Underwater Breathing (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 63, 515 AV

Talya was back at the beach. She liked it there, although she preferred the University lawns, especially when she was looking to practice, although in today's case, it simply wasn't suited to her needs. She had taken off her dress, leaving her in nothing more than panties, with her long hair to cover what was left. She was thankful that no one else was around to see her as she tucked her things into her bag and headed into the water, arms covering her as she listened to the cawing of the gulls and the screeching of the pelicans as they swooped overhead. The warm sand swishing between her feet. The beige grains being tossed about as she stepped, kicking them into the air. She listened to them rain back down, in hurried hissing patterns as she left prints in her wake. She hurried down the length of the beach toward the water. Crossing the threshold of dry sand into wet- the places where the waves could reach and the foam could settle in a white, bubbling froth. She listened to them pop as much as she did the sound of the waves intermingling with that of the gulls as the sun's light continued to beat down upon her back; the sky devoid of cover, as there was not a cloud in sight. Not even a thin wispy one.

Another few steps and Talya had reached the edge of the foam, a place where her feet were overrun with water, as the waves crashed and the remnants washed up the shore. Causing her feet to sink into the sand as the water sucked at her heels, trying to draw her in. Talya couldn't say she resisted as she stepped into the first inch of water. Her toes curling against the cold as she took another step, and then another, submerging her body up to the ankles. But this wasn't enough, and as such, she continued to head out into the water until it came up to her knees. The moisture lapping angrily against her sides; sloshing against the side of her body as though it were beer in an oversized mug. Still it was not enough, and Talya headed out further, forcing her body through the resistant water. Her legs dragging; splashing as she moved until the water came up to her waste, and she dropped her hands from her chest to her sides. So that they ran horizontally across her body, floating upon the water as she continued, until the water ran over her collarbone. It was then that she headed no further, as she knew that she wasn't a strong swimmer, and ran a greater risk the farther out she went, just as she knew this was deep enough; that this would do.

Talya took a deep breath, as much to steady herself as to quiet her heart, and prepare herself for what was to come. A test of sorts; a quest to find a necessary piece of information, which would begin to place all the other parts of the puzzle on the proverbial table, although their shapes wouldn't even begin to seem to go together just yet. You see, it was vitally important that she figure out how long she could hold her breath underwater; keeping herself entirely submerged, so she would no if she had improved at all as soon as she began to use her magic. So that she would know if it were possible to create a way for her to breath safely underwater with the help of reimancy. She breathed deeply again in preparation, and then again and again, until she took one final deep breath before closing her eyes, so the salt wouldn't get in and burn her, before she let her legs collapse and let herself fall into the water. She crashed into it a moment later; felt it bubble as she splashed and it swelled around her; enveloping her in its entirety as she continued to sink, much as she had when she first fell all those years ago into Lake Ravok. It was just that this time, she had no one to save her.

Just herself.

But it wasn't time for such things just yet, and she held herself under until she felt no more air moving through her. Until her lungs ached, and felt as though they were going to burst, at which point, she pushed up off of the ground, and breached the surface a moment later. Gasping for air as water rolled down her body, and her hair clung cool to her back. She opened her eyes, she wiped water away from them. She had counted all along- she had held her breath for twenty-one seconds. Such left a great deal of room for improvement.

[Talya]

Smiling as she held the magic number twenty-one in the forefront of her mind, Talya began preparing herself for the next stage of her little game. The first true trial, to see if things could be approved upon with her magic. She began by awakening her reimancy magic- concentrating on her djed. She didn't concentrate on its entirety- the latent power, the latent energy that lingered in every corner of her body. She didn't feel as though she needed to. Didn't feel as though it would be necessary to carry out everything she had intended that day. Instead, she simply concentrated upon the djed that rested in her hands. In the pores; in the veins and the bones and the flesh that made them. In the nails, and small hairs, the tiny details that made up everything that were her two hands. She raised them higher, so that they floated palm facing up on the surface of the water; rocking gently each time the bay swayed. She breathed deeply again as her skin tingled as she concentrated all the more deeply on the djed. Trying to pinpoint its every location, but finding it impossible as it was everywhere within her appendages. She could feel it tingling, waiting to be used as she roused it.

Talya took another breath, and as soon as she had expelled it from her lips; forcing the sighing sound to blend with the crashing of the waves, she began to release djed from her body. It seeped out of the space behind her nails, and between her skin, from the black dots that lined her fingers and into the air, forming an invisible gas known as res. It was completely transparent, light passing through it unhindered, as much as sound. But any image seen through it was magnified, in this case, the waves that peaked all around Talya, forcing her body to sway this way, and then that. Over the course of the next few seconds, Talya allowed the res to pool over the surface of her right hand only, (as she had freed none from the left). She imagined the res forming a roughly rectangular shape, longer than it was tall. When she was done, she filled everything but the outermost layer with air, (so that the air would be trapped, swimming around angrily inside), and the rectangle could keep its shape. She breathed deeply again as her pupils dilated, causing them to sting as light entered. Her body tingled with anticipation, as she took another breath and then pressed the res structure again her lips, smearing it upon them and her nose as though she were a baby unsure of what to do with her mashed up food.

