Namaka yawned, eyes blinking open in the morning light.
Looking aroung, she saw no one around. It wasn't much of a surprise, of course. She'd spent the night sleeping just off the docks, floating in the water, and not many people found themselves out at the docks in the early hours of the morning. In some ways, it was nice; it allowed her a calm, peaceful awakening rather than one forced on her by others causing noise.
...But it was a bit lonely at the same time. No one around meant no one to talk to, not until she got herself up properly and made her way into town. Propelling herself toward the docks, Namaka pushed at the water with her abilities. It rose up beneath her, pushing her up just high enough to stumble onto the wood of the docks. It was probably a bit lazy of her, using her powers so she didn't have to pull herself up onto the docks physically... but it was just a workout in a different way!
Or so she justified to herself, as she made further use of her abilities to drain the majority of the water from her clothing and back into the ocean.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
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Millie did her best to control her breathing as she jogged down the seaside, her hair and bow bouncing along to her cadence. She paused to wipe a bit of her sweat with her shirt and watched the morning sun rise above to waves. Although she was covered in sweat, Millie felt the chill in the air and untied the jacket that was wrapped around her waist to put on.
As she grew closer to the decks Millie squinted her eyes in Namaka’s direction. Upon realizing it was Namaka she energetically waved her arm and ran over.
“Hi Namaka!...Huff... Fancy... seeing you here.”
She put her hands on her knees and quickly caught her breath.
Shade:
Staring at the other woman, Namaka took a second to response.
"...Morning, Millie. What brings you out to the docks this early?" She tilted her head curiously, looking down at Millie.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“I jog every morning. Usually I go up the mountain but I felt a bit lazy today.”
Shade:
"Makes sense," she acknowledged with a nod. "Well, it's good to see you! Usually I gotta get further in town or wait a bit longer to see anyone in the morning, yeah? Sometimes I get some sailors around, or people passing through like you were, but most don't really wanna talk."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“So, uh. “
Millie scratched her hair and looked around.
“What brings you to the beach this early?”
Do Ayzer sleep in the water?
Shade:
"Oh, I just woke up, actually. Haven't had a chance to really leave and go anywhere yet, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Oh....”
Millie blushed a but didn’t say anything.
“Huh...What does it feel like?”
Shade:
"What does what feel like? Waking up?" Namaka was confused at the question.
She didn't know all that much about Beorc, to be fair, but she did learn a fair bit about them through her maintenance job; and she was pretty sure they had to sleep just like most other races....
...Although she was only pretty sure.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Well underwater.”
Millie nervously put both her hands in front of her and fidgeted a bit.
“Do you ever sleep on land?”
Shade:
"I mean, sure. Kinda have had to, what with us traveling in places without water to sleep in, yanno?" Namaka shrugged. "It's not as comfortable for me. Sleeping in water is... I just float there, so the water kinda rocks me to sleep in a way. Land doesn't really have that, so it feels a little uncomfortable. Probably just because I'm used to water, but I get less sleep on land cuz of it, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Huh.”
Millie liked sleep. It always felt nice waking up in a bundle of blankets, like swimming in a sea of fluff.
“So what do you think about the island? The fish here taste really good! But some of the bigger ones stress out the rod I rent a bit.”
Shade:
"Fishing, huh?" Namaka hadn't thought about fishing. Fish had been such a staple back home that when she was away, she tended towards other foods most of the time. "Hmm, you'll have to let me know which are good. Might be nice to try some new fish, if there are any that show up here and not other places."
She gave Millie a grin. "As for my thoughts on the island, it seems nice! Everyone around here's been pretty nice when I talk to 'em, and I've been able to go train at the waterfalls. Definitely gonna try and come back here if I can once all this demon business is taken care of."
September 1, 2018
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“You train with waterfalls?”
Millie’s eyes widened as she thought about what kind of magic Namaka practiced under a waterfall.
“Like, magic training?”
Shade:
Rubbing the back of her neck, Namaka responded, "Not really. It's... sorta similar? Ayzer can control water a bit, and I trained until I could control water a lot." She pulls, and a stream of water pulls up from the ocean and into her hand. "Some mages told me that it's kinda similar to water magic, but it's different in a few ways. It requires pretty precise control and a source, so I have to focus a lot more and have water available to do stuff that is easier for people with water magic, but the extra control means I can do some stuff that water magic can't."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Can you show me?”
