Sonia idly tapped the top of her phone with her thumb as she wandered the hall. Skye was pretty prompt, but Sophia on the other hand...
"Guess Sophia's just busy," Sonia concluded to herself after a whopping 47 seconds had passed. "Like she always is. Well it should be more comfortable with just Skye anyway."
Flipping into another app, Sonia pulled out what looked like it was supposed to be a list, except it only contained one person: Skye Seraphina. Tapping on her name, a map opened up and scrolled across the world before punching down a little marker with some GPS coordinates. Truthfully, Sonia had synced their phones to be able to track each other a couple years ago. As far as she knew, Skye had no idea, and every time she'd ask how Sonia knew her exact position, she'd make up some 'location spell' she'd learned at school.
N 45° 11' 30.773"
W 30° 31' 1.723"
Also shown were several key pieces of info to help make long-range teleportation that much easier; one of those apps you couldn't really attend Inerva without hearing about... a lot. Stepping aside into one of the blank 'teleportation rooms.' Sonia thrusting a hand out and began drawing patterns in the air with her finger. The semantics, in her version of the spell, weren't strictly necessary, but for longer teleportation, especially in and out of Inerva, it was important to get the altitude right. Falling to your death was no laughing matter.
The space in front of her began to warp and compress and after about a minute, she stepped forward into... the sand? Right, Skye was near the coast, so this much be the beach. Logical. Sonia stole a quick 360 look at her surroundings, catching sight of Skye's purple head fairly easily. Unlike before, at such a short distance, Sonia was able to warp the distance away more easily, popping up just a few feet away. She immediately answered.
"Burgers are fine. At this point I'd probably even try some of Sophia's sushi... maybe," she tacked on at the end. "Are you ready now, or is there still something you need to do?"
Sand was awful, Skye concluded as she finally finished getting the awful stuff off her uniform to a degree acceptable that it would look like she wasn't playing hooky. However, she had missed her hair, leaving it loose. She began to pin it back up when she heard something from behind her. Like teleporting...?
Skye jumped about a foot into the air and landed on her butt. It was then covered in sand, again. Stupid sand.
"Sonia....! I just managed to get all the sand off!" Skye whined.
She threw a little bit of sand as revenge.
"I don't know how you manage to always find me. I swear I'll figure it out eventually. If Sophia knew I was playing hooky she'd kill me... so let's just go together, okay? At least until I get all this sand off, finally."
Besides, Sophia was probably busy. At least, Skye really really hoped that she was. Explaining this whole beach situation wasn't exactly going to be easy. Or fun, for that matter.
Skye racked her brain for a burger place nearby. Burger Queen? Nah, Skye hated their fries. Wacky Ronald? But she wanted a real burger.
"How about we go to Burger Billy's Burger Shack Of Burgers? Unless you have a better suggestion?" Skye asked. "Oh, and we're walking. I always get sick if we teleport. Nausea and eating are the worst pairing."
Skye tied up her hair -she was tired of trying to get the sand out of... well, everywhere. She wondered if Sonia had thought about getting a gift for Sophia, but decided not to ask. Better not to stir anything up like that quite yet. Skye started to walk towards Burger Billy's Burger Shack Of Burgers, checking back to see if Sonia was following behind yet or not.
"Okay, how is that my fau— pffth... hey!" Sonia dusted the sand particles off her jacket, watching as they dispersed into the ocean breeze. "BB's hm? Not exactly fine dining... or dining at all, but I always appreciate prompt food, so sure. If you just stand right here I can—"
Sonia was interrupted and released the most in-your-face, obvious sigh possible. "Isn't it like 10 minutes away? You know, the cumulative time across your life that you could save with teleporting can actually add full, 24-hour days to your life," she commented pointedly, wandering alongside Skye. "Depending on just how slow you walk, how far you need to walk, and how frequently you need to do it, it could even saves weeks, perhaps months. That's well worth the cost of any... 'portal sickness' you might develop in my opinion."
