[hot springs]Finally the stench is gone.(closed)

[Ximal]

15th spring 512AV evening.

Entering the bath house had cost Xi five coppers but for a little bit of R and R, that was more then worth it. As of late his joints felt stiff and he had hoped the water would relax his tense muscles.Standing in the changeing room he shifted out of his normal clothing and bunched it all up inside his cloak placing his body pack at the core of the roll. Taking a woel and rapping around his waist he wandered into the open springs deemed fit for the public. Steam clouding his fision and the warms of the steam was a stark contrast to the cold air he now felt all around him, even where he didn't want a breeze. Tucking the towel around him he limbered out his arms stretching to his full height his stiff joints happily snapping and cracking as he moved to stretch them out. Gods this is good i feel better already and i havent even touched the water. Striding out into the open pool he took slow steps as his muscles still ached a little but maybe the water could cure that.

The heat of the steam now made him sweat, and the cold air that circulated around made him shiver so it was in his best intentions to jump into the pool as fast as possible, But today the baths were oddly quiet, he was the only occupent thus far, which he didn't mind that meant he could sit by and relax, keepign his stuff close he put it where he could see it at all times to prevent theft of his goods, well what little goods he had. Still as he entered the water the heat surged through his legs and arms, he instantaneously felt more supple and looser than before he had gotten in. Gods he needed this. Submerging himself deepr into the waters he let them rush him as his eyes flicked to the brand on his chest , and his mind just thought of the cruelty that he had once endured and his rage grew, then his mind settled as he thought about it more. Each individual beating each individual moment of suffering on his part had made him who he was. If he hadn't endured it he wouldnt be the man he was today. Which may have saved him a lot of pain along the way.

Wading out into the deeper waters his towel still wrapped around his waist, he sank down and at in the water with it rising to just above his shoulders, hiding his body from view so just his head was visible however with the thickness of the veil of steam, he could have looked like a rock in the thick veil of steam floating about the hotspring at that time.

[Shishi]

Feet dragged across the around. Shishi was getting dirt in her sandies, but who cares. Her mind was in a fog. She had so much to think about but she didn’t want to think about it. Not right now, she’d deal with it later. The woman was exhausted. She took a cat nap, but a vision in her head kept her from feeling resting. She couldn’t remember what she dreamed about, but again that didn’t matter right now.

Shishi was wandering randomly. She flipped a gold each time she had to choose which way to go. As per usual she gambled her destination. Her dark hair trailed behind her as she walked. It was a ratty nest from thrashing as she slept. Her golden eyes were dulled from lack of sleep and darkness. The woman hoped that she got to wherever she was going soon.

A destination finally made itself known. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the woman saw it was guarded and that she was supposed to pay for it. Shishi needed a pick me up and on the spot the woman decided that she was not going to pay for it. Instead, she crept forward as if she was her other self, stalking her prey. The darkness aided Shishi by wrapping her in its coat. She drew closer to the guard. She moved soundlessly. Then the guard turned away to let someone else pay. Now the woman had her chance. But instead of pouncing, she slid past him.

Adrenaline rushed through the woman. She was in! Shishi felt a bit better after that bit of excitement. Where was she though? As the adrenaline in her faded, the woman took in what was around her. She couldn’t see much because all the steam. It was warm in here, Shishi felt at ease. The woman wandered towards a rack of towels and took two. There was water ahead and though Shishi didn’t care for it, she needed to clean herself up. The woman but the towels over her shoulder and headed over to the water.
Shishi stood in front of a hot spring now. The woman remembered this place. She had been here as a child with her mother. Shishi remembered being smacked and scolded for taking a man’s coin bag. Her mother said she was nothing but trouble. The woman flinched a bit at the memory and brought herself back to reality.

The spring seemed to be empty. Wait there was one man in there. Shishi took off her shoes and kicked the water with her foot. Maybe she didn’t want to go in after all. Shishi knew she needed it though. The woman tied one towel around her, set the other towel down and took her clothing and possessions off. She covered her things under the second towel and quickly walked into the water.

The woman stepped into the water. It was warm so it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. Shishi leaned her head back carefully so she could soak her hair without wetting her face. The woman waded her way deeper in the water and sighed.

It was then that Shishi noticed the man’s things. She stared at them for a moment and wondered if she should place a bet. The woman didn’t really want the things but it would be fun. But, she wasn’t really feeling up to doing much, so she decided to fold. Then the woman felt the burning presence of eyes on her. Shishi turned around and smiled at the man. Her bet was on her ability to play this off. The woman moved over towards him in the effort to be social. He had piercing blue eyes, but Shishi thought he was a human. This would be good practice for her. “Hey, how’s the water for you?” the woman asked him.

