Complete Private Ilmea's Lament Sparkling waves

[Fina Drago]

Considering how things were developing, Fina did not keep floating for too long. Vina did not infect her quite enough with her exhibitionism for that to be the case. That aside, she did at least keep Cleo's advice in mind, understanding how it all worked. "Okay, I'll keep it all in mind. Should be helpful in the future." Unless she never visited here again, though that seemed pretty unlikely at this point. Even if she was currently being taught how to swim, she was already enjoying it a fair bit, despite the embarrassment.

That said, there was something else she was interested in. "But what if I want to sink?" A brief moment of silence made the feline realize she should probably elaborate. "To dive, I mean! I have seen many videos of people diving into the sea to find all kinds of neat things and see the marine life. It always seemed like something that would be a lot of fun to do."

It might have been a bit of a leap. She was only just grasping the basics, after all. But considering how strong and adaptive her virtual body was, perhaps they could get to it at the end of Cleo's lesson. A wonderful ending to an already wonderful experience.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

As Fina righted herself again, Cleo could stop trying to block any lines of sight that a passerby might have from the beach to the feline, returning to treading water normally alongside her friend, happy that Fina had even bothered to follow her advice in the first place. It demonstrated a lot of trust in her, that Fina was willing to do things that she recommended or follow advice that she gave, even if the feline girl was clearly not as comfortable with those things as she could've been.

The question about wanting to sink, to dive, were a surprise though. Not too much of one, after all, it was natural to be a little curious as to what it was like underneath the water, considering that it was such a different world to the one they were used to, standing on dry land 24/7 and all. Cleo hummed, flashing Fina a smile.

Well, diving is a kind've simple matter. It's a matter of simply pushing against the water to shove yourself under it. To sink, rather than lay on your back, it's better to press your arms and legs to your body, making yourself as thin as possible.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

The advice seemed simple enough. However, it might have been a bit of a leap from being barely able to swim to try to dive down below the water's surface. That said, there was not much else to do but try it! Hopefully, Cleo would not freak out too much when the cat disappeared into the deep low.

And so, with all that, the girl would do as was suggested and tried to narrow her body as much as she could with her hands adjacent to her body. Once she stopped moving her legs as well, she would start sinking until she felt her head go past the water's surface. Since she was still very new to all of this, she tightly closed her eyes as well and could not hold her breath for very long.

Only a few seconds later, she would start flapping her hands and legs once more to get herself back to the surface - not a hard thing since she was still only barely below the water. "Pwah—" The water going up her nest didn't feel very nice either, making the girl shake her body, and she shivered a bit. "Blech—"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well, she'd not quite expected that Fina would immediately throw herself into diving under the water and trying to swim around, though suddenly the catgirl made herself as slim as possible and then slipped below the surface. Cleo nearly immediately lurched to try and lift the girl back out of the water, but stopped herself with the knowledge that Fina had done it on purpose. Mentally, she began counting and if she hit thirty, she was going Fina fishing.

Luckily it only took a few seconds later before Fina emerged from the water again, couching and gasping for air slightly. Cleo chuckled, making sure she had one arm wrapped around Fina's waist lightly, prepared to haul her in if the girl lost control and sank again.

It takes some getting used to, the feeling of diving and water going in your nose. Don't open your eyes underwater, especially in salt water, if you can help it at all.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

This was rather unpleasant. Fina wanted to dive, but there were some obstacles that didn't seem easy to conquer. At the very least, she was still able to keep herself afloat, even as she tried to empty her nose of the salty seawater. Not that the embrace from Cleo was bad. Although, given their state of clothing, being this close did manage to make the feline blush again. "R-right. But there is a lot of neat stuff down there, right? Ugh, maybe if I had a pair of diving goggles, I could remake them with arcanamancy…"

That felt like quite a bit of a task. Actually, the girl wasn't even sure if she could create more flexible things with that mastery, such as headbands that would keep the goggles on her head. Or a part that would be sturdy, yet still thin enough to be essentially see-through like glass. As she pondered about it all, her gaze fell down and spotted something shiny, down below. So there was something there, after all! "Uwaah, hydromancy would sure come in hand right now…"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

There's some pretty neat stuff down there, yeah, though it's not quite worth hurting your eyes by immersing them in saltwater just to see them. Creating goggles with Arcanamancy isn't a bad idea, to be fair. I know it's capable of making things with different textures. So long as they aren't too mechanically complex.

Anything with moving parts would be difficult to impossible, but something like a pair of goggles were just some cups, some glass and a piece of elastic, essentially. Those were all things that could be produced by Arcanamancy if the user was skilled enough with it.

Cleo closed her eyes, focusing on the image of a pair of diving goggles, then proceeded to print it with her magic, first a pair for Fina and then a pair for herself. She smiled, holding out a pair of goggles for Fina to take and giving the catgirl a wink.

Let's not take too long, otherwise they'll break apart AND I'll be too tired to swim and drown or something, but these should let you get a better look.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Cleo was as reliable as always. Fina herself could have probably been capable of producing something similar, but she accepted the goggles that were already created. Granted, she rarely tried to make something other than weapons, so she didn't have that much practice with more mundane objects. Regardless, they were able to, at least briefly, explore what was happening beneath them. As big of a jump as it was from learning how to swim, the felis was filled with excitement and confidence. After all, this game allowed her to explore so many things she never could in the physical world!

