Lakeside Memories

    The early morning glow washed over the area. It was a brisk morning, cold air moved across the lake, moving the pink petals across the lake, from the flowers that hovers on reflection on the lake's slightly disturbed surface.

Standing on the shore, was the Salamander known as Xander, wearing his gear this morning. In his hand was a few stones that he picked up from the lakeside and that he now skips across the water's surface. Trying to get one a little further than the next.

He was unaware of any one around him, just lost in his keen focus of the stones and his own memories of his past life before all this.

Mornings always seem to find Mikage somewhere away from the main towns on the island. Despite some people having dispersed from where they had all been teleported, there were many who had stayed to pit their steel against the tower. The druid hadn't so much as stepped one foot into the tower, though, at least so far as those from the newly minted 'Scale Emblem Alliance' had reported, anyways.

Everything in the area seems quiet. A calm, peaceful morning. That is, until a pillar of water splashes up from the lake, taking a couple of fish along with it. They flop in the air before coming to land on the shore. "Yes! Finally!" The shout comes from a distance up along the lake as Druid comes running across the edge.

Soon enough, the Were Fang is crouched down, tossing back a couple of smaller fish and then seizing the largest of them. Clearly, fishing is not her strong suit, but food is food. It's only then that she notices Xander, and somewhat sheepishly tucks the fish behind her back, looking a little embarrassed. "Um. Good morning."

    Xander gets ready to skip another stone, when hears splashing? Was that a shout? He almost doesn't catch Mikage hiding the fish behind her back, as he just-- stares at her. His gold, fiery draconic eyes blink a few times. "... Good morning...?" He says back with a bit of confusion in his voice.

"... You uh? Need something?" He asks turning to face her, as he rolls the lake pebble gently between his clawed, scaled finger tips. "Cause hiding things behind your back, could cause someone to think you are out to do no good. Given the murder that happened recently in Alne."

"Uh, no." The pale girl replies, "Honestly I didn't even realize you were here. I didn't take the fishing skill so I've been trying to figure out ways of doing without it." Her unoccupied hand motions to the disturbed water. There is a distinct gap where she'd summoned that water spray.

At his suggestion that she might be somehow responsible for the recent murder in Alne, her expresion shifts to an incredulous one. "Right. Watch me murder you with this fish." She takes the fish out from behind her back and waggles it at him. The mouth opens and closes a few times and it wiggles in her grasp.

"If I wanted to sneak up on you, I could have. Despite what the Landers think about Were Fangs, I'm not exactly the murderer type." Her blue eyes glance at the fish, and then at Xander, "Except maybe when it comes to wildlife." She shrugs. "A girl has to eat."

    Xander raises a brow as she wiggles the fish at him and he grins. Even though she continues on about how the npcs aka The Landers feel about Weres, he just-- starts laughing.

He laughs and holds his side gently, before aheming and forcing himself to breath in deeply, though the smile is still there. "S-sorry. Just needed the laugh it seems." He ahems again, before he goes back to skipping the stones across the water, or at least the one he had in his finger tips.

"Would have been easy enough too. Most of us are all still at a disadvantage. Level wise. Skill wise." Xander admits, as he gets ready to chuck another stone across the surface. ".. Mikage right?" He pauses and looks over to her. "We met at the beach a few days back? Or am I... confusing you for someone else?" Then goes to skip the stone.

As the fish continues to flop around, Mikage lifts it higher, sniffs at it, and then uses her free hand to initiate some menu commands. A moment later, the fish dematerializes into her inventory. "It's good to have a sense of humor. There are too many serious faces these days." She closes the menu, then claps some dirt off of her hands. "We're here, for now, might as well make what we can of it."

Reaching her hand back, the Were Fang pulls her hood back up. They are close enough to town that the Landers might notice the tattoo, so it is best to keep it hidden. It's a strange marking, perhaps not obvious as some others might be. "I did some leveling with Gwen Pendragon and her crew. Enough to at least be above the curve when it comes to that. Rats, gnolls, spiders, those sort of things."

Her footsteps are quiet as she approaches, head slightly tilted curiously. "And you're Xander." She raises her brows. "Or should I call you 'Soldier boy'?" Clearly, she has not forgotten their last encounter.

    "Mm. At least we can hope we are above the curve." Xander says gently as he then goes to skip another stone, but it just 'plops' and he sighs. "How did that leveling go, by the way? Anything interesting out of it?"

Xander then goes to toss another stone, but when she calls him 'soldier boy', he holds, goes to throw, and then just lowers his hand for a moment. "... So you haven't forgotten that bit." He says with almost a whisper, before he then chucks it hard and while it skips, it doesn't go far. Perhaps releasing a bit of his anger with that one.

