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 Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:51 am
As could only be expected (but hardly anticipated), the journey to desert's end was a long and hard ones. Days passed at first, then weeks, and it took the better part of a month before the sand finally gave way to more refreshing greenery. At first, it was a subtle shift; the scrub seemed a little less dead, and the air a bit more temperate... then, slowly, more trees began to appear, and the smell of salt, real, sweet ocean salt, started wafting in through the air.
The whole group had managed to survive their long ordeal, some even having managed to start the long rebound from their prison stay. Yossarian had been making a point of trying to exercise his tired muscles every night and, though it was slow going, he could already feel his strength coming back to him. Having a (comparatively) steady food supply didn't hurt to fuel any of them, either.
Shae hadn't shown quite the same resilience, but she still ate every meal she was given, slept when she could, and never once spoke up to complain following that single night at the washtubs. In fact... she didn't seem inclined to speak much at all since then, but... that was beside the point.
Even Hanna seemed to be flourishing as the trip came to a close, and Takeshi, naturally, never lost his vigor (much to the suffering of one Superbi Squalo, no doubt). Twenty six days, the trip had lasted. How'd he know? Why, he'd counted-- and every day, he announced the number, at that!
"Heeey, I think I hear something..." he interjected a little differently that morning (while the majority of the group was still trying to doze), however, tilting his head to one side and falling intensely silent, trying to tune in to the faint bustling of what seemed like bodies and machines not terribly far off...
"Looks like we're here!" Caprician's voice boomed merrily at the reins. "Finally! Ah, I missed Pennagerio so in my time away..."
Pennagerio? A city to be sure, but... was this one of those Occello towns, now?
Looking out, it certainly seemed to be a different world from Castellon or any Xeric territory they'd passed, tall and clean, with ornate buildings in soft colors and elegantly molded trim. The streets were all immaculately cobbled, and though it was hard to see from a distance, all the people seemed well dressed in airy clothing all too appropriate for the seaside.
... Because this place was, quite literally, on the sea side at its west end. God, how long had it been since they saw the ocean?
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:19 am
It had been so subtle of a change of scenery that, sans the first bit of greenery that had been excitedly pointed out, most of the gradual transformation had been missed by Asteria.. though part of it was due to the fact she was spending more time dozing and watching her man work at his muscles.
Oh she was so enjoying watching such things! Though her own hand in cooking hadn't really been challenged yet. Not a lot for her to cook out in the sands, but when the scent of salt came, Aster was possibly more excited than she should have been.
Ocean!! She hadn't been on a beach in so long (though the tan her skin was turning from all the sun would have you beg to differ).... but it also meant FRESH SEAFOOD! Oh she could make some delightful stuff by being on the coast.
"Oh man, I've missed the ocean so much..." she sighed blissfully, Kanda... not as thrilled about being near water again. Then again, the -last- time they hit the beach, a Seal had taken a liking for his foot and then they'd met the evil evil man who had just spent a lot of time delighting over writing stuff in his notebooks and making sure Hanna was well supplied with her spiked-tea.
He didn't even want to have to touch what was in it.
However...
"Well well! Looks like soon I'll be able to release you all to hit the water and enjoy yourself a little bit~" Jade chimed, pausing and giving a certain SOMEONE a brief glance before adding, "And some of you need to enjoy yourselves a little bit more than others~"
He -was- so very amused,
Kanda wasn't, just looking out at the bustling machinery of their new set-up for the time being. Was it time for them to be hitting up proper beds and the like?
Sounded.... so foreign to him, to be honest.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:55 pm
Yossarian had mixed feelings about the sight of the ocean when he looked out: torn between the immense relief of knowing they'd finally reached true civilization and the dread of their impending (and inevitable) suffering, thanks to commentary from one Jade Curtiss. Something in his gut was already nagging him how this just couldn't end well, but... for the moment, hey, at least they could get settled and finally take a breather?
"Wow, look at that coastline over there!" Takeshi exclaimed, tail wagging so hard that it seemed liable to deck someone (... unfortunately for Squalo) with all the force of a swinging sledgehammer. "Man, just like home! I can't wait for a chance to swim!"
