[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
Location: Deep Blue Seaside - Kanzuki Beach Estate
Level 8 Nadia (68/80)
Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Blazermate’s [@Archmage MC], Hat Kid’s [@Dawnrider], Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN], Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1809[/center]

“Whoo!” Nadia breathed, a wide grin of unadulterated joy plastered on her face. It was a wondrous thing not just to see but to [i]feel[/i] the improvement of the others as the games progressed, each more exhilarating than the last with new feats of synergy and athleticism. Then, once the players had three normal games under their belts, the whole thing culminated in a no-holds-barred superpowered bonanza so crazy that it even caught the eyes of the Lethal League competitors practicing next door. Holding back or not, Nadia’s blood-powered mobility and extendable reach made her a force to be reckoned with, but no amount of clever tricks negated the incredible advantage that was Blazermate’s flight. Even when she brought out copycats for increased coverage, Junior powered through with such a superfluous spike that Nadia couldn’t help but be impressed. No matters how handy her doubles were, they were no substitute for the real thing! As absurd as it ended up getting, it had been a total blast, a spectacle of sportsmanship, self-improvement, and good old-fashioned fun. While fighting together against impossible odds most certainly made the Seekers allies, it was stuff like this that allowed Nadia to call them ‘friends’, and she couldn’t be more happy.

Of course, she also couldn’t be more winded. When the rush of adrenaline subsided, Nadia just about keeled over where she stood. Her chest heaved as she doubled over with her hands on her knees, glistening with sweat all over. “Hah…hah…” she panted, wiping at her brow. “That’s definitely enough for now. Good games, guys!” It went without question that this was the last game, so after she traded high-fives with the other players, the group started to disperse. Some just wanted to plop down, others to grab some drinks, but Nadia fixed her eyes on the ocean blue, her eyes shining almost as brightly as the gentle waves that glittered like diamonds in the afternoon sun. It called to her with a siren’s song, and this time she couldn’t paw-sibly resist.

As Nadia jogged over she pulled off her tank and then slipped out of her shorts, leaving just her swimsuit. She stopped by her chair only long enough to fling her balled-up clothes into the seat, then spun toward Ace to beckon him to follow her. “Time for a [i]sea-esta[/i]!” she called as she made her way toward the water. “Don’t keep me wadin’!”

Without further ado she sped past shells and seagulls, leaped over a bastion of sandcastles, splashed through the shallows, and hurled herself into the drink. Immediately she was struck by a wave of relief, both literally and figuratively. Though a slight shock at first, the water was perfect, warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough to be so wonderfully refreshing. Delighted, Nadia immersed herself completely, allowing the crystal-clear water to wash away all the sand, sweat, and fatigue built up over the course of her volleyball matches. For a moment, everything seemed to drift away–her tension and her pain, her past, her worries for the future, the crisis facing the world, even her thoughts. It felt like heaven. She had slept last night, she’d enjoyed going back through Limsa Lominscuttle Town, and she’d taken it easy right after lunch, but now -for the first time- Nadia Fortune could really relax. 

After a few seconds she bobbed to the surface, floating on her back with her eyes closed and her shell-white hair spread out in every direction. Down below her fish-tail swished back and forth in contentment, which helped keep her up, but even without its aid Nadia felt lighter than a feather. It did occur to her that she never liked getting wet anywhere near this much and this newfound appreciation of the water might be a byproduct of her fusion with the aquatic Oceanid, but right now Nadia couldn’t imagine the change as anything short of a blessing. Who could say no to the ability to enjoy more of life’s great joys, after all? Still, it did feel sort of surreal, and not just the physical change to her body, but existing in this crazy world in the first place. It probably [i]wasn’t[/i] real, all things considered, but after all she’d been through it couldn’t possibly be a dream. Either way, while stuck here she might as well hold onto whatever morsels of happiness happened to come her way. Speaking of which…

As a shadow fell over her Nadia’s eyes slid open to find Ace standing right next to her, his head and chest above the surface. True to what one might expect from coral shallows, the water wasn’t really very deep here. Still, a devilish idea took hold of her. “Wah!” she blurted out as if startled, then began to flail her limbs about. “AaaAAaah, help me!” the feral cried as she splashed, neither panicking nor suppressing her smile very convincingly. “I’m just a cat in the water, I can’t swim! Oh, save me~!”

Ever the hero, Ace sprang into action without a second thought. He bent down and scooped Nadia right up out of the water and into his arms, holding her beneath her knees and behind her back. It was another bridal carry, just like when Ace caught her last night, albeit in much happier circumstances. By instinct he held her close and tight, like a giant egg that might splatter if so much as a stiff wind blew his way, and it was everything the feral wanted. She threw her own arm across his shoulders, giggling as the monster hunter’s face betrayed the gears turning in his brain. “Nyahaha! Either ya really forgot I can swim just fine, or ya really can’t help holdin’ me! I’ll have to return the favor sometime.”