"I guess the question is," He turns to look at her, "Do you believe it or do you think I was pulling your little Were-tail."

"A few things." The girl replies, dropping into a crouch. It almost makes her look like someone wild, the way she tends to prefer strange stances. Her own fingers pluck up a rock, but rather than tossing it, she just moves it between her fingers. "Though some of the initial treasures we traded in to the Landers to get the boats running to Ezzo."

"Just be careful if you go after Haggar. Don't end up on the receiving end of his axe. It's not a pleasant experience." She smirks, which tells all too well that she had made such a mistake.

When he acknowledges the earlier comment, Mikage just continues to watch him. Since the Apocalypse, it has been easier, in some ways, to read other people's emotions on their avatars. Maybe an effect of the increased haptics, or perhaps something else entirely. "I have a good memory, but don't worry. I'm not the type to go spreading people's secrets around. For a lot of us, the point of coming to this world is to escape where we were. So I'm not about to ruin that for anyone."

At that look, she laughs. "First, my tail is not small." Not that he has seen it. "As for if I believe you or not..." She flicks the rock between her fingers then lets it fall into her palm. "I imagine you wouldn't be giving me that look if you were lying."

    Xander hears what she has to say, the advice about the Haggar he gives a nod too. Taking in the information as he tries to remember what the creature was like back when he leveled here way when-- or if it was something new.

Either way, information was information. New or just things to confirm the old.

Though when Mikage gets back on him, he looks away from her as he listens, before he tosses the rock again. It skips a few times before sinking into the water.

    Xander does not answer right away, instead he stays quiet, rubbing another rock between his clawed, scaled fingers. "I did tell you I would give you the honest answer to it as well." He says softly, before he sighs gently. Closing his hand around the pebble in his hand.

The Salamander holds it there gently, his tail sways for a moment behind him as he gives some thought. His face looking a little heavy as he closes his eyes. "But yeah... Yeah. I'm an Army vet. Cyber Warfare division. Honorable discharged. Paralyzed from my waist down thanks to a virus."

His hand starts to grip more tightly around that pebble, his claws slowly digging into the leather glove material. "... a virus that killed my own," Then he threw the pebble with everything he had as he yells out, "TEAM!" Though it went across the water, past of the few flowers, it didn't make it as far as it could have.

Xander grins darkly after the throw of the stone, before he lowers his head. His bangs hiding his face for a moment, though he does continue to talk. "Kind of pathetic really. How some nightmares never leave us, no matter how hard we try to forget. You always hear it, faintly. That nagging thing." The Salamander shakes his head gently. "Its pathetic."

As Xander begins to tell his story, Mikage falls quiet. Others might have offered some commentary, but she gives him time to work through all of it. It might be something almost comforting. Someone willing to just listen. It isn't exactly a normal response, either. Instead, it is more like someone who has heard stories like this before.

Only after he finishes speaking, his head hanging forward, does she speak, her voice quiet as she pushes up to her feet. "It's probably precious little comfort, but some of the people I worked with had similar experiences. Ex-military, tech personnel, people who had their whole lives ahead of them..." She had worked with people like him?

"What always struck me was that there are two types of survivors." Mikage continues, "Those who sink into what they experienced, trapped by it. And then there are those who look to find a new way of living. I think it's a courageous way of facing a world that has shown cruelty. A way of saying that it hasn't broken you."

Her blue eyes look at him, and though the topic is serious, there is something there. A kinship perhaps? "You're still here. I wouldn't call that pathetic. I would call it brave."

    Xander doesn't move, he just stands there. His free hand, releasing and relaxing. Over and over again, as if forcing himself, like a twitch, to relax. To find his center once more.

He can hear her, he hears every word she says and it was true. He did question now what her profession was. Did she really work with folks like him? Was she being just as honest as he was? What was her story?

    Xander's eyes slowly pierce past the shadow of his hair, looking at her, but he was still very quiet. Words were-- hard right now. She might pick up on that. He knew if he dared even opened his mouth, he wouldn't be able to talk straight if he wanted too, so he just rumbled; Lowly.

It was the best he could get out. A little vocal sound that being a Salamander granted him. His tail twitched in frustration, before he looked away once more. Closing his eyes as he inhaled deeply, before exhaling slowly. Just needed to calm. She was not the enemy.

    "There were days..." He slowly gets out, a lisp, a hitch in his words. "I wanted to end it. So my mom wouldn't have to continue to waste her life taking care of me, paying bills, and juggling her job as a nurse." He opens his eyes gently. "... I hate myself for being the lucky one. Haunted by their faces. The sounds of them dieing. The panic in the air. We couldn't stop it. I couldn't stop it."