"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet," Hanna chided him softly, albeit with a light chuckle. "I think our first order of business would be lodging, don't you?"
"That would be correct!" Caprician chimed in from the wagon exterior, clearly having been eavesdropping. "Goodness, it's been a while since I had last the honor of coming here... but I think I can still recall a lovely place you lot may find enjoyable, if you trust my humble judgement, that is..."
"Well of course we do," the little therapist answered on all their behalfs. "Lead away then, Good Sir!"
"As you wish!"
With that, the cart lurched off again, into the true heart of the city-- Takeshi hanging his head out the back like an excited dog out a car window, Yossarian inwardly groaning to himself over the boy's idiotic glee, and Shae... well, as usual, she just stayed quietly in her place, bad arm across her middle, absently watching out the back of the tarp as the city became visible at their rear. Already, there were so many sights and sounds in the background... it sounded almost like a daintier version of Erasmus, really.
It didn't take but another fifteen or twenty minutes before they came to a stop again, though-- having traveled across what seemed like a thick pier out by the west end of town and halted before... what seemed like a particularly humble, but clean looking building-- two stories tall, with quite a few windows (most of which were open to the sea) and thick, salty, carved double doors out front.
"There we are!" their kindly 'leader' announced, "alright, everyone, I do believe the time has come for disembarking! You should feel welcome enough here, I hope. They've lovely communal kitchen facilities and, if memory serves, there's a spectacular fish market just down the boardwalk every other day."
So then... it seemed like they'd have the beach and fresh food daily within walking distance, huh? Talk about sweet digs!
(Better yet, there were plenty of rooms set aside with quaint looking twin beds, small nightstands, and even faintly sea colored blue walls.)
Time to hop out, get their rooms payed for and start unpacking, huh?
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:21 pm
Unfortunately for Squalo, he -did- get hit in the face with that tail. Fja;kslfjasldkf. :<<<<<
On the other hand, however, the lul of the last leg of the ride was rather nice to Aster, knowing there was a nice place to sleep at the end of it... though her first order of business was to properly wake herself up, stretching out to attempt the first leg of this.
Auuughh.. why was waking up so difficult? Either way, she had managed to make herself cohesive (and not drowsy) by the time they'd reached the establishment, prying her butt (which was starting to lose feeling. Ow ow ow!) off of the bottom of the wagon to peek outside.
oooooh!
"Well! This looks promising!" Aster chimed as she climbed out, stretching again once she'd climbed out and had both feet planted on the ground. HmmMmmmm~
Jade had been the first to climb out, however, beating Aster to the punch by a whole 2 seconds and looking at the place appraisingly.
"Seems like we've been left in very capable hands. I like the look of this place, Caprician. The location sounds very choice and it looks like our resident chef will be able to start playing with her craft again. It has been a while since Miss Aster has been able to cook for us in a proper kitchen."
Ugh... Kanda didn't even want to think about food, frowning as he too climbed from the wagon, twisting to realign his spine (Pop pop pop pop!!) before leaning against it, shooting a look over his shoulder to Shae, who it seemed it hadn't moved. Hmmm.
They needed to get some of that heal-y stuff Hanna was living off of (quite literally) into Shae too, if his opinion mattered.
"I'd say anyplace to clean up is our first goal."
Squalo's nose squinched.
"Well yeah, I don't know if you guys smell it, but you lot smell like horrible."
..
....
How very articulate. Even Aster could have worded it better.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:44 pm
"... As if you bear a most pleasant odor than the rest of us," Yossarian had to grumble under his breath, but sadly, he couldn't deny that they probably still stunk to high heaven either-- the whole lot of them. Sure, there'd been rare chances to scrub off over the past weeks during their journey, but their fur was still caked in a fair week's worth of sand, dirt, and filth anyway. They must have looked disgusting, and no doubt felt it, too.
