Winter is coming...just not yet

On late spring days, this lake is something of a local tourist attraction for those who are...attached to the world they've left behind. Its still waters, tastefully dotted with flower petals may as well be straight out of a Japanese painting.

But that was a good five months ago. The flower petals have been replaced by dried, fallen leaves, and the slate-grey of the lake's surface--disturbed though it may be by the stiff, if warm, wind and the ripples of rain-drops--mirrors the heavens overhead. Winter threatens, though summer's warmth still lingers.

Naturally the tourists are therefore long-gone, save for a solitary figure, bare-footed and clad in thin clothing, standing by the water's edge. It's less clear what that figure is doing, if anything, for it is entirely motionless, arms folded inflexibly across its chest.

    Naniko is not a tourist. Not exactly. She doesn't seem bothered by the rain, and her clothes are soaking from the drizzle. It's an indication of just how long she's spent in the sky's tears. She moves thoughtfully through the rain before kneeling down next to the water. She doesn't look up right away, but when she does, scanning the surface of the water, she seems to notice the other moistened lake observer for the first time. Standing without using her hands, she walks to about three meters away before stopping and silently considering him.

Three meters is enough to give at least a clue as to his activity. Subtle patches of steam poof off his drenched clothing at irregular intervals. Occasionally there's a faint crackling sound, usually accompanied by an involuntary twitch of a grimace. Underneath everything, there is the subtle scent of ozone.

And so it continues for several long moments. "May I help you?" he inquires at last with a carefully neutral politeness, head slowly swiveling to regard his fellow storm-inhabitant. The poofing does not stop.

    Naniko considers for a moment, then presses her palms together in front of her poncho. She parts them and separates them to her sides. With a splash, the water in her clothing and in the air and soil around her pushes outward from her until it forms a meter-radius bubble. The water at that radius runs down the sides until it joins with that around the bubble's dryness around her feet. Raindrops trying to get in are pushed back up, breaking apart until they form droplets that run down the sides like she's got an invisible sphere around her covered in wax. "If the water's interfering with whatever you're doing, I might be able to help," she suggests.

SpritesHero's eyebrows nudge upwards, eyes crinkling a bit at the edges as they narrow and rapidly skate over first Naniko's water-repelling bubble then her clothing. Interesting.

"It is not interfering," he admits. The scent of ozone suddenly spikes, the water around him evaporating in a cloud of steam. Unlike her efforts, though, his clothes are only patch-wise dry. Those patches rapidly fill in thanks to the ever-giving skies. "I was using it as an indicator. But I admit I'm curious to see if you're as good with your control when the target is someone else? If you're willing." One eyebrow arches still further in question, with the barest hint of an underlying challenge to it.

    Naniko looks up and around her, letting out a soft 'hmmm' before the bubble dissipates, water splashing down onto her face. She closes her eyes and enjoys the rain splashing on her for a moment before she raises her hands. She plants her feet a bit more and claps her palms together. She brings her hands back in a kameamea pose. The water falling is drawn to the space between her hands. She thrusts them forward. The water pushes forward and splashes against something invisible. It draws the water out of a similar bubble around the other there. The humidity even seems to go down, making the air dry and any static electricity rise. She goes back to standing with her hands at her sides. "Never done that before. Looks like it worked." She watches the rain cascade down the orb of water repulsion the bubble has made. "You could walk the bottom of the lake like that," she points out.

Whether out of mercy or self-preservation, Robert tones his electricity down. Way the heck down. There will be no expansive, 80s-style fros. At least not for the moment. He does summon a minor speck of water, watching in amusement as it wicks away towards the exterior shell.

"Impressive control," he concludes at last, turning away and eyeing the lake consideringly. "Name's Robert, by the way. Pleased to meet you." There's a momentary pause in which he reaches out one bare foot, pressing it towards the lake's surface to see if the waters actually do part. "Fancy a walk?"

