Solo Oozing with Enthusiasm

[Evarista]

5th of Winter, 516 A.V. The air was getting lighter, and the sun was not as scorching anymore. That was the illusion Evarista observed when walking along the beach outside of Syka, as per the habit she had already picked up since her arrival. The climate contrast was so great that she could hardly show herself outside during the daytime in the first few days. Now, it wasn't quite so bad anymore, and the strong breeze on the beach did wonders to make the heat and humidity bearable. Whenever she had the opportunity, she enjoyed leaving the village proper and wandering around the vicinity. Since she was well aware of her nonexistent sense of direction, she only dared to walk along the beach so far. Her intuition told her that the beach was also safer than the depth of the jungle, which allowed her to relax more, so that was another bonus. Having already taken a stroll like this at night yesterday, she walked the same route today as well, appreciating the countless details around her the darkness had concealed the last time. It was around a chime ago that she had passed the place where she and Hwyn saw the strange light yesterday. The beach seemed to stretch on forever, veering in and out of the water as far as the eye could see. The girl stopped and simply stared into the distance, taking in the ambience and the breeze against her skin. Maybe this place wasn't so bad, after all. As long as the weather remained like this, anyway. Letting out a deep sigh, the girl turned around to head back the way she came. As her gaze swept along the jungle lazily, something in the scenery made her pause. Just like yesterday. It was a sense of déjà vu, but once she squinted to focus on the anomaly, it turned out to be something entirely different. Just a few paces into the jungle was what looked like a large clearing. No, it only looked like a clearing at first glance due to the lack of vegetation, but when the observer stepped closer, she saw that it was a small body of water. A tide pool? She saw one at the Ravokian lakeshore once, but this was somehow different. What immediately caught her attention was the strange color of the water. This definitely wasn't a part of the sea. A swamp, maybe? Were there "zappers" here, just like in Ravok? Curiosity roused, Evarista approached the edge of the water cautiously and crouched down, peering into the waves. To her surprise, it turned out that the odd coloring of the water was caused by the countless swimming yellow... fruit? Confused even more, the clueless girl focused her attention on one of the mysterious golden blobs that floated just below the surface nearby, and worked her auristic senses on it. The thin, barely visible aural corona showed subtle movements. The blob was alive. Living fruit? Not inappropriate for the setting, she supposed, but it was unlike any lake creature she's seen before, and she has lived on top of a lake her entire life. The place wasn't far away from the village, and it wasn't exactly difficult to find, so at least someone in Syka surely knew these swimming persimmons and what they were about. She'd make sure to ask when she got back, but for now, why not examine the finding herself? Leaning forwards, Evarista tucked her bangs behind her ears as well as she could and squinted at the creature oscillating below the surface, trying to make out the details of its watery aura.

[Evarista]

