Exploring the Mirrorverse

Iris wasn't ready for the sudden rush of cool, outside air as she stepped out of the building, her tattered clothes barely holding together around her. The nude Eva a few steps ahead of her barely blinked. On instinct, she adjusted her top, holding the loose side down as it almost flapped out in a breeze.

It was certainly Central City, as faithful a reflection as she'd been led to believe. The streets were empty, devoid of people or cars, but the map seemed to be roughly the same. She knew those buildings, those junctions, those pathways...

Eva being a few steps ahead of her was the most jarring thing. Everything, beyond the emptiness, looked exactly like they were back in the real world. A naked woman walking down the street without even hesitating really stood out. It was a lot of skin to have juxtaposed with the outside walls and cloudy sky.

"Thought you wanted to come out?" Eva said.

She looked back. Iris paused.

"Coming," Iris said.

She still hesitated for a second. Then she stepped out of the door; it was a few steps before she calmed down a little, the concrete coarse and cool against her bare feet, even if that was the least of the things she had adjust to. Each step was a reminder of just how bizarre her situation was.

Her breath quickened; Iris made herself start walking a little bit faster, afraid she'd lose her nerve. It didn't matter that they were alone - it wasn't so long ago that she'd walked down this exact street, and found her way around this city. Doing it in such tattered clothes would never be comfortable.

She had considered putting her jacket on for this, but had decided against it - she needed to get used to going without it. Especially when she was outside, there was much, much more risk of damaging it, and it was her best chance of remaining decent when she made it back to the real world.

Eva slowed until she was back by Iris's side, her expression distracted - that was nothing new, isolation had definitely taken its toll on Eva, even if she suddenly seemed antsier than usual.

"Is there anywhere you want to see?" Eva said.

"You know this place better than me," Iris said.

"It's still the city," Eva said.

Eva paused. Her gaze lingered on Iris; Iris put that down to Eva's normal lack of social awareness, more unsure of where else to look than staring.

"There's a place to freshen up," Eva said. "If you want."

"That sounds... good," Iris said.

As Eva began to walk, Iris frowned. She hadn't really thought about it until Eva said that.

"Gross question?" Iris said.

"If it helps," Eva said.

"Freshening up," Iris said. "There's not exactly been working showers or anything, but I don't really feel... grimy, or anything."

"It's this place," Eva said.

"Which I guess is why I haven't been feeling hungry or anything either?" Iris said. "I can't imagine living six years in one place without any necessities."

"It's... complicated," Eva said. "Beyond the mirror, we're a different kind of matter. More based on photons than atoms. This is a reflection. It's easy to turn matter into energy, but much harder to go the other way - part of why getting out's so hard. But so long as there's light, you won't get hungry, and while these our still our bodies, there's no bacteria out here that we didn't bring with us, and we don't really... strain so easily."

"I don't understand any of that," Iris admitted.

"It took me a while," Eva said. "It's nice to freshen up though. Just psychologically. Physically, there's... less need, but it helps."

Iris tried to focus on untangling the complex barely-science; it was easier than focus on how the breeze felt through the holes in her clothes, especially against the exposed, tender skin of her inner thigh and higher through the gap in her pants. She bit her lip, trying to surreptitiously adjust them.

She expected Eva to keep walking; she didn't expect Eva to suddenly stop in the middle of a square.

It wasn't a particularly special place. Iris had passed through it a few times in the real world; it was an open square in front of some kind of office building, with a decorative fountain still in the middle, the slow whisper of water the only sound.

"Here we are!" Eva said, gesturing, and walking quickly over to the lip of the fountain. Iris did a double take; Eva didn't even hesitated, stepping over the lip and into the relatively shallow pool.

Iris looked around. It was instinct again; even if they were alone in this dimension, it never felt like they were, not in such a familiar setting.

"Er, Eva..." Iris said.

"It is a little cold, but you get used to it," Eva said.

She was laying on her front, holding on to the edge of the fountain. There was an odd brightness in her eyes; apparently she needed the chance to relax as much as Iris had. Still, there was also much less self-awareness about the fact she was essentially skinny-dipping in a public fountain.

Maybe Iris would be that blase about nudity after six years here. She really didn't want to find out.

"I thought you meant, like, a working bath or something," Iris said.

"It's... complicated, a lot of places like that don't work here," Eva said. "I'll explain later. Not the time for it now. Come on in."

Iris faltered. Eva looked at her, a sudden intensity in her gaze.

"You can keep your clothes by the edge if you want them nearby," Eva said. "Doesn't matter. Trust me, this is nice. You need to unwind. I think I did too."

Eva rolled over; she kicked off the wall, on her back as she drifted out over the water. Her long, wavy hair started to spread out in the fountain water, all falling back behind her; she couldn't help but smile. The gentle fountain sprinkled and pour down her side as she drifted past it, water splashing over a breast.

There wasn't really enough room to swim, but she seemed to be used to just drifting. Iris wondered how many times she'd come out here.