Either way though, he didn't hesitate to stagger up and off his rear as Caprician circled around the back to greet them, dropping the back of the wagon so they'd have an easier time disembarking. "Water here is plentiful, of course," he assured them cheerfully, stepping aside as Aster flung herself down, followed by the dark male, and tailed, of course, by an eager, luggage-toting Kanus. "The facilities here are fairly state of the art in processing ocean water to drinkable tap, so there shouldn't be any rationing or shortage troubles to deal with, either."
Oh, wasn't that just the best new ever?
"Oh, Caprician, you truly are a saint," Hanna sighed, smiling and accepting his hand that he'd so kindly offered to 'help' her down to the cobbled street. "Thank you so much for taking care of us, again. We owe you our gratitude and then some."
"My pleasure, fair lady," he teased right back at her, even kissing the top of her palm like a true gentleman (regardless of that giant, toothy maw) before letting go, and passing the therapist her bag. "I'll be lodging a little more inland, but worry not. I'll be certain to drop in once the lot of you have settled more properly. Good luck, though, in the meanwhile."
Shae, naturally, was the last straggler out of the luggage heap, awkwardly straining to shoulder her lone bag of goods on her good side and, with trouble, managing to get out on the street without just toppling over completely. Thankfully, she didn't have to worry about shoving the door open, though, because Takeshi had already rushed ahead to open it (and hold the thing for them like a gentleman), giving way to... the interior of what could've been a humble 'lobby' room, of sorts, where an absolutely curious looking beaked and brown feathered fellow was sitting, boredly scanning the pages of some novel above his spectacles.
He didn't seem particularly impressed upon seeing the Kanus, but the others...
"Well, now... what have we here?" he asked, his voice a little gravelly, but nothing like the reptilian rasp of a gruff angry Xeric. "May I help you, travelers?"
Clearly, Koshka were not the slightest bit commonplace in these parts... and from the dirty, smelly, disheveled state of them, it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were pretty haggard from some long journey.
OH, HOW CLOSE THEY WERE TO SHOWERS. SWEET, SWEET SHOWERS... and beds, oh god real beds and beaches and CIVILIZATION AT ALL.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:21 am
Aster had to admit that she 'tee hee'd a little bit at Yossarian's quip back at Squalo while they made their entry into the establishment, holding a bag or two herself, just to keep the burden well distributed. LOOK, SHE WAS HELPING! Oh wait, that was becoming little surprise by then.
Though she had to spend a moment marvelling back at the host who greeted them upon entry, blinking a few times while telling herself NO NO, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THE SNIFFING. AS FANTASTIC AS THEY PROBABLY SMELL, NO SNIFFING FOR YOU. BAD ASTER.... though her tail -twitched- in this odd way. Hmmmm...
Fortunately, Jade Balfour had a lot more control over his desire to chase things and was able to make a cohesive answer to give the host of the place and his slight astonishment at the Koshka race.
"Well, what you have is 3 Fullbreed Koshka, and 4 Koshka-Mench mix from the Northern continent." he answered calmly, though in the back of his head, he had quickly realized he'd be well suited to find whoever was in 'authority' in the area and quickly clear up that they WEREN'T SPIES, less it was to become a disasterific situation.
"But yes, you may help us. We're looking for some rooms - about four- for the next week."
At least Jade had it all under control, as Kanda wasn't in the mood to have to assert much of anything and was giving some of his attentions to Shae, who was sort of... out of it. Hmmmm. Despite this, however, he loomed close enough to her to at least radiate SOME SORT of ...well.. he wasn't sure. He just wanted to make sure that his looming would keep her from getting all depressed about her arm.
He'd snapped his too! So he knew how that felt.
Squalo, on the other hand, was practically standing outside in his attempts to stay away from Takeshi, ears still flattened against his head.
Grumble grumble grumble.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:23 pm
Despite his nearsightedness (or so one could only assume it was nearsightedness), the middle aged Occello made a very particular point of scanning over the three full breeds and four mixes Jade had mentioned, his eyes reading curious, but beak-- yes, beak (what a curious change from the usual lizard maws beforehand)-- belying little, if anything at all.
