Threading Water

Deep, dark blue.

Floating in an otherwise silent, endless ocean of nothing but muffled gurgling sounds as bubbles rise, Uta squints.

A splash, a loud gasp for air, a pained expression, as she jumps in the air, shooting out of the water while performing a roundhouse kick, a helix of water following her foot, with the grace and majesty of a gymnast's ribbon as it- wait, no, no, don't tangle, no! Don't- NO!

Ok, scratch the majestic gymnast with a ribbon. We're doing spaghetti with meatballs.

AAaaaaaaand splash. Back into the water she goes.

Deep, dark blue, floating in an otherwise silent, endless ocean of nothing but muffled gurgling sounds as bubbles rise.

Uta gasps for air.

    Fukaziroh was curious. Amused, but curious... or is that curious but amused? When Uta said she needed to find some water for magic training, the blonde sylph decided she'd tag along. Make sure no tentacles show up, that sort of thing. Yes, she found something she can tease Uta over, that makes the other girl blush! She's not going to let that go easily!

    "Good form." Fuka offers with a serious, matter-of-fact tone. Sincere too; she isn't one to dump on a person's hard efforts. "You aren't drowning are you? Because I really don't want to jump in there if you're not drowning. I'm really not dressed for that sort of thing! It's bound to be cold too. And I don't think getting rid of the water with fire is going to be very comfortable. So, you know, better for both of us if you're really not drowning." she natters.

    She pauses, considering. "It IS cold, right? Like, I could warm it up maybe. But there's an awful lot of water. We could find like... a puddle instead? Or a hot bath? Ooh now *there* is an idea!"

Uta is training with Water, Gwen gets the stupid idea to fo something which could techinally help her friend and one of her most loved targets for fashion. It's been a while since she went fo a swim using some frost gard spells and her own inate experiance with such she'd gone out swimming as Uta work and Fuka joins her there is no sign of Gwen at least for the moment. Then without warning Gwen clad in a bikini burst out of the water like some kind of sea creature causing it to go everywhere.

"Heyyyyyyyyy! I was doing a Polar Bear Swim and didn't expect to see anyone else out her! Oh are you training?"

Some time passes, which might or might not make people who care about the fate of Uta uncomfortable; she finally gasps for air as, with a splash, she breaks the surface of the water. No acrobatic martial arts this time, no water bending, just a drenched Spriggan with dripping hair and wings, hugging herself as she shakes, probably due to the low temperatures. Luckily, her clothes preserve the Spriggan's modesty (and rating) while wet, but the downside is- they don't exactly look flattering.

"WATER-*sputter sputter*! Why does it /always/ have to *cough-sputter-cough-cough-sputter* be water?!"

That's technically 'not drowning', so Fuka might be reassured.

"A... I..." A shiver runs down her spine, and she sneezes. "...I normally loathe non-menu baths, but dang does a hot bath sound nice right now-"

Gwen's sudden appearance causes Uta to scream, and leap back, instinctively twisting her arms to cause a jet of water to shoot at where the startling sounds came from.

Due to Uta's rather 'green' skills, though, the jet ends up barely grazing Gwen, and with the pain dampener in place, the impact feels barely like a playful splash rather than an effective waterbending attack.

    The pause has Fuka running through her spell list, considering if any of them have a way to haul a waterlogged friend out of danger. Just about settled on creating a bubble of air, she's relieved to see (and hear) Uta break the surface. No need to use magic then. Fukaziroh relies instead on witty speech, which is almost always more fun. "Why *does* it have to be water? We could find a barrel of ale for you couldn't we? You could work on water magic and brewing simultaneously!" she suggests cheerfully. It's a rather stupid idea, but it sounds a whole lot more pleasant to her right now.

    Fuka, not being currently in the water, doesn't react with the same degree of panic to Gwen's approach. Maybe she saw her coming, having a better view than Uta. She wouldn't give the game away of course... that's not her style.

    Seeing Uta's panicked reaction, Fuka's actually impressed. "Nice form!" she says. Totally meaning the spin and instinctive water attack. Totally not meaning things lecherously, at least not at first. She realizes the double entendre a moment later, and adds to it with a lecherous eyebrow-wriggle. She's never one to waste a good entendre.

Gwen is caught off guar and the drenche titan of a woman is a bit off balance. The good new is she does not suffer outfit damage she looks embassed though.

"Uta I ... thbought you saw me comming!" She looks sheepish but Fuka's own words draw he out of this and she looks over to her.

