pawnstorm | [Open] It's getting hot in here

Entry tags:

[Open] It's getting hot in here

Who: Caren and anyone visiting the hot springs!
When: Post dungeon, could be right after fail/success, could be days after
Where: Hot Springs of course
What: There's a hot springs, so now there's a hot springs episode.
Rating: Could be a p-13 and beyond because some people are only wearing towels in this place.

[Win or fail, everyone needed a reason and a way to relax. With the fall of the towers, there was all sorts of good things to come from it. Some would say it was the birds; and others would say it was the hot springs.

The large, large pools of heated water. Sure, they could be used as a way to get all steamed up (or even steam punk) but after all that hard work, everyone deserves a break!

Bring your swimsuits, your towels, your drinks and snacks-who knows, you should be able to find them in the bazaars, or even on Airy. It's time to soak in the heat!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Various snacks, including sweets. Savory as well. I would go with the buns, personally. It has a mixture of flavors, and you can eat it easily with one hand.

[She waves an idle hand, though she considers Kaede briefly.]

However, do not let me over influence your choices. I do not know what you do or do not like.

[Kaede rolls her bare shoulders in a slight shrug.]

I've always liked buns.

[And she'll be reaching over to take one. It almost looked like the sort of steamed bun she was familiar with at home, though she suspected the filling would be different. It usually was.]

This may either be a welcome or terrible experience for you then.

[She shrugs, and rolls her wrist. She tried to get a variety of steamed buns, and avoid the strange sounding ones, but who knew. It could be more than different. It could be disgusting.]

It's still food.

[...was that turnip? It wasn't vile, though Kaede still made a bit of a strange face.

Whatever. She was going to eat it.]

Something on my horns?

[The diclonius was as used to stares as she was at noticing them. Someone trying to touch them sometimes followed, and she'd probably need to twitch away.]

Some are fussy about it.

[Shrug. She doesn't care too much, but whatever. With a shrug, she made to take a bun to nibble for herself.]

You've some hair curled over it.

[That was it. She doesn't really care about the horns, other then the fact that they were there.]

Hmph.

[No evasive movements required! Kaede relaxed again, and took another bite of the turnip bun.

From where he had been curled up next to her folded clothes and stacked weapons like some kind of lizard instead of a dog, her Carrier lifted his head and trotted the few steps over. He carefully put a pad on the offending hair, trying to paw it off of her horns and...making more of a mess of her hair in the process. Paws were not good combs.

Kaede was remarkably tolerant, for once! It helped that she heard the dog's nails clicking on the rocks, and his cheerful bark afterwards.]

...yes, thank you Naoki.

[Her expression was markedly softer when she reached back to scratch his ears.]

[Horn stroking? Not on her list. She might go for a kiss or something, but that's simply to make her squirm or to feel the pleasantness of mana exchange.

Later, perhaps, when she's not eating her bun. It tastes like...kimichi? But the contents remind her of a pineapple. She's not going to think too hard on that one.

Still, mystery bun or no, Caren is kind of watching this interaction with a kind of bemusement.]

Naoki?

[She's curious about the name. Then again...she didn't see fit to name her carrier. Her snake is nameless, and she refers to it as to what it is, or simply 'you'.]

[It would certainly get her attention, either way.]

My dog's name, back home and here.

[His markings and floppy ears were the same, his barks sounded the same, but he was big now; all grown, like he'd never gotten the chance to be. And still as happy and friendly as ever.]

I wonder if he was waiting for me.

Hm.

[Get her attention in a good or bad way, who knew. But...there really was quite the variety when it came to various carriers, weren't there. Though Caren had to wonder much of the same thing there was still...]

It's possible. Or time could have passed. We don't know how the passage of time is between here and our respective worlds.

[After one last scratch, the dog yawned extravagantly and shook the condensation off of his coat before ambling back to ostensibly guard Kaede's belongings. The diclonius lowered her hand back into the water again, and her expression turned more cold and neutral.]

It wouldn't have mattered terribly much for me.

[Caren watched her for a few moments, her head tilted her the side. It wouldn't have mattered if time passed? Her dog waiting for her? Caren takes another bite from her bun, and watches Kaede, her expression heavy lidded.]

Even if it were to die, and you did not find out until you returned?

