2019-07-11: Puddle Girl is Real!
- Log: 2019-07-11: Puddle Girl is Real!
- Cast: Ivan, Lydia Seren, Emeralda Kasim
- Where: Macalania
- Date: July 10, 2019
- Summary: Ivan tries again to hide in the Macalania woods and critical fails into meeting both Lydia and Lydia's mysterious small friend whose legend has preceded her!
================================<* Macalania *>================================= The Macalania region is home to two ancient, crystalline formations of unsurpassed mystery and beauty. The first is the Macalania Woods - a shining maze-like forest overseen by strange, ancient, birdlike Beastmen who speak in bizarre riddles and weave light like silk. The second is Lake Macalania - an eternally frozen lake surrounded by snowy crevasses, which one can just see the frozen Temple beneath. Macalania is a distant, remote region -- and full of its own dangers. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jz644GeAdE
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
It took some assistance from a helpful traveler, but eventually Loren and Ivan were helped to find the way out of Macalania woods--and before they killed eachother, no less!
So naturally, once Ivan is quite sure that Loren has gone his seperate way, he heads right back into the woods that he had been lost in.
But ALONE this time. (He assumes). (Wrongly).
But, as far as Ivan knows: Ahh. Finally. Solitude.
And he definitely won't get lost this time because -- well, he didn't take any particular precautions, but he's simply determined not to. So there.
It seems like bad luck to take his chances with screaming into the wilderness again, so he just walks along through the winding paths, trying to distance himself from his thoughts by watching the light play over the weird crystalline foliage.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
You finally have solitude! That's right! Nobody is going to bug you over here in the middle of a forest in which you could easily get lost in and in fact have gotten lost in and ran into, ironically, one person that Lydia does know and is definitely a bad judge of character of.
Nevertheless, neither he nor Lydia are here right now obviously.
And that certainly isn't Lydia who has a cart of wares she intends to drag back to Guadosalam in yet another attempt to make money.
And that definitely isn't Lydia behind Ivan right now, watching him watch light. Lydia is not especially stealthy and clearly this isn't Lydia.
It's just some other green haired lady with horns and a weird sense of design.
"Hey buddy," This obviously can't be Lydia says. "Did you want some alone time?"
She... She did say she'd chase... but this must clearly be a coincidence and can't be Lydia.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda has been to Macalania Woods once, ever. She has since decided two things:
1) It is very pretty, and
2) She has seen most of the pretty bits (except, perhaps, the Temple) already.
This means that she is walking more or less aimlessly through the forest, surprisingly quietly for someone of her apparent age (between eight and ten) but also at a good, if erratic, pace; she is prone to rushing ahead for a while, then slowing down to look at, poke, or take something.
Having picked up a crystalline flower-like growth that had broken off and was lying on the forest floor, Emeralda turns it this way and that before tucking it into one of the pockets of her dress. She is about to scoot off again -
But what's that? It's a voice.
Emeralda turns toward the voices. She picks her way across a twisted mass of roots toward them so she can see who's speaking. From a bend of the path Ivan and Absolutely Not Lydia are currently on, another face is just barely visible in the undergrowth.
They are being SPIED ON. But not very well. Emeralda isn't trying very hard to hide and her red and black dress kind of stands out against the pale blues and whites of much of Macalania.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan jumps at the sound of Lydia's voice.
No, no, no! he isn't ready! This isn't happening! Why is this his fate?!
He has not yet found his way to a place where he can Pretend it Never Happened. Maybe with time. But not yet.
In the midst of a tiny heart attack, and without looking back over his shoulder, he holds up a finger to Lydia, asking for 'one moment.'
He then winds a black scarf around the majority of his face (where did he get a black scarf on Spira? Did he bring it with him across the sea?), stopping just short of his eyes, and flips up the hood of his cloak.
Thus hidden(?) disguised(??), he turns back around to face her, and takes a steadying breath.
"Uh, hi again," he says. "No, I'm fine, everything is good and normal with me now."
Despite his obvious concern with Being Seen, he is way too busy with his own internal crises right now to have noticed yet that they have an audience.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia actually kind of accidentally ran into him but she isn't going to mention this to Ivan while he's having a heart attack. She does, at least, have the courtesy to just wait there while Ivan asks for one moment and in that moment turns her head around a bit to give Ivan some...privacy? Yes, sure, privacy. And in that moment, she sees Emeralda's face comically poking out between bushes. Her eyes widen.
