Sneaky Hiding

    Shifting air and darkness around herself, Naniko is working to actively dodge light. Well, whatever it actually is, she's getting good at it. There's nothing really to hide behind in the open space filled with flowers, but when the petals are whipped up by movement of air, Naniko seems to disappear, like Batman via a smoke cloud, at least until they all rest again, revealing where she's scuffled off to.

Goldenblade has been working at the castle nearby, at Eas, inventing hydroelectric, but today has been instructed to take a mental health day. This started a whole new arguement, her claim that she didn't need a mental health day being overridden by her crews' need for a day without her hovering over them for -their- mental health. So, she's taking a break, which she doesn't like to do, and is trying to make the most of it, with indeterminate luck.

She doesn't immediately see Naniko, her own odd mood compounding the situation, and so she proceeds without a greeting to the edge of the lake, where she peers out skeptically and seems to be considering something.

    Naniko notices Goldenblade. She sweeps her foot around like a martial arts film, though that has more purpose than just looking cool. The short-haired bluenette uses her command of both air and darkness to sweep up the petals and other bits of loose matter including dust and grass and leaves. She's engulfed in them, but when they gently scatter and flutter to the ground, no Naniko.

Goldenblade finishes contemplating the lake, it seems, and then with a burst of almost insane speed, she runs into the lake, dives down, and emerges with quite a large fish flopping on a knife in her hand. She drips water as she emerges from the lake, looking pleased with herself, and still doesn't notice Naniko. "Ah, fish for supper tonight," she says with a pleased tone.

    Water doesn't so much drip off of Goldenblade as she stands there, it seems to be pulled away from her, splashing off of her into a fine mist as a dimple forms in the water, lowering the level around the woman slightly. It quickly continues, drying tears, sweat, and mostly that water soaking her clothes, forming a sphere of air and dry ground as the expelled water fell down around her into the water like she'd just done a massive cannonball. Naniko's voice clears her throat behind Goldenblade.

Goldenblade is dried out mysteriously as she attempts to put the still wriggling fish into her inventory. It won't go, live things won't go into inventory. She doesn't want to butcher it, she won't get good drops from it due to lack of skill, so she simply holds onto it. Without turning around, she says, "Oh, Naniko, hello. I hadn't seen you there. How is that new skill working for you, then?"

    Naniko replies with a person-flipped quote in response. "You didn't see me there," she says. She steps up next to Goldenblade and gestures to shore. "Going my way?" she asks. Though she then looks back toward the large lake wistfully. "Such as it is," she says.

Goldenblade turns slowly, and smiles to Naniko, fisn still flopping in her arms. It's a big fish. "I'm not going any way, just now. I was going to head back to Eas to get the fish cooked, but it'll keep for a bit, if you'd like to walk with me for a while?" Closer up, the Hunger debuff is apparent. Apparently her fishing expedition cleared the unwashed debuff.

    Naniko furrows her brow. She reaches out and puts a hand on Goldenblade's shoulder. "Hey, I could help you find something to eat. I usually find fruit when I can. Something that doesn't taste like...well, whatever menu food is supposed to taste like."

Goldenblade is in a Strange Mood, which happens sometimes to people. It's usually associated with odd quests and world-changing events. Her sydroelectric project at Eas is almost certainly the source. Anymore, Strange Moods are a pretty known thing, and though the sufferer is rarely aware, those around them often are. Generally the Unwashed debuff is the source of that initial revelation. People in strange moods often forget to wash and eat, and when they do eat, they generally don't notice what it is they're eating, and will generally consume menu food without comment. Or noticing. "Menu food?" she asks, her mind not all there. "Sounds good."

    Naniko's brow furrows. She reaches out gently and takes the fish. "Hey," she says, "let's put this guy back for a minute. Hold your breath." She doesn't really give Goldenblade the time to register why before the bubble is pierced by car-wash levels of spray from multiple directions. She's enveloped in water, and the bubble is gone when it's done. Naniko looks at Goldenblade's debuffs. Apparently good enough. She lets the fish go to...wherever fish go, confident she'll be able to find it again. She IS an Undine, after all...even though she doesn't fish. "Feel any better?" she asks.

