Closed A Winter's Dip (Johanne)

[Alses]

Timestamp: 29th Day of Winter, 512 A.V. Location: The Kinell Hot Springs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technically, it was a full moon, but shortly after moonrise the clouds had rolled in from all across Kalea, jockeying for pole position as they bore down on the city, and had wiped the silvery disc – and the million twinkling stars – from the sky. Chilly rain drew a dancing cloak all across Lhavit, forming a shimmering and shifting curtain of spangled brilliance as the falling raindrops caught and refracted the skyglass glow. It wasn't torrential, more a steady tumbling fall of icy droplets that promised to be set in until at least the dawn, but it did sterling work clearing the streets of the celestial city. Save for the Shinya, of course, ever-vigilant in their skyglass armour, encrusted with chill diamonds as the rain continued to fall. Under normal circumstances, Alses would have welcomed it, the musical chimes of raindrops drumming on the roof of the Respite lulling her gently off to sleep. Tonight, however, that was not to be; her thoughts, even after a hard day of practicing her auristics under the direction of her instructor, had been confused and dashed, swirling against one another in the echoing silence of her head, stubbornly refusing to settle no matter how she positioned herself. Too hot, too cold, too much pressure, too little...all symptoms of the greater malady – too much thought. All things in moderation. Her feet were almost silent on the skyglass as she padded down to the Respite baths, only to have her hopes dashed once more. Voices and chatter, laughter and conversation, they drifted out of the seams of the bathing-chamber doors like wisps of ephemeral steam. Obviously, most of the rest of the Respite's population – which wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination – had decided that tonight would be bath night. Ordinarily, she might have joined them, or at least headed for the private section of the baths and at least been present, but with fruitless thoughts buzzing about her brain like angry hornets spoiling for something to sting, discretion was decidedly the better part of valour, lest she say something that, in the light of day, she'd have cause to regret. Slowly, she turned aside from the baths, dissatisfied and discombobulated. Then, a thought struck her and she glanced outside – the wind was fitful, and the rain steady, a drumming toccata that could go on for bells without ceasing. It probably wouldn't be pleasant, the journey, but the prize at the end...ah, that was worth a little discomfort, especially if it helped with her humming thoughts. A Toes curled - to keep her balance - over the edge of the rain-slick rock at the edge of the pool clearing, Alses drank in the sight of the Kinell, deliciously, gloriously deserted. Everyone who might otherwise have used it seemed to have been driven away by the weather; the only signs of life were the occasional jewel-bright flit of a kingfisher, darting from one sheltering leaf to the next. Wisps of faintly-sulphurous steam glimmered in the gentle glow of the plantlife all around, whorls and curlicues of vapour curling off the pool's emerald surface. All around, there was a constant whispering susurrus of raindrops falling on leaf after leaf; in contrast to the stark beauty of the rest of the mountain range in Winter, the hot springs here kept the temperature balmy and the humidity high all year round. Lush vegetation, verdantly green and positively bursting with health, burgeoned on all sides, pressing as close as possible to the source of the abundant heat and moisture. The continual thunder of superheated water jetting high into the air and crashing down on unyielding granite enveloped her in welcoming arms as she carefully negotiated the last few feet of the path, the sound whispering promises of supporting, cradling warmth, its comforting roar already working against the head-splitting drone of unceasing thought. Shelters, pavilions, lean-tos or hideaways, even those built from celestial skyglass, would have completely ruined the precious atmosphere of the place, the elusive natural spirit that perfused every facet of the hot springs, but thankfully, Lhavitians were not without ingenuity and artifice in these matters. Small indentations, just the right size for a set or two of clothes and some bathing accessories had been artfully hewn out of the vine-decked cliff-face, almost invisible save to the practised eye, shielded by the bare rock itself from the worst of the spray and naturally warmed by the same titanic forces of Kalean geology that had resulted in the hot springs themselves. Natural anticipation quickened her steps, prudent caution slowed them – save for right by the waterfall, where the tumbling water tore away any vegetation that dared to establish a foothold, the rock shelf which ran around the pool's circumference was always slick with algae basking in the mineral-rich water. Taking a tumble prematurely – either into the pool or the foliage all around it – simply wasn't on the cards. Alses reached the indentations without incident, thankfully, gooseflesh crawling up and down her as the warm spray rising up from the waterfall fought with the chilly raindrops coming down. Her hands shook and fumbled as she undressed quickly, all thoughts now focused exclusively on the inviting pool which shimmered like the heart of the forest in a million shifting shades of green. Free at last from her sodden garments – the trail had proved more difficult, more time-consuming to navigate in the rain than she'd anticipated – unselfconsciously naked and shining like a pale star in the clearing, she dipped a toe into the water. 'Hot!' came the electric thought, jerking her cautious foot back from the rain-rippled surface. A wry smile touched her lips, then firmed – in one fluid movement, she dove into the centre of the hot springs. Alses gasped when she broke the surface once more, her lungs constricting as the million lancing fingers of heat plunged into her rain-chilled skin, stealing her breath at the shock of it. The sensation was never entirely unpleasant, just sudden, fading as quickly as it had come as her skin warmed to the water's temperature. Gentle breaststroke took Alses to her favourite spot, the hottest part of the springs amid the tumbling cascade, perched on a perfect little shelf of black granite that was perpetually scoured clean by the waterfall. The battering massage of falling water hammered at her neck and shoulders, the heat and pressure pounding knots of muscular tension that she wasn't even consciously aware of into submission, kneading away the poisons of fatigue and anxiety that had built up throughout an admittedly-strenuous day. As blissful as that was, after a time – bells and chimes were meaningless here, the noises of the city drowned in the roar of falling water and shimmering weave of birdsong – she moved again, glorying in the luxurious emptiness of the hot springs. Flat on her back, cradled by the mineral-rich waters of the spring which washed in and out of her gills, Alses floated in the centre of the pool, just below the surface and close enough to feel the curious cushioned impacts of a million raindrops on her skin, dulled moments of coolness and infinitesimal pressure dancing across her body. Eyes closed, the better to relish the sensations of warmth and cradling safety, gently rocked by the circulating currents, her mind simply freewheeled, drifting lazily from one half-formed thought to another.