"Oh that's good. Uh." Pause. "Mysterious.....Stranger." She is trying here but isn't sure if this is like some kind of superhero identity that Xantia has or if it's even weirder. She is kind of distracted by Emeralda. "Say, uh. Coincidentally. We happen to uh. She's here. The girl I told you about." Lydia may be stuck on Emeralda's superpower here but she does, at least, still see her more as person than puddle.
She just wears a puddle's costume sometimes. "Heeeey---!" She waves over to her before looking to Ivan. "She's a nice kid." She lowers her voice. "...who happens to turn into a puddle sometimes okay?"
It's the infamous girl who turns into a puddle, Ivan! This is kind of distracting Lydia from other concerns and hey maybe that's what Ivan wants right now anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda is very good at the kind of ineffective hiding that ends up with her sticking her head out of bushes. If she *really* wants to be unseen, she has better ways to do it than hide in the brush.
And she's been spotted! Oh well. Emeralda pulls her head back in, vanishing with a rustling noise before she simply steps out, brushing little bits of leaf and crystal dust off her dress. "Hi!" she says, brightly. "I heard you and I thought you were talking about boring stuff but I guess you aren't. Are you looking around here too? Because there's a lot of things..."
oh god she doesn't shut up
Emeralda didn't actually make out what Lydia said to Ivan, at least on the quiet side. It's probably for the best. "I like your scarf!" she adds to Ivan, before pulling her own up over her mouth. The trailing length billows in the breeze that isn't actually there.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan is a little too worked up for discreet whispering right now.
"The puddle girl is here?! Wait, the puddle girl is HERE?"
Ivan doubletakes at the sight of Emeralda in the bushes, wondering how he ever could have missed her. These are honestly the worst woods for being alone in that he has ever encountered in his life!! But he already hid himself -- he can't hide himself again!
When Emeralda emerges and happily greets them and does the thing with her own scarf, Ivan sort of collapses in slow motion, folding over with his head in his hands; he's fine, just being dramatic.
"Please don't immitate me," he says, though he was the one unwittingly immitating her.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia jolts back a bit and says, "Y-you're not supposed to shout that!" She manages, cheeks silvering. "Her name is Emeralda." Hoo boy she hopes that Emeralda doesn't take offense to that, but on the other hand it still does kind of freak her out what is she going to do pretend that it doesn't? Well yeah she's kind of doing that now, laughing a bit awkwardly. At least this is pretty normal Ivan behavior rather than 'I MUST RUN AWAY' Ivan but, to be fair, Emeralda is a legendary puddle girl and not even Ivans can turn away after that much build up, it seems! And who could??
She looks back over to Emeralda. "It's a pretty neat forest, huh?" She says, rubbing her neck faintly. "Hate to tell you this Ivan but you're imitating her. She's always worn the scarf like that, I think."
She lets her hand drop. "Hey Emeralda I uh...hm..."
How does she put this and not feel like an asshole? This is a tough enough question that it shuts her up for a while.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"I'm not imitating!" Emeralda puts her hands on her hips, which lets her scarf slip a little; it's still big enough that her mouth occasionally vanishes behind the loose wrap, but it's not really around her head as such. She might look imposing if she wasn't like four foot two. "I got the idea from a book but it was while I was still on Filgaia so it's not imitating *you*. I don't even know who you are!"
So Emeralda has, within one minute of meeting someone, immediately spilled the beans about being from another planet. And she's not stopping there: "And I'm not puddle girl! I don't even know why you called me that. I'm Emeralda - see, she knows." Sure, she did turn into a puddle in front of Lydia... but honestly, Emeralda has actually forgotten she did that. Certainly she didn't know that it had such a profound effect on her.
"Hi," she says to Lydia, a little more subdued. "I guess you got out of the markets! I haven't seen you in a while and I was hoping you didn't get lost or warred or something. Is this guy your friend? He's kind of rude..."
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
You're immitating her.
"That's EVEN WORSE," Ivan says, not that anyone could possibly be at fault for it but himself. He is kind of crouched on the ground now like he's trying to dissappear, for all the good it's doing him. All of these efforts to be less conspicuous are really only making him way more conspicuous.
Also, his own mouth is making him more conspicuous because apparently he shouldn't have called Emeralda a puddle girl and he is being rude. Lydia is feeling awkward. He can tell somehow, even curled up in a ball not looking at anyone.
"Sorry," he mumbles.
What a mess. He actually can be really stealthy when his brain isn't malfunctioning like this.
"I'm her treasure hunting aquaintance..." Ivan says weakly, trying to convince himself to stand up and pretend to be a person. He sort gradually unslumps himself in the most reluctant manner possible.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Aw c'mon," Lydia says. "I get that it's rude, but you know why he called you--"
She pauses for a moment perhaps realizing now that Emeralda has a nature of her own besides turning into puddles and that nature is 'being a kid who does weird shit without thinking about it'.