After a few minutes of walking, Sonia finally dropped the topic and remained silent for a bit, finally piping back up to ask, "So how is school then? If you ran off because you're having trouble with something, I suppose I could..." she trailed off somewhere in the process of saying 'help' or 'tutor you,' involuntarily shuddering a bit at the idea. "—recommend some effective resources. I found this list of textbooks which are considered the most optimal for each subject. It helped me a lot."
Turning a sidewalk corner, a small shack came into view in the distance. Truthfully, it looked more like a building-sized shed, and completely out of place next to the buildings around it. The basic look of Burger Billy's Shack was— at this point —iconic in this part of town, or perhaps 'infamous.'
Now within smelling distance of the greasy food, Sonia began to edge ahead, eventually arriving at the outside counter. Not unlike an ice-cream place, one never actually ate at the shack, so much as ate from it, and usually with crippling regret afterwords. "Just a Shack Burger for me," Sonia ordered, immediately slapping down the exact change she'd pre-counted from her pocket onto the counter. A few moments later, a paper plate was slid back from inside, featuring a massive burger greasy enough to potentially be used as a makeshift mirror. "There go my health goals for the month," she joked, grabbing it through 5 layers of napkin and chomping a massive bite.
"Sonia, you're always way too focused on the destination. Plus, if I hadn't walked from the beach, we would have missed the great views on it." Skye replied to Sonia's insistence on teleportation.
It wasn't really a far walk, and Skye never got why powerful magicians always teleported everywhere. There was all the time and space folding and making sure you didn't fall to your death. Plus, Skye really really hated how sick she felt afterward. Her stomach felt like it would take months to return when she teleported and that was a horrible feeling.
The shake in question was around the corner, and Sonia quickly ordered. Skye pondered the menu for a second and then just ordered the same as Sonia.
"Eh, I don't need to worry too hard about those as long as I keep up my training. But still... I feel like I should do like, fifty extra sit ups or something when I eat from BB's." Skye said.
Convenience versus quality was an uphill battle. Skye preferred the faster type of restaurants, but when she was worried about expenses and gaining too much flab she'd opt for a packed lunch.
Skye dabbed at her burger and let it drain off a bit before taking a bite. She liked grease as much as the next person, but she really should at least counteract some of it. Skye also vowed never to look inside a BB's kitchen if she could help it. She felt like the floors were composed mostly of grease and the despair of the workers.
"Oh yeah, I was wondering what to get Sophia for her birthday. I know you probably don't wanna give something super awesome like me... but I still want to thank her somehow. It's a big milestone for her, and I feel guilty that she spent a good chunk of her life helping us."
Maybe the grease and heartburn might distract Sonia from being upset at Sophia for a moment? Probably not, but Skye was going to have to explain her playing hooky sooner or later and Sonia wasn't the one that Skye had to lie to. It was all white lies of course, but Sophia might see through it if Skye didn't at least attempt for some backup.
"Do you have any ideas? I was thinking maybe another Yukata for her."
Sonia visibly tensed up at the mention of Sophia's birthday, coughing a few stray bits of burger out of her throat. A few steps later, she fell back into a nearby bench on the sidewalk, taking a moment to rest and ponder this new information while she finished the burger.
"Right, that is today, isn't it," Sonia confirmed. "Might be why she's busy. Well, if you want the perfect gift, one of my classmates shared a spell which can theoretically extract desires from the human mind. It's not even half as illegal as it sounds, and I bet he'd do it if I asked. We'd just need to find some way to get Sophia to stay still for an hour or two. Maybe while she's sleeping?"
From the absolute absurdity of the suggestion, most people would've taken Sonia's offer as a joke, but Skye had the advantage of knowing her sister: the offer was dead serious.
