Private Ilmea's Lament Fishy Business!

[Ilya]

Today was different than most days for Ilya. Most of the quests that she had normally taken from the Adventurer's Guild were quests relating to beating up a handful of monsters. Yet here she found herself beside the ocean, thankfully... She didn't have to be on the beach for this one, so she had no need to worry about the awful, dreaded sand. Sand being, the literal bane of her existence. Ilya had taken up a quest relating to fishing, her task was to fish up as many fish as she could on her hunt for the <BIG BOY-OH>. The reason for why they wanted the massive sea creature went beyond the head of Ilya, not that she was super concerned about it. As long as she could live her life, have fun, get reputation and become number one, Ilya had no complaints.

So there she was, making her way to the dock in order to start her fishy business. Fishing pole in hand, tackle box in the other. No one was on the dock, so Ilya would be alone today, giving her a strange sense of peace and quiet that made her uncomfortable. Ilya was used to having people around her to interact with, in fact, Ilya up to this point had never spent a day alone.

Setting down her tackle box, Ilya opened up her inventory and took out the chair she had purchased beforehand in anticipation for this very moment. She set it up and moved her tackle box closer, getting ready to take a seat and start her fishing. It was a lovely day, the sun barely rising in the sky just moments before it had been lighting up the sky in a multitude of colors. Though now, the sky was a bright blue with only a few clouds in sight. It was the perfect day for Ilya to begin hunting, or fishing for the many sea creatures she needed to complete her mission.

@Tristaria

 

[Tristaria]

Ilmea's Lament. Tristaria had been here before... once; to learn from a great teacher of magitech! It was a beautiful sight then, and it remained so now, making her wonder if this place ever really changed. This was a video game, after all. In theory, it could look this perfect 24/7.

But weather patterns weren't what she was here to test. Instead, a crucial question had arisen that desperately needed answering: was she waterproof. Tris had stood in the rain before, so on the surface the answer was yes: it was more a question of to what degree? She never really felt the need to breathe unless she needed the air for speaking, so as long as nothing else stopped her, could she just stand down there underwater forever?

She had to know!

As Ilya turned to set up her chair, she didn't notice the airplane magia who'd suddenly stepped up to the dock beside her. Or more accurately, she'd heard her first, as the previously muffled footsteps in the sand suddenly became much more obvious on the hard wood. Tristaria turned to look at the lone fisher with her half-closed eyes. A cat. Or was she a lioness? Hard to tell.

"Excuse me," Tris spoke politely as she stepped up to the edge and casually hopped into the water. This caused a big splash over Ilya, as well as the scattering of any fish that were near the dock. As more and more time passed, it became clear that Tris wasn't surfacing either...

@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

Ilya had just finished setting up her space and had taken a seat when loud mechanical thumps echoed on the dock. Ilya glanced over eyeing the source of the noise, a woman, no a robot woman was walking towards her. Though her destination seemed headed to Ilya, the girl had ended up behind Ilya. Therefore, she pivoted her body slightly so she could watch with curious eyes. "Excuse me," was all that was spoken between the two of them when suddenly the girl stepped off the dock and into the water.

Splashes surfaced, completely drenching Ilya as the girl plummeted down. Fish began to hop around as they were exposed to the air, splattered all across the dock as if it were a painting. Ilya was so startled that she practically fell out of her chair. She scrambled to the edge on her hands and knees, clinging to the edge of the dock as she peered into the water. No sign of the girl that had hopped in, as the water lapped up any traces of her. No bubbles, nothing.

Ilya frowned out of concern, ignoring the fish on the dock and forgetting about the reason she was here. Ilya refused to acknowledge the fact that Tris had obviously willingly stepped off the dock and into the water, instead she came to the conclusion that she had fallen. No one would be crazy enough to just walk off the dock, especially to the extent that they wouldn't surface.

