Closed [Soothing Waters] Can I Help You? (Orion)

[Wanda Endust]

Soothing Waters
5 Winter 513AV
11th Bell

If Wanda were fond of swearing, she would have.

Her too-thin shoes -- slippers, really -- scraped against the stone floor as she bobbed and weaved in and out of traffic, occasionally slapping an unsuspecting passerby with her cloak. Wanda had no time to apologize as she passed.

I'm not late, she chanted to herself. But she was. By about three bells. And she knew it.

Why? Well, she'd woken up earlier than normal. Ivis had given her yesterday off work, with the condition that she would have to show up earlier for work the next day. Today, that is. So yep, she'd woken up earlier, donned her pitiful Winter clothes, and made her merry way to the Rearing Stallion for breakfast.

Unfortunately, she'd managed to fall back asleep shortly after she'd finished her food. She couldn't help it! Their hearth was just too warm, and she was still so tired from the night before. Of course, that was her own fault -- she'd stayed up well past the twenty-third bell with a group of acquaintances, celebrating the season's change by gathering around the fireplace and sharing ghost stories. Of course, this had caused someone to bring up the Rogue Knight character that everyone seemed to have on their minds. With that, a debate sparked over whether he was alive, dead, or simply a ploy made up by the Knights themselves.

Wanda had no opinion on the matter, but the stories were interesting enough to keep her awake far longer than she should have. And now she was paying the price.

I'm not late, she repeated, lying to herself as she finally came upon the double doors of the bathhouse. With missing a beat, she swung one of the heavy wooden doors open and charged inside.

To Wanda's dismay, there already seemed to be a bit of a crowd. Though the cold season had just started, plenty of folks were seeking refuge in the warm waters.

A good-sized crowd of squires were making their way into the great bath, leaving a smaller number to wait in the extensive massage line. Once again, Wanda would have liked to swear. Instead, she anxiously wrung the pastel chemise she'd been toting in her hands -- a change of clothes for her workplace.

Luckily for her, Ivis was busy with a customer. Not so luckily, it didn't seem to stop him from stopping to address her with a frown.

"You're quite la-- "

"No I'm not," Wanda declared insistently, whisking past him and his now-furrowed brow. For a tick it occurred to her that she could have used her djed to subtly "convince" her boss that was she said was true, but maybe that wouldn't be necessary. Maybe if she denied it enough, they'd believe her. Eh, she doubted it.

Some of the folks waiting in line shot the receptionist quizzical looks as the blonde passed, but Ivis simply shook his head and got back to work.

So Wanda'd escaped a stern talking-to for now -- but she still had to get prepared! No doubt Ivis would be sending a customer her way as soon as possible in order to make up for lost time. She skittered down the hallway, found her masseuse room, kicked open the door, and got busy.

The first thing she'd need was light, since it'd likely be a tad difficult to do anything else if she couldn't see. But she also needed to change her clothes... and it would take her just as long to do one task as it would the other. Solution? She lit a single candle for now, casting just enough light for her to see what she was doing as she cast off her cloak and kicked off her slippers.

Her trousers were next, since she found the rough cloth the most restricting part of her outfit. Followed by her blouse.

Wanda fumbled wildly with the chemise in her hands. Was that the bottom? No, it was a sleeve. This? Nope, wrong again. She'd just located the opening she'd been looking for, but it seemed it might've been a tad too late. The familiar sound of footsteps approached her open doorway, while Wanda found herself caught half-dressed. Petch!

[Orion Michaels]

Orion felt as though he'd woken up about a year prior and hadn't stopped going since then. A decision to chase after a redheaded knight had turned everything he thought he knew upside down and exposed him to an entirely new world. Honor, selflessness, dignity, and valor; words no one would have ever associated with the now-squire.

Not even Orion could have dared put himself in a sentence with those virtues.

Yet there he was, nearing his knighting quest already, both in body, mind, and soul. Bell after bell of training had finally begun to tear down the walls that Orion had so painstakingly crafted over many years. Fate had been unkind to the blue eyed man, but there was little to gain by sitting around and moping any further. The training had another effect as well.