The living persimmon didn't seem to mind the attention as it projected its thin aura for Evarista to look at. After giving the reading a cursory glance, the girl couldn't help but smirk in contentment. It was pure simplicity, and she already liked the creature for it. She has disentangled some fairly complex animals with her auristic sight, at the expense of some headache and no doubt a lot of missed details, and this was a very welcome change. Even a change in strategy, perhaps. Yes, the strategy. She wasn't crouching here and examining some weird aquatic plum just for the sake of it. She wasn't an animal enthusiast. In fact, she didn't care about animals at all. Her goals here were purely mercantile. Thinking about it, it was a disappointment that she still didn't know any proper aquatic forms. There was a lot of fish around Ravok. Catching live fish wasn't even necessary; just buying a frozen one at the market would probably suffice as a basic reference. She was simply too lazy. All these fruitless years were nothing but procrastination. It was all for a lack of trying. And that would not change. That's why her discovery at this lake was absolutely perfect. Why learn about fishes, when she could learn to be a floating persimmon instead, for the exact same effect and only a fraction of the effort? Licking her lips in anticipation, Evarista let her fingers elongate and melt together, forming the chitinous black-and-yellow pincer she always used for such machinations. The creatures in the lake looked harmless enough, but she knew better than most not to assume anything. Tensing up for precision, she gave the oscillating blob an experimental prod. She saw the chitin push deep into its bell-shaped body, but felt no resistance. The blob was so soft that it hardly had any substance. she looked for confirmation of this in the aura, and didn't have to look long. It was water. The blob was almost entirely pure water. The other building blocks were utterly simple and almost uniform. She should be able to replicate this easily. Shifting attention away from the lake-fruit briefly, she lifted her unmorphed hand to her face and cautiously shifted the skin, mimicking what the aural reading had showed her. The patch of skin she was experimenting on quickly became transparent, showing the flesh and veins underneath with uncanny clarity. It also began itching profusely. Evarista barely resisted the urge to scratch the area, biting her lip and letting her hand revert to its fully human form. Since this jelly-like tissue was so soft, rough handling would probably rip it. Of course, Evarista was not going to settle for being so fragile, so she would assuredly cheat and adjust a lot with the final structure. However, in this early stage, being true to the reference was important. Looking back to the reference in question, she was somewhat amused that it was still indifferent to her, oscillating slightly up and down just below the surface this whole time and not reacting even when poked. Maybe it couldn't even feel that she was poking it. Now that she thought about it, she really wanted to know how a floating persimmon experienced the world around it. Assuming that it relied on the same five senses as humans do would be going out on a limb. But not even this carefree thing could live in total sensory isolation. Evarista's alien sense was tingling. She had to know more.

[Evarista]

Evarista leaned forward again to resume her experiment, but jerked back when her feet were by an uncomfortably cool sensation. Looking down, she discovered that her feet were sinking dangerously deep into the mushy mud. Grunting in alarm, she rose from her crouch quickly and tried pulling herself free. With considerable effort, one of her shoes escaped its entrapment with a wet pop, soon followed by the other shoe. The ground around here was decidedly untrustworthy, and while she got out relatively clean out of that one, her shoes were completely coated in a greasy brown. She really had to buy those boots she saw for sale in the village. In fact, maybe a whole change of wardrobe was in order. Something about dress blouses and pleated skirts seemed inappropriate for the environment. She wouldn't let this distract her right now, though. Now that she was in her research mood, everything else might as well not have existed. Her gaze was already riveted to the golden plum bobbing lazily in the water, teasing her with its mysteries. Finding a slightly more dry patch of earth next to the water, she crouched down again and reached out with her pincer, pulling the object of her study closer for inspection. Turning her skin into slime was easy enough, but it had to be the right kind of slime, and nothing could teach her a precise material pattern like an aura could. Peering at the watery corona again, Evarista made inventory of the various kinds of tissues that made up the orange thing. The outer layer was probably the best to start experimenting with, as it was seemingly what the lake-plum was using to breathe. There were also... eyes on it. Lots of eyes. An uneasy chill ran down the girl's spine when she realized that the creature has actually been looking at her the entire time. And not only at her: there were invisible eyes arranged all around the bell-shaped body, giving the fruity swimmer 360-degree awareness. Huh. Sure wouldn't have guessed that. Along with her experience with spiders and fireflies, this has further reinforced Evarista's wisdom of not underestimating something that merely looked simple on the surface. Did this mean the plum was a highly complex being? Well, not quite. Simplicity was still a virtue here. It was using simple building blocks to make an efficient body, which is something Evarista very much appreciated in her models. Eager to put her finding into practice, the girl gathered up her hair and inspected it tentatively. It would be more clever to mess around with her hair than with her arms, just in case anything went wrong. Thank Rhysol for long hair. What an excellent resource. Closing her eyes to better picture the auristic pattern in her head, Evarista began the transmutation, warping her hand-held ponytail into the likeness of the fruity enigma. The first response, and also a likely signal of success, was the intense itching permeating through the entire length. Itching hair? The human brain was clearly not prepared to deal with such a sensation, hitting the girl with a sudden wave of dizziness. Unprepared for the strong reaction, Evarista flailed her arms to keep balance, but it was futile. Her awkward crouching position made her topple forwards, landing her knees in the water with a splash. Gritting her teeth in irritation, the hapless experimentalist scrambled to get up, hands reflexively reaching for her slimy "hair" to scratch the insufferable itch. Just as she was about to do it, the itch suddenly stopped, making her pause in bewilderment. She had accidentally dipped her hair in the water, and as soon as she did so, the discomfort from the morphed area was quickly replaced by a pleasant sensation, as if it was wrapped in a smooth, shapeless blanket. Of course! The persimmon's slimy body wasn't meant for air. It was meant for water. Placed in the correct environment, there was no longer any sensory issue. On the contrary, there was a soothing softness, inviting her to morph more of herself to experience it. She saw no reason to resist that urge.