"I guess the kimono option works too though, considering the time constraint. Plus, there might be some things she'd like that she doesn't technically want, as far as her mind is concerned. A predictive spell like that would be impossibly challenging to design." Sonia took another generously sized bite of health concerns in a bun. "My nanotransmutation lab let me keep the giant diamond from last year, so I could just give her that. Maybe I'll transmute it into a little statuette of her."
Ah, so she probably shouldn't have mentioned the birthday. So Sonia and Sophia were still fighting. Skye didn't really get it, but she supposed those two had a different relationship. Skye understood some of it though. She on some level knew that Sophia would never deem Skye good enough to do what Skye always dreamed of.
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Except for the spell part. Which reminds me that I should double check the runes in the shop later." Skye said.
She considered that she should have grabbed fries as she sat down next to Sonia. They'd be greasy too, but somehow BB's made excellent fries in spite of their greasy than a teenager that never showered burgers. A really misnamed store, all in all.
"Yeah, it's too bad I don't I have time for that sort of spell, Sonia. I could have had the perfect gift moths ago. Then again, she's pretty easy to shop for if you know the right places to shop. I'm not sure why she likes that Japanese stuff so much. We're French." Skye said. "And the Japanese are obsessed with the French. So I guess it's all one big cycle?"
Skye finished off her burger in a few bites, trying to eat it quickly without tasting it too deeply. It was drowned in mustard as usual. Skye sort of hated mustard but if she asked for none it'd still be on her burger.
"But new subject. How were your first classes of the semester at Inerva? I'm dying to hear what you learned. Was it more on teleportation? Runes?"
Sonia released a powerfully audible sigh at the question. "Most of today was actually just one class. The professors decided to show off by transforming into a dragon for a while... which was interesting I suppose." Shrugging, she continued, "The rest of it was pretty much three hours of them talking non-stop. I mean... I guess I learned a few things, but..." she let that thought hang so she could take another bite.
"It's a huge time commitment, but I really can't give up Runicography, given how useful it is. Especially with my... project."
For the most part, Sonia had learned not to bring up her project, and a mental reflex immediately kicked in, almost forcing her to change the topic. "Also, even if it's technically true, I wouldn't exactly call myself French. Then people would start thinking I could speak it without a translation rune. I'm really an Ominarite through and through." Sonia finished shoving the last bite of burger in her mouth.
"Guess we're more French approximate, then."
Bing. Skye's phone went off, having received Sophia's text.
At BB's now. Ah, here's the coordinates if you wanna teleport. Seriously though, how do you guys not get sick when you do that? D:
"Annnd... sent." Skye said. "I'd say that appearances can be decieving. Do that class, maybe it'll be more exciting than you think. Runes are like that you know? We just write in a dusty old language and poof! Stuff happens."
Skye turned and threw her wrapper into the trash, watching it skitter around the rim before falling in. Sophia probably could just sink it without looking. Skye tried not to sigh.
"So, how goes your project? It's a pretty tall order, right? Were you planning on giving your project a cool codename yet to avoid dancing around this topic in public or what?"
Sure, she could just let that mention slide. Orrrr she could take the opportunity to tease her older sister like the younger sister she was.
"Gonna call it a homunculus or maybe a golem? Or are those both taken?"
Sonia returned a strange look. "Put yourself in the project's place. You wouldn't want to be called a 'homunculus' or a 'golem,' right? I keep trying to call her a 'Synthesized Neuronic Assistant Lifeform,' but it hasn't caught on yet. The most I could manage was SNAL. Most of the people helping me just call her Sophie though."
Suddenly, Sonia shook her head. "Right, sorry. It's progressing, but too slow to be a birthday present. Maybe next year?"
Sonia casually tossed the wrapper at the same can, missing by a good margin, wrapper hitting the sidewalk. "Anyway, good lunch, but I should get back to school. Thanks, Skye." Pulling up her app again, Sonia murmured her way through a similar spell and stepped straight back into the same room she'd left by, leaving Skye there alone.