Xander closed his eyes once more. "I failed them." His hands fully relax, dropping the rocks in the other one to the ground, before he goes down to his knees. "... and I'm worried... I'll fail everyone here as well. People want to go home. They want to see their families again. Their friends... and yet, in truth," He grins, dangerously, but it subsides. "I am like those who just want to live here. I have no desire to go back home, because while I can help those, maybe, just maybe escape."

Those eyes look directly at her. "... I can do more here, then I can out there... and that, to me, is tragic. To /want/ to stay here. In a virtual world." He lowers his head once more. "... It's just so damn confusing." He grits his teeth, before he forces himself to relax once more. "... I-I'm sorry. I.. Thank you, but I am sorry."

It is only by the grace of the Salamander having his eyes closed while talking about the burden on his family, that he would miss the slight tightening of Mikage's lips. Her eyes look away, across the water, so by the time he does open her eyes, she seems simply speculative. Taking in and considering his words and experiences.

"I wasn't impacted by the virus. So I'd be a fool to claim that I understand what it was like." Though there are probably a number of well-meaning people who would say those words: 'I understand', when they really don't. "I've seen the aftermath tear people appart. Especially in Japan. Even though we were hit just as hard as everyone else, the stigma and dishonor of it all has ruined entire families."

If nothing else, this at least reveals one thing. The young woman must be Japanese. That use of 'we' when describing people in Japan. Eventually, she finds her way to standing next to him. The Were Fang is quite a bit smaller than him, coming up only to about his shoulder.

"The guilt..." She looks up towards him then, "Don't beat yourself up for it. The fact you're still willing to help people here, tells me you're a good person. Plenty of people just want to escape. Let this be their new life." She takes in a deep breath, then lets out it out again slowly. It is almost as if she were savoring the smell of the air. Such a simple gesture. "There are people I would miss on the outside, but... there's freedom here."

Her lip quirks slightly. "Not that I wouldn't support those who do want to get out. I'm just not sure I stand firmly on one side or the other." She just shakes her head at his apology, as if showing that it isn't needed. "I still think your choice is brave, soldier boy." This time, she offers him an actual full smile. "You'll have to work hard to convince me otherwise."

    Xander looks at her from where he sits on his knees. His eyes distant, lacking any light. ".. Brave? Hmph." He looks away. "Hardly... But it seems I won't convince you otherwise, as you said."

"... You said," He looks at her once more, "You worked with people /like/ me. What was it-- you honestly did in the real world? Like, outside of this walls of ones and zeroes?" Easy to see he is now trying to switch topics. Get his mind on something else. Lock away his thoughts, feelings.. Or at least try. Not easy, but he can try. "... What is your story?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard." Mikage chuckles to herself, giving him another of those almost wry looks before she steps away, moving to find a flat bit of stone that surrounds the lake, settling herself down to sit on the edge. She doesn't start explaining at first, instead taking off her boots physically rather than using a menu. Then, she dangles her feet into the water.

"I work for Piffle Princess." Likely, most people would have at least tangentally heard of the company. During the Dark Times, they had used a version of DiveGear to operate small dolls called 'Battle Angels'. There was even televised tournaments. "Most people know them for the toys, but the money raised largely went into research."

There is a strange, almost subtle shift in how she talks. It isn't so much that she hides her intelligence, but simply that it doesn't come up in most normal conversation. "My department was studying the impact of DiveGear on people with neurological conditions." Miki takes the rock she'd been holding and tosses it into the water with a 'plunk'. "Improving haptic feedback. Seeing if use of virtual limbs could be used to re-wire the brain around damaged nerves and provide some kind of rehabilitation option."

Her eyes lift towards him, looking slightly through the white bangs that hang down across her forehead. "My going theory is that some of our research was used as a basis for the haptic improvements we saw post-apocalypse. Our research was all theoretical, but with better software developments, we believe that this leap in feedback is possible. Theoretically."

She swishes her legs in the water, wiggling her toes. It's an example of the improvements in feedback from the DiveGear. The fact that it feels like real water, over real toes, down to the texture and temperature. Though she had answered his first question... the girl hadn't mentioned much about herself. Not yet, anyways.

    Xander listens to her and shifts his sitting position to be a bit more comfortable. "I see." He says softly, "Well, I can confirm that it /does/ help, at least with some things." The Salamander admits, holding up his left hand. "I use to play a game called Fragment, during its Beta period. It helped me get better motor control of my left hand."

