[Arisa? You come upon a natural spring, and both of you, with Julie's burning hand lighting the area, can see it, and there's two women in the pool, nude. One of them's Taki. The other's a dark blonde haired woman whose hands are about an inch from Taki's shoulder. She's looking up at you.] [Taki? It's Arisa and Julie! Julie's in her militaryish outfit, Arisa's wearing what looks like one of Guna's robes.] [The two hot springs girls are both also more or less underwater completely, so there's no fanservice at this point in time, and Taki's back is also to the other woman.] [Join up!] * Arisa blinks as she almost stumbles on the spring and looks at Julie. "I thought the baths were closed." Her scytheblade hangs precariously from its ties in the back. * Taki blinks up at Arisa, "Or it could be the other person who got dragged into this." * Arisa then turns back to Taki and looks her over. "Well who else would you think it might be? We were worried for you." [Julie looks down at Taki and Sheila, and says, with a big wide smile, "Is that a hot pool?"] * Arisa takes a moment to stare at Julie. "That isn't why we're here.." I can take care of myself, and yes it is. (Half of this statement is true.) * Arisa sighs and scratches her fingers through her hair. "I'm not worried particularly for your safety, Miss Shimiru." [Sheila looks up at Arisa and just seems confused. Julie looks over at Arisa and says, "But... it's hot water! Naturally hot water! I don't like water that much... but it's hot!"] Yes? * Arisa looks at Julie for a while at the seeming random tangent, then snickers into her hand. "Oh very well." She turns towards Sheila. "Would it be alright if she bathed here as well? I'm not particularly interested...although it is tempting.. ["Come on, Arisa." She grins slightly. "You said I didn't know how to have fun..."] If you want, get in. * Arisa laughs and waves her off. "AlRIGHT... AlRIGHT..." [Sheila looks up at Julie and says cheerily, "You're a fire person, right? It'd be wonderful to have you. I've never seen a fire person before!"] * Arisa smiles and kneels by the poolside, content with the vapors of the spring. You missed some interesting opportunities at the party. Though the haughtiness of certain individuals was more than I usually care for. [Julie couldn't have been told fast enough. The second Sheila and Taki don't seem to care, she's walkinng around to the other edge of the pool and removes her clothinig quickly, before slipping in. Her body, if you were paying attention, seems impossibly smooth, and is pretty much uniformly hairless. Along with lacking a bellybutton, she also lacks any nipples. Otherwise, she looks like a normal... orange... woman.] [Sheila reaches over to Taki's shoulder and tries to start rubbing it (again).] (So in short, she's a Sailor Moon Transformation sequence.) (Ha.) * Taki flinches and then forces herself to relax, "That's one of the reasons I left." (Your wit is stuning.) * Arisa smirks and tsks tsks with her finger. "On the contrary. I'd have thought you'd have enjoyed the opportunity to put snobs in their place." [Julie chuckles a little at that.] ["Arisa certainly took great pleasure in teasing the human expert."] Just a bit, but they all have friends who come out of nowhere and then they have friends and on and on. * Arisa blushes and eeks suddenly at that, whipping towards Julie. "He deserved it! I'd be surprised if he'd seen a single human in his lifetime!" [Julie laughs, and says at Taki, almost conspiritorially, "She was behaving like she was going to seduce him. It was classic."] * Arisa pouts and looks off to the side indignantly. [Sheila giggles at that.] * Taki raises an eyebrow at Arisa, "I didn't know you had it in you." Well....obviously... [Julie's just grinning and soaking happily now.] * Arisa waves her hand offhand. "That's not important right now. What matters is that I want to find out about your culture." She turns to the other human in the pool. [Sheila, IE, 'Other Human', continues rubbing Taki's shoulder while she looks up at Arisa. "Um? My culture?"] * Arisa sighs and calms herself a little before continuing. "I don't know how else to describe it...all I know is I want to know as much as I can about this place..." If I am to be trapped here, there must be elements that would remind me of my homeland..otherwise