Orion had discovered ways for his body to hurt that he, as a physician, had no idea were possible.

Every joint, every muscle, every single fraction of his body felt as though it had been bruised, scraped, cut, stabbed, bludgeoned, and put through absolutely unnecessary torturous regiments.

He hurt.

It had taken everything he could muster, but he'd talked his patron into giving him the day off of training to relax. It seemed only fair; he'd just returned from a patrol, helped the knights with a significant event, and on top of that he was heading back out on the road in a handful of days. Seeing his reasoning, Dinah had sent him off for some much needed R&R. It would have been a lot more relaxing and considerably restful if he hadn't been forced to wait around at the Soothing Waters for a couple bells waiting for a masseuse.

When he'd worked in this part of the city, it never felt like there were quite this many people seeking the services. Surely there were people who were just waiting around for Orion to need a bath, a soothing massage, or a little medical attention. When they saw him move, the alarms were sounded, and a billion people were released to inconvenience him. It had to be that, clearly.

"I don't mean to prod," Orion said to the man behind the counter, "but we've been waiting an awfully long time. Any estimates?"

The man shook his head. A late masseuse wasn't something they could afford; the wait was many times lengthy, and today was shaping up to be no different. ”It should be soon. We’ve got limited hands here, Orion. You know that.” A flash of blonde went whizzing by the two acquaintances. ”Wanda! You’re quite la--.”

In a blur of denial, the young woman was gone, leaving Orion and Ivis sharing bewilderment. ”Th-there’s your masseuse, Orion. Give her a tick to get ready and then head on back.” He smiled and motioned him down the hallway Wanda had disappeared behind. ”You ought to come back here, Orion. Hasn’t been the same without you. Still don’t know why you picked up the sword.”

Orion made his way after Wanda, tossing a backwards glance and a grin Ivis’ way. ”Oh, sure, Ivis. I’m sure you miss having angry women tearing down doors trying to kill me. Good to see you again.”

The squire knew his way around the Soothing Waters quite well. He’d worked there on two separate occasions, most recently being the same time a season prior. He’d worked in the same massage area that he was going to be a customer of this day. Nostalgia crashed over the former employee as he strode down the stone corridor. It has here his life changed in so many ways. It was here where he made stupid choices, more enemies than he could count, and found strangers to wander out into the night alongside. Sighing softly as he reminisced, Orion reached down and opened the door to the massage room.

He knew he was supposed to wait. He knew Ivis had told him to do so, but in his absentminded state, he’d instead walked in on a woman struggling mightily to clothe herself.

Blue eyes glazed over as he caught sight of something not meant for his gaze. He wasn’t embarrassed, but he was sure she would be. Just as he knew he shouldn’t have come in, he knew just as well he should have immediately retreated from the room. But he didn’t.

Did the gods have to be so cruel? He was a man reforming, not a man reformed. The line was a fine one, and oh how seductive the other side could be. Orion groaned internally, but a smirk found his way to his lips anyways as he spoke.

”I didn’t request this bit of the service, but isn’t this part supposed to be at the end?” Orion bit his lower lip, eyes shimmering with a glint of mischievousness as he finally turned from Wanda. ”I guess it’s to the back of the line with me, huh?”

[Wanda Endust]

oocSorry, shyke-y post Just trying to throw this out into the world after keeping you hanging so long.

Petch indeed.

Wanda wasn't particularly shy. She'd never had an issue running around the bath house in nothing but her skivvies. If her training as a masseuse had taught her anything, it was that the human body was a beautiful thing that people seemed to shrink away from for no obvious reason.

But she was at work. The only people that were supposed to be bare here were the customers -- if she didn't keep a kind of professional modesty, then there was little left to separate her from the "employees" at the Herald's Arms. Wanda liked to think she was classier and had more self control than that, and she'd taken great pains to keep herself on her high horse. Some of the masseuses here might've dressed down (to put it politely) for some extra money, but she did not.