Ilya let go of the edge of the dock and dove into the water to try and rescue the girl that had "fallen in". Opening her eyes, seeing nothing but darkness, Ilya swam back up to the surface gasping for breath before she dove back in. This time she headed straight for the bottom, metal sank, so Tris had to be on the floor of the sea. Feeling around in the dark, her beast senses not working with all of the water flowing around her, it wasn't until a few moments passed and her hands whacked against Tris. The water causing her to barely hit the girl. She didn't wait a second longer before latching her arms under what she thought were the girls' armpits using her overwhelming brutal strength to launch both of them back to the surface, where she once again gasped for breath. Struggling to stay afloat while carrying the mecha Ilya spoke in a raspy and panicked voice, "A- Are you o- okay?!"

 

[Tristaria]

Tris felt… cold. It was a pretty cold lake. She also found the water a tad bit uncomfortable as it entered in and tickled in places she wasn’t even aware she had. She was kind of hoping to see down here, but it was too dark to really make anything out; maybe because she was kicking up sand from the seafloor underneath.

Still, she confirmed what she was hoping to confirm: she felt okay! Sure, it wasn’t a very exciting sight right now, but knowing she didn’t have to worry about falling in lakes and such was a huge comfort! She was about to walk back to the beach to surface when she heard a splash from above. The girl from earlier? Tris heard her swimming around a bit, and after a while, held her arm out, figuring she was looking for her. It turned out to be correct.

The most impressive part was how this girl was even able to keep swimming with a heavy magia in her arms. She sure didn’t sound great though; best to help out. Gripping the girl in return, Tris turned her sight to the dock and released a strong blast of air into the water, propelling them both to the dock, where they landed with a thud (and a clank, in Tris’s case).

"Fine. It looks like I’m waterproof. That would’ve been nice of you if I wasn’t though," Tris answered as water leaked out from all over her body. "This place is interesting. There’s a whale echolocating several miles that way," she pointed off toward the horizon. "It’s pretty amazing, being able to hear sounds like that."

 

[Ilya]

SMACK! Ilya felt her body land against the dock, her breath being knocked out of her. She wasn't sure what just happened, but something had. Traces of magic tinting the air, Ilya tried to lean to her side, coughing up water. "I-"

Ilya coughed again, [b"I didn't e-expect you to be that heavy."[/b] Ilya took a deep breath trying to sooth her crying water-filled lunges. "Magia really are something else. What were you do-" Ilya stopped talking as she realized that Tris was about to say something. "W-WATERPROOF? That's what you wanted to know?"

Ilya eyed her companion, "At least maybe... Give me a warning next time, I swear I was scared half to death." Ilya began to wring out her hair which was currently drenched. "Whales hmm?" Ilya wouldn't mind seeing a few whales.

"Say, you used magic to get us up here?" Ilya sniffed the air, still unsure what Tris had used, "Say do you think you could do use it if I were to get us a lil row boat or something so we could go see the whales? Even then, would it take us awhile? Or do you think you could get us there quickly. I've never seen whales before..." Ilya's eyes sparkled with excitement hoping that this strange Magia would be able to help her out.

 

[Tristaria]

Tris admittedly felt a little bad, seeing the girl coughing and sputtering there on the dock. Then the drying of her hair… sure, maybe she could’ve been a little more careful with the entry there.

"Sorry," she slipped in somewhere in the conversation, right after the girl asked for a warning. "Next time"… that seemed unlikely, but hey, maybe!

"Hm?" She tilted her head as the girl had another interesting suggestion related to her whale argument. "You want to see whales? Why? They’re pretty far away…" It seemed kinda random to Tris. Granted, she’d never seen a whale either, being most of a shut-in in the real world, so admittedly it might be kinda cool.

"It’s just aeromancy," Tris explained, waving her hand and flinging a brief gust of air in front of her. Glancing back at the girl, Tris noticed her eyes filled with a sparkling enthusiasm. That was downright impossible to deny; it was like a puppy stare! "I actually have something better…"

Opening her inventory, Tris materialized a small, magitech jetpack in her hands. It looked a little questionable in its construction, but nevertheless functional. There was a slight excitement in her eyes, less from the whales, and more the chance to test her device. "I think it could work as a motor if we attached it right! … Oh right, I’m Tristaria by the way. Hi."