Millie asked excitedly and leaned forward.
Shade:
"Uh, you mean more than this?" Namaka continued to manipulate the small amount of water that she'd pulled up, letting the stream of water dance around her hands and flow into simple shapes.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Ohhhhh.”
Millie extended her hand and tried to poke a water water shape.
Shade:
The shape flowed around Millie's hand, avoiding any water touching her skin. Namaka giggled. "Gotta be faster than that," she teased.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie swatted at the water bubble, treating it like a training dummy.
“Hya!”
Shade:
The tips of Millie's fingers trailed through the water even as Namaka pulled it away. She laughed again, and sent the water back into the ocean. "Well, there you go! It's pretty fun to do, and I've actually come up with some new stuff while we've been travelling." A small frown formed on her face. "It's all been stuff for battle, though..."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie did her best not to act too excited for catching the bubble and fidgeted a little more. It was indeed fun.
When Namaka mentioned new tricks Millie thought about any tricks she learned with the Pack herself.
"When I applied I didn't realize we would be fighting so much, but I guess that was just naivety on my part."
Shade:
“I didn’t think we would be either,” Namaka admitted. “It just sounded like a regular investigation, yeah? I mean, being ready for a fight in case the bad guys attacked was expected, but... It’s been a lot more than it seemed like it’d be.”
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie sighed and stuffed her hands into her jacket pocket.
“Well someone has to be fighting for the innocent, might as well make sure we’re prepared.”
Millie recalled the memories of those she had defeated, bleeding either dust or blood.
“But I still feel like I made the right choice. Doing something that matters.”
Shade:
"...Yeah," Namaka agreed after a moment of hesitation. "After all this, things will be able to get back to normal, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Normal...Yeah.”
Millie wasn’t so sure what normal meant.
Shade:
Not picking up on Millie's hesitation, Namaka repeated it with a grin. "Yup! No more people being upset and worried about this whole tree mess... and now I guess the whole demon mess. Everyone can go back to living life the way they were before, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie twisted a strand of hair around her finger and imagined what her idea of a normal life would be like.
“What did you do back home?”
Shade:
Pointing to herself with a thumb, Namaka proudly declared, "I was one of the people working on maintaining the tunnels! My water abilities helped in fixing up trouble spots without having to deal with water getting into the tunnels. The best part was getting to visit lots of different places, though. Tunnels go all over the place, so us maintenance workers got to as well!"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Oh. That’s pretty cool.”
Millie always wondered how those tunnels actually worked.
“How do you guys get the glass to be so strong? Normal glass wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of pressure no matter how thick it is.”
Shade:
“It’s not really glass, per se.” Namaka’s tail swept back and forth behind her as she gave an embarassed smile. “I don’t really know all that much about exactly how it’s made, to be honest; I just know enough to do most of the regular maintenance and repair work. But apparently it’s some unique stuff that some Ayzer and Kano engineers came up with in order to make the tunnels work properly.”
September 2, 2018
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Huh...”
Millie chewed the lock of hair she was playing with earlier as she tried to think on how it would be possible.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“What do you patch the tunnels with? Do you have any with you?”
If the stuff was that strong maybe she could use it for something.
Shade:
"No, sorry. Not working as a maintenance worker, so I don't have any. Even if I did, we're not supposed to use it for anything but the tunnels, since it's given to us for that and all."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Huh. Bummer.”
Millie let go of her hair, letting the morning breeze take hold of it like a thread of spider silk.
Shade:
"Sorry," Namaka apologized again, rubbing the back of her neck. "Given that we're not supposed to use it for anything besides repairs, my guess is it's probably not all that cheap. If there's something you wanted with it, maybe you can take a look around for it if we find ourselves in Psari again?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Nah, I was just curious you don’t have to apologize.”
Shade:
"Ah, alright."
Namaka leaned down slightly. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? What did you do before joining up with this group?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“I lived Niciri. Worked as a balcksmith’s apprentice.”