[Johanne]

Oh gods.I am sorry this is so, so long. Most my posts aren't this excessive. Sorry!

Johanne cracked her knuckles as she put away the last of the tattooing implements and ink for the day. Inecino had left some bells earlier, loudly proclaiming that he wanted to sleep, and by the Gods, he would sleep as long as he chose, leaving Johanne in charge of the shop for the moment. She sighed, the tiny sound accompanying the gasp filling the empty room where she ritually scarred and inked the willing lovers of bodily modification. She had mere chimes until the Midnight Rest began official, and she was not looking forward to the long and lonely walk through this miserable weather to the Surya Plaza.

She was not in the least exhausted. She felt a kind of restlessness. Perhaps it was the pale full moon that hung overhead, even if it was covered by depressing grey rain clouds, she thought as she gathered up her cloak and coin purse, and locked up the shop for the night. Perhaps it was her going mad, itching for something more, Leth's light encouraging her to find what lay in the shadows and the night. Whatever it was, she knew that she had no desire to go back to the Surya Plaza, to her small room in the Solar Winds. Since Dariel had entered that room, it felt nothing short of lonely to be in there without someone caressing her skin. To sleep for a mere few bells and then awake to wander through the streets aimlessly seemed truly unappealing and depressing.

Ducking out of the waiting room, she turned quickly, shielding herself from the rain with her cloak while she, with shaking hands in the cold, tried to lock the door so that she may leave the day's work behind. Her hands fumbling, she heard a shout behind her, through the drizzling grey rain.

"Johanne!" Looking behind her, she noticed the pale Symenestra woman come up, jogging slightly through the rain. Soraya was quiet, and yet kind and patient, and had willingly shown Johanne the ropes of organisation and cleanliness when she had joined the team at Lazuli Ink. Johanne smiled at the Symenestra. Her pale skin and strange coloured eyes had taken a while to get used to, but after the fiasco with Laszlo, she was even more comfortable with Soraya than she had been.

"Hello, Soraya," Johanne moved over slightly, before handing the key to the deft Widow. She quickly turned the key in the lock, doing it much easier than the shivering Johanne.

"Are you off home?" Johanne shrugged, looking up at the skies once more. Disappearing into her small little room felt like a trap. She couldn't be inside, cooped up by the weather.

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't really want to, but I do not know where else I would go... I want to be outside but it is far too cold to wander around in the rain for hours." Soraya could hear the frustration in her voice, and smiled. She had an idea for the young girl.

"Why not venture out to the Kinell Hotsprings? It's a tough walk, and you'd have to brave the rain for a little while, but it will give you some respite from the cold." Pausing, she thought it over. She had no real mountaineering or hiking skills, but she knew that it wasn't too far from the entrance to Lhavit. The springs, when she had visited last Autumn, had been warm and soothing, a nice relaxation for her soul.

"I just might do that, Soraya. Thank you for the suggestion."

