A Flash in the Bath

It's uncommon for Asuna to be seen around Tolbana. Seriously it's uncommon seeing her anywhere but in the middle of a fight with gnolls, undead, or guys who look at her without permission. But here she is. She's wrapped-up in her white cloak and trying to sneak, as much as she can, into the bath. It doesn't help that her teeth are chattering uncontrollably and she's shivering as if where caught in an ice storm.

    "S-s-s-stupid.. wight!" she mutters angrily.

Goldenblade has come into the bathhouse and scrubbed the hell out of herself so much that if this were RL, her skin would be red. As it is, she's been in one of those moods where washing and eating don't happen very much, and now that it's done, well, a menu nath isn't cutting it. So, it's for a hot soak and let some of the stress out, and so, after scrubbing herself practically to the edge of losing HP, she rinses off and will proceed to the soaking bath.

She's wearing the towel man-style, around her hips, because that's how she's done it all her life, and here, who cares? Proceeding into the bathing area, even that comes off, and she folds it, sets it neatly aside, and steps into the hot water. Too hot's never too hot, that's a 75-year old thing, and she sinks in without complaint or hesitation, leanin back and relaxing with a sigh. She looks over to Asuna, asks, "You okay there?"

Miho was once again on another delivery for supplies. With the nature of the war with the Palace Landers? Miho had been more open to supplying people from SEA for things other than cooking items and the like. Then again coin is coin right? She however was needing to relax and the bath house seemed like a wonderful idea. Miho's got the pre wash done and now as she notices she' not along.

Her tail goes up for a moment as she looks the pair over she looks at Goldemblade raises one eyebrow but says nothing on the towel setup.

"Are you all right? What happned I thoguht the undead were sealed for the moment...?"

    Great minds think alike, though that hardly explains why Fuka had the same idea as Asuna. Still, the frozen sylph did have a pretty good idea what was needed. Warmth inside and out. She might hit the bar later, or possibly find a good inn with a fireplace and warm stew, but the best remedy she can possibly imagine is the Thermae. Hot springs would be even better, of course, but she doesn't know of any that are near enough to count. Besides, the baths are social. Sure, Fuka could go to any inn and order a hot bath, in her teeth-chattering way, but social is always better.

    She's also entirely shameless too, so lacks any sensibilities when it comes to the idea of public bathing. Really, it's no surprise she's coming here. The only question is how she's going to convince the bath house employees to just let her in and not insist she take her sling-bound arm to see a healer. She intends to do so, of course, but later. The pain is minimal thanks to adventurer protections. Being frozen, however, requires immediate relief.

    "I'll F-f-find a healer later when I'm not so f-f-f-cold!" Fuka insists, dodging past the attendant with reasonable agility and flopping into the bath, towel and all. She hadn't spent any real time in the changing rooms, just using the menu to remove her armour and clothing then scooping up a towel to wrap more or less about her. Drying, after all, she can also do via menu. The towel is basically a bare nod to decency, as little as she normally shows such things.

    She rushes the warm bath, jumping in with haste, without hesitation, and no doubt with a splash. Also her eyes seem to be mostly closed. Or at least she hasn't seemed to notice or acknowledge anyone else present.

Asuna straightens abruptly when she's noticed. It gives The Flash a moment to consider her options. Her response...

Turning to the bath with narrowed eyes, Asuna activates her menu in a blur. Menu bath done, weapon away, gear stored, all this as she makes an artes-propelled entry into the bath, and with a final act she sends her cloak away. For some tiny bit of time, she lives up to her name in more ways than one.

There's not a no diving sign because who would ever think of...

    SPLASH!!!!

Asuna lands in something of a canonball well into the bath, where the resounding splash won't bother anyone. But the disturbance probably does. She doesn't resurface for a few seconds, but when she does, her teeth are clenched as she says.

    "I'm fine."

...as she's still shivering.

And the reason there's a sign directing people not to splsh is because people like GB, in up to her face, are suddenly underwater when the wave rolls over her face. She sits up, sputtering, and looking askance at Asuna and Fukaziroh, the cannonball twins. "Good grief," she complains. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" She eyes Asuna and Fuka and her face is set in a frown. "This isn't the children's pool and you're not both seven. Seven year olds aren't even allowed on the game, so I know you're not." She sighs. And with towels on, too? Kids watching too much anime these days that's written for the American censorship and ratings laws instead of the Japanese laws, and they've lost touch about how this is supposed to go. Or maybe this is the new normal and she's just gotten too old? She sighs again. "Just sit down and relax, this isn't even the mixed bath. I normally go there because there's less of this garbage. The Landers are OK, but you players ..." she sighs.

