How had it come to this... A question resounded in Albion's mind as he watched the young fairy skip along her walk, attempting to guide the being known as Mielle along with her to the onsen. Even now Albion wasn't exactly what type of being Mielle was. Could it be she was a technological marvel from Talaz Lagaar? No, the faint presence of magic suggested that the origins of Mielle were closer to that of the art found in alchemy: A homunculus.

"So Mie-chan is a Homunculus?" Yu asked curiously as she overheard Albion thinking out loud, to which the disguised dragon merely shrugged her shoulders. She had no way of knowing for certain so anything at this point was nothing short of a conjecture. "Mie-chan is just Mie-chan I guess~" Yu chimed playfully, as if to discard all the confusing thoughts as the duo had arrived at the changing rooms.

After recent events it seemed the fairy had taken a interest in Mielle, and as a result the duo now found themselves at the hot springs. Even despite the confusion her curiosity and childish excitement didn't waver. "I wonder. Is Mie-chan water-proof? You won't go tummy-up if you hop into the water right?"

Yu asked with a hint of genuine fascination at the thought, while a moment later she seemingly had an idea of some sorts. Stripping out of her robes and placing them in the provided baskets the girl brought a hand to her chin and pondered for a moment. "At least as a fairy I conquered my greatest enemy, so I have nothing to worry about today..." Yep, nothing at all, till Albion who had already removed her armor was stepping toward the door leading into the onsen. "About the fact you used to splash around and flail like a fish on dry land when you tried to swim?" To which the fairy's cheeks flushed up brightly. "Can't you at least phrase that better?!"

Yu dropped her shoulders in faux despair after which she quickly recovered and turned toward Mielle, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Say Mie-chan~ have you ever been at Hosenka before?"

Meanwhile Albion had already entered the hot spring, her gaze scanning the environment. "As expected~ Honestly if anyone tried to peep on these two I'd likely need to report an entirely different crime than peeping."

After the embarrassment that was her introduction, one thing stood out in Mielle's mind; Yu is kind. Her words of kindness during the doll-woman's borderline breakdown in front of all their guildmates resonated deeply with Mielle. But with how hectic things were back then, Mielle was left unable to show Yu how much her gentleness had meant to the Marionette mage. So she had later approached the fairy to show her appreciation, only to be invited along to the hot springs the guild had rented out for the event. Mielle, of course, accepted the offer, mostly because she loved the hot springs in Hosenka.

So here Mielle was, walking beside someone she didn't have to crane her head up to talk to, and her companion Albion. She felt rather comfortable with Yu very quickly after meeting her, so she didn't mind this line of questioning from both of them. "A homunculus? Hmmm,, like, maybe?" She answers, hands behind her back as she walks inside the changing rooms. "I used to be a normal woman though. Ok, let me explain." She chatters happily, despite the grim topic, as she undresses alongside Yu. "One day I was going to visit my fiance, Severa, when I suddenly like, blacked out." She says while making a proofing motion. "Then poof! I wake up in a field outside of Crocus in this body a few months later. I later found out that Severa hasn't been seen since that night, so I'm kinda currently looking for her. Haven't had much luck though." She says conversationally, carefully folding her clothes.

This task is interrupted when Yu asks her question about floating. "Haha, omigosh, yes, water affects me normally! I do float more than I used to, but only because my body is lighter and smaller. But give me a second and I'll sink." She says with a laugh, then laughs harder at Albion's comment, practically bending over with glee for a moment.

Recovering with a wipe to her eye, Mielle turns her head over to look at Yu while tying up her hair. "Yup! Well sorta? I've been here for a few weeks already, but this is still my first time visiting. I really love it here, even if I've found like, two dead bodies in the park already. How about you? And tell me more about yourself!" She asks enthusiastically, her hair wrapped in a cute bun and a towel acting as a hair band, Miele turns fully towards Yu, completely shameless in her nudity. It was for a good reason of course, since that revealed that her body was completely doll-like in every way, lacking anything on her chest or down below, completely featureless outside of the doll joints. Since Yu was very much aware of her circumstances, and being a seamstress Mielle had seen people in various states of dress for years and had gotten used to hot spring nudity in the past few weeks in Hosenka, Mielle had no problem showing her or seeing Yu or Albion without clothes.