"Of course, Johanne. I'll see you soon." Smiling and waving goodbye, Johanne turned into the rain and began to walk away from Lazuli Ink, leaving the Symenestra standing alone in a city which feared her when she walked through the streets openly.

* * * * *

Johanne smiled nervously and nodded to the two wet, disgruntled Shinya that stood guard at the entrance of Lhavit on the Surya Peak. They watched her leave, curiously. "I'm going to the Kinell Hotsprings," she said quickly, trying not to shiver too obviously, her entire body dripping wet. They nodded, knowing the path turned off the main road into Lhavit in just a few yards, and that it was a mere two miles to the place Johanne was seeking. She took a breath, inclining her head to the two young men, before braving the muddy track that went winding through the mountains of the Misty Peaks before arriving at the haven of Kinell.

She had walked to the hotsprings before, but then it had been nearing the end of Autumn and the paths were dry, and the sun was warm and shining. At midnight, however, when the rain poured ever steadily down, and the mist rose from the ground, and the cold bit through her bone, the terrain was much harder to traverse. But she was determined to reach the Springs. She did not mind the dark, or the quiet. She was just tired of being cold.

The trek was alright until the terrain began to incline. She had to be careful to put her foot down flat, and slowly, making sure her boot had a grip within the mud as the raindrops fell from the trees above onto her face and hair. Several times, Johanne put her weight onto her feet too quickly, and slipped and landed in the mud. Struggling to get up, she would haul herself to her feet, and duck past branches and leaves, stumbling over roots and rocks that lay in the Lhavitian landscape. And all this just for a warm bath. Gods knew she needed it by the time she got there.

And after forty chimes, Johanne, puffing, dress stained with mud and her hair dripping over her face, emerged into the clearing, and was greeted with the beautiful sight of the Kinell Hotsprings. Their steam rose even in the night, and the flora surrounding the springs glowed slightly under starlight. The mountains loomed far off in the distance, and even in the rain, the water was a deep emerald, shining with the light of the sky.

She sighed, and took a step forward, ready to pull off her sopping wet dress and dive freely naked into the pools: when she spotted the ripples, and then the blonde girl swimming naked on her back in the pool. She froze. The woman seemed to be so comfortable in the water, floating easily, her skin almost luminous and her hair a bright white blonde. And yet Johanne, for all her discomfort in the idea that this stranger could see every inch of her scars and her body, had not trekked through mud, rain and roots to not experience the healing waters of the hotsprings. She cleared her throat, moving closer to the pool's edge, and yet making a point to only focus her eyes on the woman's face.

"Excuse me..." Johanne waited for the woman to move her eyes to meet with her own. "Would you mind very much if I joined you? I would not normally be so intrusive on someone's personal space and time, especially not in such a vulnerable position... It's just, well..." She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed, feeling bedraggled and miserable. She just wanted to be warm.

[Alses]

A Divine AnswerYou have seen the monster posts I tend to write, haven't you? Length isn't a problem, trust me. Besides, it was a lovely read. The gentle rocking motion of the currents in the pool had lulled her into half-somnolence, a dreamlike state between waking and sleeping where everything was warm and soft and fuzzy. Johanne's aura had tickled at her senses, just on the very edge of them, dulled as they were by a day of heavy djed expenditure, but since it didn't hold the arrowhead of deadly, singleminded purpose that shaped any predator's mind, the tingling nudge had gone blissfully unnoticed, not bothering to trouble the higher functions of her brain. Until, that is, a call, wavy and distorted by the water, disturbed her, jolting her from that blessedly restful state and into full wakefulness. For a moment, the rain-pocked surface of the pool was thrashed to foam as, with a powerful stroke of her arms and kick of her webbed feet, she turned herself upright, instinctively treading water and shaking her head to free it of water drops as she breached the surface. Nictating membranes, delicate structures that were only visible by their faint mother-of-pearl shimmer, slid back from her eyes, having protected them from the water, as she looked about, hunting for the source of the noise that had so disturbed her. It wasn't hard to find Johanne, a darker shape against the gentle glow of the calias-imbued vegetation and the only vaguely-humanoid form visible around the entire circumference of the hot springs. “Would you mind very much if I joined you?” After a split-second to actually process the request, she groaned – but only for internal consumption. 'Syna above, has the entire city decided that tonight, of all nights, should be bath night? Anyway, what sort of idiot forsakes the comforts of Lhavit to stagger here in the rain? The trails were bad enough when I set out, and that was surely a good bell or so ago, so what must they be like now?' An ultimately fruitless line of thinking; the intruder was here, now, and that question demanded an answer. She could hardly just dive away to the bottom of the pool and stay there. Although...now she came to think of it, that sounded rather attractive... Outwardly, still on the surface, at least for the moment, Alses frowned – not that it was particularly easy to tell from a distance, pale eyebrows merging into paler skin, and all of it blurred by the falling rain. She effortlessly glided through the water to press against the rocky side of the pool, as much of her body hidden in the emerald depths as possible as she martialled her reply. “I don't like to shout here; it disturbs the kingfishers,” she said by way of explanation to the silhouetted figure, her voice pitched to only just carry over the muted thunder of the waterfall. Not that there were many kingfishers in evidence tonight, most of them sheltering in their nests and leaving only the occasional snatch of liquid song hanging in the air. “I suppose it was rather too much to hope for that all the nine thousand-” the population of Lhavit, in other words “-would be kept inside by the cold and the rain.” Her lips pressed together in a thin line of pressured whiteness and eyes swept up and down Johanne's body, taking in the mud-stained dress plastered to her shivering figure and lingering there for just a second. There was a certain mellowing of her tone, then, a reassessment of sorts. “On the other hand, you've been determined enough to make the trek here in the rain, for whatever demented reason, and since I don't own the hot springs – that job, such as it is, falls to the city – I can hardly tell you to leave.” A short half-smile, a mildly sardonic upcurve of one side of her mouth, and a grandiose gesture of invitation with one webbed hand. “The pool is quite big enough for two, and you are freezing and miserable. Join me if you can stand to; bathe and swim as you will, talk to the kingfishers or whatever else pops into your head, and I shall do my best not to be seen for you; the pool is quite deep and I daresay it's just as warm in the depths as it is in the shallows. I can always sit under the waterfall's deluge for a while, too. They say you should swim in until it's as hot as you can stand it, after all.”

