Pool's Open

[soundsinsilence]

Who: Engineers and merpires and anyone curious
When: Day 126, afternoon
Where: 4th floor, east side—the abandoned swimming pool
What: The marvelous marvels of technology

[With the solar panels fully up and running, and the building's functions picking up (looks guys we have elevators!! don't get stuck) there's finally enough power flowing through the walls to siphon just a little off for a side project.

Those on the fourth floor might hear the definite put put put put vrrroooOOOOM of a motor starting up.

More surprising, though comparatively softer, is the hisssssss of moving water, the splash of it hitting dry, cleaned concrete. The smell of salted water, ever so faint, fills the empty pool room.]


Heeeeh . . . there really is enough pressure to get it all the way from outside.

I wonder what they'll think . . .

Comments

[tothedepths]

Yes, well...

[The last of the water drains out of his fingers and he straightens up again.]

I hazard he would have a great many conflicted feelings about you.

[soundsinsilence]

You don't . . . even really need to guess that. I'm probably the worst person here, for him.

[Swirls the pool water with her foot, sending ripples circling out. The water would be halfway up her calf, now, at the pool's deepest part.]

Try lying down?

[tothedepths]

[He hesitates, reluctant to do anything that might be misconstrued as acquiescence.

... It is a large and comfortable body of salt water, though...

He sighs and does so, but only after a long moment.]

[soundsinsilence]

[Yes see isn't that better?]

Would you like to nap in quiet for a bit? The water will be deep enough to swim in when you wake.

[tothedepths]

[It is, yes. He closes his eyes, relaxing in a way he really never does without being surrounded by water.]

I don't need any sleep.

[soundsinsilence]

Just some time to relax, then?

[Returns to the shallows anyway, lifting the sack of salt and holding it balanced as she climbs up one of the ladders, putting it up at the side of the pool.]

[tothedepths]

[Snorts]

"Relax"...

[Still... still. His eyes flutter closed, letting the water float in and out of his gills.]

[soundsinsilence]

Relax. Just a little.

[Pauses at the edge, momentarily unsure . . . and sits up on the ledge, rather than coming back down.]

[tothedepths]

[He seems to be, even if he doesn't say anything. Something about the color of his skin improves the longer he lays there, and his hair seems glossier than it has in ages.

It's only after a while that he glances sidelong at her perch, almost curious.]

[soundsinsilence]

[She's tucked herself up against the salt sack, toe tapping to a silent beat, twisting and shaping a bit of metal in her hands as if it was no more than clay.]

[tothedepths]

[And yet it's still a perch of considerable distance. She probably wouldn't have hesitated that way.

... Actually, it's a bit of a relief.]

If you are silent for my sake, you needn't bother.

[soundsinsilence]

Eh? I—

[Fumbles a bit, the metal slipping from her fingers and falling down into the rising waters with a small splash.]

[tothedepths]

[Sploosh. Thunk.

...

Lifts his head to stare at it, then at her.]

[soundsinsilence]

I was just . . .



. . . I'll go . . . get that . . .

[tothedepths]

[... Something in the water changes, like a sudden and inexplicable shift in the currents. The metal shifts and twirls, before being buoyed up to the surface and floating there, nestled in a small cloud of bubbles.]

[soundsinsilence]

[Pauses halfway down the ladder, watching . . .

And comes down all the way, rolling her pants up a bit more before wading out.]

Magic . . . really does seem amazing, sometimes.

[tothedepths]

[The metal bobs its way up to her, almost cheerfully. He watches with an air of boredom, shoving wet bangs out of his eyes.]

Buoyancy is hardly remarkable by magical standards.

[soundsinsilence]

But that's by magical standards, right? By ordinary standards . . .

[Walks forward a bit to meet it, the waves from her legs causing it to bob up and down as she bends down to scoop it up.

It looks like it could be a necklace of some kind, or a pendant—two interlocking designs, like a pair of fish swimming head to tail.]

. . . by ordinary standards, it's still pretty special.

Thank you.

[tothedepths]

[As she lifts it, the water beads and then slides off, as if it had never been there.

He just waves that off.]

You're lucky it was a body of water that you dropped it in.

Perhaps, if it is that valuable, you should be more careful with it.

[soundsinsilence]

This is just . . . it was just a few rusted nails, this morning. I found them outside.

[Whatever shape it had disappears as she presses her hands together, reducing it to no more than a misshapen sphere.]

There's a lot of little things like that out on the plains. Some big ones, too.

[tothedepths]

[... Oh.]

I had assumed the magic was in the material itself.

[soundsinsilence]

Oh! You thought . . . this isn't part of Zhen Ji's. That could float, even if it was separate . . . it's not really something I could lose unless I really tried.

This piece is just ordinary.

[tothedepths]

The metal itself is not Zhen Ji's... but the ability?

[soundsinsilence]

It's a little bit of both.

[Holds out her hands. There's two lumps of metal now, one in each, nearly identical.]

One of these is the piece I dropped. And one of them . . . that's from what you saw before. Almost the same, right?

[She turns her hands over. One falls, plunk, back into the water. The other flattens out halfway through its fall, caught by some unseen wind, and curves up back into her hand, reforming into a misshapen lump.]

. . . but the only thing that's the same is how they look, really.

[tothedepths]

[He can't help looking... at least mildly uncomfortable with a type of magic he can't readily identify.]

That's quite the elaborate toy.

[But. Well. She would have enjoyed such things, too.]

But I hazard it is well suited to you.