[Evarista]

Evarista wanted to enter the water. Rising from her knees, she stepped straight into the submerged mud, ignoring the water filling her shoes. The exploration of this new form was much more important. Already confident in the way she could create the slimy tissue, she stopped when about knee-deep in the lake and closed her eyes to concentrate. The sensation of water against her skin gradually shifted into that unnaturally soothing caress, as her skin melted into an ethereally thin membrane. The explorer of shapes let out an impressed sigh. If this is what being a lake persimmon was like, humans were really missing out. Opening her eyes, she looked down to see what her partially morphed legs looked like, and almost jumped into the air in surprise. That was not because of her legs, but what was around them. The golden plums, that were scattered and lazily drifting around the lake up to this point, were now gathered in a huge swarm around her, crowding and pushing each other aside to surround and enclose her legs. Although it looked more comical than dangerous, the sudden mass aggression scared Evarista quite a bit. The creatures looked like they were trying to do something to her legs, but she couldn't feel anything. That was probably because her skin was the way it was right now, and her gut feeling told her that morphing back before getting out of the water would be a terrible idea. The girl considered making a run for it, but before she could move, the blobs eased up and began to disperse again, just as suddenly as they attacked. Still shocked by what just transpired, Evarista shifted her hand into her chitinous pincer and held onto one of the things, preventing it from swimming away. Whatever sense they used to make a mass reaction like that, it definitely wasn't anything basic, and she had to know. She needed to search the aura closely, as it really was too thin and meager to examine properly from a distance. Using her spidery tongs, she gripped the fruity body firmly and lifted it out of the water carefully. She expected it to squirm and struggle, but the orange blob simply hung slackly in her grip, seemingly resigned to its fate, or maybe simply unable to do anything else. Holding the dripping creature at eye level, the odd researcher peered closely into its aura, searching for scraps of information much deeper than she could before. There was venom. Very potent venom. Appalled by the discovery, Evarista felt her back getting clammy with sweat and almost dropped the object of her study as her pincer began shaking. If she had waded into the lake without morphing her legs, these harmless-looking blobs would have stung her to death. Or... wait, not to death. This venom was much different from what she's seen in the aura of spiders, and as far as she could gather from looking at the building blocks, wasn't deadly despite its potency. Whatever the case, she didn't plan on finding out what sort of effect it had, at least not the hard way. Letting out a tense breath, the girl lowered her prisoner back into the water and backpedaled out of the water cautiously. Only when completely out did she dare to let the skin on her legs turn back to normal, sighing in relief as the resurgent itching stopped. Turning her back to the lake decisively, she walked the short distance back towards the beach, her waterlogged shoes squelching loudly with each step. Enough surprises for today. The only thing left was to cement the lessons.