I don't know what I would do. [Sheila brightens. "Well, my name is Sheila, and I'm a member of the Bluewood Forest Tribe. We hunt and fish a lot."] * Arisa tilts her head to the side and looks more solidly on Sheila. "Fish? I was under the impression that fish would be hard pressed to survive in this environment..." Can't you hear the river? We passed it along the way. But what creatures can survive against the torrent? Can it trully sustain life? * Arisa sounds a little cross between sorrowful and hopeful at the end. [Sheila nods a little and says, "Well, they're really... really... really big fish."] [She makes a big gesture with one of her hands, briefly, before going back to rubbing Taki's shoulder.] There you have it. Wouldn't it tear the line? [She says, "You... make really big sticks with lots of knives at the end, and you throw them at fish, and they've got these long things made of plants that you tie the sticks to."] Ah! Spear fishing! * Taki nods. My father always used to try and teach me... I could never get the hang of it... [She blinks, then says, "Spear... they call those spears in Japan? Are you from Japan too?"] No no no, nothing of the sort. I've never heard of this Japan.. [Julie continues relaxing happily.] It's the name of the place where I'm from. * Arisa tilts her head towards Taki. Are there mostly humans in Japan as well? Not mostly. All humans, we have stories about elves and such, but you're the first one I've ever seen. [Sheila blinks and says, "You're not huma--" Julie interrupts and says casually, "Half elf. Don't bother asking."] Hmm... * Arisa puts her finger to her chin thoughtfully. "So I suppose you haven't heard of the Glasteel Mountains either.." I haven't. [Sheila shakes her head and does more shoulder rub. "Nope! I've never been away from the river and the forest."] * Arisa nods. "It's a range very close to my village. We lived near a coastal village very near to it. It was always beautiful to look upon, especially in winter..." [Julie smiles a little. Sheila looks slightly confused. "I've heard of winter... that's when it gets less hot, isn't it?"] * Arisa nods. "Much less hot. Especially near the mountains." * Taki blinks at Sheila, "There is no winter here?" [Sheila rubs and nods slightly. Julie speaks up, softly, "Without the balance of the water and wind... even winter is, at best, temperate for humans. And without that, there's no difference between a violent thunderstorm when it's hot, and a violent thunderstorm when it's warm."] * Taki blinks at Julie, and then takes a long hard look at Sheila, "...How long ago?" [Sheila looks confused. "How long a what?"] * Arisa sighs and dips her finger into the water and watches Taki. Since the water and wind crystals were broken. [Sheila looks confused. "I... you'd have to ask Krystal." Julie is looking down at the water.] * Arisa doesn't look but apparently notices something amiss. "Julie, it's not your fault." [Julie speaks up angrily. "It's all our faults! We never should have allowed father..." she trails off.] What's done is done. Change things now. * Arisa starts to speak but looks up at Taki, smiling for a faint brief moment before swirling her finger in the spring. I cannot go back, and you could not stop your father, so we do what we can now. [Sheila tries to rub Taki's shoulder if she can.] [Julie looks a mix of angry and ashamed at the moment, then nods mutely, and leans back in the pool. "And enjoy this warmth. Oh, this is so nice."] * Taki sits there and gets her shoulder rubed, and slowly turns into a prune, "yes." So what CAN we do? [The music in the background is still going. The torch to the side that Sheila put down is slowly dimming.] Ask the people who know things, that's a mistake I made constantly. [Julie says, softly, "I don't know. I.. father never let me read about the crystals, once he found out I was against his war. Perhaps Va'bul's Arm does."] Vabul's Arm? Is that anything like Ru'Wrg...um.... * Arisa blanks on the rest of the name and sighs. [Julie looks over at Arisa and smiles faintly. "Ru'Wrg'Klu'Pio is Va'bul's Arm, yes."] [She continues, "The only two people in the world I can think of that would know are my father and Ru'Wrg'Klu'Pio."] And your father seems...less than cooperative So you ask him, and I ask Bart and Krystal here, and Arisa can talk to