"... Well, then," he said simply, setting his novel aside and sliding one feathery hand under the desk to withdraw another bound object, flipping it open, and 'hmm'ing thoughtfully. "... It seems there are exactly four available at the moment. If you'd like to reserve them for the next seven days... I think we can work something out."
"Treat them well for me, Nicostrato!" a cheerful voice called loudly from the door, giving the man pause.
"Wait-- ... Caprician? You scaly rapscallion; I should've known!" Rather than accusatory, however, he (apparently Nicostrato?) actually laughed out loud, a rough, sort of squawking sound, and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nares with two fingers. "... Ah, right... well, the lot of you look like something washed ashore, so... the last two rooms on either side, up those stairs to your left."
"You're not going to discuss payment with us?" Yossarian, hefting bags on either shoulder, clearly suspicious (despite his better sense not to look a gift horse in the mouth).
"Oh, if you wind up broke and unable to pay dues, I'll just hunt Caprician down instead," Nicostrato shrugged casually. "If he brings me freeloaders without forewarning, that's on his wallet. Payment is something we can handle later in the evening."
... WELL THEN, they could get right on with the settling in and--
"By the way," the Occello noted very... suddenly (conveniently as the group passed by him), "there is a tub in each room. Please make use of it."
Because yes, for the record, they all smelled absolutely horrendous.
Not that Yossarian was about to put up a fuss against the opportunity to go straight to paradise, heading right up the stairs-- only to very nearly get run over by Takeshi prancing ahead of him. Hanna, all the while, lagged a wise few steps behind the male lead, and even glanced back over one shoulder to check on the straggler even more straggly than she was.
Surely, Shae would perk up once she got to settle in, scrub aaall the grime out of her flesh, and laid in a real bed for a change, right? At least she had Kanda to loom at her side, which she didn't seem to mind that much (or was just too used to for being spooked by), and was, if not slowly, making her way up the stairs too, even if it meant staring at her feet the whole way.
Even Del seemed to twitch with excitement every step of the way, as if sensing how close they were to sweet, sweet relief.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:51 pm
"Well, I'm sure that we're not exactly inclined to vanish on you anyways. It's not as though we have anywhere to go~" Jade hummed, chuckling at Takeshi's excitement to just get going on ahead of everybody. Honestly, his longer fur probably needed more of a wash than some of them did.
But a quick check of the rooms prooved to give them quite a bit of space to work with between the eight of them, Jade placing his belongings onto the further bed of one of the rooms before opening the window to look out onto the ocean. It brought a nice salty breeze into the room as well.
AHH. Such a nice scent that was!
"Hanna, I think you should bathe first. I'll need to make sure the kids are settled in before I can."
Aster's pretty damn first reaction to getting into a room was to first claim a bed to dump her bag on top of and then open a window, in some sort of hilarious parallel to Jade in the other room. However, following that, she was IMMEDIATELY in the bathroom.
"I'm taking a bath! I'll be quick so you can take one too!" she called out to Yossarian, not even bothering to be 100% sure the door was closed before clothing came off. OH MAN, NAKED FELT SO SANDY. But the tubs (not made of wood, yayyy Porcelain!) were nice.. as was warm water.
Ahhhhh~
Kanda had started the water running in the last room before he'd touched anything else, feeling to make sure it was warm enough (while not being enough to boil a lobster), before he sort of tossed his stuff on the floor, Ako chittering away in the bag it had been left in.
WHY I ON FLOOR?
"You can bathe first."
Squalo had to frown when it seemed that ALAS, NOBODY WANTED TO FIGHT HIM FOR ROOMING-RIGHTS WITH THE KANUS. Which was...OK, he figured, but aiie!
"You're gonna take a bath, right?" PLEASE. YOU SMELL HORRIBLE.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:44 pm
Thankfully there wasn't any squabble over who stayed with who as it seemed the entire group already knew just where to go, filing off into their own respective pairs and rooms and going about their business-- which Hanna too made short work of, naturally, dropping her own (fairly light) luggage by one of the beds and sighing in relief as the weight released itself from her shoulders.