"Do you want me to put up your hair too?" Mielle offers. "Then we can jump in!"

Mielle's explanation about her origins was a topic that seemingly fascinated Yu. The disguised fairy pondered for a while. "Fascinating, based on what you said it would appear something happened that saw your psyche implanted into a Homunculus." Yu tilted her head slightly to the side as she inspected Mielle, although even with the doll in such a state of undress it seemed the fairy's gaze and its intentions were more scholarly than perverted. "One could initially assume that you could have been a robot from Talaz Lagaar but the nature of their designs are remarkably different. According to the records at the Clock Tower they usually are more metallic in material and designed with function over beauty, not to mention they are usually given a consciousness through programming, in your case something like a Homunculus would make more sense for the base of your body. A Homunculus their origins is found in magic and alchemy, and unlike a robot there have been cases of a soul or psyche being implanted into the body of a Homunculus."

Meanwhile Albion merely chuckled at hearing how Yu was being all scholarly. "I gues someone entered their Clock Tower director mode~" Meanwhile Yu nodded her head happily at Mielle's offer. "Please do~" As she gave Mielle the clearance to put up her hair the fairy decided to answer the earlier question of the doll.

"Well... as you know already I'm a fairy, although I wasn't always one. In fact I used to be a normal human girl, but back then I was very weak due to a terminal illness, and when I died the fairies turned me into a Fae." She paused for a bit, attempting to recall the recent memories. "Since then I been working with the Fae on a very important mission~ You heard about the Fractured Sky over Talaz Lagaar, right? Well people discovered the rift is actually connected to a very scary place called the void that threatens to consume all of Earthland! It is for that reason I started researching into the nature of the void and even had to ascend into a fairy through a very difficult ritual. Unfortunately I did lose a very dear friend of mine during our adventures together."

Her ears drooped lightly as the sorrowful memory resurfaced. Even now she still missed Nyancelot immensely, even if she knew it was not her fault.

Mielle nods at  Yu's words as she gathers the other woman's hair to wrap it up "You have beautiful healthy hair by the way~!" Meille comments,  before addressing the observations about her body. "Ya, I was thinking of approaching that Kaira-er, something, girl since she mentioned something similar before and seems to know a lot about it. Based on my research I have to agree it's more of a homunculus situation than mechanical, or a mix of the two with a more magical bend to it. I haven't found a way of looking at this body's internal components to confirm yet though, but at the very least I'm pretty sure this body isn't organic." Mielle chatters back to her. In the past Severa often moaned and groaned at how she was wasting her intelligence at being a seamstress, something she adamantly disagreed with in the past. Now,  Mielle doesn't regret the path she chose before but is currently enjoying some more intellectual pursuits. "My cousin August's magic allows him to do some analysis and confirmed it while he was healing me, but he's not a magi scientist or engineer so he couldn't help much more. Our friend Kamui who's in Hosenka right now also helped by, uh, well, accidently cutting me during a spar when we found out the blood I bleed is a type of magical oil that looks like blood. Oh! Your hair is done now, you look great!" Meille says, stepping back. She was a bit more detailed with Yu's hair, making some complicated braids that tie back any loose ends or bangs. 

Then she listened to Yu's explanation of her own story with a sad frown. There was a bit of parallels to their stories, but at its core, Yu's situation was a very sad one. Finding out you died and became someone else? Mielle's heart ached for her. "I'm so sorry you want through that. It must have been very painful to find out. Experiencing such loss... You are a very strong person Yu-chan. But it's okay to lean on those you care about if you feel weak because that's a type of strength as well, right?" Mielle says, smiling at the other woman. She felt rather afraid at hearing about this void trying to destroy the world of course, mostly since it gave her a very strange feeling of Deja Vu, but Mielle was confident that Yu and the rest of their guildmates could handle this threat together. She squeezes Yu's hand in comfort and leads her to where Albion is standing, hoping the relaxing hot springs will help comfort her somewhat.

Yu smiled sheepishly at Mielle's compliment. "You think so? I never thought of it like that... Because my hair turned into that silver-like color people keep mistaking me for an elven child." She listened attentively as Mielle revealed her thoughts on the state of her own body. However, when Mielle called her strong Yu couldn't help but wonder if she truly was. All this time she had been supported by others, her strength came from leaning onto them for help, without them she wouldn't have come so far, if anything, one could say she was nothing without them. Feeling her hand squeezed the fairy's thoughts quickly turned back to reality as she smiled sheepishly at the doll, following her into the hot springs alongside Albion. The disguised dragon had already chosen to take a seat at the nearby spring, close to the rocks and was leaning back into the surface, allowing the water to bask over her body.