"Thanks! I try!" She make a bit of a pose but says nothing else. Lucky for Fuka? Gwen's Mother has somewhatr harden hee to things like that and she just seems amused as she slaks out of the water.

"So trianing hard Uta need some help I can do water magic! Oh you'll need a proper outfit for it!"

She's shiving a bit but seems distracted az she too looks Fuka over, oh she's getting outfit ... ideas already for her.

"You kid," sputters Uta at the mention of ale, "but I /do/ have a heated barrel for exercising back at the Peko ranch. Barrel full of water. Can be heated from underneath. Kind of a cross between a standing bathtub and a pot of soup. Extremely handy in the cold wea... a.... achoo!"

She rubs her nose and returns to hug herself as her teeth chatter -- but when someone's figure, possibly hers, is double-entendre complimented with associated eyebrow-wiggle, she flushes red and retorts, "H-hey!", squirming.

"No, I didn't Gwen!", Uta replies to the Sylph. "Sometimes I wonder who's the sneaky Spriggan among us."

Uta stares at Gwen with a mixture of shock and concern. "I... I mean, I /do/ need some help and..."

She looks down at her drenched outfit, "...and my everyday clothes, I gather, were not designed with aquatic forays in mind... something more functional for the circumstances /is/ needed..." Sheepishly, flushing a deeper red and looking down, she further mumbles, "...and I /did/ kind of total two of your best dresses while in a Strange Mood, so, I suppose..." the rest is unintelligible.

    Fukaziroh is a huge flirt, but of course isn't doing anything more than teasing Gwen. Or Uta for that matter. Sure she likes the Spriggan, but her lechery is pretty much all play. It's just hilarious to make Uta blush, and she intends to do it often. Gwen's reaction is perfectly appropriate to the level of Fuka's intent, but not nearly as funny.

    "Alright, let's get you warmed up a little." the tinier Sylph says, making a gesture to encompass both freezing girls. "We can all cuddle if you don't get me too wet. And cold." she says. "Or I could call up a fire shield. Or set fire to some stuff and we can roast marshmallows. Did anybody bring marshmallows?" she asks, looking around. Then sighing defeatedly. After a moment she brings out her massive axe from her inventory. With another suffering sigh she ignites the blade, resting the burning head of it onto bare earth.

    "I can't imagine how you loathe baths anyways." Fukaziroh shakes her head. "I'm from Hokkaido. I'd DIE if I didn't have a good bath after getting home from tennis or school. Or school then tennis. Aaaah... I feel better just thinking about it! And worse too..."

Gwen grins for a moiment at Uta and seems honesly eager to help her friend. "Sure I can get something done up for that! I'd be heppy to help you out I should be starting to train with Air soon." She not with a grin she pauses at Uta whose all wet now for a momnnd pauses, she's about to suggest somehing but Fuka's got a good diea so she rolls with it and soon she's near the heating blade. "Where I grew up in the summer a good bath would be wonderful after things being hot enough to bake cookies in your car. I did that once it was delioucs. Or say when I got out of the Euopean Martial arts league."

She notes as she sits down warmning herself for a moment.

Uta drags herself out of the water, and curls up next to the flaming blade. "...Thanks, no cuddling for now. And Fire is something I'll have to learn at some point." More quietly, she mumbles, "...After Shield..."

She flicks her menu open, flicks through her inventory, and after reaching the bottom, she sighs, finger limp in the air "...of course I didn't bring a towel. Didn't the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy teach me anything? No, apparently."

Still, between sneezes, she rubs her hands and enjoys the warmth.

"I didn't bring marshmellows, now... but I do like baths, normally. It's just... in-game. Maybe I'm old-fasihoned, but... isn't it kind of weird to have to inject so much realism into such background actions as personal higyene when operating a video game avatar, instead of just using the menu?"

"Oh, Air. I think I can help you there, Gwen. Hit me up if you need anything." She whistles at the rest of the Sylph's story, her interest suddenly piqued "...that hot? And I didn't know you were into European Martial Arts. Which kind did you follow? I happen to be a bit of a fan of European literature..."

As an afterthought, she adds, "...oh, since we're sharing proveniences... Osaka here."

    "Fire is a LOT of fun!" Fuka grins. She's not exactly a pyro, but it's an effective element both defensively and offensively. Sure she'd love to have an equally effective assortment of air-based magics so she can rely on bonuses from class, race and kingdom alike... and to be sure she has an excellent assortment of air magics to draw on. But those are duelling-based, mostly. When she needs to fight monsters, she fights with fire.

