Although, this also was the reason why the wolf was having difficulties with his detection skills. “I’m so happy that my domain is developing so well~.” She started smiling. “Thank you!”
The moment she said those words, Sophia noticed that the sparkly particles started to move around in a circular pattern around her rather than just floating around. The number of particles heavily increased, as well. “You lot absolutely are sentient and or conscious, aren't you? I might or might not mix up those two all the time, so don't pay too much attention to that part, please."
“Hah.” At the very moment the tiger made this comment, the pink and purple particles froze and stopped mid-air without moving even the slightest bit. “You know, acting like a child or pet that got caught doesn’t help.” The blonde let out a small chuckle. “It’s far less suspicious if you just keep going like nothing happened.
“It’s too late now!” She raised her voice a little when she noticed that the sparkles instantly returned to their previous pattern. “The gig’s already up~.” Being in an excellent mood, Sophia walked over to a nearby tree and sat down on a low-hanging branch there.
“Alrighty!” She clapped her hands. “Let’s use this time to get to know each other better while it’s just us~.” The blonde then tilted her head while trying to come up with a plan. "From the beginning! I'm Sophia, and I love you! Ever since coming to this world, being able to play with magic or you lot, I still don’t know how that works, has been the most amazing thing ever!”
The sparkly particles got even more lively when she introduced herself with those words. It seemed like they had gotten more again, as well. The particles were definitely coming out of the jungle and flocked around her while it looked like they were in a good mood.
“Someone’s having fun, huh?” Her smile got a little brighter as she watched the magic particles dance for a little while. “I wonder if we can get some real communication going. Hey, you all can’t speak, right?” She tried her luck.
The magic particles stopped moving for a second, but they then all moved a little from left to right a couple of times before returning to their previous rhythmical pattern.
“I guess that’s a no, huh?” She scratched her cheek. “They definitely understand me, though, and some form of conversation seems to be possible, too!” Sophia tried to work with what she had. “Alright, let’s go!” She vigorously raised her arm, and the ambient magic became more energetic again.
“Mhm,” The tiger paused for a moment. “I wonder how we can make the most out of this and have as much fun as possible!” She then looked around in the area and pointed at the corridor Fen had cut into the jungle. “Was it okay that we destroy a little bit of it to get through?”
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Once again, the pink and purple objects stopped mid-air. A few seconds later, they lightly moved up and down. “I assume that’s a nod?” Hearing that, they moved even more up and down. “Great! We’ll try to keep the damage low, and I also promise that the two pyromaniacs from earlier won’t be allowed to let loose that much again!”
After hearing that, the sparkles got a little wilder, and a couple of them encircled a nearby tree, which then immediately went up in flames and turned into ash. Once the tree was fully gone, the particles flew over the ground and made the ashes disappear. Then, they returned to swirl around Sophia.
“You like fire?” The blonde tried to make sense of what she just witnessed. “Well, I can’t blame you! It might be one of my favorites, too.” She smiled at them. “Although, is it really okay for magic to be partial to certain types~?”
The instant those words left her lips, the little sparkles got the wildest yet. All of them rushed into the jungle and disappeared. Not a single one was left, leaving the area around Sophia the only spot without a spec of ambient magic.
"Eh…?" Naturally, she looked quite confused as she watched them disappear. “Did I say something wrong? It was just a light tease.” She scratched her cheek and started thinking about a way to apologize, but it didn’t seem there was any need for that.
The jungle began to shake, and multiple things happened at once. Numerous trees and lots of undergrowth disappeared and were replaced by various different things. The magic particles became visible again, and they were more than ever. Immediately after, a small pond appeared together with a little hill forming next to it. A few other plants that didn’t belong to a jungle also grew, as well as it started to become windy in the area. It even began to rain a little while the lighting changed.
“Ohh!” The blonde clapped her hands and nodded understandingly. “It’s not that you prefer fire, but the fact the two went wild with their magic. It just happens to be fire, and you lot are okay with that! You don’t want me to hold them back!”
Hearing her come to this conclusion, the particles stopped doing their magic showcase and returned to the tiger. Seemingly happy that she figured it out, they energetically swirled around her again.
“Wait a moment!” Sophia suddenly jumped off the branch she was sitting on and stared at her surroundings with big eyes. “Magic can use magic?!” She raised her voice once she noticed that. “I mean, well… Using it without getting any input from a user?!”
It happened many times before, but seemingly feeling like they got caught doing something bad, the magic particles completely froze. It looked like the way they sparkled dimmed, too. It did not seem like they were supposed to reveal this. In a way, their behavior was strangely similar to Mira, who also gets way too talkative all the time and accidentally ends up saying more than she intended to. It made it obvious that they’re related.
“That’s so cool!” The blonde’s eyes were sparkling. “It really explains the whole authority thing, too! It’s our way to interact with you all! Though, I hate the word authority now! It sounds like we're above you or something better… Wielding authority over you.”
Listening to the tiger’s deduction, the particles started moving again and strongly swung from right to left a couple of times, making it look like they disagreed with her.
“No?” She tilted her head once more. “Wait.” It looked like she actually understood it now. “It’s the other way around! Canir said something similar, too, I think. The higher our authority is, the closer we get to you! It means you think of us as more equal the more authority we have. My, aren’t we a bit conceited?” Her expression turned into a bit of a smirk.
“H-Hey!” The moment she made this accusation, she was swept off her feet by a powerful gust of wind. The sparkly particles also seemed a little upset because they were darting all over the place and occasionally hit the tiger with even more wind from all sides. "I-I'm just kidding! Calm down!" A few moments later, they actually did, and Sophia was able to stand up again and could take care of her disheveled clothes and hair before continuing.
“Okay, don’t tease magic.” She made a mental note before continuing. “Well, it might also be a way to ensure you’re on the same page and not be abused. After all,” Sophia made another pause. “I’m starting to think that it’s not even us who are using magic. Rather, we ask you to do stuff for us based on our imagination or words. Wait, does that mean you actually can read our minds when we use chantless stuff?! Our internal magic acts more like a translation, and the more of you we have inside us, the better we understand each other and the closer we are to you, effectively raising our authority to a level that brings us closer to being equals!”
Following her explanation, the pink and purple particles of ambient magic more and more circled around the tiger in a rhythm that could almost be compared to a dance. Needing a break after all of this and wrapping her head around her theory, Sophia sat down on her branch once more, watching the particles move around her for a good while. It had a rather calming effect on her, too.