Waking the Dead 2.0 || May 18, 2063 || The Mandatory Hot Springs Episode

[kawaakari]

[The skies are clear, the air is cool, and overall? Conditions are perfect for spending the entire afternoon and maybe even the entire night at the hot springs within Seigi. It's open to Zangyaku operatives and their families, along with any of their guests.

Oh, they're also communal. Surely no one minds? It's just skin, after all.

You're allowed to smoke, drink and eat while you're chilling out in the pools. You can also play cards, have a round (or several) of ping pong, flop around... anything goes, as long as you don't kill anybody!]



OOC Notes:
+ Make your own threads, plot out your own shenanigans and whatever else. Just remember: War Hounds and the rest were probably invited there after lunch, and are more than welcome to spend the rest of the day there. Y'all might want to specify the time. :3
+ NPCs are available on call beyond the threads I set up in here (if I end up setting some up, anyway)! Lemme know if you have questions.

Comments

uwu

[ktotheatothez]

Not... Really? I mean... I don't really know what I mean.

[It's been odd how he can never find the right words to say what he really wants to say.]

I can... See it, but that's only 'cause he's been happier [Sort of?] since you came back. But then that's subjective, after the past few days and all. I... Saw you with Nico, I hope he didn't tell you anything embarrassing.

[sadame]

That might depend on how you define 'embarrassing'.

[Yeah, she's a Shinta, all right...]

[ktotheatothez]

[Oh...Kay. Bakanico what did you tell her?! is all he thinks because goddamn it she even says it like Hikaru does, and that's mildly frightening.]

Ahaha, haha... ha. Um. But thank you, for keeping him company awhile.

[sadame]

[Hee. Tails swishing again, in a fashion remarkably similar to how a cat that has spotted its meal would.]

You're welcome. The two of you look good together.

[ktotheatothez]

W-we do? Uh, thanks. I'm pretty lucky to have him.

[He blushes at that. People say they make a cute couple, but it still manages to make him blush. Curiosity killed the Kaz, though, he does ask Setsuna something.]

Um, Setsuna-san? Are you... A Changing Breed? Sorry, I just... Tita Cisco's a fox too and I've never seen a Kitsune Changing Breed, just full-on Kitsune, unless that's what you are and I'm mixing things up.

[Nervous Kaz is nervous so he babbles.]

[sadame]

No, I'm not. I used to be an Acanthus Mage before I died, and ended up ascending as a Great Spirit of this world.

[She's calm and matter-of-fact.]

[ktotheatothez]

If you were a Mage... Then... You had a Dragon too?

[Oh, sure, Kaz... Focus on that instead of the fact that she's a Great Spirit.]

[sadame]

[Chuckling. You are so cute, Kaz.]

No, I did not. Awakened having dragons of their own is a recent development in the Fifth World.

[ktotheatothez]

O-oh.

[He's unsure what to make of that. Point of fact, the's not really sure what to do right now. He does, however, scoot closer to her.]

So... You're a Great Spirit?

[His curiosity is in his voice, but he catches himself before he actually asks 'like the Great Koi?']

[sadame]

Yes. [Then, because he caught that thought:] A bit like the Great Koi. We both exist to protect things in the best way that we know how.

[ktotheatothez]

Oh. Wait, if the Great Koi is like you, then... He was human once.

[He stops.]

I mean, not that you're not human to me, but... I guess... Human-shaped?

[He scratches his head at that though. Sometimes his brain to mouth filter is all kinds of bad. He does contemplate the last part... Existing to protect things the best way they knew how.]

Including, but not limted to the ones you left behind, I suppose, if you're here right now.

[sadame]

[Chuckling like that.]

Yes. I try my best to.

[Even if they can't see her doing it. It doesn't matter, she tells herself. They know, now, that she is always there, always will be there, for as long as she can be.]

[ktotheatothez]

I would know a thing or two about trying my best...

[He nods in in agreement.]

Sorry, I just... I confess finding you was kind of a stroke of luck. I've been thinking about our time in Shin Yamatai and how long ago, when it was just Yamatai, when you and Hikaru lived there... Was he... Hm. How does someone who cares about Hikaru get him to stop trying to run?

[sadame]

You have to keep pushing, and keep being honest.

[A beat, then she's chuckling.]

My little brother is a bit like a wounded animal that way. Quick to bare fangs, slow to trust.

[ktotheatothez]

Push... Be honest... Got it.

[He nods and considers that. Setsuna's chuckle is comforting, though.]

So kind of like a feral cat, maybe?

[sadame]

Kind of. Or maybe a wounded wolf that thinks that he doesn't have a pack to run with.

[...Even if they were right there.]

[ktotheatothez]

[The wolf reference definitely isn't lost on him, though now he's kind of just quietly sitting there, contemplating the information Setsuna's given him.]

[sadame]

[Watching him a moment, and then letting one tail brush against the side of his cheek.]

He's a test of endurance all unto himself. Don't think too much about it: just do.

[ktotheatothez]

Hmm.

[It's a pensive kind of hmm, and whoa Setsuna's tail is kind of warm, and comforting, like she knew Kaz was kind of really worried for Hikaru, and maybe Alistair (when was he not worried about them anyway.)]

Just do.

[He tells her then, about the homework they'd been given, and how he blew up at Hikaru... How he felt really sort of bad afterwards but never got to make it up to him, and then he opens up about the Wings and how he'd gotten into trouble because he probably really couldn't handle them at the time. He unloads like there's something that's pressing him to unload in a way that he hasn't to any of his Blademates, or his boyfriend. He has no idea why, and maybe he's a little sniffly by the time that he's done.]

[sadame]

[Setsuna, of course listens, occasionally making little prompting noises, but generally focusing her gaze right on Kaz.

Have another tail brushing gently at your eyes.]

You've got a lot on your plate, huh?

[ktotheatothez]

Just another day in the life of a Hunter I suppose. We all bite off more than we can chew sometimes.

[It's an observation, and an innocent one at that. Of course, in the case of that one engagement that they don't talk about, they'd gone in half cocked and generally unprepared.]

[sadame]

True, but that doesn't mean that you have to swallow all of it.

[Blinking up. Talk to me more? Need advice? Who knew that a fox could make expressions like that?]

[ktotheatothez]

True.

[Why was it easier to talk to her than it was to talk to Hikaru, anyway?]

I dunno. I guess it's just me. I tend to want to be able to protect the people I love and maybe sometimes I take it all too far. I want to get stronger... That desire got me in trouble once...

[sadame]

[Because she's (outwardly) nicer. And she totally knows what you're thinking, but... she'll call you out on it later.]

That sort of thing takes practice. At least you're certain that you're doing what you can because you really care.

[ktotheatothez]

[Kaz kind of... Plops down onto the grass after that. Kind of drained from talking and feelsing at Setsuna.]

Ulf...

[He heaves a sigh and just lies there, watching the sky.]