"Alright... let's try!" With that, she would put the goggles on and try to submerge again. She had some difficulty properly maneuvering under the water's surface, but with her eyes and nose covered, it was much less of a problem. Her athletic form allowed her to hold her breath for longer as well, though nothing coming even remotely close to a professional diver. And sure enough, the girl was immediately mesmerized by the array of underwater plants and fish swimming around.

It truly was a shame she had only a limited amount of time to explore all of it. Perhaps she could eventually ask someone well-versed in magitech to make her a mouthpiece that allowed breathing underwater? As different thoughts swirled around in her head, she suddenly spotted something. A glimmer that she had noticed before, even through the water's surface. The only issue was swimming toward it. She had only just learned how to stay afloat, after all. Thankfully, she had a different kind of idea.

Gesturing to Cleo and pointing to the object so the other woman wouldn't be alarmed, the feline suddenly created something akin to a trident in her hand, together with a chain that was already affixed to it on one end. The other was instead connected to a handcuff that embraced her own wrist. Tossing the weapon with enough force, it was able to reach its target despite all of the water resistance, letting Fina pull herself alongside the chain all the way to the unknown object.

Once it was in her hand, her arcanamancy dissipated right away, allowing her to start moving her legs and hands to get herself back to the surface. As the barrier of water broke, allowing her back onto a surface filled with air, she'd pull the goggles up and took a closer look at what she had grabbed. "...huh?" A strange tablet made out of something that felt like wood, though she couldn't be quite sure. It neatly fitted into her palm, and the symbol glowed faintly, despite the tear and wear the object clearly displayed.

Item Acquired
Damaged wooden tablet
[ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ]

​

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Now that they were equipped to dive, Cleo dipped below the waves alongside her catgirl companion, watching Fina exclusively so that she could see the girl's reactions to the underwater sights. And it was definitely worth it, as she immediately caught sight of how mezmerized and excited Fina was. It instantly solidified that it was a good idea for her to teach Fina to swim and to help the girl explore the underwater some more. Seeing Fina happy just made her happy in general, to be perfectly honest.

The two of them were quite capable of holding their breath underwater, both of them being quite athletic and having good control over their breathing. Cleo hummed, swimming around Fina, keeping her eyes on the girl, until something seemed to have attracted Fina's attention and the sudden use of arcanamancy got Cleo's attention.

Once Fina had retrieved it, the two of them rose up to the surface again, with Fina clutching some kind of wooden plate or tablet.

What the heck is that thing?

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Using just her legs to keep herself afloat, Fina would examine the little wooden talisman from every angle she could. It didn't really help her figure out what the thing was, but she still felt the faint magical energy hidden within it. Though whether the item was inherently magical, or whether it was related to the drawn symbol on its surface, she had absolutely no idea. "I- uh... I have no idea. It was kinda shiny when underwater and I can feel some kind of magic inside of it when holding it... can we return to the beach and examine it some more?"

Cleo was hardly a person who'd try to keep the two in the water, so once the felis got back onto the beach, she looked around with rosy cheeks before finally opening her inventory and re-equipping her gear. Finally not so vulnerable anymore. It allowed her to focus a bit better as well, now inspecting the item with her investigation mode. "Hm... apparently its name is... 'passage key'? Is it maybe an item that unlocks a door or something then?" Did they just stumble upon some kind of ancient treasure, or at least a part of it?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Whatever that wooden thing that Fina had found was, Cleo could also feel a slight hint of magic within it, or within the marking. It was hard to say exactly what it was and Cleo herself was not exactly an expert on these kinds of things. Her study into magic was limited pretty much exclusively to Arcanamancy and Chronomancy. She wasn't even sure if it was possible for a player to weave an enchantment onto an item, at least on somethinig of a permanent basis. One could be maintained with a supply of energy, but a permanent enchantment?

She'd never heard of that...

Still, a nod later and they were swimming back to the shore, until they were back on the beach and in their clothes again. It was strange how easily she'd forgotten that she'd been nude, or how quickly she'd gotten to the point where she really didn't care who saw her and how they saw her. Frankly, Fina's strange find was WAY more interesting that that kind of thing.

A key implies that it does unlock something. Maybe there's some kind of secret undersea passage or something that can only be unlocked with that? Or maybe the passage is on land and it was thrown in the sea to dispose of it?

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Cleo was not wrong in any way. But that also meant that there was a number of issues ahead of them right now. First of all, if there was something to be unlocked with - where was it? "I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary beyond this when I was down there... definitely no door or anything like that." Such a thing would probably be rather easy to notice by just about anyone who paid some attention to their surroundings.

The second issue stemmed from the first - if there was nothing obvious around them to use the amulet on, then how could they find the thing that it opened? "Mm... there is no telling if this 'key' even opens something around these parts. Especially if it was thrown away, someone could have brought it over from the opposite side of the continent." Unfortunately, the investigation mode did not reveal much else beyond the item's name.

Thinking about it for a while, there was no good idea hatching in Fina's head. "Hmm... maybe there's like... an expert on magical items or something? If someone were to recognize this thing, then surely they would also be able to point us in the right direction." It was a long shot by itself, but how would they even find someone like that. The felis looked at Cleo with expectant eyes, wondering if the Crimson Lancer was maybe a bit more connected.

@Cleo Looker