Millie’s voice grew quieter as she said so. She still hadn’t told anyone she was from Rettati, besides Lucifel who already knew. She wondered if she would ever tell anyone.
Shade:
"Ooh, a blacksmith's apprentice?" With a grin, Namaka leaned in. "What kind of stuff did you make? When did you start? How long did it take to learn how to make certain stuff?"
The Ayzer's curiosity had been piqued. She'd never really had the chance to talk to a blacksmith before, and didn't make much use of any metal tools herself. Now that she had the chance to talk to someone with that information, Namaka wanted to learn as much as she could about it.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“I work with enchanting for the most part. But I can do non magical weapons too.”
Millie too began to get into the subject. Not many people were really interested in the subject, so she was glad she had someone to talk to.
“I started around 2 years ago, mostly farm equipment. But every once in a while the garrison nearby would order a pile of weapons, which were really fun to make. Sometimes if we had any spare material left over I’d make a really fancy sword and hang it in the shop front for display.”
She instinctively reached for her hip to show off her sword, and then remembered she didn’t bring it with her.
“I mostly use steel and either bronze or gold for the etchings depending on how much the client is paying. I did experiment with some Psarian Ironwood for one of my swords and it actually worked pretty well. Never making another one ever again though, I must have spent like 2 weeks sanding that thing.”
Shade:
"That sounds really neat! I don't know much about weapons, so I'd never thought about etching on weapons or using ironwood for a sword! If you still have that sword, you'll have to show me it some time; a wooden sword sounds interesting!"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Yea, it’s actually kinda heavy.”
Millie. Squeezed her arm muscle as she imagined herself swinging the sword.
“I also forged a really neat rapier with a silver copper hybrid core. It conducts magic really efficiently so it goes through armor like butter. I promise I’ll show you everything sometime!”
Shade:
"That sounds great!" Namaka smiled at Millie, happy to learn more about a previously unknown topic.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
"What about you? Do you write your own tomes for magic or just buy them?"
Wait does she even need the tome?
Shade:
"For my water stuff, it's not magic, so no tome necessary. For my thunder magic... I'm still not the best at magic, so I need the tome. And I just buy them - I don't know nearly enough about magic to try and write a tome for it," she acknowledged with a shrug.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Oh. I see.”
Millie remembered Nyrandisa mentioning writing a tome on a sword and wondered if it was possible.
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Is your water magic similar to normal anima types of magic?”
Shade:
"I... think so?"
Namaka hummed, thinking back. The mages she'd met and talked to had said that her water abilities were similar to water magic, but had they meant in terms of what it could do or something more?
"...Yeah, not really sure." She admitted her lack of knowledge with another shrug. "Oh! I can use thunder magic okay because of my experience with my water abilities, although I don't have the same control over it. It's a lot more 'cast magic and once it goes, it's outta my control' type of thing. But if one helped me learn the other, they're probably pretty similar, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Have you tried covering the ground in water and zapping multiple people at once?”
Millie wondered if that was even possible. They’d probably have to be pretty close together.
Shade:
"I hadn't really thought about it... I've combined my water and thunder magic, but trying to do it like that feels like it would have the potential to accidentally hit nearby allies." Namaka frowned. "I mean, I guess if I aimed carefully, maybe..."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie looked around with a slight bit of worry in here eyes. Namaka wouldn't actually try it right now right?
"How much energy...uh...does it take to kill a person?"
Shade:
"I-" The question took Namaka off guard, and she looked away. "It's... different, depending on how you do it. I... don't really think about it."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
"Oh-uh ok."
Millie exhaled in relief.
Shade:
For a few moments, Namaka was lost in her thoughts. Thinking about how easy it was to kill others with the abilities she'd worked on for her whole life, about how it sometimes felt no different than using them for common, everyday tasks...
She shook her head, attempting to rid herself of the dark turn her mind had taken. "Well, uh, anyway! How about we go get some breakfast? You're probably hungry after your run, yeah?"
! A wild cyber appeared!:
Millie nodded.
“What did you have in mind?”
Shade:
"Mm, I dunno." Namaka shrugged. "I figured we could just look around and see what's available."
! A wild cyber appeared!:
“Sure, that sounds good!”
Millie quickly untied and retied her hair so that it was less messy and happily followed Namaka.
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