    She nods along to conversation. "Air's my best element. Funnily enough it's even better than my axework, and that's my primary." she grins. "Just worked out that way! It's a lot of fun too, you get to zip and zoom and zap!" she notes, miming swinging a heavy weapon while being propelled forward. Somehow. While seated.

    "Euro.... beat?" she asks, puzzled. Then smirking. Martial arts. Beat. Eurobeat! It works! "Just, no major sharing, okay? Location and age and stuff's fine but I like to keep game and RL separate, even if that's a bit weird now." she adds, sighing as the thought becomes a bit of a downer for her.

Gwen opens her invenoty and offers some Mallows it's close enough to marshmellow it seem and sbe grins at this for a moment. "Sure there's the menu cleaning sytem but it's better for ones' mental health to do it normally." She notes for a moment. "honestly it seems like the old man and the chair had planned for this to happen. I honestly don't know if this is a game. With the people from the waves I doubt that it is just something so simple anymore."

"No I fo not have the power of Eurobeat. I knew how to use things like Long Sword and such long before I arrived here. Look there's a lot of people I knew before here but I'll respect that. Though the more I think about some of the detials I know about the drive gear? I'd say better to embace your avatar as you least we find out we're copies with nothing to return to."

Gwen just got serious for a moment and trhen shifts again as she start to cook the mallow she has.

"This should be tastey!"

Uta stares at Gwen's marshmallow. "...of course you have one."

"Euro... beat? I... I... I cannot find any argument against that?" Uta admits, reluctantly.

Very, very reluctantly.

She nods at Fuka. "Keep details private. Could not agree more."

Uta turns to Gwen with a look of mild terror when the tall Sylph mentions that people should embrace their avatars because there might be nothing to return to. "Old main in a chair... What you know about the Dive Gear..." She sits, silent, letting the fire from Fuka's sword crackle. "...We'll need to have a serious talk, one of these days. I've been cut off from most events, and I need someone to fill me in. Badly." Then, after some thought. "And we'll need to discuss the best way to start production of more phonographs, as you've asked me. I was thinking to set up a small shop to build them, but I'll need either Alliance or Lander support for those..."

    The conversation strikes a chord, so to speak. This seems to not be the first time she's heard the theory that there might be nothing to return to. She also lacks Uta's terror at the prospect. She's certainly had the thought that she's no longer Miyu in any meaningful way, just Fukaziroh. It drove her into paralytic angst. But that's a fear she's surpassed by now, and it's lost its power to send her into a retreat.

    She's much more interested, visibly so, at mention of phonographs. "Now THAT is something we really need!" she says enthusiastically. "Do you have any IDEA how much I miss being able to turn on some music to play while I was logged in? Bad enough I would've become a BARD had it been the case in char-gen!! Listen, you HAVE to tell me when you have music recording. Or... before! And I'll help! I'm not that great at music but I definitely know how to turn heads!"

    And... now Fuka's got one hand on Uta, shaking her enthusiastically if she sticks around for the treatment. If not, she's on her knees looking up at the Spriggan, pleading like a lover with a ring in hand, except in her case the only thing Fuka's actually got in one hand (not the one she's shaking with) is her axe, which she's touching to channel fire into.

Gwen looks to Uta for a momen and nod for a moment. Gwen doesn't seem to care though over all and she looks to Uta for a moment. "Yes but whatever happsn you are just Uta to me my friend." She nots and this is honest as she keep up cooking. "I'll make you something to eat for after you are done working."

"We do need to be careful to not wipe out hte lander's cuylture htough they only have a few dozen songs as it is."

She notes then pauses. "Well might want to hook up with a bard we did have someone who put all of Queen to paper so we got the power of Freddy with us here. More helping is better I find."

She will take a moment and will pass out the snaks while she goes to change into something warmer thanklly it seem she's just waring it over the swimsuit.

A good performer never misses a cue.

They do, sometimes, get the timing a little off though. As what was suppose to be a slinking from the shadows turns in a brief but tumulunt eruption of darkness and smoke near Gwen, which the Nightmare Muse of Olympus stumbles out of with a bit of a cough. "Did someone *wheeze* call for a bard?" She snaps open a handfan and uses it to wave off the lingering whisps of shadowy mist. "Sorry, technique still needs some work."

    Fuka watches Kauchemar bust on in, no more unsettled by it than by Gwen's stealthy pouncing on Uta. Maybe she's just got nerves of steel... or she's seen so many weird things this just doesn't stand out. Instead she turns back to Gwen, momentarily ignoring the interruption. "Wipe out their culture? With what?" she complains in a snarky deadpan, waving her free hand in an attempt to bat away some smoke.