[Johanne]

Shivering in wet, clinging dress, Johanne waited for the blonde-haired figure in the pool to answer her one request. The rain was falling, and the winter air chilled it: it was nothing like a summer storm, where to be caught under a cloud in the warmer months was as warm as the hotsprings Johanne stood before. Each drop of water on her skin felt like icicles pelting her flesh. It did not help that Johanne had little fat to speak of, all limber limbs and skeletal joints. She shivered before the girl.

If she had been a bolder person, she would have joined the woman in the hotsprings without a second thought for propriety or space. But her modesty demanded that she stay cold and aching while she waited for an answer. Her bones were beginning to creak from the wet.

She watched the woman swim with a practised ease through the medicine waters of the hotsprings. Her features came more into Johanne's sight as she approached, her arms folded against the stone edge just paces from the human. The woman was pale, pale even in the moonlight, and from still a distance and the dark, Johanne could not make out the strange scales that flickered up her body and across her forehead. In the dark and the rain, this woman was simply just blonde... and naked. Johanne worried on her bottom lip while she waited for an answer.

She was met with a tone that did not speak of welcome nor of acceptance. The woman begrudgingly allowed the freezing Johanne to share the space with her, to be warmed by the springs. "Thank you," Johanne said quietly, barely to be heard below the ongoing deluge from the heavens. She held herself tightly, her arms crossed across her body. How rude of this woman to presume to be annoyed by one girl's presence. How dare she call Johanne demented? This woman had made the same trek, and for the same reason, seeking warmth and solitude, and yet she judged those who took the same action, as if she held monopoly over it.

The woman smiled mockingly, and gestured as a ringmaster over the waters, inviting her to join. Johanne bit her lip purposefully, keeping her irritation and frustration inside. "By all means, swim to the bottom of the pool," she snapped, unable to keep it entirely behind her lips. "Perhaps I shall not be so offensive from that vantage point."

"Would you please turn, or swim off, so that I may divest of my clothing?" Even in the dark, Johanne would not show her body unnecessarily, especially not to someone who displayed such arrogance and disdain for the plights of others.

[Alses]