[Ximal]

Sitting deeply in the water his mind going clear allowing the water to do it's job the air of pure relaxation sweeping through him as he let it soak into his joins, easing his pain and soothing him more than he thought possible. Even the water against the cuts on his arms as it seeped through the bandage didn't hurt. He was just thankful for the relief te water offered, the pain in his joints melted away, he felt the tension in him wash awya with ever motion the water made around him. spinning his neck around he heard the bones in it snap, not once, not twice. but six times. And three more as he turned his neck the other way. Such Sheer relief, even letting the water support him he leaned into it letting his eyes scan the water around him, not being able to see much through the veil of thick steam. His dark blue eyes reflecting the surface of the water, he was just glad to have the to have the time to take a small break from being hunted like a wild animal. Though from the veil of steam Xi could see a silhouetted figure in the steam, the shape in-descriptive of gender, trying to focus his eyes on the figure just lead to his head hurting. So he gave up on staring at it, and let his eyes wander around the hot spring, the steam veiling much out side of two feet of him, still...here though he felt as if he could relax. Closing his eyes he let his mind shift, his throught drifted back to his time he'd spent running, though it want all bad he'd met someone at the pub over drinks and but he'd possibly cost a person theri life for jumping up tono the stage with him. Damn it.

Damn my anger, damn my over emotion. Eyes closed listening to the stillness he heard a splash like s small stone hitting the water, then a loud one and the sound of wading. The person must have gotten into the water with him. Sill never mind that was probably another male who'd thought he needed the time to take a load off and just relax in the spledor of the springs. Then the wading got closer. Just what i need i come here to relax and somebody's probably come here to claim my head...Just when i though I'd gotten away. Then the tone of voice and volume hit, female, close. His eyes snapped open and she was within inches of his face. He flushed and couldn't think his mind racing with every thought possible every reply imaginable. Now he started the stuttering. As he grasped at straws to reply. "T-Th-the wa-waters fine...errm ho-how is it f-f-f-for you?" Unable to turn away transfixed by her eyes, those golden eyes, hypnotizing him. He could feel his baser self creeping up, it wasn't good not by a long shot. He could feel his gaze dipping involuntarily, a nice face features defined and womanly but not strong, soft and easy, then his gaze dipped to her chest and immediately he remembered. It's a bath, beneath that towel she was completely naked, as was he and he felt something in him stirring. and then it became apparent it wasn't something inside but rather outside which had stirred. and if she looked it would be glaringly obvious. Why him, why a beautiful woman, why now?

[Shishi]

The man seemed to jolt at the sight of Shishi. The woman swiftly jumped back a bit. Had she violated the unspoken law of personal space? She didn’t think she had, but judging by this man’s reaction, she wasn’t so sure. It was kind of funny though. The woman smiled playfully as she tilted her head and observed his reaction. His cheeks were pink and he stuttered out his reply. Maybe Shishi had scared him or something. The woman didn’t she was so scary.

He had shaggy hair that reminded Shishi of a mane and eyes that were dark like brown, however they weren’t brown. They were blue and had that look that said he had seen things and been through things that the woman couldn’t begin to imagine. Shishi quickly glanced at his chest because something caught her eye. The man had a burn mark that looked like wings with an axe in the middle. Shishi wondered about it for a moment and then remembered that when things went silent that made the conversation uncomfortable.

“That’s good, I’m Shishi nice to meet you. What’s your name?” The woman chit-chatted with him. She began to ruin her hands through her long dark hair to untangle it. He seemed uncomfortable, but the woman couldn’t gather why. She had learned how to be social and she was pretty sure she was doing it right. She held his eye contact as she spoke and she was a fair distance away. She was pretty sure she wasn’t breaking one of society’s rules, though that was fun sometimes. Shishi’s curiosity was killing her so she asked him. “… Is everything ok? Are you feeling sick? Did the fumes get to you?”

[Ximal]

His heart ringing in his ears, how close had she been, within about a foot maybe? Xi didn't cope well with beautiful women at the best of times. With one so close his heart was liable to jump out of his chest with the rate it pounded, hell even dealing with that crowd chasing him it didn't even beat half as fast as it was now. Taking a deep breath of the steamy air hoping it would settle his mind as well as the something else. It really didn't help. Then as he watched her eyes move down him that just made things worse, His mind was going blank...He couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that she might see. Then she shifted back a little, leaving him some room to gather his thoughts, if only for the briefest of moments. His stutter still there as his mind raced over and over again with the same thought. The same one that he was now having trouble suppressing, especially with his attention split.
"I-i-i'm Xi-ximal but yoou c-can call me Xi e-everyone does."