"But--yeah." She manages. "At the markets. You turned into a puddle, remember? And you movevd around a bit as one? It kind of uh--freaked me out a bit." Well 'freaks' to be correct here but Emeralda is adorable and she isn't going to admit that out loud. "Which is why I kinda blurted out about it to Ivan here who uh, never met a person who can melt into puddles before because I was..uh..."
She rolls back and forth on her feet awkwardly. "Um yes he's my treasure hunting part--acquaintance." More rolling back and forth. "Um..."
She might as well just ask it.
"Am I gonna turn into a puddle, Emmy?" WOW LYDIA LOOKING FOR COMFORT FROM THE ACTUAL CHILD.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda Kasim immediately brightens at Ivan's statement. And then Lydia goes and confirms it. It's great!
"Really?! I want to be a treasure hunter too! I mean, I can't do it all the time but we should all definitely go sometime and then we'll know each other and it'll be fun." Emeralda doesn't have any treasure hunting buddies, unless Fei and Elly count, and they're kind of a special case. She's always been interested in going and exploring again... "Lydia knows me, she knows I can do it!"
She offers Ivan a hand up. If he accepts it, she feels... well, pretty normal actually, but she's heavy enough that she makes a good anchor for him to pull hismelf up with. Not that he really needs the assist.
But Lydia has brought her memory back. "Oh, right," she says. "I forgot." It just isn't a landmark event for her. She is slightly taken aback at being asked the question, so her response is a slightly confused, "No? I mean, do you want to?" She can tell that Lydia is worried, and isn't sure what to say. It shows.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan doesn't accept Emeralda's hand up, but the fact that she offered it does make him self-consciously get his act together and stand up faster. Be normal, Ivan!
Emeralda expresses an enthusiasm for potentially treasure hunting, and Ivan finally gets around to processing that this is a kid alone in the woods. A kid who is full of robots, but a kid nonetheless. Why IS this kid full of robots? Did she get kidnapped and experimented on, too?? What is wrong with the world!
But whatever is going on with her, it has probably been going on for a while, and he probably shouldn't be like HEY KID, STAY IN A HOUSE. Ivan shoots a questioning glance at Lydia before looking to Emeralda uneasily.
"Do you do a lot of exploring by yourself...?"
Lydia asks The Puddle Question. Ivan looks back and forth between them with a worried expression, doubting that 'no, do you want to' will be sufficient to dispell Lydia's profound puddle-related anxiety, which was so powerful he ended up catching some of it vicariously when he'd only just met her.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Yeah! I know you've got the skill!" Lydia says, barely avoiding adding 'puddle girl' at the end of that. Barely. "You're uh. Really capable." Honestly to the point that Lydia kind of feels insufficient because no she hasn't turned into a puddle yet and she has no idea how she would depuddle herself for that matter and Emeralda makes it all seem so natural. She has accepted it, sure, but she's still unsure of how Emeralda just is so natural about it.
"Wha?" Lydia says, eyes wide with shock at Emeralda's answer. "Did you want to??" She pauses and then shakes her head quickly. "No. I mean. I don't think so. I mean. Gah. I don't know if I can, I don't know if I could turn back to normal if I did it, and it's kind of---been on my mind, I guess."
As Ivan anticipated, yeah, that answer didn't stop profound puddle anxiety.
R
She looks over to Ivan and gives him an awkward shrug. At least he isn't fleeing in terror but the topic isn't Ivan so that's probably easier for him.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda Kasim's robots remain silent on their origin. The world may never know the truth...
...though to be fair, the truth is really weird and almost unbelievable. Maybe it's why she can be so casual about it.
"I like to explore," Emeralda says, "and it's okay if I do. I just don't want to leave Kim alone for too long, though he's not really alone because he has Elly so it's okay. But I can come sometimes." That's... not entirely an answer, but it's not entirely *not* an answer either. "And I want to hunt treasure! C'mon, we definitely should sometime." She looks at Lydia, almost pleading; she seems more likely to accept than Ivan.
Though, didn't she have a question to answer, too? "Oh, then just don't do it," Emeralda says to Lydia, casually. "I don't think most people can anyway. I don't know anybody else who can..." Which gets her thinking, too. Her brows furrow for a moment before she shakes her head. Maybe she's weirder than she thought?
Great, now she's thinking about it. She tries not to. "...but yeah! Treasure! Did you two find anything good?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"Well, uh, as long as it's 'okay...' " Ivan is unsure, but he also gets a feeling it's none of his business and doesn't want to go asking after adult guardians she might have been tragically torn away from in one way or another. Lydia would probably be sending some kind of a signal if the kid desperately needed their help, right?