Silence reigned supreme for several moments between pale Konti and shivering human, save for the constant background rumble of the waterfall and the hissing splash of the rain. Relative silence, one could say. Alses blinked in momentary confusion up at the shivering, silhouetted figure, bobbing up and down slightly in the water with each rhythmic kick. “You? Offensive? Is your hearing perhaps deficient?” After a moment, she added, very much as an afterthought: “Or have I made some error of expression? Common is not my first language-” not any more, at least, her mind supplied “-so I admit to the occasional mistake.” She tilted her head back further, tensed against the rocky side of the pool and relishing the slap of mineral-rich water against her inflating gills. It was all preparation to swim away at a moment's notice, a reaction hotwired into her spine that she wasn't actually consciously aware of. “I was surprised at your presence here and was attempting to be considerate. Perhaps I expressed myself...poorly. In truth, I have a regrettable tendency to fall asleep in this pool and so the surface is a better prospect than the depths, but equally I am aware that my appearance is-” the words screamed up her throat and, without the stranglehold of serenity her Ethaefal form brought, they flashed out into the rain-dripped night “-a disgusting nen-nen-zapatl drained of all colour and life and vitality.” Her tone carried the weight of her displeasure at her own state, cargoed with the deep-seated annoyance at imperfection and the mortal chain which weighed her down, topped off with a dash of irritability as the result of a long and hard day of mental exercise, doing cartwheels on the edge of the djed catastrophe curve. “Not the sort of thing you want to be looking at, all things considered,” she continued after a moment, determinedly flippant whilst nictating membranes snicked over her eyes, thanks to the gentle wavelets lapping against her face. “Rather like bathing with a corpse. Since I can survive quite happily underwater just as well as on the surface, I felt I should make the offer, to allow you to take your ease.” Strange creature, this human – would traipse through the dripping cloud forests of the Misty Peaks without a care for who saw her, clothes plastered like a second skin to her (admittedly rather scrawny) figure, but put the prospect of stripping off in front of another bather before her and she'd shy like anything. Did a layer of cloth really matter that much? Apparently so. Well, that was a problem for the spiky girl, not Alses. Absently, she curled onto her back and pushed off from the rock wall in one fluid movement, letting the momentum carry her into the centre of the pool, between the low spires of rock which breached the surface – an excellent place to sit and lounge and soak up sunshine during the warmer months. Hopefully, that would satisfy the human's need for privacy. If it didn't, well, there were plenty of rocks and tree-fronds and things for the girl to hide behind. Alses kept her eyes fixed on the heavens as she floated once more, resisting the temptation to look at the human. What bits of the sky were visible through the overhanging canopies that fringed the hot springs were still completely coated in fat, rain-heavy cloud – but there was an odd, unsettling purple tinge to them, an uneasy bruise-purple light delineating every billow and prominence in flickering radiance. Unusual, that – but then again, this was Kalea. 'Unusual' was par for the course amid the tumbled ravines and dramatic peaks of the turbulent region.

[Johanne]

OOCI fully understand if you hate me forever and are not interested in posting for this anymore. This is two and a half months late. I feel absolutely terrible.

Immediately after snapping out her last words, Johanne wished she could snatch them from the cool air and bring them back behind her teeth. Rarely was she so rude to anyone, especially not to someone she had just met. But the rain and her aching bones made for a feeling of discontent with the world, and all she wanted to do was expose her inadequate body to the warm waters of the pool for some respite. Biting on her lip, she stayed silent throughout the blonde woman's impassioned response.

"You just sounded ... mean." It was a lame explanation, but the blonde woman barely stopped to respond, beginning to delve into a tirade that hinted at a certain degree of self-loathing. Words Johanne could not understand, words from another language that under different circumstances Johanne would have stopped to collect like flowers, rushed through the air, the blonde despising her body with the very ease that she seemed to be floating in the hot waters of the Kinelli Spring.

It was hard for Johanne to read the woman in the dark, where she could not properly read her expression and see the way her eyes grew alight. All she could see were the vague motions of the arms that gestured at her body, as if being blonde and thin (as Johanne could just make out) was something to be ashamed of. And yet here stood Johanne, too-thin, mousy, too-tall and scarred! "Bathing with a corpse?" Johanne muttered into the rain, too tired and disgruntled to care if the woman heard what she said. "If bathing with you is like bathing with a corpse, then I am nothing better than a pile of scratched bones." Johanne rubbed her arms over the fabric of her dress, thinking of the scars that laid there. To her, they were her lifeblood. But to this woman in the pond, they might be nothing but a desecration.

Johanne had nothing further to say to the woman, not in response to her tirade. She had regretted snapping as soon as she had done so, but even then, she had released enough of her frustration that she would not enter into a full fight with the blonde. She simply waited in silence until the woman floated off, to a rocky outcrop she could barely make out in the darkness, before turning and with grunts and protests, pulled her wet, sopping dress from her thin body.

Attempting to fold it with her boots and scarf onto a rock by the pool, she stood, looking down at her nakedness with disgust. Too thin--too body--not pretty enough. She swallowed and quickly stepped into the warming waters of the pool, sitting on the rocky ledge beneath the water. Her scarred arms floated on the surface of the water. She closed her eyes in silence, and felt the heat begin to rejuvenate her cold and frozen joints. She almost forgot about the blonde in the very same pool.