[Evarista]

Even though her soaked shoes became more caked in sand with every step, Evarista was glad to be back on the beach. The clear blue waters of the sea appeared inviting to her. She wasn't much of a swimmer. In fact, she couldn't swim at all. Not until now, anyway. Today, she had found yet another way to cheat her nemesis, Nature, out of hard work. Kicking off the annoying shoes, she strode barefoot straight into the water, not flinching when a a slow wave pushed against her advance. The sea was definitely better than the lake. The open horizon somehow allowed to breathe more freely, but more importantly, so did the clear water. Her clothes were already wet, so there was no point in taking them off. Having waded in until the water was almost up to her shoulders, she began the final stage of her immersion in the discovery. The soothing caress of the water against her increasingly slimy skin was almost addictive, and she couldn't help but begin shuddering uncontrollably, allowing the strange sensations to consume her more and more. No longer able to discern the feeling in her fingers and toes, or even her arms and legs. It was like she was becoming formless; an inseparable part of the water around her. An oncoming wave obscured her vision before rolling over her, burying her briefly beneath the surface. Since she was barely holding onto the sand with her feet, Evarista expected to lose balance, but somehow didn't. It was like the wave went straight through her. No... the wave did go straight through her. Resisting the temptation to look down at her body, afraid of what she might see, the girl closed her eyes tightly and dived. It didn't feel like she was submerged in water at all. The sea only wrapped her in a soft and warm blanket, as if it was a caring parent doting over a child. The subtle current, barely noticeable before, picked her up and carried her slowly along. Eyes still closed, she tried moving her arms and legs. Did she still have arms and legs? It felt like she did. She didn't morph her bones, so she was surely human in shape still, but flesh and blood were no longer a burden. How long has she been underwater? Could be a two ticks, could even be two bells. There was no sense of time. She only now realized that she didn't feel the need to return to the surface at all, as if the air in her lungs never ended. But it did end, and probably a good while ago. It didn't matter: she was breathing with her whole body now. The sea gave her everything she needed. Idly thinking back to the model, she remembered the pattern of its eyes. Those invisible eyes. She wouldn't even know they existed if it weren't for the auristics. Maybe she could mimic them as well? She certainly didn't feel like opening her human eyes right now. Provided those still existed. She really couldn't tell. The new eyes, on the other hand, showed her everything she needed to know. There were no pictures, only rays of light. She now knew the direction of the sun... it was below her. Apparently, the current turned her upside down without her noticing. A tug in her consciousness told her that she had to get out now, or she might not get out at all. Straining her will, she began reverting the changes, starting with her hands and feet. Because she clearly sensed the direction of the current, she flailed began flailing her limbs against it as soon as they regained some measure of firmness. After a mercifully short struggle, she felt her shoulders drive into the sand. Evarista finally opened her eyes, looking up at the blue sky blankly. Her mind was still recovering from the surreal experience, and her body felt so sluggish that she could barely move, but eventually she mustered the strength to turn over. When she made an effort to prop herself up on the sand, her throat exploded into violent coughing, sending torrents of water onto the sand below. The sand and jungle around the spun violently, making her cringe from the nausea. Thankfully, a short while of simply laying like a log on the sand was enough to get her bearings, allowing her to wobble up to her feet and look around. The inside of her clothes was covered in slime, and her shoes were nowhere nearby. Fortunately for her, the current had carried her towards the village and not away from it, so she could look forward to getting some sleep without any further adventure. Frankly, that's all she could think about at that point. Except for that ever-burning tiny spark glowing a little brighter in the very back of her mind; that tiny portal to the world of the inhuman.

[Gossamer]

The Fates Have Spoken
Here is your thread grade!

Character: Evarista
Experience Awarded: Observation +4, Morphing +3, Auristics +3, Tactics +1, Swimming +1, Research +1
Lores Awarded: Jellyfish Lake: Location & Primary Denizens, Morphing: Jellyfish parts & Whole, Morphing: Morphing while in salt and brackish water.

Notes: I enjoyed reading this thread. One word of caution though. You are going to gain less and less XP for things like Auristics and Morphing the higher level you get as long as you just say you look at something with Auristics or mimic it with Morphing. There needs to be actual detail to the Auristic process.. the movement of djed to your eyes, the picking apart of the levels you are working with it. The same goes with Morphing. You need DETAIL in your writing.

As always PM me if you have issues.