"Alright, then," she shrugged simply at the suggestion, putting up no fuss against it. "... I bet they'll all be doing the exact same as we are-- poor kids. They have to be exhausted."
Yeah, just like she was, no doubt, but the little therapist was an old pro at hiding it and, with all the usual charm and grace (...), sauntered off to go run herself a nice, warm, full tub of water. Sure, Occello may not have possessed real hair or fur, but they were a clean people, and used plenty of sweet smelling soaps and the like (all of which were generously stocked in the bathroom) to keep clean.
Now if anyone in the quartet needed a hairbrush and didn't have it, they might be out of luck... but eh, oh well.
And while Hanna gratefully stripped off her old dirty clothes to soak away the countless layers of dirt, Yossarian got to... well, he got to sit on his bed (OH BED) and watch as Aster raced off to claim first scrub, shrugging in resignation. Did he need a bath just as badly? Sure. But he wasn't about to fight her for it and, really, she'd be quick about it anyway.
"Just make certain to scrub thoroughly," he called after her lamely, knowing full well that the door was still open a sliver-- but what did he care? He had his a** planted on something soft for the first time in weeks. He could deal with it. "Though I hate to admit it... that wretch Squalo was right. We're all repugnant."
And that was no personal smack on her, either-- it was just a fact of life. They were all, all filthy and desperately needed a deep cleaning.
Man, though, for such a simple room this place looked like heaven to the whole group... and without the constant reminder that he'd get his sheets dirty by lying down, Yossarian could've passed out and taken a nap right then.
And of course Takeshi had COMPLETELY missed Squalo's 'discrete' hint-- but thankfully for his comrade, he was already dumping off his bags by one of the beds and charing RIGHT for the tub of his own volition, tail wagging furiously. "Ah, man, this is gonna feel GREAT! You don't mind, do you, Squalo?"
No, no, NO ONE minded if he washed the skunk stink off him, really!
And then... well, there was of course Shae, always the last of the bunch, gingerly sliding that lone bag from her shoulder as she, too, slipped into the room that would be 'hers' (and her companion's), staying dead quiet while Kanda, who seemed to have his own agenda for getting the tub drawn, went about his business. Like the rest of them, she was clearly tired, sandy, and even still sunburnt (pale skin of her caliber didn't tan, it fried), but... no, seemed like it wasn't time to doze off or read yet.
"Hnn?..." Hearing a certain little golem causing endless commotion, though, she had leaned over to release poor Ako from its confines (partly because Del was spazzing and urging her to), and then sat back up again, if not with a little more slouch. "O-oh... ah, thank you..."
It was all that reflex: the old one, the reliable one. Still, she couldn't say she was ungrateful for it, either, lifting Del from her shoulder and setting the little golem on the nightstand with a soft mumble "stay" before sidling on back to go throw herself in the tub.
In an ironic parallel to one other female, she didn't even bother to shut the door more than halfway with one heel before it was time to peel her shirt off-- very gingerly, thanks to that still sore arm-- and discard everything else in a sandy, dirty, smelly pile before--
... Ooooh, yeah.
Yeah, no doubt that sigh had been a relieved one; tired or not, even sunburns stinging or not, just the feeing of WARM WATER on her body was a luxury she'd almost forgotten about, let alone warm water with a sea breeze through the window, and a safe roof over her head...
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:39 pm
Oh yes! And since most of the 'male' halves of the whole ordeal weren't bathing, that left Jade, who had spent the first few minutes of Hanna's bathing period counting out an allowance for the kids, leaving the therapist to her own devices while he went door-to-door to divvy it.
Squalo sort of made a face as he was allotted money to be split between himself and Takeshi (AKA for him to spend to shut the canine up...), but at least had stripped off his jacket (SOOOoOOoo hottttttt) while he enjoyed the breeze from the window. Ahhh, it made his smelly body smell a whole lot less horrid.
At least until he got his shot at the tub. But no, stinky canine first!!
Kanda received spending money to be split between himself and Shae with about the same graces, laying on the floor after Jade had left...