Meanwhile Yu couldn't help but note that the hot springs felt quite different from the springs she had seen in Caelum, even the heated ones in the fairy settlement that were used for similar purposes. "I'm fine~ Although it took me some help to come to terms with my loss, I believe he wouldn't want me to continue moping around."

The fairy chimed softly as she shifted her body lightly and tried to playfully push Mielle into the water, although considering her lack of strength it was more like the poor fairy was pressing her entire body against Mielle without any luck! Fairy problems maybe?

Mielle nodding at Yu's reassurance, smiling a bit doubtfully. But she wouldn't push the other woman, just be there if she needed a helping hand. Not one of Mielle's summons, but a literal and uh, empathetic hand? Damn Mielle's glad she wasen't saying any of this out loud. 

Walking into the hot springs Mielle gave Albion a friendly nod as the dragon relaxed, and started a bit when she felt Yu push her from behind, the fairy dropped across Mielle's back. Mielle being weak as she was stumbled a bit with a "Whooooah~" but caught herself with a bit of arm wheeling, handing upright with her arms outstretched to the side. She then turned her head to give Yu a playfully chiding smile. "Stop that~!" Mielle says with plenty of giggles before it turns devious.

Using Yu's weak grip, Mielle up her arms above their heads and turned around with Yu grip on her until they were facing, naoses touching. Mielle's grin took a moment to widen before she hugged the other girl tight. "Have a taste of your own medicine miss fairy!" Mielle says, before leaning back her whole weight and falling back into the water with Yu. Once they were both submerged Mielle let go and surfaced her head, laughing loudly at her innocent little trick, sincerely enjoying her time with Yu while the other girl was practically on top of her still. Putting up their hair ended up being for nothing, but it was worth it for Mielle.

Yu couldn't help but grin sheepishly as she found herself unable to move Mielle despite seemingly even having succeeded at ambushing the girl! However, Mielle soon chose to turn the trickster into the tricked one as she turned around, making Yu's confusion turn into surprise at the grin on Mielle's face. "ohnononono-" The fairy yelped as she felt Mielle's arms playfully wrap around her and pull the two of them into the water! It seemed this had cleared surprised Yu as they went into the hot spring with a loud splash, one that even soaked the poor relaxing Albion, and when they finally surfaced Mielle would notice one peculiar thing: the poor fairy's legs were flailing in panic and she was clinging with both arms around Mielle as if she was the lone beacon of light and hope in this watery abyss.

Albion couldn't help but snicker at the sight. "Should have reconsidered that course of action Yu, pranking someone near a hot spring when you yourself can't swim is just asking for troubles." Yet Yu wasn't even protesting verbally, her eyes closed shut as she clung to Mielle as if her life depended on it!

At least it was a good thing she was light and Mielle could float up easily enough if wanted, even with the additional weight of the fairy clinging onto her!

At first Mielle was shocked and rather concerned at Yu's reaction to being plunged in water. All Mielle felt at first was an iron grip across her waist and a series of struggles. It was that concern that caused Mielle to allow her body to resurface ASAP to check in her friend. "W-woah are you okay?!" Miele says as soon as her head resurfaces. It was for naught though, since Yu's steel grip around Mielle waist meant that the fairy was stuck fully underwater, thus probably unable to hear Mielle clearly.

Thankfully the doll girl surfaced in time to hear Albion's comment, causing her to relax and even laugh a bit. This super strong fairy mage didn't know how to swim? Mielle couldn't believe it! She then felt bad for laughing, especially as poor Yu was still struggling under the water. After a bit of quick thinking Mielle uses her body's natural buoyancy and the fact that things float easier in hot springs to lean back into the water she was treading in with more strength, dragging Yu with her. This way Mielle was floating in her back using all her limbs to tread water to not sink, while Yu finds herself peacefully using Mielle as a flotation device.

"Feeling better?" Mielle says to the other girl with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I didn't know you didn't know how to swim. Want me to get us back to shore?"