[Alses]

OOCDon't worry about it, m'dear! You became a shiny purple Storyteller, and your life got hectic on top of that. Besides, you were very considerate and kept your posting partners aware of what was going on, so I've no qualms or complaints about continuing .

The words drifted through the rain-dripped night even as Alses lay back, resolutely attempting to regain the peace she'd had before the intruder had shattered the peaceful atmosphere. A lone kingfisher bravely sent a liquidly-trilling solo dancing across the droplet-dashed surface of the green-glowing pool, a high and keening quill of sound that cut effortlessly through the blunt thunder of the waterfall and the hissing pitter-patter of the tumbling downpour.

'Mean?' she thought, turning face-down in the water and letting its warmth flood through her gills, perfusing every facet of her body. 'I suppose I haven't been the best of company. Politeness is difficult, though, when I'm stuck in this dreary form and I'm never at my best when I'm tired in any case.'

Excuses, excuses.

She turned over again, in a wave of white water, irritated at the irritation of her own irritability, the result of the Change coupled with a gruelling day delving deep to examine things – objects, artifacts, states of emotion to name but a few, a constant procession of parabolas through the shallow world and then down to its obscured mysteries and back again that had left her so drained and tired.

Still, the gentle rocking of the rain-rippled pool was soothing, calming, the heat and liquid motion leeching stress and tension from her muscles, sending it spiralling into emerald-toned nothingness in the depths of the water. Alses took a deep breath of water, gills fluttering in the current, and closed her eyes fully, looking inwards now.

Her reserves were low, true, banked shimmers of golden djed twisted and garlanded close about her soul, but by no means depleted. Gentle mental requests – she'd found that worked better than the rough, harsh demands she'd made in the past – saw her personal djed rise to the occasion once more, uncoiling from its lazy shimmer about her soul. Tiredly, sluggish-seeming, true, but nonetheless compliant and uncomplaining as she drew out long gossamer streamers of it, twining it through the branching yggdrasil of her senses stretching through her body, limning her skin in shifting light before setting the synchrony free, expulsing it into the wider world to drive a greater understanding of everything – and everybody – around her.

With the gentle djed-driven understanding of the world streaming into her senses, the dim Kinell Hotsprings was as bright as day, the water a weaving sea of soft blue light, the vegetation a mass of gentle glows, touched with brilliant spires of aching song where kinell kingfishers sheltered under the broad leaves. It was evident Alses was tired; the swirling whorls of the heated water, rising and falling in accordance with their energy, shifted in and out of focus, fuzzing into incoherency before snapping back into clarity and then back to blurry motion once more.

Still, it was enough for her purposes; the auras of sentient things blazed much brighter, much clearer than anything inanimate, and in an odd way it was easier to read – at least the broad generalities – like that. Fine divination was totally beyond her at this point, of course, needing far too much djed and far greater control than she could muster right now, but her augmented senses would suffice to guide her, at least a little bit.

Quietly, gingerly, almost, she stroked cleanly through the water, barely leaving ripples, and pulled herself with a soft splash right out of the water, onto one of the low rocky plateaux which stuck out of the water, warmed by the volcanic heart of Kalea and the steam rising in vaporous profusion all around.

The granite was slick with rain and condensing water both, running in rivulets down its black flanks as Alses moved gently into a more comfortable position, the stone catching her nipples for a brief moment as she slid forwards – eliciting a hiss – and pressing roughly against her skin and scales.

From her vantage point, however, legs still trailing in the hot water, it was at least easy for her to pick out Johanne, sitting ramrod-straight near the edge of the pool, silhouetted in the gentle blue glow of calias-infused foliage and yet burning a lot brighter than that in her augmented vision, a complex aura tinted on the edges with the stink of copper and the rich red of blood, and deeper in it seemed only to grow in intricacy, a thousand regressing curls and curlicues caressing her senses-

Was that a shiver less to do with the falling rain and more with her expenditure? Best not to take a chance. With an effort, Alses throttled the flow of djed along the conduits of her senses, watching the auras dim and fade back into the usual mantling glow, maddeningly hinting at the information they held without revealing more than the occasional flash of knowledge, devilishly tempting.

It was enough, however, by dint of Alses' deep familiarity with that most basic of auristic skills, to grant her proxy-usage of her senses. The merest brush of synchronising power was enough to tell her Johanne was chilled to the bone and that fine tremors raced across her form as her body tried to burn near-nonexistent reserves of fat, setting bone-deep aches and twinges all across her skeletal frame. Alses winced in resonant sympathy, but at least the pervasive heat from the mineral-rich springs was working its way inexolerably inwards, calming the shivers and warming rain-chilled flesh.