Gods above what in the seven hells was he thinking. He could feel his lower self creeping to the surface, normally he kept that side of him buried. But in this environment he was having a seriously 'hard' time suppressing it, Still she was very pretty, long black hair, golden eyes and a vrey nice figure beneath that towel. Fighting his male instincts to the best of his abilities, was hard and coupled with he fact he couldn't think clearly he was ina difficult position. But thankfully he could blame his flushed appearance on the heat of the steam, he wanted too but the words when he tried to speak as usual came out stuttered, and very different. "I-i'm fine it's ju-just i'm not used to be-being talked too by pre-pretty women i'm g-g-generally av-avoided..." Seven hells, he wanted to blame his appearance on the steam and the heat of the hot springs but, now that plan went completely out the sodding window. Uldurs ass-cheeks, he was digging his own grave with his tongue and he didn't even know how to stop himself.

He felt so awkward and embarrassed as usual, his damned emotional overdrive never helped, and right now he was in overdrive his embarrassment at being within ten feet of a naked woman. When he himself was naked as well. Shifting his midnight blue eyes over her again, fighting off what his baser self wanted to do with each passing moment. He'd come here to relax and tat this exact moment he'd never felt more tense, at any second she could spot it and then he would just be more embarrassed, and the heat could help mask the reason he was sweating...But now he had a different reason...and now he felt himself asking a stupid question but he couldn't hold it back if he wanted too. "S-so shishi w-what b-brings you h-h-here." Dear gods he felt a fool for asking that question. Still it was all his mind could muster up the brain power to say.

[Shishi]

A shaky voice came to Shishi’s ears. In this form she could hardly hear his whisper. She must be scaring him or something. But that didn’t seem very logical. He was a strong looking man; toned and attractive. He called himself Ximal, but everyone else called him Xi. The woman decided to call him Ximal because she was not everyone else. Ximal told Shishi that he was fine and called her pretty, but the woman saw him shift uncomfortably. Maybe the man was like her and didn’t like being in water. Humans also shift uncomfortably when they were lying or they were scared. But something told the woman that wasn’t it.

The man told Shishi that he was generally avoided and reflexively the woman made what she called a filler noise;”Mhmm” This was a noise to show she was still listening, but had no response. Wait, the man was avoided? The woman’s golden eyes sparked with interest. She was gambling now. She couldn’t imagine why he was avoided because he didn’t seem scary or intimidating but there must be some reason.

Ximal asked her why she was here. Well that was an easy question. “Well I flipped a coin each time I had to choose a direction and this was where I ended up. It’s nice to have some company.” The woman added the last part in, hoping the man would not be so nervous. It’s not like she was a lioness right now. Then, Shishi made a gamble.

The woman asked the questions that were on the tip of her tongue. “Why are you avoided, and what is that burn mark?” Shishi raised the pot by not waiting for an answer. Her curiosity got the best of her as she inched a bit closer, like she was going to pounce. Shishi stretched her arm out and ran her hand quickly over the mark. It wasn’t raised and the woman couldn’t help but notice his solid chest and rapidly beating heart. She moved quickly away. She had just gambled a social breach. He would probably run as fast as a deer now. “Tag your it?” She offered playfully.

[Ximal]

She flipped a coin to get here ? Of all the luck. Trust Xi's luck to go so well with him so useless at this... Staring her over he watched her again, his mind clearing a little but still foggy. His heart still pounding as he struggled against his lesser nature. Watching her. Just watching her was making his head spin. He couldn't believe his luck was this good or maybe here's was just that bad...Either way he didn't question it. still now he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Her hair black and long, eyes shining like molten gold. Gods above...Then he heard her ask about why he was avoided...and the mark on his chest. That was a story he kept to himself, and nobody could or would ever be told it, to be honest in all the confusion in his head he'd completely forgotten it was there. "The r-reason i'm n-normally av-avoided is because i t-tend to scare people...a-a-and the mark i-i'm sorry but i c-cant tell you about that, it-it's kind of pe-personal, so-sorry." As he spoke he noticed she'd drifted closer to him. When did she get so close... Then he felt her hand on his chest, over the mark, The scar tissue had long since formed leaving the shape and a rather rough serface over and in the shape of it, after all it was a really deep mark. The his heart jumped again into over drive, her hand was on his chest...What in gods name was she planning, he just prayed that she didn't look down, His back seizing and his mind damn near numb, with the battle against his baser self.

