Water proof (Nadia)

"Nadia. You like to draw correct? I'll be at the school's pool from four pm until five thirty pm on today. If you wish to sketch me as you did before feel free." That was the contents of the text message Eryka sent to her...friend? Associate? Inviting people to do things was never Eryka's strong suit. In fact, she was not inviting Nadia out of any desire to spend time with the budding artist. The amputee merely felt it would be a good way to make the most out of the swimming session.

Walking out of the changing room Eryka was dressed in her swimming suit. As one would expect she was dressed in the official swimming uniform of the school, a professional swimsuit that covered her entire torso in skin tight fabric but left her arms and legs exposed. However, this swimsuit also exposed the surgical scaring that decorated Eryka's right shoulder. It was an honestly ugly sight but in truth? The German had grown apathetic and as dead to it as her missing limb was; however it was still pretty attention grabbing in all honesty.

Nadia arrived at the pool fairly quickly. She had already been on school grounds, thinking maybe she'd catch Cecil in the library, but he wasn't there today, which was a little odd. Maybe he had some errands to run or something. In any case, she was happy to hear from Eryka, and, after retrieving her own school-issued swim attire from her locker, headed to the pool.

Eryka had already left the changing room by the time Nadia entered it and changed into her own swim suit. As she would not be swimming immediately, she had covered herself with a hoodie as well, which she would remove if the desire to swim hit her. Her messenger bag was slung over her shoulder as usual as she exited the changing room and saw Eryka.

Nadia blinked, eyeing the prosthetic which was even more pronounced with the swim suit. The scar over her shoulder was more pronounced, and Nadia caught herself admiring it. "Eryka. Hello. Thanks for calling me. Can you...is it okay to swim with your prosthetic on?" She asked eagerly, curiosity blooming a smile on her face.

Eryka had waited a few moments but honestly? She was deciding just to dive into the pool and get to work exercising but then Nadia did in fact show up. Bizarrely, Nadia was dressed in a swimming suit and a...hoodie? Why on Earth would she wear both a swim suit and a hoodie? Given how it was winter, Eryka felt it was ridiculous to go outside in a swimsuit and it was equally ridiculous to wear a hoodie inside the water.

"...Why are you wearing such a...silly combination of clothing?" Nadia was weird...immensely so and that was putting it incredibly lightly! A lesser person would have honestly been incredibly insulted by Nadia's constant starring at their amputation scars but not Eryka. To get upset about such a thing was stupid. Scars were scars. They were healed wounds and had zero impact on anything beyond cosmetics.

"My arm is water proof. The seams may not be designed to keep water out, but the motor, gyros and wiring are all encased in water proof housings." It may have made repairing the inner most workings of her prosthetic a pain, especially when the gyros or motor were damaged, but honestly? The parts were designed to be easily swapped in and out when they needed intense repairs.

"Why are you wearing such a...silly combination of clothing?"

What an interesting thing to ask someone! Most would have kept a question like that to themselves, Nadia thought. Which was fine, because Nadia often found herself asking strange questions of people. Though her strange questions usually had more to do with emotions than fashion choices. "I'll be drawing, so I'll be outside of the pool - which will be a little chilly. If I decide to get into the pool, then I'll take it off." She explained, with a shrug.

The fact that Eryka's arm was waterproof was interesting. That must be some pretty advanced technology. But then, it was a Mechanical arm. So, it made sense that it had to be able to put up with the elements. "I'm curious, Eryka. Do you feel anything? is there a sensory element to the prosthetic, or is it purely mechanical?" It was a question she had been trying to figure out the proper wording for for a while. And she finally felt like they were at a place where she could ask it without worrying about retaliation or harsh words. It seemed like Eryka didn't mind talking about it more than she seemed to mind talking about anything else. That was to say - she always seemed a little bit like she didn't want to talk about things, regardless of the topic.

"Which is all well and good...but you realise there is an observation area correct? Designed to be inhabited by people wearing non-swimming attire?" Nadia was...odd. They wanted to avoid being cold yet had worn a swimsuit without planning to immediately get in the water? Oh well...weirdness and being illogical seemed to be Nadia's gimmick or perhaps Eryka's own perspective on things was odd.

"...Of course not. My arm reads the muscle movements and nerve signals from my shoulder and converts that into movement. It has no direct connection to my brain and as such I lack any sense of touch." Surely the answer to that question was obvious? Eryka's arm may be advanced but it used modern technology that had been around for ages; it was by no means an advanced sci-fi limb packed with all the bells and whistles.

Oooh Nadia had a counter for this! She'd been thinking of the best ways to not sound strange to Eryka, and so she was eager to try out more of her strategy. After all, proper communication was how you connected with people right? "It's more efficient!" She replied, almost too eagerly. "If I sat in the stands, I'd be too far away to do decent drawings, and if I was in normal clothes, I'd have to go back into the changing room to change if I wanted to swim after I did some drawing. This way, I am amply prepared for either scenario!" She grinned at Eryka, still clearly beside herself that the stoic Cadet had taken the initiative to invite her to this...drawing session, of sorts.

"So, what kinds of stretches do you do before you swim? Are they the same ones you do before you excersize at the track?" she asked, curious how the Cadet would start her regimen today.

"Hmm...yes that is a valid reasoning." Nadia's argument of efficiency was one Eryka had genuinely not considered and it held a respectable amount of water as it quiet simply made an awful amount of sense. Still, Nadia's eagerness was weird....immensely so. Just what on Earth was going through this bizarre girl's head? Still there was the question of where Nadia would keep her sketch book and pencil if/when she went swimming but she most likely had a solution in mind for that.

