tampered | Ongoing, open

When; Thursday, January 6th, afternoon.
Rating; PG-13 for Serious Talk about killing people.
Characters; Umi (

soulofocean) and whoever wants to jump in.
Summary; After a discussion with Ken to top a terrible week, Umi feels like a time alone is necessary. So she turns to the only place where she can find peace: the ocean.
Log;

She'd said she would wait, but that last straw had sent her out of the apartment in a flash. Umi couldn't simply stand to be indoors anymore. Not with the thoughts of the recent events running through her head, threatening to drown her in worries. There was a limit for everything, and contrary to what most people would believe the Water Knight knew hers very well. It was getting out or going crazy. Worried as she still was, ask Umi which of those she was going to choose. She had a mind to wander a bit to get her temper to calm down and didn't plan to return until nightfall or later.

...She felt she belonged here. With the waves rushing ashore, the sea breeze soothing her down, she felt at ease. It was always good to remember she could have this closeness with the sea no matter where she went, when everything else seemed to fail her.

Sighing, she smiled with strange contentment, cherishing the solitude as she walked on, not minding the cold in the least. All the contrary: enjoying it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He could understand that. Eagle also felt he need more time to think about this matter, but being near the ocean wasn’t a prerequisite for him. He was able to beat himself up over this anywhere! So many people had told him he should be more careful… but there really hadn’t been any way to predict that. Was there something he missed?
He would think on that more no matter where he was.

That she wanted to walk him away from the water… as if he didn’t know the way. To keep an eye on him maybe? He might have found that annoying if he was prone to the same kind of tantrums that Ken was. But, Eagle really didn’t mind.
It was a polite gesture meaning that she cared what happened to him.

“It hasn’t been that long…”

Of course it doesn’t take long by the water to be chilled through.

"Then let's make sure it stays like that." Coming to a stop beside him, Umi smiled up at the taller man and started for the end of the beach, her footsteps not as lithe on the snowy sand as they had been before he encountered her. That stress-relieving bit of magic had taken its toll.

Why did she wish to accompany him responded to gratefulness for the chance to talk things out with someone as well as natural sympathy: much as Eagle irked the hell out of her sometime, she considered him a friend. It'd take more than a failed escape attempt which had brought unpredictable consequences to change that.

She did look tired. But, Eagle doesn’t say anything about it. Some things can be talked about while others just have to be worked out by oneself. He assumed she would have sense enough to return to which ever residence she considered ‘home’ if she were really too exhausted.

So he fell in step behind the small young lady. Allowing her to escort him as far as she wished to. Hopefully she would be able to sort this whole situation out… and return to that bright and happy Umi he had met before.

Even Eagle's silence was companionable. She was truly glad she hadn't decided to walk away when she'd spotted him out. It'd helped her. It was going to backfire on her sometime, she bet. Whenever the fact they were supposed "enemies" caught up with them. But for the moment she was grateful and the day felt suddenly peaceful.

Maybe she wouldn't stay away for much longer. That depended on how her heart took things from there. At least she wasn't furious anymore, which was already a lot coming from Umi, and without the soothing influence only Aya knew how to exert so far.

Turning to the Commander, Umi nodded as they reached the end of the dunes. Then realized something and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are YOU going back?"

Ah… caught him again. Notice the fleeting moment of surprise flash across his face before being replaced with a sheepish grin.

“I was thinking about checking on that fountain one more time before that…”

It was probably fine… but he would feel better after scanning that thing once more, just to make certain. Besides in extra data that might be gained could only be helpful for future planning.
It wouldn’t be as chilly in the City as it was near the ocean… but it was winter. It was cold everywhere!

"Ehhh. But you need some rest!" Where on earth were Geo or Lantis to make sure he got it?? Did Umi have to do everything around here? She frowned her severest expression up at Eagle and put her hands on her hips. "What else do you expect the thing to DO, salute you?? Just leave it be, Eagle. It's OVER. Now's nothing more than a weirdo fountain that shows things."

There would be other chances to get out, she almost felt like adding. But refrained just in time. They couldn't truly be sure of that, could they.

“I would be very surprised if it were to salute me,” Being cheeky and not at all serious on that part… he soon adds a more serious rebuttal.

“The square is in the middle of everything, it isn’t as if it is out of the way… and it isn’t a dangerous thing to do like visiting the underground. I could visit it on the way back just to make there are no lasting effects from that incident.”

"...But you're not going to just poke your nose there and look at the thing, are you." Oh she could see it already. Wasn't she making a career out of seeing through people who always pushed themselves too hard. She sighed and shook her head angrily. "Knowing you?? You're going to run some tests, bio-scanning... things, and probably spend more time there than you have to!"

She dropped her arms as a way to show Eagle just how hopeless he was, not stopping to consider her own wanderer antics for even a minute. Because, really. Her case was another thing entirely.

"Do yourself a favor and just forget."

“I… was intending to run a scan on it… yes…”

How is she suddenly so good at this?! She seemed to be able to see through him at every turn all of the sudden.

“Those kinds of scans don’t take that long.”

Nevermind that it requires a bit of mental energy to run said scan and his version of ‘not that long’ might be different than Umi’s.

Then her next piece of advice… to just forget? How could he do something like that?

“I can’t just forget,” It just wasn’t possible. “Even if the Fountain is nothing more than a useless illusion creator I would still like to make sure it really has returned to what it was before we attempted to use it to escape. If it is anything more than that, I would like to be able to find that out as well…”

Blame it on how you were obsessed with scanning everyone's every other possession not too long ago, Eagle. The trauma sticks. You scan things. These are facts.

"You're talking as if that thing was ever normal... There actually might not be a what it was before." This was about to get her nowhere, wasn't it. Eagle was up there on her stubbornest people she'd ever met list and if he was of the mind to go spend the rest of the day doing weird technology-based things to the fountain, he would, and she wouldn't be able to persuade him from it. "You weren't alone in this. So why not let your fountain buddies do their part? Are THEY this eager to check everything's okay?"

“I can compare it to the original scan I took of the fountain shortly after I first arrived.”

Yes… scanning things is what he does. It is the best and fastest way to find out just about anything… or at least that has been the case in his experience.

“At least I would know if the fountain was acting as ‘normally’ as it was then.”

As for the co-conspirators…

“The others... I haven’t really spoken to very much since then.”

It was odd not to have heard from Nemu… She had also been scanning a shard but since the fountain was acting normal again she must have returned it by now, right? So why hadn’t she shared her results…? Hmm… something else to investigate today…

Ongoing, open

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