Which left only Yossarian to be harassed by the tap tap tap on the door.
"I'm assuming you two will want this for a nice evening-out when you're done cleaning up~" he teased through the door, as though assuming there would be some FANTASTIC DATE between the lovebirds to come. MWA HA HA!
Aster certainly wouldn't have mind going on some sort of 'fantastic date'.. as soon as she was done abusing the Strawmelon Oceantree soaps... Mmmmmm.... she was starting to feel -Koshka- again instead of like a wild creature of some sort.
Mmmmm... clean~
Once she'd finished scrubbing herself off, however, she'd climbed out of the tub, wrapping herself up in a towel and.. yes, Yossarian was going to get greeted by Aster-in-towel-only... but only after she'd refilled the tub with clean (er) warm water for him.
"You can use it now~"
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 3:07 pm
What-- as if the sight of Aster in a towel was supposed to shock or fluster him, any more? For better or for worse, Yossarian didn't even raise a brow when she came striding out so scantily clad, just grousing to himself as Jade took his leave, taking a last glance-count of their 'funds', and finally setting it on the table before he stood up.
"Alright, then." No beating around the bush, no fussing; he was just as eager as the rest of them to saunter on back for a good quick strip and a not-so-quick dunk. On that note, though... what was the point of completely shutting the door? He didn't need that. No, what he needed, it anything else, was a clear channel to chat back at his partner.
"... We've been allotted some funds to spend on our own for later," he noted, already bare and sliding slooowly into the water. Damn, that felt good. "I assume it's for clothing and the like."
And maybe food? Food was good too.
Shae, though, took a little longer to get her hide dragged out of the tub, every motion slow and cautious while she simultaneously strained to keep her bad arm still and her good arm scrubbing. There were just... so many layers of dead burnt skin and sand, and... god, running her hands through her hair, it barely felt like hair it all. It barely felt like it belonged to her, it was so long and broken and ratty.
Either way, though, she did finally feel clean enough (though the water was practically a soup of dirty sand when she drained it) to drag her sorry, shaky self out, clumsily fumbling to secure a towel around herself with one hand.
... Not like she even cared that much in the end for coverage, since caring took effort and she prefered to focus on limping back out to her bed, where she could sit down (ooooh relief, god that felt wonderful) and use one foot, of all things, to tug her bag over a little closer, just hoping there was still a pair of vaguely clean clothes in there to drag on.
"... It's free now, by the way," she noted a little too quietly, glancing down at her companion on the floor she'd actually had to walk around to get where she was (... in a poorly wrapped towel, HA). "And... thank you... for drawing the water, by the way."
She was trying, at least.
And of course while Takeshi continued to gleefully scrub and scrub and scrub until he couldn't scrub anymore (the water was even DARKER when he drained it and passed the torch to Squalo), Hanna had managed to wrap up her bath just before her partner's return, having already gotten her last pair of mostly-intact-and-clean (and borrowed from Caprician) pants on and working to towel off her hair before there was any thought of a shirt.
She'd definitely be needing to find some sheers or at least a ponytail of some sort of tether it all back, she noted idly, fingering a little shred of over-long bangs... Did Occello ever bother tying their feathers? Hmm.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 3:33 pm
Aster spent some time once Yossarian had gone off to clean himself off, to rub herself dry, before fishing for a clean set of clothes... which she had! She'd made a point to keep at least one set of clothes clean for wearing when they FINALLY got themselves some nice civilization.
Though she had to shake them out the window first, just to get the sand out of them.
"Well, I'll be asking Jade for a food-stipen when we go out. I'm not going to spend our money on feeding everybody when he said he'd pay for food. A few new sets of clothing are in order on my end, however. Unfortunately I'm out of clean and in-tact clothes at this point." she answered back to him as she tied up her hair before her somewhat unsanded clothing was pulled on.
Oh man, it felt so nice to feel like a real person again. However...
Kanda hadn't been in a rush to get to into the tub, but once Shae had gotten out of it, he'd drawn cleaner water to settle himself into, every muscle in his back going 'asjdfkl;ajfdf' in relief for all of the joyous heat that was radating through them. Mmmm..