    The waters do part, forming a tiny wall of water around that same radius. The ground dries like a sponge on a stove. It doesn't pull water out of the grass, but loose water isn't getting into that bubble, at least for now.
    Naniko smirks. "Naniko," she says, introducing herself. She runs toward the water and leaps forward, raising her arms to dive forward into the ripples on the surface. Water definitely doesn't bother her.

SpritesHero does not bug-eye and say "Naaaniiii?!!" He most certainly does not. He simply takes things in stride, responding with a polite, if bone-dry "Pleasure" before he steps forward, wading in after the Undine's trajectory. There is nothing tentative in his gait. He simply strides forward, briskly, forcing his egg-shaped depression deeper into the lake's waters until they close overhead.

Clear as the lake's waters are, the dim light that manages to filter through the clouds is only further attenuated down here. So however enthusiastic Robert's intentions may be, there's the distinct danger of running into things. Or tripping over things. Or walking into a fish. Which he probably wouldn't mind, seeing as how fish are rather tasty, but it's not yet clear how Naniko might view her fishy brethren. It would be very impolite to assume and, say, eat a pet.

    Naniko swims in a bit of an unnatural way, even for an Undine. Unlike an Atlantean, her movements aren't like a dolphin's. She's pulling from a lifetime's worth of memories swimming without Undine swimming potency. However, what she does have is control over water that she's demonstrated already. She moves like Superman, the currents moving at her whim. She's definitely an Undine, even though the only thing giving her away is her blue hair. Her poncho flows around her form, hiding it even better than before. However, flowing up as it does might give a curious person the opportunity to see the gils on her bare sides between her ribs.
    The Undine woman swims with several curious fish before flowing back and 'landing' on her feet at the bottom. She looks into the bubble, which is like a very slightly distorted window to the world normally hidden at the bottom of the lake. She waves at her traveling companion, then gestures deeper into the lake and begins walking along the bottom.

Very slightly indeed. There's not a little of what might be called the fishbowl effect, and as Naniko lands nearby, Robert makes full use of the fact to make a truly dreadful grimace--a grimace which, naturally, is amplified and elongated by the curvature of his bubble. But then it's back to his normal, serious expression. Even if that expression, too, is warped.

While Robert -is- curious, his attentions are rather divided. Thus, of her gills he sees little. There's only the silhouette of her poofy poncho streaking back and forth at nearly insulting speeds, in comparison to his plodding steps. It's like watching someone fly when you're still crawling. But then this is her element. And so he simply appreciates it, even if there is a minor undercurrent of jealousy. "I do hope you're not hiding Nessie down here," he comments. How much of those words will actually reach her is another question entirely.

    Sound travels far in water. There's a barrier between the air and the water. Normally, it's just water tension causing it. That's where most of the problems hearing come from. However, Naniko turns to look toward Robert as he speaks. She can hear but doesn't respond. It's not so much a question of volume as much as it is the inconvenience of having vocal chords that work in air. Air and water are so different, that if one can talk above, one can't make utterances below. Either that or she's just enjoying the view.

Or...she really -is- hiding Nessie, and this is all a TRAP.

At any rate, he seems to assess that look as one he's been given many, many times before. Yes, the 'shut up, Robert', look. Which he responds to with a somewhat sheepish smile and a shrug, as though to say "Hey, I tried". But for now he follows along obediently enough, assuming that she knows where she is going. And that it is an interesting place.

    Naniko continues walking. This is somewhere she knows, for her path is not wandering as she moves beneath the waves. It's dark at the bottom, but light enough to see the ancient construct beneath the water. Naniko looks back expectantly at Robert before entering the structure. It's made of what looks like marble, but it's weathered terribly. Lake flora and fauna have made it their home, but it does look like it's designed to go inside, at least.

Oh. Now -that- sparks his interest. Those eyebrows slide upwards, one hand lifting to press against a marble wall. His thumb grazes over it, brushing to and fro. High-quality stuff, this. His eyebrows nudge even higher as he glances around, trying to get a sense for what the structure might have been. With minimal luck. He gives the entryway-frame a parting, affectionate pat before following after Naniko into its (presumably) darker depths.