Thus, when she found herself so rudely stumbled upon, she had figured she might very well feel some form of embarrassment. Instead, the warmth the felt spread across her cheeks was not the heat of self-conscious distress, but the fever of anger.

Of course, she had enough sense to yank the chemise into it's correct position over her body before she assailed the poor sap.

"'This part' isn't supposed to be at any point in time ever, you filthy -- urgh!" she seethed, closing in on him with irate steps before he could get away. She had to censure her words. Ivis had already been generous in letter her keep her job this long, after being late so many times before. She didn't need to give him any more of a reason to give her the boot.

Perhaps she was overreacting, and perhaps she wasn't. She was already stressed and on edge from rushing across the city, and now this. Now, she would've been happy to write the fellow's intrusion off as a simple absentminded mistake, and it likely was. Yet his words, however brief, casual, and harmless they may have been, made her skin crawl. Back of the line indeed.

Wait, no, Ivis would skin her alive if she sent away a customer after all the trouble she'd caused. Then again, he might understand the predicament. Could she chance it?

Certainly not. Besides, the fellow seemed rather harmless, despite the disconcerting way his tone had riled her up. Wanda pinched the bridge of her nose to stifle her frustration, closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh. If her little outburst had taken him aback, she would need to patch that up. Otherwise he may or may not escort himself back to the lobby to file a complaint.

Luckily enough for Wanda, she had a way with people. An artificial way perhaps, but still. With that, she focused her mind for a moment to tug on her djed. She was out of practice, she knew. Self control was a virtue (though one that she often struggled with), and it'd been some time since she'd last found a cause to hypnotize anyone. Maybe this moment was simply an excuse to get back into the magical groove.

Either way, she poked and prodded the djed with her mind, and focused on pushing her influence with thoughts of regret and atonement and forgiveness. Wanda was not in a mischievous mood, yet the twinkle in the man's eye told her that he certainly was. Thus, the goal here was to both have him forgive her outburst and instill some kind of weak camaraderie. Then, "No, no. Nevermind. Sorry 'bout that. Come in. Please," she insisted begrudgingly.

It was perfectly plausible that the magic reinforcement was unnecessary. Wanda hadn't exactly been paying attention his reaction. If he'd said anything else between then and now, she either hadn't heard it or hadn't wanted to hear it. And then, as always, there was the great possibility of her suggestion not working at all anyhow.

[Orion Michaels]

It didn't take long for Orion to realize how big of a mistake he'd made. It was supposed to be a joke, but gods had it fallen flat on its face. In the entire time he'd been in Syliras, Orion had never requested that sort of service after a massage. He'd tried to lighten the mood of a potentially embarrassing situation, and it had only backfired.

The squire took a few steps back as the fuming blonde finished dressing herself and advanced upon him in quite the agitated manner. "Hey, hey, hey! I was just kidding, no need to be mad!" Orion waved his hands wildly back and forth as he retreated from the aggressive masseuse. "But if you work here, then you know that some, no, many of the workers do indeed offer that service! You can't be mad at me for that!" His tone was defiant and strong, despite a physical reaction to keep distance between them.

When her potential assault came to a slow, the squire's retreat did so as well. He watched with amusement on his lips as she went through the process of calming her nerves. "It's been awhile since I've had that negative of a reaction from a woman," he quipped, doing little to help the situation.

While it was somewhat surprising to see her calm herself and seem ready to continue with their exchange, it was even more so the sudden emotions he experienced. It seemed he felt sorry, which was something that Orion rarely considered doing in his interactions with people. It was almost upsetting.

The only thing I'm sorry for is that she doesn't have a sense of humor.

He argued internally with himself as a compulsion to enter the room fully was obeyed without a second thought. She was cute, and he wanted a massage. Despite their greeting, it was still a win-win for the squire. "Maybe we can try this again? I'm Orion. Orion Michaels. I'm here for a massage of the non sexual variety. Pleased to meet you." He grinned and cautiously extended his hand to shake the one of the woman who would hopefully be helping him with his aches and pains.