Then she scampered away her hair following her retreat rather suddenly, his heart eased a light amount as he felt a wave of relief wash over him, until he heard the words. Tag, she wanted him to play tag? In this state he really had no possible way to hide it if he stood up, Still his legs lifted him from the water without orders from his brain, his body now acting somewhat on it's own. He rose to his full height, now fully visible even with the towel there, rising form the water he said shakily. "T-tag is it.. y-your on." His body was acting in dis regard for his minds orders, he was fighting a loosing battle with his baser self, damn him, damn him to the deepest of the seven hells. The his legs moved as he began to chase after he holding the towel at his side as it just reached around his waist enough to over lap the other side by a few inches. But still he had to hold it or odds were it would fall with the amount of movement he would be doing and it's weight. His hear racing and his mind creaming at him to sit back down, his body didn't obey and proceeded to chase her.

[Shishi]

The man accepted her challenge. Shishi wasn’t expecting that but she was going to go along with it. Then Shishi noticed something she really was not expecting. His lower half was prominent and the woman wasn’t so naïve as to not know what that meant. But, she didn’t do anything in that matter. She felt confused and awkward. Maybe this wasn’t such a good bet.

Shishi just stared, like her prey in the headlights. Was she supposed to say something. The woman guessed she was supposed to look away, but she just couldn’t. She wanted to laugh, but maybe something bad was about to happen. She really knew nothing of this man. “Um..Um” the woman stuttered as she stared. Her instincts told her to run, but she was frozen in confusion and a slight fear. This usually didn’t happen to her, she gambled her way through every situation. But, now she was at a loss. She didn’t move.

[Ximal]

Damn it, as he stood he felt the breeze circulating between his legs, and he saw here eyes widen. She couldn't miss it now, damn it why couldn't his body listen to him, her eys grew huge and her mouth just made the occasional sound as he followed her eyes he knew exactly what she was staring at. It was prominent, and blatant He cursed himself inwardly as he forced his legs to stop, Taking a good chunk of will power he stopped as his foot slid back down into the warm water, His face grew redder still, clutching at straws and any idea he could wrap his head around or grasp, hell even reach he would use as an explanation. But nothing came, the silence which followed was deafening until his mid raced and caught hold of something, his mouth blurted in an attempt to make some sense of the situation. He snapped his hands up to explain an innocent way with a innocent expression on his face. His moth exclaimed. "I-It's not wha-what you th-think. I do-dont't..."

Then suddenly he flet it, the towel slipping. The wieght of the water inthe towel pulling it loose from it's holding. Gods please no. Let my hands be fast enough to stop it. Snapping his hands down from their lofty position he made an attempt to grab the towel. His fingers brushing it as they snapped shut. Just out of reach his mind screamed no at him as he felt it fall, sinking into the water beneath him. His face was red now, not tomato red, not fresh blood red, but dark beet red. Not able to move through embarrassment he could feel her gaze, cutting him like a knife. His embarrassment tearing at him, he couldn't move he couldn't figure wether to go for the towel, nothing moved, he felt like a statue, and for a moment wished he was one as his mind claspped for words, and the only ones which came out were. "I-I'm s-s-so sorry..." Only then did his mind let his arms snap round in an attempt to hide it from view. But the damage was already done by that point, his shame was insufferable, and extreme.

[Shishi]

The man dropped back into the water. His face was red as a cherry and Shishi’s was a matching pink. The woman felt awkward. Sometimes when Shishi felt awkward she giggled and that covered the lapse in conversation. Then she couldn’t help herself, she covered her mouth with her hand as she tried to smoother the giggle. Ximal’s hands shot up as he tried to tell the woman it wasn’t what she thought it was. Shishi’s giggle grew a bit louder.

The woman recovered herself quickly and planned to play it off. This situation was just as weird for her as it was for him. It was then that the man’s towel fell up. Shishi saw it falling and she reacted quickly. She caught a glimpse of the reddest face she had ever seen, before her back faced him. “It’s ok I didn’t see anything.” The woman said so that he would be able to recover. Shishi felt very uncomfortable so she tried to hold a conversation as she was turned away from him. She decided that the man was harmless so she didn’t feel threatened.

Shishi thought of a good place to restart the conversation. The woman said the first thing that came to her mind. “That mark must of hurt really bad. Huh?” She continued to ramble. “You’re a human right? So, what do you do for fun? Are you from Sunberth?”