Goldenblade's fish is taken. "That's my lunch," she protests as high pressure water envelops her and surges into every nook and cranny, including a few she hadn't previously investigated. After the water clears, she is, indeed, freshly washed and clean and not just rinsed off in lake water. She looks around, and calls forlornly, "Come back, lunch!" It -was- a pretty big fish.

    "You were just saying how menu food was good enough," Naniko says. "Look, here," she says, going through the menus and producing some of the 'food' from it. She offers it to Goldenblade. "Eat enough so the hunger isn't eating your stats, at least, okay?"

Goldenblade admits, "Well, menu food is fine, but the fish was -really- good. Folks don't normally catch fish like that out here." But she will eat the menu food that's offered and eats until the debuff clears. "Ah, that was good," she admits. Proving she didn't taste it at all, because menu food invariably tastes like saltine crackers, or possibly cardboard.

    Naniko smiles. "Hey, what's going on?" she asks. "Do you need someone to talk to?" She reaches out, moving her arm in a way that movie telekinesis users did, but real people wouldn't need to. Like Magneto and metal, the Undine manipulated the water, though it wasn't exactly clear why.

Goldenblade huhs at the question. "What's going on? I'm building hydroelectric generators at Eas," she explains. "But they said they needed me to take a break and cool my jets because they had some things that needed doing without me hovering over them." She sounds indignant. "As if I hover over people." She totally hovers over people. "So, I came out here to do some fishing, but now my fish has gone."

    "Yeah," Naniko says. As she waves her hand around, a bubble forms, and it swirls around them, but it's still not clear why. Naniko's hands drop to her sides, into the water, and the bubble closes with a splash. "Sorry about that. I think it fled the scene. It was a nice fish, but you seemed like you needed more than just a nice catch."

Goldenblade isn't quite sure /what/ she needs, at this point. She'd been pretty excited by the catch, but she seems to have dismissed it from her thoughts now. "What I need," she explains, "Is a way to mount a rotating wheel on the falls at Eas to turn a hydroelectric generator. I know the principle, but the metallurgy that's required is partly beyond my skill level. I can do a lot of it, but the forces involved are tremendous. I've brought in Kaydon, and he's helping a lot, but I'd like to be more involved in those parts also."

    Naniko considers. "Metalurgically," she says, "it would be difficult. What about using some of the unnaturally strong bones of some of the larger creatures around? There are some I've made things from that require diamonds to cut. You'd only have to find a way to mount them securely in the stone, which I feel like Earth magic could easily do, shaping the stone so tightly around it that it can't move away." She raises a finger on each hand, holding her hands up otherwise in fists. "There's also this," she says before an arc snaps between her fingers making a loud crack. "I mean...we're in a world filled with magic, now. Industrial processes aren't necessary, anymore."

Goldenblade frowns at industrial processes not being necessary anymore. "That's what makes you weak. You kids and your magic." She reverts to the seventy-five year old much more often when she's in these strange moods. "Anyhow, who knows what rules magic has? I don't. But I can build things, so I build the things I can build. Magic's for children," she insists. "Because it's easier than explaining electronic theory to a six-year old. But things /work/ because that's how physics works, and I mean to take advantage of it."

    Naniko smiles, but it's much more polite than friendly. "Of course," she says. She takes a step back, falling back into the water. "If you'll excuse me," she says, the words becoming gurgly as her gills fill with water.

Goldenblade arches a brow, but she doesn't really bite her tongue when she's in a fey mood like she is now, and that sort of thing comes out. She's quite old school in the fantasy magic department, and it shows at times like these. She nods about excusing Naniko, and when she falls back into the water, she assumes that's the end of the discussion and she will wander off, herself.