Gu'harkina? And then we give ourselves headaches trying to figure it out. (Guharkina?) (Gu'halq'na) (Guna's name seriously abused by a char with a bad memory for them) (Heh. Okay. I just couldn't figure out _myself_.) (You're the one who named these people! :P) * Arisa blinks and looks at Taki. "You're willing to help?" (You didn't type it right!) [Julie snorts and says in a low tone, "My father will never listen to me."] I have nothing better to do while I'm waiting to find out the answer to my question. * Arisa lets out a deep breath and smiles. "You're a good person, Taki Shimiru." I used to be anyway, who knows. You cannot change who you are...no matter how hard you try. [Sheila looks confused this whole time, but eventually puts things together and says, "You are going to try to fix the world?"] * Taki glares at Arisa, "That...is a lie." * Arisa shakes her head and looks at Taki sadly. "Situations change. But who you fundamentally are stays the same if you're strong of will..." * Taki lets some of the anger into her voice, "Forgive me for being weak willed then, and all of my friends." [Sheila squeezes Taki's shoulder a bit more comfortingly than massagingly.] * Arisa sighs and walks around the edge of the spring, faintly oblivious. I meant no harm. I'm sorry. * Arisa dips her fingers in the waters of the pool and lets them drip through inbetween her fingers. "Although it makes me wonder how my alter self is doing right now. If she's any closer..." [Julie looks sorta thoughtful, perhaps trying to puzzle if Arisa is right, and tracking her with her hands as much as she can without sitting up.] * Taki sighs and leans back twords Sheila, "It's not your fault... despite everything I just said I can't let go of the past." And so your past is important to you...that is nothing to be ashamed of. * Arisa smiles faintly. "My past is important to me as well. That is why I, well we, are working hard to protect it's future." [Sheila smiles a little. Julie chuckles slightly and gives that an affirming nod.] Yes, well, I hope the other you is doing a good job of it. [Sheila frowns slightly. "Other you?"] ["How is there an other her?"] * Arisa smiles faintly, mostly to herself. "I hope so too. She's more worried than she'd like to appear..." * Taki turns her head so she can look at Sheila, "the magic that brought us here ... made copies of two people living in other worlds and dropped the both of us in the city of the earth people. So I am here talking to you... and there is another me that is still running around Tokyo..." And another of me still searching for the cure. [Sheila gapes. "That's..." the shoulder rub stops for a second, then continues slowly. "Wowie."] [The torch is extremely low at this point. Taki, you're having a hard time seeing Arisa.] * Arisa smiles and unties her scythe so she can use it as a walking stick and prop her up for a moment. [Julie makes a small mming noise, her eyes mostly closed now. "If I don't get out soon, I'm going to fall asleep, which I wouldn't mind. Today's been horridly long."] * Taki holds up her right arm again and peers at her fingertips, "and this Taki is going to turn into a prune if she doesn't." * Arisa sighs. "I suppose there's no rush. After all, you have lived with it for some time now..." [Julie swivels her head to Arisa and says, "Mmm?"] Well I suppose starting out in the morning won't hurt... * Arisa looks at Sheila. "If you would be kind enough to honor us with your hospitality." ... [Sheila pouts slightly, and says, "Aww. This was a really nice bath..." she turns towards Arisa's voice and says, "Sure! The party's still going. We wouldn't turn anyone away!" I'd prefer not to head back to Gu'halq'na's tonight... * Taki shakes her head, "Yes definatly getting out now.... and why not?" It makes me...uncomfortable. I can't explain it. ...Fine, you talk to the people here and I'll talk to them. I need to give that axe back anyway. * Arisa frowns and fidgets. "I didn't mean to make things hard on you, Miss Taki Shimiru." [Julie makes a nnhing noise and sits forward, "You might be able to catch Va'bul's Arm awake, still, but beyond that, I don't see the Ru'Hak as wanting to stay up too late."] Unless you can find another expert in soul-copy magic...I have to go back there. You mean to find your answer still as well, don't you? Still? I never