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[aquaveiled]

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a day or two after the october summoned's arrival

[exuviage]

[ The bright light of the early autumn sun sparkles on the surface of the lake, mirror smooth in a rare windless day. Under the waters, the world is cast in a greenish blue tint, and a dragon kid is looking for water plants to sell, or anything else of note down here at the bottom of the lake. His horns and eyes glow faintly in the shadows between each shaft of light that slants down into the water, and his hair floats loose and long around him as he moves along the sand of the lakebed, careful not to disturb too much sediment and cloud his vision.

(His boots, and coat are safely kept in a basket hidden up in the overgrowth at the side of the lake, the leather not taking to having water removed from it as easily as the fabrics of his clothes.) Though his ears are plenty sensitive to sound, they don't have the same spatial awareness as auri horns, especially in the water. Y'all got the specialized sonar system, down here.

He's busy with a box of something that must have fallen off a boat at some point. The wood is old and has mostly degraded already; it crumbles under light pressure, and Dan Heng sends the fragments away in a small current of cloudhymn as he sifts through the remains. Ah, whatever was inside seems to have decomposed as well, and all that is left are two handfuls of polished bone pieces in different sizes. There were probably clothes in the box, years ago, but judging by the simple (if well made) button shapes, it was nothing special. Probably a lost shipment, and not smuggled goods from Thorne, certainly.

(Little Mermaid-ass situation.) ]

[aquaveiled]

[ There's a reason that her little group chose to settle by the lakes--in part by their convenient placement on the road from the Primary to the Secondary Settlements, but also because Himeka just really wanted to be by the water. It's not the same as the sea or even the coastal shores of the Tertiary Settlement, but it feels right. Whenever she gets that desire to go below, now all she has to do is walk outside the front door.

And go she does--often as well. Mapping the bottom of the lake, familiarizing herself with the variety of creatures that live within it all bring a familiar comfort. It's just her and the fish on most days.

But this doesn't seem to be most days.

Movements that sound too large to be of the fauna she usually finds mulling about this time of day hit her horns. She pauses in her own explorations only a moment before immediately changing direction. Should there be any large new beastie moving in...she'd like to be the first to welcome it! She sees some debris float by (and nearly get caught in her hair) as she gets closer, wondering if it whatever it was has started to make its home in some of the old boats that were laid to rest on the floor.

Her eyes widen when what comes into view is most certainly not a beastie or any fish she's used to seeing in the Black Lakes...it's...someone like her?

Or--well, not quite. They're definitely more people-shaped than fish-shaped though, so she doesn't hesitate a second to swim on over with a few powerful flicks of her tail. Her gaze shifts quickly from person to sunken treasure as a bright smile spreads across her face. ]

What have you got there?

[ Like this is totally a normal thing that people do. (She's not a shark.)

She usually swims naked and shameless but can be in some undergarments for his delicate eyes! ]

[exuviage]

[she's absolutely naked. he can handle it, and it wouldn't be himeka if she weren't, frankly.

Dan Heng chose the lake and the rivers that lead to it as his place to gather barterables because he anticipated isolation. Apart from the craggy islands creatures that snap at his hair when he swims past, or the shrimp that try to bite at his hands, nothing here has been so startling as to make him regret the choice.

Until now. Uh. Huh?]

Hime—[ He cuts himself off before that last, ever so important identifying syllable makes it out, as he firmly decides, no. Thats impossible. The Express' navigator wouldn't be underwater, or so.... underdressed. It just wouldn't make sense. This woman, however... he has no frame of reference for high elders other than his tumultuous dreams of his own past lives, or the books in the shackling prison. Elder Bailu is a child-shaped elder, as far as he knows of her, and for the rest of the Xianzhou, he has no clue. At this depth, the newcomer's shock of red hair is still visible, a few strands drifting in front of the pearlescent scales that adorn her face. He stares in shock for a few moments longer, taking in the horns, the scales, the flash of tail as Himeka treads water. Unlike his dreams, the water is clear and languid, sun streaming down in shafts of light that pierce the shallow depths. He can even think for himself. ]

... Buttons. [ Wow. Smooth. So smooth, just like a shark. The freshwater of the lake tastes dull in his mouth as he forms words, cloudhymn carrying the sound through the water towards her. ]

I'm sorry, who are you?

[ pot, kettle. ]

[aquaveiled]

[ Were she anyone else, she would find the long stare and utterance of her nickname to be unsettling--but were she anyone else, she probably wouldn't be swimming around in the damned lake naked to begin with. (Solvunn has yet to master the art of water-faring fabrics.)

She waits patiently, taking in his own distinct features and trying to place them to something familiar. Those ears definitely don't mark him as Auri, but there is still more that is. And, really, more people should get to enjoy having horns to begin with. ]

Buttons!

[ Himeka accepts the answer easily and even comes a little closer. (She should be questioning how he knew her name, but maybe he's just already seen the brochure?) ]

Are they yours? Or did you find them?

[ Sometimes she finds--

--oh. Wait. He doesn't know her? ]

...Didn't you already say? I'm Himeka.

[ A beat. Doth he not know whose lake he swimmeth in? ]

Though I normally take guests at the house. What's your name?