@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

Ilya flicked her tail, "Have you never wanted to witness whales in action? They're so big, plus this is a chance i've never had before!" Ilya clapped her hands together, aeromancy. It made sense the more Ilya thought about it. The fact the two of them had gotten up on the dock so fast. "Y'know, I really ought to get ahold of some skills that have purpose out of combat!" Low and behold, Tris was even more intriguing. Presenting an idea that even took Ilya, someone who thought she had seen it all, by surprise.

"Lovely to meet you Tristaria, is it alright if I call you Tris? I'm Ilya. Pleasure to meet you. Now about this device...." Ilya began to inspect what Tris had taken out of her inventory. It was a device of some kind, made of the same kind of stuff that she had seen in Vintergard when she had gone through the effort of escaping the death bots. Shuddering at the thought, Ilya would begin to scan the dock for any sign of life.

"The NPC back at the shack that helped me get geared up for my fishing adventure is bound to have a boat. We should ask him to borrow one if he has one!" Step by step, the plan began to unfold and without waiting for a reply from her new friend, Ilya headed for the shore. Her feet pattering against the wet wood making water droplets float upwards a little before falling back down. The splashing sounds echoing lightly as she made her way to the shack at the edge of the dock, planted neatly on the ground.

 

[Tristaria]

"Uhm… I can’t say that I’ve ever thought that much about whales before." Although, now that Ilya mentioned it, she actually was kinda curious to see one.

"Yes, all these masteries have a surprising number of uses outside of just hitting things. Aero-jumping can be useful; I would recommend it." She continued staring unblinking as the introductions rolled around. "Tris is fine. Most people use Tris anyway."

Handing over her jetpack, Tris watched Ilya inspect it. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going through her mind as she checked it, but there seemed to be some sort of visible shuddering it produced. Weird. Even weirder, she didn’t even deny the use of it, despite the averse reaction.

Ilya called her attention to a small shack near the dock that Tris had, admittedly, ignored. Well, that was nice and convenient for… well, fishing mostly, she assumed. Probably why she ignored it. Tris followed along shortly after Ilya.

"By the way, there’s a small chance the jets could just rip the rowboat apart, depending on how strong it is," Tris casually mentioned. "Maybe don’t let the NPC know that though."

@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

Ilya frowned, "I really ought to change out my masteries then as I said before and get some that have more versatile uses... I'll have to look at it tonight before I log off. Any suggestions for someone like me?" Ilya puffed her chest as she thought of what kind of adventures she could have if she had been more picky on the masteries that she had chosen.
(OOC: I have changed her masteries before writing this. Before, Ilya had Martial Arts, Battle Spirits and Divine Magic)

"This might come off as racism, but do you have any ties to the bots that have infested Vintergard?" Ilya handed the jetpack back to Tris as the duo walked towards the hut. "Best not to then." Ilya's eyes sparkled as she thought of what mischief the two might get up to.

Entering the hut, Ilya would put her arms on her hips and boast out very loudly. "We require only the finest shitty boat that inhabits the land!" Letting a little magic out, the lights behind Ilya began to sparkle in divine light. Her entrance being stupid yet pleasing to the eye. Taking on a more serious tone she slipped up to the counter and passed a few gold coins over. "This enough to cover a trip in a rowboat?"

The man at the counter silently slipped the gold over the counter before pointing with his thumb to the door behind him. It was old and rotting, and Ilya had no idea where it lead to. But turning towards Tristaria she knew the two would figure it out together.

 

[Tristaria]

"Hm... I guess I can think about it on the way to the loud whale," Tris answered shortly, raising an eyebrow at the strange question that followed. "I have absolutely no idea. The race choice doesn't come with built-in lore, you know..." she shrugged. "But I will say, they don't seem to like me much, so if we're part of a family, it's a pretty broken one."