He admits, before lowering it back down. "I had to work before then to improve it, along with my speech, but it helped. Video games have always helped with that."

    Xander then looks at her once more. "However, if I am catching that last part correctly. You worked as, possibly, one of the egg-heads for Piffle Princess, creators of Angelic Layer, right?" He pauses as he makes sure he is getting this all correct, "And you think some of your tech, went into this game's expansion to allow us to have more... real sensation and more realistic processes to what is around us. In essence, sending possibly signals to the brain, via the headset-- so our brains believe this stuff to be real."

He then raises a brow, "... Correct?"

"That's the basis for the research. Reports from various individuals that full dive games have helped with motor improvements." Mikage inclines her head in response. "The important part is understanding how and why those improvements are happening, in order to find therapies that could be more efficient than the current physio being offered."

It's hard to imagine this woman, dressed in leathers and animal furs as an egg-head. But when he calls her that much, she smirks. "You could say that." Reaching a hand up, she brushes some hair back behind her ear. "I was a project coordinator. I worked with the people. Recording data from the system, doing baseline tests with the volunteers, writing reports..." She laughs. "Glamourous life, I tell you."

She nods, then, "But yes. It's my belief that some of our research into theoretical haptic improvements probably was a contributing factor to why things feel more real. The hardware technology is there to support it, but we were of the belief that the software couldn't support this level of haptic detail yet." Miki lifts her feet, wiggling her toes, "But, theoretically, if the software caught up with the hardware capabilities, well... here we are."

    Xander looks away, he is silent once more, but when he does talk, his voice is calm. "I guess that explains why you knew about others 'like' me. You interviewed them, reported the data, and they probably help test the technology."

He then looks up at the sky, as he watches the clouds rolls overheard, listening to the breeze rustle the grass and the trees in the distance. He could smell rain in the air. "Sadly, this technology can never give a man the ability to walk, outside of this virtual space." He says softly, before looking at her.

    There was a narrow of his eyes as a thought crosses his mind. A dangerous question that wants to cross his lips, but he holds it back, his features softening once more. "Still, miss tech, that is your /job/, that doesn't say much about you or why you'd have an interest in helping folks. Unless that was simply the job and it was less about helping and more about the money."

He looks away. "... Hate to think it was the later though or you wouldn't be still here listening to my sorry ass talk."

"Not necessarily." Mikage replies, shaking her head, "If a person can move a fighting doll with a DiveGear scan of their mind, what is to say that a person couldn't move a prosthetic? The end goal is to improve the lives of those we can improve, or to create new ways of supplimenting the bodies of those we can't."

It is true that Mikage has skirted the edge of actually talking about herself. In a place like this, it seems more of a self-defense mechanism than anything else. Those who choose to accept their new life in this world, rarely want to think about the one they are leaving behind. Though, the expression on her features is strange. Mixed emotions.

"I was hired by Piffle Princess because I showed a talent with the Angelic Layer system." Those mixed emotions give way to a smile. It is something she takes some measure of pride in. "Only a tiny fraction of those who competed could play at the national level." She laughs then, the sound soft. "Only a few of us could claim both that, and the fact that we competed so well despite our own physical disabilities."

She lifts one knee up, pulling it against her chest as she looks at him. "It was never about the money." Miki offers softly. "It was about trying to make a better world for people like me."

    Xander slowly puts together the dots, he raises a brow softly, then frowns, then smiles as he looks away. "I-- don't know much about Angelic Layer. None of my military friends were into it, hell, not many of them were into video games. Outside of the few."

The Salamander's tail gently thumps the ground in thought, as he stretches out his legs and stares at his boots. "And... feel free to not answer or... Correct me if I am wrong... But you said physical disabilities and... people like you." He looks over to her, only with his eyes. Watching her facial expression at first.

"... Are you-- handicapped then?" His voice was soft, caring. There was no judgement. After all, how could he judge. he was mid 30-year-old stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. There was zero room /to/ judge.

"It's alright." Mikage doens't seem offended that he hasn't heard of such things. "To be honest, Angelic Layer really was focused at the 8-16 year old girl market more than to adults. Much less soldiers." She chuckles, seeming amused by the idea. "Though we had a few adults in the higher levels of play, since the game, itself, is about fighting. Martial artists, soldiers, sometimes just parents living out their bad-ass fantasies."

She pointedly doesn't say which group she might have fallen into, so it makes her age hard to guess. The game obfusgages that point most of the time, since Avatars only show age if people actually used real world body scans.

"Yes." Mikage doesn't pull any punches or try to get around that fact. "I was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disorder when I was a kid. Got worse as I got older." Even as she speaks, she seems fairly positive in her tone. "The poking, the prodding, the experimental treatments..." She laughs, shaking her head, "Been there, done that."