    Fuka nods. "I do like the classics, though I'm really craving something more current. A pop singer my best friend introduced me to. I've never actually sang her songs, not to an audience, 'cause I'd probably mess it up horribly and that's one memory I wouldn't want to mess up." She pauses, considers. "If I could record it just for myself, maybe I'd like it enough to share it." she says, a little dubiously.

    Then, abruptly, she snaps her fingers. "I know how we could preserve Lander music!" she says. "It's easy! No distributing music from our world! Like, at all! We can sing it, but we don't record it for others. And we encourage Landers and Adventurers alike to record all-new songs!"

Speaking of Bards a dark horse bard appear she looks over to her for a moment and says "Look if I can hear you you do need to work on it." She notes as she now sem to be getting more serious about cooking as she works on something that will take out. "Flooding it with our own." She notes as she get to cooking again and listen to Fuka fdor a moment. "or we keep itr for ousleve tue or we should also documebnt it I'll talk to the NWW on that they have sa few guilds would love it. That's also a good idea."

Uta looks a bit confused at Fuka's sudden interest for music. "Oh, uh, actually, I'm envisioning them more as instruments to document and research the Landers' unique musical culture. The songs seem to hold the key to far, far more than mere entertainment, and-"

Cue Kauchemar's dramatic entrance.

"Know the feeling, Kauch," Uta sighs. "But fear not, one day I'm sure you'll sneak up on people in broad daylight as well as I can bend water- wait." She frowns. "That... didn't sound encouraging, did it? I meant, uh, that by then, in the future, we'll both... nevermind."

Quick, change of subject!

I am a Bard too!" Uta beams. "Godhand/Bard, with my profession as-"

There's hesitation.

"I'm a healer. So, you know, that makes me a Musical Kung-Fu Nurse."

"Bard is the word," Uta continues, then shakes her head. "Anyway- I'm willing to let you have a phonograph when the project is done -- but on the condition that you try to contain damage to Lander culture and- well, you bring back any recording of Lander Songs for study and analysis. The goal, here, is to have a network of Song Hunters who can provide material for our study and understanding. It seems like Lander Songs hold the key to cracking the Alv language..."

Uta takes in Gwen's words, and meditates them in silence. "And I want you to know that to me you're Gwen, also my friend. I suppose that thinking of it that way... doesn't sound so bad."

"Fourty-two songs is the official song count from the unofficial material released out of game. But I have reasons to believe that that figure is incorrect. Possibly by just a little, but still."

Uta adds to the discussion about songs, "We already have a bunch of Adventurer bards... let's say 'putting enough pressure' on Lander culture. I guess introducing them to a few songs might be fine, but please don't start a recording industry...

"Dark alone doesn't conceal sound... and hooves aren't exactly quiet," Kauchemar admits with a shrug. "Magical aspects still need work." Followed by a smirk at Uta. "You've been training, so I won't try to drown you." She leans forward to boop the Spriggan's nose with a fingertip. "This time~" Then stands back up, dismissively waving off the subject and closing the fan. "Besides, I already tired myself out chasing Jazu around the beaches... And I realize after saying that it sounds.. questionable. Rest assured I was only doing so to help train her evasion skills."

But there does indeed seem to be a music related discussion going on, to which she tilts her head. "I've only performed. I haven't tried to teach any Landers anything 'new'... they tend to not respond to things irrelevant to their view of the world." Jabs a thumb over her shoulder as Uta explains. "Have been helping her with that, though. I mean, we're here to try and make things more comfortable, not take over the world like some Saturday Morning Cartoon villain."

Or at least not take control in such a blantant manner. That would be disrespectful to the culture the Landers do have, and would probably cause as much upset as Scale's general disregard for effects of their climb.

Gwen will look back to Uta and grins a bit more as she gets back to making what looks like some kind of soup as she pulls stuff from her inventoy.

"You will get there my friend and I'mg lad you think the same." She keep working on the food for the moment. "Could be due to the expanioon I don't know and I don't think any bard wants to end up bound to the nightmare of that."

She work the pot some more as she looks to Kau for a moment more.

"I'm concerned about Jaz I don't think I have seen her happy or even just okay..."

She traiols off seemignly honestly worried.

"Everything I tru to to to help her just falls on it's face I'll keep goiing but I just don't know."

She looks to Fuka and says

"We have a few Idols floating about as bards as well."