    Naniko waits in the midst of what appears to be an ancient temple of some kind. There is what used to be an altar of some kind, though the frescas and statues that could have said to which god or goddess have long since been eroded past specificity. It's got a fairly generic water temple vibe to it, though it's only a single room.
    Naniko reaches out to place her hand on the surface of the bubble trailing Robert. She pulls at it and places the barrier on the altar. The bubble stretches, the surface tension expanding until the entire small room is filled with air. Once again, Naniko is as dry as a bone. The inside of the temple, however, is not lit, and she doesn't add light of her own. "It's nice down here on sunny days," she says once her lungs are filled with air again. "Especially in the evenings when light cascades through the water and fills this place with light. I'm not sure if this is a secret puzzle to be solved or just a pretty place. It may have had a secret item in it at some point, but I haven't found anything."

There is something both wonderful and terrifying about being in that bone-dry room, with water visibly pressing down all around you. Nonetheless, there's little use in being distracted by that now. Robert simply remains silent as he paces around the room, gaze flickering over the temple's walls. Occasionally he leans in closer to try and decipher something-or-other, but for the most part his progress is soundless, save for squelch of lake plant-life underfoot as he pads his way around the room. "It certainly is likely to be peaceful," he agrees at length. "Your private spot? I appreciate you showing it to me."

    Naniko looks around. "It's harder for non-Undine to get to," she says. "At least without water magic. I've never seen anyone else down here, but if it's not a home, is anywhere really private?" She gestures around to the worn diases and frescas and featureless statues. "There's no secrets here for me to uncover, really. Unless I'm remarkably stupid and missed everything."

"Perhaps the secrets to be uncovered are yet to come," Robert murmurs, in carefully ominous, sepulchral tones. "You could start your own c...club." A hand lifts, fingertips carelessly brushing over what may have once been the cheek of a statue.

Seriousness returns. "If you're actually interested, you could probably get someone with more experience to look at it. But sometimes things are best left as is. Private spot, personal spot...however you might want to call it. Have you thought that this spot might have been created for you?"

    Naniko looks around at it. "You think?" she asks. "Is that a thing that happens?" she continues. She considers the fish swimming by outside. "This new life is...complex. We don't know everything, yet. Sometimes, things feel random; other times, it's like you said...things happen like they're designed for a specific purpose." She reaches through the wall of water and lets her fingers run along the scales of a shiny Koi. "I've never heard of a space being designed for a particular person, before, though."

SpritesHero can only shrug at that. "I honestly have no idea," he confesses, sweeping some goopy weed away from a stone pedestal before taking a seat on it. "I mean, if this place is what we think it is, it should in principle be possible. I suppose the question is whether determining what it is affects enough out there that it needs to be created in advance. Or if things are slowly filled in as they are discovered. Or something in-between, with the general form and function pre-determined but the details filled in later." He pauses, then, watching as Naniko apparently pets a fish--boy, good thing he didn't steal any for later eating. "If you were to make a game, though, wouldn't you tweak things depending on who plays it? If that were possible?"

    "I don't subscribe to the game theory," Naniko says. She turns to face Robert. As she pulls her hand from the water, it is immediately dried as the water refuses to come with it. "Certainly, that's what our memory donors were all doing when we became new, but this is our reality. I choose to believe the person whose memories I have is married with a baby and another on the way, and that I just have memories to kickstart me as an adult in this new world."

SpritesHero's head cants to the side, considering. And true, there is a brief, jarring shock to his expression, though it is quickly erased. "Let's hypothetically say you are correct," he begins, a smile playing briefly over his lips. "Did this world exist before you came into it? What was your body doing before it had its memories? Was this world created for us, or did it pre-date us and we were simply added to it?"