Tris silently followed Ilya as she positively sparkled. Seemed a bit excessive for purchasing a rowboat; it wasn't like they were throwing open the door to the grand ball or anything, but if that's how Ilya preferred to use her energy, Tris wasn't about to complain.

She'd just silently judge...

And on the topic of judging, the door slowly approached a half-eroded piece of rot doubling as a door and peeked inside. Lots of fishing gear, some worn tools, a deflated beach ball, and most important of all: a small row boat. From the looks of things, the boat wasn't in much better condition than the door. Unclean, a sickly green on the base of it, and... was that a hole in the bottom!?

...

"About that suggestion... how about Hydromancy?" Tristaria spoke as she wandered further in, waving her hand through the air. A blue light shone from the gesture to the floor, where similarly colored glyphs appeared, and from them emerged several little white droids. In shape and size, they appeared almost like the scouts from Vintergard, but their colors matched their master: white and blue. And if that wasn't enough to distinguish them as friendly, they hovered beside Tris to assist in carrying the boat to the beach.

"Coming through..."

She hoisted it off the pier and into the water, right before her little helpers vanished into the ground. After only a few seconds, the bottom of the board was already starting to look a little damp.

"And maybe practice with that while I set this thing up," she suggested, starting to fit the jetpack, ever so slowly, to the back; careful not to rip off a chunk of wood.


@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

​

lion's pride...

Ilya viewed each small thing as a huge point in her pride and happiness. Every action she took, every word that was said, and every small event had an impact on her mood.

Mecha-droids had appeared, carrying the rowboat in tow. Hydromancy eh? Ilya thought for a moment before opening her UI. She began to shift through her skills as her feet followed Tristaria to the edge of the dock.

Her fingers selecting button after button until Hydromancy was in her ability list. Now was the time to take a look at the skills before her. Noticing quite a few, and figuring out what the style of magic was. While she didn't know of any spells off the top of her head from the water magic sub-category, it had to be similar in style to Divine Magic, right?

She then began to cast her magic, feeling an entirely different aura and vibe as the water began to form in her palm. It confused Ilya greatly with how different the vibe was, considering she was always so focused on her fists it wasn't surprising.

After getting the smallest hang of it, she would check up on Tristaria to see if the boat was all set up. If it was, Ilya would board, all ready to go! "Ready to go Tris?"

@Tristaria

 

[Tristaria]

Tris had fully focused her attention on the boat and was thankful Ilya had the new mastery to mess around with. Distractions were kind of annoying. As Ilya stepped up, Tris tightened a few last screws and stepped back, presenting her finished creation!

The shiny, new, white-black jetpack attached to the back of the barely-together boat looked hilariously out of place. It was as if Tristaria had slapped a jet engine on the back of a historical model train, and brought up more than a few safety concerns. Even so, Ilya stepped right on in. Well, who was Tris to argue; she appreciated the bold attitude.

"Okay, I'll start it slow, and we'll take it for a test run around the dock first." Stepping in herself, the boat sank further from Tristaria's heavy body, and the bottom began to grew shiny from water droplets that really shouldn't have been in there.

"Here goes nothing."

The boat LAUNCHED forward, nearly flipping the boat front-first over their heads. "Lean forward, lean forward!" Tris shouted as she followed her own command, dropping the tip back into the water. "Whew..."

The dock quickly grew smaller and smaller as the powerful motor on the back carried them away. Despite what Tris had intended to do, however, the boat was barreling straight ahead.

"So... there may be a slight problem," she explained casually. "The jetpack... it doesn't turn."


@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

​

lion's pride...

Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me!

Ilya couldn't help but sing a jolly anthem in her head as she stood near the little boat, though all of her internal humming stopped when Tris showed off her work of art. Now that it was done, and with no concerns for her safety she took a step onto the boat, boarding it.

I wanna be a pirate! I'll have to get me a pirate boat! She smiled at the thought before nodding at Tristaria when she stated they would take it slow.

