[Open] It's getting hot in here

[showsnopiety]

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!]

Comments

[sunderings]

[ It trails after him, the cascading curtain of his hair, clinging to his person so much like wet lace as he stands upon the rocks which bank the hot springs, now fully removed from the water. Nearby, his uniform sits neatly folded alongside two spare towels (one, for his ridiculous mermaid's lengthy tresses, the other for the rest), and where the water had been agreeably warm, the breeze at this altitude is quite cool, a shiver prompting him to begin the slow process of seeing his hair dried.

He does not, however, turn completely aside from the man who seemed too eager to offer his companionship with a warm countenance which belied...

The nature of the mana signature which the King had felt in play against his own, and something unspoken but so keenly felt: a fleeting wish, a whisper of a notion to join with him, the equation of the Void itself.

They are nothing alike, and there is something in Sion which would protect Shunsui from making that mistake, for the other man is no true monster at all—at heart, his companion wants only to indulge in games.

And in making a bed of the hot springs, or so it would seem.

Still, Sion only smiles, cordial, pressing terry-cloth loops of a towel to sodden white hair. ]

Do you not already know me? Sion Astal, Hero King of Roland Empire, and none too coincidentally a Hero boasting King's rank here, in the Republic of Blanc.

[ Lightly, he laughs. ] And you are Shunsui Kyouraku, a man who should pay far more mind to his own recovery. Though I cannot speak to what you once were, as you are now...

Compared to those who hold rank, those who do not have far less mana to expend. [ Perhaps, now, he is chiding: ] Think more of yourself.

Aww, Sion sweetie

[sugegasa]

Ahhh, but names and titles only share one's rank and position, not of who a person truly is.

[In Shunsui's case, his full name included titles. And he was in no sort of mood to share his rank. Possibly at some point far in the future, but he felt better getting to know this man as a person before he shared that sort of information. It simply went against his nature to introduce himself using such things.

And his games had made a mockery of the genocide he'd been a part of. So many had met their end on his sword, swept up in the darkness he exuded until Katen Kyoukatsu's laughter had haunted his dreams -- no, games made of death were monstrous, no matter the circumstance.]

You'll have to forgive me, I never did play nice with the rules of nobility, especially those pertaining to etiquette. But it's clear you haven't rested enough, even with a greater mana pool to work with, your highness.

[The smirk he gave was meant to convey that he was joking rather than insulting, and he waved his hand a bit carelessly at the chiding.]

My own recovery will happen in its own time. I don't plan to leave here for at least several hours, and this exhaustion reminds me of my days at the training academy I attended. It's rather refreshing!

[sunderings]

You are wrong. [ Argumentative? No, the King is simply candid, speaking as though he were offering his companion the truth of the world in plain fashion as he tends to the matter of his hair, sighing as he decides to simply wring the water from the locks. ] Whether a title, a name, has been duly earned or unjustly bestowed, there is a character which belongs to a King, a Commander, a Duke.

[ Truth be told, Sion loathes nobility and the decadence it so often degenerated into. But even so... even so, Shunsui Kyouraku has no need to know him, and at heart, Sion did not wish for him to, for a man who could be haunted by darkness is still too much of an innocent for the King to allow close. ]

A King is willful, a Commander is ruthless, and a Duke is ambitious. Is that not so?

[ Where Shunsui would smirk, Sion only wears a smile, raising a finely arched brow at the sound of your highness. ]

And because I am willful, even if I am not wholly rested, I am still able to walk on.

[ Even if his hair will not be dry for quite some time. On goes the undershirt of his uniform, his modesty protected by the curtain of his hair as he dons the rest of his garments, his trousers. ]

Enjoy it, though, your reminiscing. I am glad, that it is someone thoroughly appreciative of the location who takes my mantle now.

[ So to speak. ]

yes the tense change is deliberate xD

[sugegasa]

Am I?

[But he wouldn't argue the point. Nor would he stop himself from wondering just what this Hero King Sion Astal of the Roland Empire might think of the Second Son of Kyouraku, Soutaichou of the Gotei 13.

It didn't matter, really. Shunsui could easily agree to disagree, and the man seemed very steadfast in his beliefs.

He was very good at reading reiatsu signatures. Mana was a bit different, he granted this place that, but he was still good at reading people nonetheless. This King did have darkness, he'd felt it easily. But he also had light and love and Shunsui believed no man possessing those was truly evil at his core. He might press the point, later, but for now!]

I do concede that you're quite willful, though! I wish you'd stay and talk with me, but if you're determined to leave I have to confess that I'm far too lazy to try to stop you. I just hope you let yourself rest when you get back. I may need to check in on you just to make sure you're all right.

[Don't like it? Tough. This is a man who's seen that same look of depletion thousands of times before, and will not be stopped from making sure this man is as well as he can be, whether or not he approves. Sorry Sion, Shunsui Kyouraku is usually very lazy and easygoing but when he sets his mind on something it's a thing that will happen regardless of anyone else's wishes.]