Alses waited, patiently enough, for the waters to work their magic and buoy the atmosphere. Was that relaxation, there, a loosening of muscles held tight against the framework of bone, a release of tension into the soothing warmth? Perhaps. She waited a little longer, just to be on the safe side.

“A bag of bones?” She squinted, trying to get a better normal view of the girl resting, quiet and serene, against the rocky lip of the pool. “I suppose you could afford to gain a few pounds, but then, so could most everybody these days.” A pause, and then, quieter and more pensive, as close to an apology as Alses was likely to come: “You're quite right, you know. I wasn't as gracious or welcoming towards you as perhaps I should have been. You surprised me,” she admitted; Alses didn't deal well with surprises “-and it's been a hard day. For yourself as well?” her rising inflection turned it into a question, but she continued after just a moment's pause, offering:

“Pax?”

[Johanne]

The ever-falling rain had less of a cold, biting edge to it now, now that Johanne had sunk into the warm waters of the Spring. The warmth of the hot spring spread slowly through her body, swirling through her muscles and curling around her joints, unlocking them, giving them fluidity. Johanne sighed, leaning back against the rocky outcrop behind her, the stone worn smooth by the heated water. Her scars barely glinted beneath the moonlight, as the rain kept falling. The birds of the Kinelli Springs chirped even beneath the stars. Her eyes closed, her head leant back against the rock, the night seemed to be less cold and less frustrating. Johanne could breathe again.

It was easy to forget how her hips jutted out like the rocks in this water when the world was dark and silent. It was easy to forget that her scars were anything other than beautiful when there weren't the sidelong glances, and accusing glares from shopkeepers, and mothers. It was easy to be nobody and everybody in the silence of the night. Out here, Johanne did not have to think about her body, about the way it tied her to an identity and an image which gave her nothing but dissatisfaction. The altercation with the blonde, hiding somewhere in this pool, melted into the background with the ice in her bones: all that remained now was all-consuming warmth, and the silence beyond the springs.

Not so all-consuming, it seemed. Johanne enjoyed the warmth of the waters for only a little while, before the voice of the companion in the springs broke the air again, making its way to her through the ever-falling rain. Her jaw tightened the tiniest bit, but Johanne had swallowed away the majority of her irritation when her pain in her joints had melted away. Slowly, her eyes opened, still seeing darkness... her eyes eventually adjusting to the night. The blonde's words were inane, as she lay stretched out and naked on the rock in the middle. Embarrassed, Johanne looked away, though still listening.

Quietly, Johanne swallowed, her pride disappearing with the dryness in her mouth. She nodded, slowly. "Not a hard day, but a long one." Her voice was quiet, and the blonde may need to swim closer to hear. "I'm sorry for snapping. Thank you for your apology, too." The silence reigned for a moment, before Johanne nodded, a gentle smile on her face.

"Pax. I am Johanne. It's nice to meet you."

[Alses]

For a long, stretched moment, Alses thought she'd not waited long enough, that the hot water and haunting songs hadn't had a chance to work their subtle, secretive magic, but then a quiet reply, calm and measured, threaded itself through the tumbling main, and brought a faint smile to her lips. Especially the last part:

“Pax. My name is Johanne. It's nice to meet you.”

Some rare imp of mischief bade her bite back the instinctive 'The pleasure's all mine' response and produce something a little more honest. Or perhaps it was simply the tiredness; the reason didn't matter one jot, after all, not once the words were out.

“Lies,” Alses replied easily and without any sort of heat, not stirring from her volcanically-warmed rock and enjoying the juxtaposition of feeling for a little while longer; rising heat warring with falling cold. She'd shut her eyes, the better to enjoy the senses of touch and hearing, and now the gentle hiss and splash of falling rain drummed loud in her ears and every inch of her skin felt sensitised and glowing, magnifying every bit of feeling tenfold.

“Not that I mind, mark you. Every thought in your head when you made your way here was of an empty pool and the anonymising dark of the night, I'd wager, just as mine was when I came. Still, I appreciate the effort and the sentiment both; lies of that harmless sort bind us together, and where would we be without civility?”

Amusement now rippled through her tone, a low chuckle that wove itself between the raindrops. “So I shall say interesting to meet you, Johanne, and not presume on relative niceness until we know one another a little better. It's so very subjective, in any case.” There was a brief pause, as Alses marshalled her thoughts and turned over gently on her rock so the rain chilled her front rather than her back.