    Fuka does kind of want to share her nerdy love of various things with others, but ... that's a bit tough when she loves to be a hero in a fantasy game. She can share that with other Adventurers, but Landers are another matter entirely. She doesn't have a whole lot in common with them, but isn't some big jerk who would only use them for her own benefit either.

    Ah well, some of that's a bit melancholy, and Fuka's just not one to let melancholy linger. Instead she turns and points a finger boldly at Kauchemar. "Officer! We have a stalker here!" she insists loudly, looking around to see if any policemen, or city guards perhaps, come out of nowhere to arrest the confessed Jazu-chaser.

    She holds the pose for a few long moments, then shrugs and eases back, grinning cheerfully to make sure Kauchemar realizes she wasn't actually serious. Assuming the mare doesn't already know of course. They had a pretty good rapport on the ship over to the Palace lands. Surely Kau knows Fuka is rarely serious and almost always over-enthusiastic.

    The little sylph looks up at the bigger sylph then. "I'm not really a bard, but I've done a little bit of training as part of my messenger profession. More of an Idol myself really. If you know anyone who needs inspiration, or a role model to look up to, I'm your girl!" she boasts unselfconsciously. Not that many could or would look up to her in any sense of the words.

Kauchemar makes a face at the nightmare remark. "Ha ha, very funny. Thankfully as a DJ rather than a A-list Idol I didn't have to deal with the attempts to corporately mass produce media sensations much." Then she holds up her hands. "I swear, it was just an adult version of hide-and-seek." She knows a joke and how to play along with one. "Besides, she keeps summoning jellyfish to try and sting me in return, so such and such about fair play,"

"Bard -and- Messenger," she adds, patting a hand to her chest indictively. "But that means you've probably noticed that Landers respond to music more readily... when it's a subject they understand. But they did always say music was a universal language."

Gwen has the soup underway and now it's time to just stir and wiat. She will turn back from it for a moment and she frowns at Kuka "Stalker I barely see her if we're being honest. As for Idols as someone not from Japan there's some creepy things about what it does to the singers themselves. That's true and I been thinking about hiring some landers to help run my shop so I don't chain my mom and dad to it."

    Fuka nods, remembering indeed how the Lander sailors responded to her and Kauchemar singing, improving morale on the journey over. The actual magic in that was no doubt more that of the professional bard, but Fuka knows she did her part. It wasn't just her clowning around that the sailors responded to, though that was definitely the fun part. The music and the song itself was... enchanting. Quite literally.

    Listening to the conversation on idols, Fukaziroh nods. "I mean, I know of a singer who's kind of amazing, and her songs... well, I think she's managed to avoid the idol trap. Something genuine about her music really, something that makes you feel. I don't think that would happen if she was part of a happy pop girl band, you know?" she shrugs.

    But honestly, that's a bit... real. And so of course Fuka retreats from it into something less uncomfortable. "ADULT version huh?" she says, nudging Kauchemar playfully and winking. "Look, you don't have to justify it to me! Unless a police officer comes by, you have nothing to worry about! And here we are, on the other side of the sea from any police officers!"

"In the 'old life' I've been to the States, Gwen, I know exactly what you mean. They take the art out of artist."

Kauchemar huffs softly as she sits down. She's all too happy to shift to another topic. Smirking a bit at Fuka. "They'd also have to catch me first, and unlike my stealth-in-training skills, I am -very good- at running."

Gwen pauses for a moment "Adult version? Don't talk like that you might summon my Mother from Yamato..." She shudders at this for a moment. "We get just souless pop music, it bites. I dunno if I ever figure out how to make these damn wings work you won't out run me then..."

    "Your mother's in Yamato?" Fuka asks Gwen with genuine curiosity. "Maaaan, I tried to get my best friend into this game! She's not really a gamer, but it would've... well, would've been fun anyways!" she says thoughtfully. Her friend going off to a prestigious University. It would've been a great way to spend time together without being physically present. Alas, it wasn't to be.

    Again though, that's a bit real. "You'd like her, I bet. A lot like you, except she's shy." Fuka claims. Not that she knows much of anything about Gwen except she's tall and likes music. Real music, not soulless crap. "And she doesn't swordfight. But she'd learn I bet. She does nothing with only half her heart!"

Kauchemar makes a fake pouty expression. "Aw, but your mother is -fun-. So.. risque~" Probably no surprise that the performer dressed in leather, straps and buckles and having no problem with working what she's got would actually like Gwen's... overly enthusiastic mother.