    "Nope," Naniko says, quickly. She's thought about this. "It's a new world. I don't know why whatever deity or deities here made it based off a video game, but let's look at a hypothetical infinite deity who can create whole universes by sheer force of will. Don't you think that deity could, at a whim, imagine what would happen if the world as it was at the stroke of midnight, were real? I'm me, now. We all are. We didn't exist before that event that seemed to trap us here, but if the person I remember hadn't been playing the game just then, I wouldn't exist. Nobody would exist in my place. There would simply be nobody where I am."

"Alright," Robert continues. He leans back a touch, supporting himself on his arms and folding one leg over the other. "So it's a new world, yes? And at the very least, -you- were custom created--tailored if you will--to yourself. So if we hypothetically agree on that point, then we've established two points. First, the world's creator is capable of tuning some aspect of the world to you. Second, the world was, in at least a minimal way, tuned to you. So wouldn't it follow that it should at least be possible that this location was also tuned to you? We've already established, essentially, capacity and intent."

    Naniko doesn't seem surprised or like a lightbulb is going on at all when Robert drops his point. "Oh, it's definitely possible," she agrees with him. "Possibly even likely. I'm just saying I've never seen it before. Is that something you've run across?"

SpritesHero just looks kind of helpless at this point. "I have no idea," he confesses. "I mean, how would you even tell if a place was made for you specifically, instead of just somebody like you? I can't think of any possible readout."

    Naniko looks around. She huffs a bit. "I can't do light magic," she says. "Fire magic in here seems like a bad idea, too." She gestures around. "If there are clues to that, it's in the decor." She shakes her head. "Unfortunately, it looks like today is not my day for finding out."

"I'm afraid tomorrow isn't looking great either," Robert quips with amusement, levering himself to his feet and swatting bits of lake-bottom off his clothing. This is all definitely a rather odd experience. "It probably doesn't matter. As somebody I can't remember once said, the goal of life is to find a pile of gold and sit on it. Even if that pile of gold might not actually have any gold at all."

    Naniko's gaze narrows as she tries to puzzle through his meaning. "Are you saying that I should claim this space as mine, even if it wasn't created specifically for my use?"

"De facto, yes," Robert acknowledges. "I mean, it's out of the way. Nobody else comes here. It certainly doesn't seem to belong to anyone. And if anyone does try to contest you for the spot, you certainly seem to be more than capable of holding them off."

    Naniko considers the space again and takes a few steps into it. "It does feel very safe here," she says. She runs her fingers over one of the long-faded walls, destroyed by corrosion and life having its way. She looks at her fingertips and runs her thumb over the rest of them a few times. Turning to Robert, she says, "I can't think of a good reason not to."

"And if you ever do think of a good reason, you can rethink the matter," Robert allows, stepping back and greeting Naniko with an overly deep bow. "Congratulations, your Highness, Lady of....of..." He trails off, straightening and scratching at his head as he glances around him.

    Naniko looks around as well. "Yeah, I don't know, either," she says. "It was just the temple ruin at the bottom of the lake. Now I have to figure out if I want it to have a name, what that name should be...of course, I'll have to store certain possessions on dry land. Books--anything made of paper, really--certain metal objects..."

"Lady of name-to-be-determined," Robert concedes, sagely, pursing his lips and continuing to glance around him. "Depends on what you want to do down here, though. If you want it wet? Yes. If you want it like this, you could possibly have an enchanter set you up with a couple bubbles to keep your belongings dry."

    Naniko looks a bit hurt as he says that. "I do some enchanting," she points out. She pats herself down, but all she has to show for that is her word. "Relics don't count, I imagine," she laments. She looks around at the space. "Well, it's nice down here when it's waterlogged," she admits. "It will probably be more of a garden than a house," she continues. "Though I might be able to make some renovations to keep the fish from disrupting my sleep..."

"Think on it. I look forward to seeing what you'll do with the place." Robert advises, with a parting smile as wind begins to gust around him. He inhales sharply, lifts a hand in farewell, and steps backward into the lake's waters. They foam, churning around him, before he sets off towards the surface like a rocket, bubbles streaming in his wake.