The sense of a wry smile, evident in the lilt of her voice even though the dimness made expressions hard to read, skipped through her next words. “Since you've been good enough to tell me your name, I suppose it's only fair I do the same, even though Lhavit's vaunted codes of courtesy lie in tatters around us – and that, I will admit, is more my fault than yours.” There was a split-second pause as Alses remembered herself, remembered the pallid mortal chain she was leashed in and the name she went by to distance it from her glorious daytime self.

“I go by Sela here.” With an idle, dismissive wave of her arm, the gesture exaggerated so as to be visible even for the vague figure still perched on the edge of the pool, she continued: “Apology accepted, of course, since I can hardly claim to be any sort of paragon myself. Argument is exhausting, in any case.”

Tired of straining to hear the replies – Syna above, but Johanne was quiet – Alses opened her eyes and slipped into the water once more, the ripples closing over her head as she pushed off from the rock and coasted to a halt near the edge of the pool, close to Johanne's own position. Rather than sit on the ledge which ran around the edge of the pool, Alses instead rested her elbows on it, supporting her head only just above water and keeping her flaring gills covered whilst the rest of her body floated effortlessly behind her.

Alses let comfortable silence reign for a few chimes, her eyes fixed on the other woman's face. Given that modesty seemed so important to her, an idly roaming, curious eye would probably not help matters. “So, where do you work, Johanne of Lhavit, that kept you so late?” Alses asked idly, feet drawing nonsense patterns on the surface of the water behind her. “If you'll pardon my question, of course. Propriety was never my strong suit, or my concern.”

[Johanne]

OOCI adore your new avatar - absolutely beautiful.

Johanne could not help but blush slightly, looking down into the steaming waters of the pool, a soft smile playing at the edges of her lips. Had she been so transparent that the languid woman had been able to pick up on her discomfort and unhappiness at being disturbed? She opened her mouth, her eyes flickering up to the blonde woman, ready to apologise: but she paused. What was the point of apologising for something that had been the truth, and when there was already a pool of hostility and irritation between them that they had to melt? Johanne simply smiled, not acknowledging the lie verbally, but not denying it, either. It was true: Johanne had not been pleased to meet this stranger in the pool in the middle of the night, with the rain falling and exhaustion in every bone.

The woman, yet to introduce herself, did talk rather a lot. Johanne stayed silent, letting the warmth of the waters seep into her gangling bones, rejuvenating her through her muscles. The woman did not let up, still prattling on about civility and lies. Still, the talking did not grate on her skin as much as it had before, when she was shocked to find a bitter and rude woman in a pool where, as the woman said, Johanne had dreamt of being alone with the night. Too many words, nothing plain, nothing peaceful so far: but she was far less irritated with the woman than she had been. A little precocious, perhaps, and a little arrogant: but ultimately harmless.

It was an odd sensation, talking in the nude to a woman she had never met before, but one who seemed determined to impose on Johanne's personal space. She always avoided showing her body, her small breasts, her embarrassingly thin hips to anyone. Not since Eosi had anyone glimpsed her naked flesh; Eosi the strong and brave and fiery, with her curves and her confidence. Blushing, hidden in the night, she simply nodded when the blonde woman stopped: what else could she say? This woman had words enough for the both of them, and Johanne, despite dreaming of writing stories, had never been particularly eloquent.

She simply nodded in response to the woman sharing her name - Sela, then. "You go by Sela here?" Johanne murmured to herself, repeating the phrasing. It seemed odd to Johanne, to specify which name applied to one at which place - to Johanne, a name was a constant, an identifying factor that held so much of a person's soul within it. To change it like one's clothes was terrifying to her: to lose identity for any moment of time... "Do you go by another name elsewhere, then?" Perhaps the question was oddly impertinent for one so demure as Johanne, but the syntax was like a rabbit's hole that anyone could fall into...

Swallowing in the silence, Johanne shifted further down the ledge when Sela came close, their nakedness in much closer proximity than Johanne could profess to being comfortable with. She quickly tucked her hands under her legs, keeping herself folded away, out of sight and scrutiny and judgement of the stranger. Her smile was stiff as ice. The silence reigned before another inane question was asked. But Johanne had offered pax...

"I work at Lazuli Ink," she said quietly, and absentmindedly she brought one hand up to brush a stray tendril of hair behind her ear, exposing the scars on her forearm. "I am a tattoo artist there, perhaps you have heard of the parlour. It tends to be open at all hours: we can never quite predict when one might want to stain their skin forever." Swallowing her words, she looked down at the twisting, bubbling water, before realising that this 'civility' Sela had spoken of demanded a question in return.

"And yourself? What do you do here in Lhavit?" No eye contact was made while she spoke. She was still too shy, and all too aware of their nakedness.