Talya could sense the air against her nose, it was cool. It was comforting. But there was no time to waste it, or it would throw off the results and the accuracy of her few trials, so she closed her eyes hurriedly and forced her legs to collapse again, plummeting the entirety of her body into the water a moment later. Her hair billowed out around her; the jet black strands floating on the below surface currents as she wiggled her arms forward and back, forcing herself back, following the length of the distant shoreline as she breathed in the air she had trapped as soon as her lungs began to ache for more. She managed this a few times before she had used up all she had stored in the res rectangle, at which point, she filled even the outer layer of air. She drank this in next, as the structure collapsed, and used up this as well as she began to kick her legs, and move her arms in circles through the water, moving her slowly on ahead until she ran out of breath, and was forced to return to the surface with a quick kick off the ground. She felt the sand fall away beneath her, the water rush around her as she breached again and gasped for air. Her hair hanging limply against her back; water running down its length; the light dazzling the captured beads of moisture as she opened her eyes again and took in the sight of the day once more.

Talya had improved, of this she was proud, although it wasn't much of an improvement. Forty-three seconds as opposed to a mere twenty one. Her entire body felt light at the thought. She had counted off that long as she swam along under the water. But still, it was not enough. As always, there was room for improvement, and seeing as she was so determined, she was going to try something else before she let her prunie body out of the water, and returned to the land and her temporary home.

[Talya]

Talya breathed deeply, enjoying the warmth of the air; the cooler undertones as it met with the temperature of the sea; the reflection of its own life. She swayed within the water as she raised her hands out of it, and let her palms lie facing up upon the surface. She took another breath in and out, while concentrating on the way her chest rose and fell, the way her heart beat hurriedly after having been deprived of oxygen. After this, she began to let more djed leave her, forming pools of res above each of her hands. As the stores continued to grow, Talya drew her hands together until her pinky fingers brushed, and with no space left to manuever, her res pools attached themselves to one another- the one on the right absorbing the other. She imagined it eating it hungrily and happily, as she allowed more djed to leave her, and add to the weightless, invisible mass she had created above her hands. When she was done a few seconds later, Talya drew air into the res structure from the outside, filling everything with it but the outer later, which she imagined being impermeable, (same as before), so that the water wouldn't filter in when she didn't want to, while she kept herself submerged.

When this was done a few moments later, Talya produced a picture of the res structure within her mind's eye- that of a largely flat rectangle, about a foot long, and an inch high. She then guided this to her face by gingerly lifting her hands from the surface of the water, and bringing them upward until they reached her lips, her nose, her eyes. She imagined herself wrapping the rectangle around her face, patting it into place as it struck to her ears and dampened hair. Again, she could sense the flow of air within the structure as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to slip underwater once again. One, she counted after the first second had passed, and she tilted her body forward, while kicking up off the ground, so that she ran horizontally over the floor of the bay; the sand. She then pushed her arms out ahead of her as she kicked her legs. Big sweeping kicks where in some cases, her feet came out of the water, and splashed it angrily. She then moved her arms into her sides, before pushing them forward again. Over and over, slowly propelling herself forward in this way as she continued to breath normally with the aid of her magic, and count the seconds she spent beneath the surface.

When she had used up all the air she had stored in the larger res rectangle, and the structure had become to collapse as its innards were absorbed, leaving it nothing to find support upon as it moved in upon itself, Talya filled the layer closest to her lips with air finally and sucked that in as she kicked at the water again. Smaller sweeps now- one leg up the other down. The other down as it came up, and vice versa. Talya continued her count as she used up that last breath and continued sweeping. Her lungs were aching now, they were out of breath. She would have to fill what remained of her res with air- and so she did, swiftly drawing it in before any water could enter her mouth. A wave of pleasure washed over her as the warm air coursed through her mouth, down her throat and into her organs. She could feel it vibrating softly, as though pleasantly electrified from the way she had breathed life into it; creating it, in a way that it could not otherwise be. When this final breath too, had been used up, Talya returned to the surface with a few swift kicks and sweeping motions of her arms. The moment she breached, she opened her eyes as water slipped down the sides of her mouth as she parted her lips and drew in air.

A minute and a half. She had lasted a full minute and a half. She was improving, same as before! But it was still not enough. There was still room for improvement, and so she would try again as soon as she had prepared herself to do so.

[Talya]

For her third trial, Talya lifted her hands fully out of the water. She thought that if she wanted to keep herself submerged for a longer period than on either of her two previous trials, she would have to do either of two things- firstly, she would likely have to create a bigger store of air before submerging herself, and secondly, she would have to find a way to either renew it while she was underwater, or draw fresh air in from the water while she was under there. Fish managed to find a way to do it, they breathed air she thought. So why couldn't she find a way to do so if only she tried hard enough, right? It only made sense to her, why wouldn't it? Thus, in much the same way as she had before, Talya brought her two hands together, and began to let her djed seep out of the pores of her hands, and pool over each of her outstretched palms, until each orb she made grew to be too big, and they absorbed one another, growing into something even larger. By then, her hands felt airy and weightless. Unnatural, as though they were floating, and yet, they crashed into the water, as though she could no longer hold them up. This didn't trouble her though, she was too excited by her trials and her discoveries to pay it much mind, and as such, she continued what she was doing.