It did look much less stressful than poring over science books written backwards and staring at the doppelganger who'd taken over her life. Iris gulped, and hurried over to the edge of the fountain. She hesitated, looked around again, and at the reminder that no one seemed due to walk in on them, quickly slipped out of her top, and carefully lowered her pants.

The air still fizzed against her skin. Iris dropped her clothes, closed her eyes, and tripped forwards into the fountain, relying on the sudden shock of the water hitting her to distract her from where she was.

If she didn't look, she could pretend she was in the bath, maybe. A very big bath. A cold bath. Outside.

Fuck, this wasn't working. Iris opened her eyes, biting her leg, and curled up by the edge of the fountain. It was shallow enough for her to sit on the stone floor, her head and shoulders poking out over the top, even if she curled over. She pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms, unable to shake the feeling of self-consciousness.

"See? Not so bad," Eva said.

Iris opened her eyes again. The woman was kneeling up now, soaked hair clinging to her back and shoulders, smiling with an expression that was just a little to the sideways of innocent.

It did feel different. Iris hadn't realized just how much she needed that; pacing around the lab did feel very samey. Just...

"I think I needed this," Iris said. "It just feels like someone's going to walk into the square any moment and see us."

"Just me. You don't have to worry," Eva said.

It was always hard to describe someone's posture in the water, half-floating even in the shallow fountain. Eva was almost on all-fours, leaning forwards in a way that would have been uncomfortable without the water easily supporting her weight. She shifted, twitching; Iris felt heat rise in her cheeks at how thoroughly it felt like she was being looked at.

"It is... nice to come out here," Eva said. "Right?"

"Yeah," Iris said.

"So stressful in there. I feel so much more trapped when it's just those rooms," Eva said.

There was a rare softness in her voice, a glimmer of something in her eyes. Iris looked over to her, not sure what to say or do.

Iris crossed her arms a little tighter, covering her breasts. Eva moved slowly, halfway to lifting her hand when she paused for no reason, and then completed the motion, resting a comforting hand on Iris's shoulder. Iris tried to ignore how it felt; skin-on-skin contact seemed much more intimate with nothing covering her.

"It's okay," Eva said. "Don't bring the stress with you. Just us out here. Only ever just us. Relax. Splash around a bit."

"Maybe another time," Iris said.

She couldn't help but glance around the square again as she said it. It was so hard to lose the association of this place being filled with life.

Eva sighed; she sounded almost disappointed. Then she pulled back, and pushed herself over to the side of the fountain to sit beside Iris. There was a splash; a medium-sized wave of water flew out over the edge of the fountain, cascading onto the ground and splashing outwards. It hit Iris's clothes head-on.

Eva hid a smile; Iris didn't notice at first, too focused on closing her eyes and just feeling the gentle rippling of the water.

It didn't feel so cold any more. Once she'd adjusted, the water was comfortable enough; the gentle lapping was more like she was in a pool, if she tried to be in denial enough.

Eventually, though, she did exhale; she shifted position, needing to stretch, and tried to work out the best way to adjust. Maybe on her front? That at least meant she didn't have to make eye contact with Eva, knowing what she could see. Iris began to turn over, one arm still hugged across her breasts, the other on the rim of the fountain.

She stopped when she looked over the edge. Her eyes widened to see the trail of water on the ground, her sodden clothes right in the middle of a wet splash. Her eyes widened, and she pulled herself up and out of the fountain, crouching to feel them.

She pulled them further away from the water, tentatively feeling them. Soaked through.

"What is it?" Eva said, coming to the edge of the fountain. She looked over innocently. "Oh. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay," Iris said automatically.

Eva had been trapped here for six years. Iris wasn't going to be angry at her for anything; a certain amount of thoughtlessness was expected. Honestly, Iris did feel sorry for her, even care about her, as awkward as Eva could make moments.

Carefully, holding her shirt between two fingers, Iris lifted it up. It clung together, wet through.

"You can't wear that," Eva said. "There might not be cold viruses out here, but no point taking chances. It'd be awful."

Iris grimaced. Eva was right; she looked at her pants.

"Maybe we should head back to the lab," Iris said.

"So soon?" Eva said.

There was a splashing as Eva got out of the pool. Iris tried not to look at her; there was always a certain amount of shamelessness to the nudist scientist, but it felt more overt with water streaming off of her, her long hair clinging to her body - six years of isolation hadn't lessened her figure, that much was for sure. Especially when she was set against the sight of the fountain and buildings behind her.

Iris felt more exposed just looking at her. She swallowed and **** her gaze back down to her twice-over ruined outfit. She dropped her top, and took a step back to dry as best she could with her hands, brushing droplets of water off of her arms, back, chest and thighs, shaking her feet to kick off the last of it. She pointedly faced away from Eva, trying not to think about how it looked - she didn't want to get her clothes wetter.

"Has to be somewhere I can dry these," Iris said.

"You can dry them anywhere," Eva said. "I thought you liked coming out here? Don't stop immediately."

"Kinda lost my outfit here," iris said.

"Nudity doesn't matter in this dimension," Eva said. She smiled encouragingly, coming up behind Iris. "Come on. Try it out, at least."