Then, she pushes herself to her feet, stretching herself out, arms above her head. "But here... I've always felt more like myself in these games. I'm able to walk, to run..." She tilts her head at him, the expression amused, "I'm sure you can understand that kind of feeling. Regaining something you've lost."

    "I can." Xander admits resting his hands on his knees, tugging at the leather fabric slightly. "When I entered the first MMORPG that allowed me to have this sensation of walking again..." He smiled, it was distant, but it was an honest smile.

"It... was hard to /want/ to leave. To be reminded when I saw myself, in my bed, back to... feeling nothing down there. To have to trust a board to transfer from my bed, to a wheelchair..." Xander admits, as he closes his eyes.

"S-so yeah. I get it. It's why I have such mixed emotions. I /want/ to help people get out of this mess, that want to get out, but for those of us who... are just a burden." He inhales deeply, before opening his eyes. "Probably wrong to even think we are burden, isn't it? I know society doesn't see as nothing more than third class, but..." He sighs and just laughs a little.

"Ah well, think on it too much and you go around in a circle. I know I have enough times and lost plenty of arguments over it as well." The Salamander admits. Then he hrms, before looking over to her. "Hey, Mikage," He says to her with a gentle smile, "Between us, alright? I promise to keep all this stuff between us and... in private..." He goes to slide back up on his knees and extends his hand to her, "You can call me Marcus."

"When I was younger, I certainly saw things that way." Mikage admits, letting her arms fall back to her sides. The girl bends down, scooping up her boots. "But the longer I lived with this, the more I started to realize that there were still plenty of things I could do."

She hops one leg, balances there, then starts to tug her boot back on. For someone who likely can't even walk properly in the real world, she has remarkable balance within the game. "I've got pretty mixed feelings, myself." Mikage admits, "I was making progress at work. Had co-workers who respected me. I was able to support myself." She pauses, looking around.

"And yet... here I might be trapped in a game, but I'm not trapped in my own skin." She holds a hand to her chest, smiling softly, "This is more me, than the person who exists outside." There is another of those soft, almost musical laughs. "I guess we have time to figure it out."

As he shifts, offering out that promise and his hand, Miki looks back in his direction, then nods. "I appreciate it, and I promise the same in return." Her pale fingers wrap around his hand, and they feel real. There is warmth and texture like real skin. "You'll laugh, but... I'm Mikage." She smirks. "Yes, I'm one of /those/ people. Though... my friends call me Miki, if you'd like."

    "Using your real name." Xander then tries to get an Australlian accent as he says, "... Clever girl." Though hard to say if the game would allow it. Then he can't help but laugh as he gives her hand a shake. Then goes to stand up on his feet as well, brushing himself off.

"I guess because I haven't been paralyzed that long, it still weighs on me, but I am happy for you." He says looking at her, dead in the eyes. "I honestly am. You did great things. /Done/ great things. You should be proud of yourself and I hope you are, Miki." He says with a smile.

He then walks over and goes to rest his hand on her shoulder, jabbing his thumb back to town, "Now why don't we see about cooking that fish of yours or getting some drinks!" Xander looks up at the sky, "Or at least get inside before we get hit by a storm." His tail twitches a little.

The Salamander did pick up on how well she moved, but didn't bring attention to it. Figuring if she was helping with the technology, that maybe, somehow, perhaps played a part, or maybe, like him, played other MMOs that allowed for her to get use to the sensation. Though he does ask when he brings up drinks, "Though I hope your card at least says your 21! Oh wait! doesn't matter!" He jokes. It was a bad joke, but hey, a joke!

"Hah." Mikage sticks her tongue out, giving him a playful raspberry at his joke. "Like I said, I feel more me when I'm here. So why not just be me?" There were plenty of others who dive head-first into the roleplay aspects of things, but for her, it is more about being free to be herself than exploring being someone else.

"You'll figure it out. Trust me." Though in a game like this, it might be hard to trust anyone. "Who knows. Maybe this can be an opportunity to prove that you have what it takes. Become the hero who rescues all of us poor people trapped here against our will." She smirks.

As he invites her back to town, her nose scrunches. "But if we cook it, it'll just taste like crackers." She scowls. "I've been sticking to eating it like sashimi. At least it tastes like something. And don't get me started on the piss-water they call alcohol here." Mikage sighs.

"Fine, fine. Let's go." Then, as he tries to ferret her age out of her, the girl only offers, "You know, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, right?" She doesn't confirm, nor deny her actual age. Clever girl, indeed.