Talya began to fill her res orb with air of her conjuring, forcing it into every level until nothing but the outer, (hopefully impermeable), layer of res remained. She then took a deep breath, held it in her lungs, closed her eyes, and shoved the res orb onto her face, so that it formed a bubble over her head, kind of like a fish tank. The instant she felt as though it had settled into its proper, intended, place, Talya let her legs crumble. They bent at the knees, and she fell into the water seconds later. The bay flowing all around her, pushing against her, threatening to sway her body to the east, and then the west, before she leaned forward, kicked off the ground, and began to move through it as she took her first breath. Her mind silently counting as she kicked her legs and began to urge her body forward, as she pushed her right arm forward, then swung it back in a circle, before adding the other. Causing her body to move ever so slowly, in awkward, jerking motions through the water. By then, Talya had counted to thirty, and taken another of her breaths as she continued through the water, and then, thinking that she may lose track of her things if she ventured to far down the beach, pushed her arms backward until she straightened into a near stand, and then turned herself around from there, before continuing her journey in the opposite direction. Back to the place where she had come from.

Talya took another breath as her lungs began to ache, and she leaned forward again. Just a bit further, so her legs would propel her forward more than up with each kick, the same as her arms as she guided them forward; cutting through the water, before forcing them back as though she were hacking at the bay like she were an ax swinging at a tree that needed to be felled. By then, she had used up most of the air she had stored in her res fish ball orb, and was beginning to fill everything that had attached itself directly to her face with air. She sucked in this breath as the orb began to collapse, as it had done in her previous trials. She ignored this however as she continued to count off the seconds and swim, until the last breath came, alongside the moment of truth. She filled all she had left with air, while trying to add another level of res around its perimeter, by blowing it out of her mouth. She thought she succeed, and had extended her underwater stay. She thought she could repeat this a few times, but she needed breath before she was ready, and instead, punctured a hole in the last little layer of remaining res as she drew in another breath of air. She tried to draw in more air through this hole she had created, and she supposed she got some but there was also water.

Talya had messed up. She could feel the water pooling in her mouth. Sliding across her tongue; leaving a salty taste upon her taste buds. She wanted to spit it out, but now was not the time, and frustrated to herself she returned to the surface. She opened her eyes, she had counted eighty six seconds. Less then before. Maybe she was taking larger breaths? Or maybe the orb wasn't quite as large as the rectangle? Or the water had messed it all up? Whatever the case, she spat it out, letting it dribble down her chin as she breathed normally, and decided she would try again despite the fact that her temples now ached dully.

[Talya]

In much the same way as she had with her most recent trial, Talya brought her hands together, and allowed her res to collect over her outstretched palms. She then filled this with air from the outside world, everything but the outermost layer. She then forced the air filled res onto her face, (it had taken the shape of a wispy rectangle), and latched it into place safely with a few extra taps and things of that nature. She then closed her eyes and forced herself underwater again. She repeated everything she had done before in the previous round- counting the seconds she spent under, pushing her body through the water with a windmill like motion of her arms, and a few swiftly timed kick of her legs, and then a few flicks of her feet, taking breath only when she needed, when her chest ached; a concave cavity, that needed air to be pulled into the lungs. When she got done to the last few breaths, Talya filled the layer against her lips with air and breathed that in as the structure continued to shrink and to collapse around her. She then added a layer of res, making it the outermost layer, (past the current res layer), and filled the once outer layer with air.

As she ran out of breath again, she kicked her legs, once and then twice before drawing in more air, and adding another layer of res to the outside, that she puffed out of her lips with a slight parting of her lips- the gaseous substance rolling and pushing through the air until it came to the place that Talya envisioned. The Ethaefal managed to continue this a few times, as the shape of the res structure became less and less distinct and continued to shrink until there was nothing left. Water moving into her mouth as her lungs began to ache too fervently as she pushed herself to keep herself under; testing her limits all the more. She sputtered, pushing the water out of her lips, while drawing more in. She thought she was going to choke on it, and finally relented, pushing herself up to the surface of the water with a few kicks off of the sand. She felt the grains fall behind her, as she guided her arms over her head and cut through the water to the surface. Breaching, and spitting the water out before sucking in breath. Coughing madly as she tread water, and she finally opened her eyes, although they felt heavy and harder to force open than they should. She had lasted one hundred and twenty seven seconds this time. Which was better, but still not great, but she was tired, and didn't know what else could be done to improve right now.

It was thus that she decided to turn in; feeling slightly defeated despite her few accomplishments. Maybe this was simply a task that would have to be solved later, when she gained dominion over more than one of the four elements. As such, she began to walk through the water; her body feeling heavy as it sloshed through, and slowly, she began to make the way back to the shore and her things. Sand clinging to her body as she left the bay behind; her skin wrinkled and pruny, lips a bright purple. Body shivering as she walked a bit to reach her bag, and regain her things before heading into the city once more.