[Kaede responded with brief, sudden laughter; a dry, humorless noise. The sound tapered away as abruptly as it appeared.]

He died years before I did.

[This person is just full of surprises, isn't she. A slow blink is offered, before she glances back over at the doggie hair dresser. Hm.]

You're dead then?

[That would be the first confirmed case if it were. If not, well, she'll just have to live with her dissatisfaction.]

[Her voice was nonchalant, but her words clipped; as uncaring as she seemed, she didn't particularly enjoy talking about her own death.]

Yes. Messy experience. Can't say I recommend it.

[Kaede glanced at her hand; burn-scarred, solid, functional, even if all it needed to do was hold a half-finished bun. A far different story from a sloughing entropic puddle.]

Sounds unforgettable. And bloody.

[Her mouth twitches in a smile, and her eyes close. Bet it hurt. Kaede doesn't strike Caren as someone who would go down quietly. She could admire that.]

For the most part.

[She did kill everyone in the room! And on the tower. And a few jets. And knocked over some buildings. Except for four very specific people, but details.

She didn't have anything else in particular to add at the moment, and fell silent again.]

The most part? You do not sound very proud of your end.

[Jets, towers, building knocking over-it's pretty remarkable and all. Mind, there's a whole slew of bodies, but who cares? People die all the time.

Her eyes open, and she peers at Kaede. Curious, mostly. She had watched her when it came to taking down Nora in the courtyard.]

Or did I misunderstand?

I died. What else is there to say?

[Kaede shrugs again, finishing the bun. It seemed as tasteless as ash now, but an obligation was an obligation.

Especially since she had a habit of breaking those to undo.]

There were things I should have done, but didn't. Too late now.

[Her voice had changed from calm neutrality to something colored with bitterness.]

Edited (wording change) 2016-05-23 20:12 (UTC)

Ah.

[There it is. She thought there might be something there and...Kaede did not disappoint her in the least.]

You have regrets then. What could to have done differently, even if you died?

[The diclonius studied her empty hand, not meeting the other woman's gaze.]

There were some people I should have apologized to.

[Some of the bitterness faded, replaced not quite by anger, but a smoldering irritation; an unforgotten grudge.]

And there was one I still needed to kill.

[What a combination...she has to wonder how that would go. Apology, kill, then death.

Caren considers this quietly, her bun nearly forgotten.]

It occurs to me that some meetings that should not be possible are in this place. The dead, people of same worlds but of different times. The hope is faint but...

[She shrugged. It's a crumb, and a pitiful one at that. But still.]

[A complicated mess, to be sure.

But what else was new for Kaede's life.]

A crossing point?

[She inclined her head a little as she listened, considering the words. Her response wasn't incredulous; of all the strange and fantastic things she had known here, the idea that an afterlife was littered with lost, not-yet-dead souls was one of the least outlandish things she'd heard.

Or perhaps the dead were the intruders here, and their resting place was elsewhere.

...maybe she would see Kouta again. Maybe her brother. Maybe...even Aiko. Would they remember her?]

It seems so. I would not believe it myself but...

[She offers an elegant little shrug, finishing off her food. She's never been one to waste what she has.]

What would not be possible for me to meet, and know for myself- it is certainly probable for others to be...selected by the gods.

We have all sorts here, do we not?

[About the gods of this place, Kaede was less certain about.

But she was certain about other things. The solidness of her own hands, the pain of repeated burns, the unfamiliar energy coursing under her skin like it was poorly contained by her form.

And about the other people crammed into white jackets.]

From the useless to the less so. Fairies, to giant dogs with bad manners.

[Kaede allows herself an amused-sounding hmph.]

Or a set of lungs attached to an airhorn that loudly proclaims it's a fairy.

Ah, Cirno.

[She doesn't know anything about the gods here. They're truly a mystery. Sure, there are books, but it doesn't tell her much. Not really; they're stories, not histories. Supposed, maybes, not research.

But all of that came to a halt with the talk of that person.]

Nora, at least, can be directed with some shoving. He's amusing in doses. Cirno...

[She rolls her eyes slightly.]

I'm going to kick her off the roof. Next time she tries to challenge me to a fight, I'm going to.

[Open] It's getting hot in here

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)