"After I'm done in here, we should go look around the town a little bit." he offered, unsure what to immediately suggest that would interest her. Well, he -did- know her interests, he just wanted it to be something she wanted to do.
Squalo wasn't as thrilled to have to take a bath, mostly because he didn't want to smell 'fruity', but if he didn't bathe, he'd be trapped indoors FOREVER.
Jade chuckled a bit upon his return, as well as upon realizing it was now his turn to start bathing. Ha ha ha!
"Well, would -you- like to go out for a little bit after I'm done making myself decent~?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:15 pm
"... At least you've a single pair left, though, haven't you?" Yossarian questioned, already knowing the answer of course, but that was beside the point. "I can only pray myself as lucky. Every garment I own is probably just steps from complete destruction now."
Which was true enough, and sad, since he didn't even have a shred of the typical purple wear left to his name. He'd been living off of mismatched Xeric shirts and awkwardly rigged trousers for too long now... but at the same time, he knew there was at least something in reserve he'd set aside that didn't smell terrible or look completely shabby, which was enough.
"At least this city seems more civilized than our last... experience," he mumbled juuuust loud enough to hear, having furiously scrubbed lather all through his hair, which was wild and down and everywhere, and working fervently to soap down every inch of fur on him. He had a lot to cover, and a lot to clean... but just having clean, warm, fresh running water seemed to help it all loosen, and in fair enough time, he dragged himself out to perch on the porcelain lip of the tub, not one, but two towels in arm, starting the long process of drying off, top to bottom. "Hopefully these people won't automatically take us for spies."
Well, if their experience with Nicostrato was anything to go by, they'd be alright, right?
A part of Shae felt guilty that she hadn't been able to aid poor Kanda's back as much as the warm water did, really. There'd been a point when, with both limbs able, she could've at least worked some of the tension out, but... nope, as it was, she had trouble enough fumbling to drag that last set of shabby looking (but clean) clothes out of her bag, working on the pants first, which were of course too large and would inevitably require rigging to stay up, then finally, the shirt so big it nearly fell off her shoulders, but... whatever. The fabric was clean, and she was clean, and that, by itself, was a massive relief.
"... Right, right." And of course by reflex she just agreed and went along with his suggestion from the bathroom, though perhaps it was with a little less resignation. Really, this wasn't so bad. She had Del in her lap, and lamely fingercombed her hair in the meanwhile to distract herself, which was...
"Hey, Kanda?" Oh? Actually speaking up on her own? That had become a surprising rarity. "You wouldn't... happen to have any smaller knife, would you?"
She figured no, but had to ask anyway.
Well Squalo might not have been thrilled for a bath, but Takeshi seemed delighted for his, and then delighted to fling himself (literally, FLING) on the bed, sprawled out and streeetching just so like a pleased cat. Oooh baby, yeah.
He actually seemed pretty settled and... even 'peaceful' for once-- though it probably wouldn't last until Squalo got himself out and became prime for hassling again.
Aaanyway, though...
"You know, I think I would, actually," Hanna, ever the casual as she streeetched her arms above her head (mmm, cracking shoulders) before slipping that nice clean shirt on, glancing back at him with an innocent, lazy smile. "I'd like to see what this city has to offer us... tour the boardwalk a little, maybe. From what I've seen of the locals, they've wonderfully comfortable fashion sense."
And maybe if she was lucky, there'd be some pharmacies with real useful medicine to procure-- but that thought went unspoken.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:58 pm
"Well yes. But beyond that, I'd like to not be wearing the same clothing for the next three weeks." she answered, settling down on one of the beds once she'd dressed herself, stretching out. Stretttttchhhhhhh. She was so ready to doze for a little while... if she wouldn't be heading out the door once Yossarian was out and dressed.
Tee
hee
hee
hee~
"And I'm hoping Jade won't antagonize these people into thinking we're out to get them." she sighed, the feeling of the NICE PROPER BED making her back purr.