Time seemed to drawl on, as the boat dipped lower because of the presence of the Magia. Though this was of no concern to her, after all, this was just a game. As soon as Tristaria started whatever she had fixed up, the boat lurched forward. Her voice began to shout, and Ilya did as she was told. Quickly leaning forward and moving up to the higher part of the boat.

Once it was dipped back into the water, Ilya would test out where to stand to keep the boat perfectly balanced. Once she was confident she smiled once more. "Never doubted you for a second there Tris!" It was true, she never doubted her.

Rather quickly the boat left the dock in the past, the two of them being carried out further and further away. "Are we going to at least be able to bring it to a stop?" She figured that at a stop they could rotate and then go straight again. "About how far are the whales do you think?" Ilya could very well also use her newly acquired water magic. Though with little practice and not enough mastery, she wasn't one hundred percent sure that it would work the way she would intend. However, despite her major concern, whenever Tristaria replied to her question on the location. She would bring up her water-magic plan, along with her concern of not having mastery over it yet.

@Tristaria

"Talking!"
Thoughts....

 

[Tristaria]

"I certainly would’ve doubted me…" Tris answered, making it as clear as possible how experimental this whole idea was. Still plenty of opportunity for this to go horribly wrong! Hopefully she’d given Ilya that impression. Optimism sucked.

"Uhh… right, yeah. I guess we could do it that way," she scratched her head. That was pretty darn inconvenient, but hey, they didn’t exactly need to be super well maneuvered with things just to take a look at a whale or two.

… Assuming those noises were whales.

"Well I’m not exactly used to judging distance by listening to ultrasonic whale sonar, but if I had to guess… a dozen miles maybe?" Tristaria shifted to the side of the boat and awkwardly doggie paddled the rickety rowboat-turned-speedboat in the rough direction of the whale noises. "It’s not as bad as it sounds. This thing‘s pretty fast, so I’d give it like 15-30 minutes… if this stupid thing would turn already."

Tristaria’s awkward paddling was turning the boat, but slowly.


@Ilya

 

[Ilya]

☀𓆱𓃬

​

lion's pride...

In all honesty, the lioness did believe in Tris but she did understand that everything was experimental. Though Ilya found no harm in testing the empirical device; worst case scenario they'd die. Though now that she had hydromancy it made everything seem more reasonable to work out. If worst case scenario came, she would be forced to master it in any way she could to bring them back to the safety net of the shore.

Realizing how hard Tris was working, the girl would join in the effort. She mimicked the magia's movements, paddling alongside to hopefully make them turn a bit faster. "Pffft, what could possibly go wrong?" She laughed heartily but hesitantly, very much could go wrong in this situation....

Taking a deep breath the beastkin started to paddle harder, faster and stronger. Utilizing every muscle in her arm and hand to turn the boat. After many more comical moments, she would stop whenever Tris stopped paddling. Returning to her feet she struck her hands on her hips. "Easy peasy! Riiiight? I imagine we're closer to the thirty minutes out bit, considering it took us an awful amount of time to turn this thing..." She glanced back at the device. "Are we sure it won't just turn off?"

@Tristaria

"Talking!"
Thoughts....

 

[Tristaria]

Tris went ahead and spared Ilya the long list of things that could go wrong that immediately popped into her head. If she were an actual sailor or knew anything about the ocean, not doubt she could list several more potential catastrophes as well. But really, what help was that?

"Okay, I think we're lined up..." Tris finally spoke, turning her head left and right to try and pinpoint the sound. Once they were in position again, the boat launched forward with the spur of the magitech motor.

"It definitely will turn off eventually. Magitech runs on mana just like magia. If it runs out before we get there, I can just fuel it with my own energy meter, though. I'll just end up a bit more tired if it comes to that." With a shrug, Tris laid back and waited for the boat to carry them closer.

In her relaxation, however, she failed to notice the second object cutting through the water behind her. Whatever was parting that water, it was fast: as it was able to keep up with the makeshift motorboat.

"Ya know, if you like whales so much, why'd you pick a lion and not a whale? Were you afraid it'd make you look too bulky or something?"


@Ilya