Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rainier hit the water with about as much elegance and finesse as someone who was new to jumping off a 20-foot high dive and was certain that the water was going to suddenly turn to concrete. While she kept a tight form, arms were crossed over her chest and ankles crossed as she pinched her nose, she looked an awful lot like someone who was going down a speed slide against their better judgment.

The water was freezing, perhaps not as bad as the river on Beira’s world would have been, but with the heat they’ve suffered these last few days, it went without saying that this was a bit of a shock to the system.

What was more startling was when she opened her eyes and Mel was there beside her, well mostly above at this point, but still submerged. A silver lining when considering the danger and high risk of injury that would have happened if Rainier had landed on her from above.

With what strength she had while powered, she cupped Mel’s heel with the palm of her hand as something to kick off of and pushed her upwards.

A moment later she emerged beside Mel, “I’m here.” she replied, whipping the water from her eyes so she could see where they were at.

Wading in the water she spun around and spotted a recognizable food shack on the horizon and knew that was the way they needed to head. “Looks like we’re at the reservoir,” Rainier commented. Thankfully it was vacant otherwise she would have heard whistles blowing as lifeguards rushed out to them to save them from drowning.

Although she was a somewhat decent swimmer, doing so in full clothes was more than a little difficult. She’d tried to roll over and look up at the stars, float if possible, but the boots and coat were doing her no favors so Rainier allowed the weight to pull her under before powering down into a pair of capris, a simple summer shirt, and a pair of slip-on shoes that were more like water shoes than the heavy boots she’d been wearing.

Again she surfaced, this time able to stay afloat more easily. “Are you ok?” She asked, her tone threaded with worry as she tried to keep a steady breath.

Erica glanced over at her friend, her lips pulled into a smirk and one brow raised in an expression that joking asked I wonder whose fault it is that they need to be rescued… Not Mel’s, which she knew, but someone was clearly playing a cruel prank on both of them.

Her head shook dismissive as a small chuckle filled the otherwise quiet air. “Perhaps easier said than done. The groceries, I mean, not the part about getting to dry land.” However, the thought of having squeaky sand sticking to her was rather unpleasant and caused her expression to turn into a bit of a grimace. “I’ll honestly be surprised if they’re still on my trunk.” Thankfully food was easily replaceable.

Her car… not so much.

That was what had her more concerned, that someone had gotten into her unlocked vehicle and trashed it or tried to hotwire it and steal it out of the parking lot. As a cop, she’d find it tomorrow but the damage… she didn’t even want to consider this as a possible outcome.

For now, she kept her head above water, doing a breaststroke until the water was deep enough for her to walk the rest of the way.

“Maybe just a little,” Erica admitted with a small shrug. “It is summer though so there might be some drivers that keep blankets or something similar in their trunk just in case they are unfortunate enough to pick someone up from here.”

“Honestly though? Don’t worry, I know this wasn’t your fault.” Circumstances and happenstance, are anomalies out of both their controls. “If you’re new to this whole knight thing then I’m sure you’ll learn quickly that these random occurrences are more common than you realize.” It honestly didn’t take long after first powering up as Rainier to discover how many of the strange stories she’d hear in whispers around the precinct or see on the news was either related to the Negaverse or some seasonal shenanigans that felt more supernatural than anything.

“There are a few people I could try cal-” She paused, blinked a few times in stunned silence as the realization crashed down on her that her cellphone was in her back pocket… and she’d powered down in the water which- Aw ********> she mentally swore. “Never mind…”

That was so dumb of me to do. Erica scolded herself. I could use my ring, maybe. But I wouldn’t be able to get a reply from anyone since they’re all civilians or senshi so we’d just be out here waiting for someone who my or may not show up. Quite the conundrum and one she didn’t have an answer to yet.

“Thank you,” Erica offered an almost embarrassed smile.

Taking the lead from Mel, Erica gathered her hair and began twisting it tightly to get excess water out of it before moving on to her shirt. “I’ve found that since becoming a Knight, many of those unsolved cases make sense now.” Most notably the missing persons and the incidents of people presumably ODing on the street only to find their belongings missing or worse, dead.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed some patterns as well,” Erica glanced over at Mel for confirmation.

Knowing that the Negaverse Agents could take starseeds and drain energy lent itself to how she approached certain calls. Fortunately, so far nobody has questioned why her body camera was turned off having ‘been hit’ by something or having it knocked off her as an escape to find a place to power up. Only happened twice though so not enough to be considered a pattern in her report.

“So, what were you doing before you fell through that tear into me, if I may ask?” Erica pulled her phone out of her back pocket and inspected it for cracks then tried turning it on, hoping that the Otter Case that had a feature to protect the charging port had hopefully kept it dry enough to still turn on after taking a swim.

Erica nodded her head in acknowledgment.

“I’m just glad you were able to get away from them, though a safer means of escape would be preferred.” She chuckled softly now that she was able to reflect back on the moment of impact. When Ekstrom literally knocked her off her feet. “I’m just teasing.”

Unfortunately, other than going to her wonder she wasn’t sure of any other method Ekstrom could have used to get away. In most situations, it wasn’t always a viable option since it wasn’t something as instantaneous as an Agent’s, or Corrupt’s, teleports. As a Knight, they had to recite their oath which took a moment to recite, and a level of concentration that isn’t exactly possible when fleeing from an enemy as Mel was probably acutely aware of.

“If the Uber driver is able to take me to my car then I’d be happy to take you home.” It was the least she could do given the kind of night Mel was having.

“Better company than a lot of people who end up in the car with me.” Erica agreed with a chuckle. Then again she’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who would be in a good mood after being put in handcuffs and put in the back of a police vehicle.

Much to Erica’s un-surprise the second bag of groceries was not on the back of her car as she’d hoped it’d be. “At least nobody stole my car,” she commented just before she caught a glance of a brown paper back in the back seat. Good people do exist. she mused with a hum that extended into a half smile.

Likely one of the people out gathering karts put it in there for her and kindly locked the doors. She’d have to figure out who the good samaritan was later. For now, she needed to drop Mel off and then get home since she had an early shift tomorrow.

“Car’s unlocked,” Erica commented as she opened the driver's door and got in. With the key, she turned it on and wound down the windows to vent out the hot air.

“Feel free to put your address in,” she motioned to the on-screen navigation. “Or if you’d rather tell me which way to go, I’m fine either way.”