"How do you and Lydia know eachother? Did you say so while I was freaking out? Uh, not that I was freaking out."
He sighs. The puddle topic seems a little more critical to try to resolve.
"Do you... know any particular tricks to not turning into a puddle?" Ivan asks. Maybe there's, uh... something in here that could help set Lydia at ease on the topic. Or they'll make it worse. "Or to turning back...?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"She was staying at one of mom's villages for a while." Lydia explains to Ivan. "And uh--so naturally I took an interest in her because... Well for a few reasons, I guess, but we both have green hair even so like, uh. Um. Anyway!"
She look to Emeralda, blinking a bit. Who is Kim?? Nobody explaied that part to her. She decides she kind of doesn't want to know. Kim is probably some weirdo anyway.
"I don't mind her coming along." Lydia says to Ivan because honestly he has to really see it to believe it though he kind of already has.
But Lydia frowns when she says to 'just don't do it'.
Ugh.
She doesn't get it.
"Okay but sometimes I...melt or whatever without meaning to so do you know how to uh... stop doing things I don't mean to when I don't mean to and uhh nevermind that is really confusing."
RShe looks to Ivan and then nods firmly. "R-right! Like that!" Teach me senpai!
"We can definitely treasure hunt and stuff too." She agrees.
She nods to Ivan and adds, "It's okay you weren't freaking out." She is trying to help judging from her big grin and thumbs up and the fact she's doing this despite trying desperately to not freak out by extending the freak out over a long period of time.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"She met me when I first came to town," Emeralda agrees. "I didn't know very many people back then so it was nice to meet people!"
Emeralda has to think about the question for a few moments. She doesn't melt (it's not really melting, but she understands what Lydia means) when she doesn't mean to, so it's a question she's never really had to think about before. She seems deep in concentration, pacing back and forth - though she has to hop over a root at least once so it's less of a pace than it could be.
"Um... I just don't do it. But I'll think about it. Maybe there's a trick - oh! Actually, maybe. But I need to think about it some. I'll do that! I need to get back anyway. But..."
She points at Ivan, then Lydia, then Ivan again. "I'm coming back! And then we can treasure hunt, and I'll say what I figured out about puddles then. Deal?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
There isn't a trick... ... no, there is a trick! Maybe! But she can't think of it, yet...? This is confusing. But it's promising that there might be some advice she can offer.
Emeralda promises/threatens to join their treasure hunting party later. Ivan folds his arms warily, but nods.
"Yeah, I guess you can come?" He's not entirely sure he gets a vote, but there it is anyway. It sounds like she will be shockingly good at defending herself, so that will be... interesting. And maybe it really will give her time to think of some advice to help Lydia with her puddle problem.
"Okay, but don't come looking for us here, neither of us lives here."
He turns to Lydia and adds, unnecessarily, "I didn't decide to live in the woods."
Ivan, no one needed to know you thought about it.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"The woods are pretty cool though," Emeralda says, very serious. "So you could."
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Huh. Okay. Cool. I'll--oh! Maybe? Okay. uh. cool! No rush. I probably won't accidentally puddle up any time soon." Probably? She doesn't sound TOO certain.
"Thanks for the help, then." Lydia adds, smiling faintly. It is at least nice to know a small child who didn't remember she turned into a puddle in the first place is willing to look after her somehow maybe?
Wow she really is getting desperate here.
"I'll contact you through the spheres." She suggests since that's easier than randomly catching them out in the woods.
Unless you're looking for Ivan in which case it's pretty easy to do that.
"Uh--" She adds to Ivan. "Good to know!" ACtually she isn't sure whether or not he did think about that.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda Kasim may have to do the most dangerous thing of all: *experiment*.
"Okay!" Emeralda knows how to use the spheres. "My name is Emeralda. That's like emerald, the gem, with an A on the end. It's because of my hair," she explains, tugging a lock of it out to its full length. "I mean, Lydia knew, but just so everybody did."
She pauses for a moment, then: "Bye! You can go back to talking about whatever you were before. I'll see you later!"
And she's off! Emeralda can move pretty fast when she wants to, and right now she's motoring. She must have had some energy stored up. Plus, it helps her think, a little bit about what Lydia said.
...is she weird, too?
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia says, "Okay! See you!"
She waves after Emeralda.
And then she slowly looks towards Ivan, still smiling goofily. "So." She says.
"Our feelings--"
A horror movie stinger plays as the camera pans out.