"A knife? No. No I don't." he answered, though the notion caused him to look at the ends of his not-tied-up-now-oh-how-girly! hair. Hmmm. He needed to cut his hair sometime soon or else Rapunzel was going to be jealous of him.
HMMMMM.
"I should pick one up while we're out."
Jade chuckled. Fu fu fu!
"Well~ I certainly would like to go get an idea of the town, maybe later I'll go and talk to their officials to clear up that we're not going to be spying on them."
Ha ha! It would be nice.
"They seem to be perfectly reasonable people."
INDEED THEY DID!!
Though Squalo, who had scrubbed himself clean, couldn't help but take his time drying himself off, grumbling as he had to keep the towel wrapped around his waist when he left the bathroom to go and work on dressing himself.
..
....
No matter -how- quiet he moved, he was going to be hassled, wasn't he?
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 5:31 pm
"... If he does, I'll throttle him myself," the dark male groused sourly, still in the throes of his own hasty towel-scrubbing and still far from dry. Still, he'd at least managed to get his hair-- currently falling all over his shoulders and bordering on loose (not to mention embarrassing) ringlets here and there-- mostly dry, and with his tail wrung out just enough not to drip, he could finally saunter on back to the real 'room', one towel around his waist and a second over his shoulders, to go fetch that last, glorious set of clothes.
He didn't expect her to give him any real privacy and, frankly, he didn't much care either. Oh well. Not like they had many real 'space boundaries' anyway, now.
"So then..." He had to pause there, if only to turn toward the wall (hey, Aster could look away if she didn't want to see his backside; she had plenty of warning) to jerk his pants on, mostly clean fabric on wonderfully clean, if not still damp, fur. "I suppose our first order of business will be new garments... or are you needing sustenance first?"
Oh, yes-- clothing or food, first? Good question, good question... and would they be heading out by themselves? Personally, that was Yossarian's hope.
He didn't mind his traveling companions or anything for the most part... but they'd spent MORE than enough time too close together recently and space just sounded oh-so-desirable.
"Oh..." Well, Shae hadn't really been getting her hopes up, so it wasn't much of a letdown, either-- as much as she would've liked the opportunity to trim her poor disheveled head down a bit before they left (... like she really had the dexterity to do it one-handed, HA).
"Well then..." She had to think for a few seconds, still fingercombing the hair that just seemed too long for her comfort, some inches past the bottom of her chin and just... no, it was too strange. She had to at least do something with it in the meanwhile. "Ah... do you have a spare hair tie I could use, maybe?..."
Surely, maybe? (Like she could simultaneously grab AND tie it with one hand?)
But hey, even if that failed, at worst, she'd have to just lie there on a nice soft bed and tolerate hair longer than she preferred, which hardly qualified as real suffering. Hell, while he was still scrubbing, she'd even reclined back to stare up at the ceiling and just... feel the give of the mattress underneath her, without any rocks or sticks or snakes, while Del pranced around on her midriff.
She could faintly hear the ocean out the window, too, even with the other city sounds.
"Ah, well, it certainly couldn't hurt to be proactive," Hanna nodded, flopping back (albeit 'daintily) on her own bed and sighing pleasurably. Hey, even therapists got pretty tired of sleeping on stiff ground and sand and wagon bottoms after so long! "I'd rather not repeat our experience in Castellon--" Because of course, that would probably kill her. "-- ... even if I'm sure the prisons here are much more tolerable."
Yeah, that was assumption she didn't want to really have clarified, though.
"... You know," oh, what was this now? Random subject change? "I think you'd look dashing in a nice regional tunic, Jade. Blue, probably... though I might just be digressing to your old uniforms for the subliminal association, ha."
What? Was it wrong of her to entertain some thoughts about playing dress up? It was a celebration of civilization's luxury-- AND necessity, too!
And of course Squalo was bound to get harassed! Because the Kanus had totally been waiting for his partner to come back with rapt anticipation, tail wagging, rolled on his side across that nice fluffy bed and-- ...
Snoring.
... He was actually snoring on the mattress. Wow.
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