While it would have been well within Ace’s right to drop her back in the drink then and there after the practical joke, he took a few steps to set her down in knee-high water anyway. “Why thank you, thank you,” she grinned as she put her hands on her hips. “Man, isn’t this place [i]awesome[/i], though? It’s gotta be, I dunno, what’s that one phrase you like? Rad-alos, yeah? You’re gonna have to explain that one sometime.” Eyes bright, she scanned the water for signs of movement. “For now though, let’s check this place out!”

Heaven’s Edge, the shallow coastal zone just beyond the tropical shoreline, pierced by winged holy swordblades, was as versatile an area as it was large. No two spots were quite the same, for the terrain underfoot fluctuated wildly in terms of elevation. In some places the sand formed flats or bars that were knee or even ankle deep, but elsewhere there were basins or ravines between the bars that went as deep as thirty or even fifty feet, some of them very large, where seagrass bloomed around coral mountains and sandstone formed all sorts of delightful formations. As Nadia quickly found out, she could dive from the top of a sand plateau all the way down to the depths of a trench to get a firsthand view of the wildlife. No matter where one went within Heaven’s Edge one couldn’t avoid witnessing its incredible array of flora and fauna. Even on the flats there were various crabs among the corals, but things really got interesting underwater. All kinds of fish, both the [url=https://i.imgur.com/SQYCS0X.png]tried and true[/url] and [url=https://i.imgur.com/6lPU1HC.jpg]weird but wonderful[/url], swam and schooled throughout the azure reef in an incredible display of color. There were eels, [url=https://i.imgur.com/wSIJ8ic.jpg]otters[/url] cracking shellfish, [url=https://i.imgur.com/mc4AKja.png]lobsters[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/soeyTuG.png]rays[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/GZOE7qa.png]big snails[/url], [url=https://i.imgur.com/61k983m.png]squid[/url], and even a bizarre [url=https://i.imgur.com/PbQ8rSw.png]fish with a human head[/url] that earned a double take from Nadia. When she waved at him, however, he just rolled his eyes in a rather brusque manner and carried on. She happened to catch a glimpse of the [url=https://i.imgur.com/hl1Euhy.png]ocean beyond Heaven’s Edge[/url] while diving, and though the sight took her breath away, so did being underwater, so she turned back toward safer shallows. At one point a curious otter swam up and pawed at Nadia’s fish tail, and when she reached out to scratch its head, it was so delighted that it began doing somersaults in the water, just for the fun of it. Of course, Nadia then had to join in, until she got so dizzy she could do little other than float back up to the surface.

There were less natural structures, as well. The winged swordblades remained stolid and mysterious, their origin and purpose nebulous. During her dives Nadia spotted a number of fragmented ruins underwater, most overgrown with barnacles and such. On the largest sand flat, beneath only a few inches of water, she and Ace also found a faintly ominous [url=https://i.imgur.com/GDGEmNK.png]circular depression[/url] of stone brick, with a central emblem that gave off a deep purple glow even in direct sunlight. It didn’t seem to do anything, but Nadia didn’t check very thoroughly, either.

At one point, after getting a good way out, she cast her eyes back toward the shore. The Kanzuki Beach Estate really was beautiful, but from here she could see a good deal more than that alone. Farther south on the beach was an inlet fringed by palms and formations of large, light gray hexagonal stones. An old shipwreck stood in its center amidst all sorts of strange [url=https://i.imgur.com/QlH3NEF.png]food-based bugs[/url], apparently converted into a dwelling place by the [url=https://i.imgur.com/XqxdDzZ.png]lone grumpus[/url] within. Beyond that lone encampment the [url=https://i.imgur.com/O8HGeSo.png]beachfront[/url] showed signs of development for a good distance, though not quite as high-profile as the resorts to the north. Even farther still, the tropical jungle gave way to rocky upheaval, beginning with smooth cliffs and [url=https://i.imgur.com/fwVcHRc.png]natural overhangs[/url] and ultimately becoming [url=https://i.imgur.com/HKzvCmR.png]forested marble cliffs[/url] that overflowed with waterfalls. It made for quite the picturesque coast.

A little north of the Kanzuki estate and not too far from the volleyball courts, meanwhile, something was afoot. Some posts had been embedded in the ground by resort staff and tarps stretched around them to form a big letter C, a good fifty feet in diameter at least. After the workers positioned some machinery by the tarp, they switched it on, and the giant blower began to fill the area with bubbles. The suds came thick and fast, quickly covering the whole zone, but light enough that they quickly began to pile up. As onlookers gathered around to watch in eager anticipation, the bubbles amassed into drifts like snow, becoming a sudsy heap higher even than Ace in some places. Once the mountain had risen, party music began to play, and kids and adults alike waded into the mass to goof around and dance.

By now Nadia was feeling pretty refreshed, but all the swimming, climbing, wading, and jumping she’d done around Heaven’s Edge left her even more pooped than she’d been after the volleyball game. “I think I’m out of gas,” she confessed to Ace. “Think I’m gonna go back and crash in the shade, at least for a minute, 'cause that bubble pile's got me curious. Appreciate cha comin’ with, though! This was really great.”