[VIDEO]

[demonicbeauty]

[The video feed pops up (sideways) on Ariadne. She's standing outside, on the edge of a pond. The land is uncultivated and empty, just outside of Asgard proper. And Ariadne is...

...wet?

Soaking wet, actually. Her hair is plastered to either side of her face in small curls. There are dark, damp spots on her red dress, pressing the fabric to her body. And she looks as excited as can be.]

I think I found something. Well, I know I found something. I just don't know what that something is. But you have to see this.

[She does her best to angle her bracelet to capture the scene. It's more than a little rocky, but it works. Ariadne rushes to the pond. But the second one of her bare feet tries to breach the surface, there's a strange whoosh and she falls back, landing on the bank, just catching herself on her palms. The video feed is a jumble of foliage and red fabric, until she manages to bring it up to her face again.]

It pushes back! The pond! When you try to go into it, it pushes back!

The other ponds don't do that. Believe me, I've checked. This one is different.

Comments

video;

[tealeafs]

[ At first the video draws Chizuru's attention since she recognizes the person in it. But then she keeps watching, and.. well, she just starts getting more and more confused the longer she looks at it. A pond that pushes back..? ]

W.. What do you think it is?

[demonicbeauty]

[Ariadne can only shrug, which jostles the video feed.]

...magic?

I'm not sure, exactly. Seems like the pond is trying to protect itself.

[tealeafs]

I guess that is what it looks like.. [ And yet Chizuru still sounds a little unsure. ]

But that almost makes it sound like the pond can actually think, right? I've never seen an object with that kind of sentience before.

[demonicbeauty]

Me neither.

[She considers it a moment.]

But maybe the pond isn't really a pond. Maybe it's alive?

[tealeafs]

Oh..! You mean that it could be an animal or creature in hiding? I guess that does sometimes happen in stories.. [ And this place often seems like something straight out of a storybook, so it doesn't feel too farfetched to Chizuru. ] Wasn't there some story about a place everyone thought was a normal island, but it instead turned out to be the back of a giant turtle? Of course that story wasn't real back home, but I don't think it'd be weird for those kinds of things to happen here.

[demonicbeauty]

A turtle island?

[She giggles at that.]

I've never heard that before!

[tealeafs]

Yes, it's a pretty common fairytale where I'm from.

[ But it doesn't surprise her that Ariadne may not have heard of it before. Her world seems pretty different from most of the others represented here, after all. ]

I'm not sure what the true nature of that pond could be.. But if it pushes back, then it wouldn't be too strange for it to be an animal that's just trying to not get hurt by people stepping on it, right?

[demonicbeauty]

Exactly!

[She pauses.]

I wonder if there's some way to communicate with it...

[tealeafs]

I know this might sound a bit silly, but.. have you tried just talking to it, maybe..?

[ It's the obvious solution, so Chizuru presents it a little shyly. She doesn't want to offend her by making it seem like she thinks Ariadne hasn't thought of that yet. ]

[demonicbeauty]

I guess not...not to it exactly.

Mostly, just talking to myself, every time I fall down.

[She goes up on her tiptoes and peers down into the water.]

Hello? Anyone down there? I mean you no harm!

[tealeafs]

[ For a moment Chizuru just is quiet, like she too is waiting for some answer to resound. But after a few moments of holding her breath there's nothing. ]

I guess it isn't that easy, huh.. I wonder if maybe the gods know more about it.

[demonicbeauty]

I suppose it's worth asking.

...although who do we ask?

[tealeafs]

Oh..! I've actually only spoken to one of them before, so I'm not sure.

[ He was nice, but would the other gods be as nice? ]

Do you think it'd matter? I guess we wouldn't want to annoy them..

text

[trafficreport]

scout?

[Hey, fellow scout. Didn't realize you were on the job too.]

[demonicbeauty]

[Unfortunately, Ariadne's not great with text. But she's trying!]

YEsss. I am a ssscout!!!

[trafficreport]

[...huh.]

drunk scout?

[demonicbeauty]

WhaT doessss that mean?

[trafficreport]

having trouble typing.

[Just wondering what kinda state of mind you're in if that's a problem, is all.]

[demonicbeauty]

Yessss. I have never tried To usse a type THing before

[trafficreport]

[Oh.]

explains a lot.
practice some more.

[demonicbeauty]

I knoW I SHOUld. There jusssst isssn't alwayss time

[trafficreport]

practice now.

[aka we're doing this conversation via text now. Have fun.]

anything else wrong with the water.

[demonicbeauty]

I cant really tell

It ssssmellss normal, but I ca'nt get closse to it

[trafficreport]

check momentum.
throw something in.
see if it bounces out faster than you did.

[demonicbeauty]

It pushesss back Anything that triessss to breach the ssssssurface