had to wonder about this before. I'd die and the next Knight of Cups would get to have nightmares about my life. Simple as that. * Arisa sighs. "Would you do me a favor?" * Taki tries to see Arisa, but it's dark, "I can try." If it does come to that, at least let me know so I can say my goodbyes... If it does come to that. [Sheila slowly stands from the pool and gets out, fumbling for her clothing, and also, if Arisa's lookig Taki-ward, giving her plenty of eyeful. Not that she'd know that. "Comes to what? You two speak all confusingly."] I told you I was a bad story teller. * Arisa takes a deep breath. "It's not of importance. I thank you for your hospitality." * Taki wades across the pool and gets out near where her clothes should be, "... Towels." [Sheila turns towards Arisa, still partially naked, trying to put on the weird upper body thing that the female humans here wear. "Oh, that's fine." She suddenly gapes. "I never asked your name! I'm so ashamed."] * Arisa smiles faintly. "Arisa. Arisa Lockheed. And those are two seperate names. Our naming scheme is not like yours. We usually prefer to be called by the first only unless you are trying to be severely polite." ["... Oh." She turns towards Taki's cry of towels and pulls on the mud-shorts. "Then it should be Taki?"] [Julie finally pulls herself out of the water and says, teasingly, at Arisa, in the dark, "You just wanted to stay to dance."] My country is complicated about these things, so go with what is used here. * Arisa pouts at Julie. "This isn't the time..." [Julie grins at you in the darkness. "Why not?"] * Taki starts to squeeze the water out of her hair, and yes, she isn't wearing anything at all. [Sheila looks confused and then says, "Okay, Takishimiru!"] [It's so dark that the only people who can even really see anyone else are those with lowlight/darkvision. The moon's out, but it's not strong enough than to give soft hints that yes, there is a person there."] (*RDM watches the lights dim and the blinken lights on the surgeprotecters go off "...") (>_>) * Arisa turns towards Sheila, seemingly having no problem with the darkness. "I'm afraid I didn't get your name either, but I would like to know about the human tribes here..." * Taki does her best to brush the water off of herself, "Before that, do any you have another toarch?" [Julie picks up her clothes and continues just grinning at Arisa. Sheila says, "It's Sheila," and shakes her head. "No... I wasn't thinking. Sorry, Takishimiru."] Sheila...of course. Pleased to meet you. * Arisa doesn't notice Julie's grin. It must be the darkness of course! [Julie starts putting her clothes back on, finally.] Wonderful. * Taki feels around for her clothes in the dark. [You find clothes! They're probably even yours.] * Arisa watches Taki and goes over nearer to her, finding her clothes if she hadn't gripped them and handing them to her. "Here." * Taki starts to put them on, "...Thanks." [Arisa hands Taki her shirt. How thoughtful!] * Arisa smiles faintly and silently and doesn't chop Taki's hand off with her menacing scythe. [Suddenly, the area lights up fairly brightly, by firelight, revealing everyone clothed but Taki, the half-clothed.] * Taki glares at Julie for a moment and then calmly reaches down for the !hotpants part of her outfit and puts them on too. [Julie's hand is on fire again, of course, as Taki correctly surmised.] [Sheila looks over at Julie and says, "You didn't mention your name, fire woman." Julie responds, "Jul'pmak'guby, Sheila." Sheila smiles and mouths the name a few times. Apparently humans here don't have that good a time with the names either.] [Sheila picks up the stub of the torch and shoves the soap-root under a rock again, before saying, "All ready to go!"] [The music continues to play in the not so distant distance.] * Taki slips on the slippers, (funny how that works) "That's everybody." (and I'm getting some strong, "Thou shalt sleep now" messages from my body.) (I figured.) (Me too) (We can handle storytime next time. ^_~) (They didn't drag it out of Arisa? Drat! ;P) (Afraid not. If she'd stayed, she'd have danced the night away.) [And everyone was ready! So the four women walked back to the camp by the light of Julie's BURNING FIST. But what did they find when they got there? Who knows! Because they aren't there yet. Session end!]