"Oh. I have already done my stretches. I'm going to go swimming now." And Eryka did exactly that, carefully climbing into the pool via and began to swim. The breast stroke she did displayed the musculature of her body but it also made her scars seem even more prominent. She did laps of the pool swimming from one end, turning around and swimming back in movement that would have been continuous were it not for her having to turn around.

Nadia watched and did some sketches, finding special interest in the way the joint of Eryka's shoulder compensated for the prosthetic. What was left of the shoulder and the prosthetic seemed the share the role that the joint would normally have, as the plates of metal moved to carry her through the water.

When Eryka was too far away to draw, Nadia shifted her focus to other students who were swimming laps or playing polo. A group of girls sitting in one of the smaller pools made a great group of sketches while she waited for Eryka to come back around.

She spent a little while like this, leaned up against a pillar near the pool, and kicking her feet a little as she did, while the other girl swam.

Eryk swam the length of the pool, going from the end she started at to the opposite and then back again. Over and over again she would repeat her swimming route before deciding to swim over to Nadia, grasping the side of the pool to keep herself above water with minimal effort. Eryka was, amazingly, honestly unsure what exactly she was going to say. She had invited Nadia here to draw, if she wanted, and so decided to ask about that.

"Why are you so interested in drawing?" Eryka genuinely did not understand why Nadia seemingly spent so much time on something that had barely any practical usage. It was another thing about people that Eryka just did not get. Lots and lots of people spent oh so much time devoted to things that did not seem to have any practical use in day to day life. The amputee genuinely did not understand why people did such things.

Nadia looked up from her sketch pad as Eryka closed in, and popped up to ask her the question. It was an innocent enough question, and one she'd answered before to other people. She hasn't expected it from Eryka though. What a pleasant surprise. Maybe they really were friends. No, of course they were.

"To preserve my memories and the world around me. It's a dangerous world, and any one of us could die at any moment. When my body has decayed away in a box or on the side of the street, these sketches will be all that's left of me, and the things I've seen, and the way I see the world." It was an extremely romantic notion, and one Eryka was not likely to understand just yet. But she hoped atleast the leaving a legacy part of the explanation would make sense to her.

"For someone as frail as me, I suppose you could say this is me doing my best to survive." the words were delivered matter-of-factly, because they were her truth, regardless of whether Eryka agreed with it or not.

"I see..." Eryka pulled herself out of the water, climbing onto the tilted floor that surrounded the pool before rising to her feet. The water dripped from her musculature as she pondered Nadia's answer. Passing one's memories and knowledge onto the next generation was all well and good but through the medium of drawings? That was were the logic seemed to fall apart for Eryka.

"I can understand seeking to pass one's memories and knowledge onto future generations but doing it through artistic drawings, a medium open to the interpretation of the viewer and artist, seems counter productive. If you wanted the most logical way to preserve memories surely you'd record your experiences via video allowing people to observe it directly and form their own opinions." Nadia was weird. Immensely so.

Nadia contemplated Eryka's response to her answer. It was true. The most logical way to record her memories and knowledge would be in Video form...She couldn't refute the logic and yet...it wouldn't be the same.

She had to sit and think about why it wasn't the same for a minute, really consider it before answering. Eryka wouldn't understand a vague, subjective answer. She had to explain it in a way that would make sense to the other girl. How do you explain feelings to a woman who has locked all of hers away. "When you were younger...before the Divide...did you ever go to an art museum?" she asked first, breaking down her own thoughts in the matter. She had to really seek out this answer, and hopeful show Eryka something in the process. Even if only slightly.

"Once yes. I don't remember much due to being six at the time. My parents didn't get to spend much time with me due to their work so I was mostly raised by my grandparents who are probably dead now that I think about it." That was a depressing thought to realise. Eryka had utterly adored her grandparents but then she went on holiday, the divide happened and she never heard from her grandparents again. For all she knew her home country could be a charred wasteland.

Nadia set her sketchbook aside and hugged her knees against her. Propping her between her knees she looked up at Eryka curiously, taking in that bit of information. "They could be fine. Smaller countries probably found it easier to defend themselves." She did her best to reassure the other, though the chances were bleak, and Nadia knew that. Death was a common bedfellow in this new world of theirs.

"The reason I ask is because well...a video or picture can portray facts and information, but when you look at someone's art, it's like you're also getting the way they felt at the time. like a time-capsule. Or something like that, I suppose. That's how I've always felt, anyway." Would that make more sense? She hoped it would.

"Perhaps but I....well. Regardless of their fate I have already gotten used to the worst possible outcome." Eryka did care about the fate that befell her grandparents but honestly? Even if they had somehow survived the divide old age had most likely claimed them which was fine. Dying peacefully from old age was a sign, to Eryka anyway, that someone had lived to their natural end which was honestly what she wanted for herself.

"Hmmm...I suppose it does record one's feelings but that is a point against your case. Historical records need, and should, strip out emotions, preconceptions, bias and anything that is not the facts. A failure to remove any of those elements renders your historical record worthless as a historical account." If Nadia desired to create artistic interpretations of their life then why didn't they just come out and say that? That was the impression Eryka was receiving.

"If you want to record a reliable and trustworthy historical record then do that. If you want to create a emotional artistic record then do that. Do not say one is the other." It was obvious Eryka had little care for the arts (not that she viewed them with disdain she just didn't care for them) but she was still aware they had some purpose or use even if it was a use derived from their emotional influence. Anyway. If Nadia wanted to create a artistic interpretation of her life she should just do that. Don't lie and present it as a historical account.