Miho looks at Fuka with concern as well. "Fuka are you all right...?" It's starting to look like some sort of dungeon crawl has gone bad here from both Asuna and Fuka's reactions. She sighs and then is a bit stunned at Asuna's method of entry into the bath. She stands there for a moment sighing, then drops her towel to head into the bath as well. One Miho's got more scales on her body than one might think and two she's in the bath in short order letting out a happy sound.

"Your still shivering..."

She will pause to inspect both Asuna and Fuka. Her tail has also vanished under the water for the moment.

"I think something is up Goldem..."

    At the voice, Fuka's eyes open. "Oh hey, didn't see you there!" she comments, her tone something that might be perky if she weren't currently shivering. The little Sylph glances around, taking in her surroundings wide-eyed, almost as if surprised where she ended up. She takes note of Asuna. That would be the other splash... and given she'd seen Asuna during the ghostly confrontation, she's fairly sure she knows why the auburn-haired girl is here.

    "We were just having a race." Fuka blurts out, still chattering as she gestures at Asuna, offering to cover her behaviour with something perhaps a little less childish, more ... challenge-worthy. "Also we got our asses frozen by ghosts, and yes it was extremely rude! Need warmth~"

    "It isn't working."

Asuna grumbles, ignoring the critical comments. A pause as she's fumbling around in her inventory and moving to the side of the bath, casting a look at Fuka suspiciously.

    "Wait. There are towels?"

That's secondary, though. Of greatest importance is what's she's working on. It can't be, though. Why is she getting out portable grilling equipment in the bath?

    "Anyone want something hot?"

Goldenblade looks over at Miho, and then back at Fuka and Asuna. "Yeah," she says sourly. "They've got the 'no manners' debuff." But she will do an inspect also, and see which shows which debuffs they -do- have, none of which Goldenblade can help with. She can help with the Too Many HP problem, but the other debuffs are tricky and require skills she doesn't have. Now if they needed swords forged, she could help with that. Or, warmth? -That- she can help with also, and the water heats up quickly, /well/ past where it's supposed to be. Not boiling, but painful for those very close to her. It doesn't bother her, of course. Another perk of age, the hotter the bath, the better. Tokyo grandpas are famous for being all but immune to any level of heat.

Goldenblade considers Fuka's explanation and her frown deepens. "And since when has running been acceptable in the bath? You could slip and crack your head." She's at least sympathetic to Asuna up until she produces a grill, and Goldenblade rolls her eyes. "Kids today!"

    Fuka's not sure she absolutely needs hot food. She lacks the medical knowledge to interpret her status effectively, and thinks perhaps the water needs to be warmer. Or they have to soak a while. She's fine with that, it feels great even if it's not stopping her from shivering, and that may not be ideal but it's still good.

    Asuna's offer gets a response from the sylph though. "You have *no* idea how much I want something hot right now." she groans. How suggestive that statement is can be left as an exercise to the reader. She groans even more as the water begins to heat. "Ooooh yeeeeah that's the stuff." she croons, pushing closer. Then she pauses. "My mom also told me not to run with scissors, you know. And so I run with a REALLY BIG SWORD instead! I'd show it off but it might electrocute us all." she turns to grin at Asuna, though her grin's still a bit more rictus than pure pleasure. "The last time someone asked if I was a child, it was six years old. You're bringing up the average age!" Fuka claims, apparently pleased.

    Yes, Fuka is actually trained and skilled in etiquette. She's also very, very annoying at times.

Miho says "Lack of hard knocks you learn real fast to listen when you work in a forge."

She looks over to Asuna and Fuka for a moment

"Undead, ah yeah it's that time of year isn't it? If your offering How could I say no to you! Oh, the name's Miho Mithrilscale by the way." She sinks into the water for a moment.

"Geeze and I have been accused of being raised in a barn... I could turn up the heat with the water if anyone wants it."

    "It's a really great sword, too," notes Asuna.

She's still shivering, and yet she's got a cutting board set out and she's pulling ingredients out of her inventory. Her whole field cooking kit is on the floor near the bath now. Knives are brought out of and put back into inventory in a blur. Veggies are sliced and diced and an absent flick of fire artes brings the grill to life. When it reaches full heat, the strips of gruntie steak are cut and thrown on, sizzling and hissing and swiftly exuding a most delightful aroma. Seasoning follows. The chef tilts her head, sniffing at the air.

    "More spice, more heat," she whispers to herself.

Asuna directs her attention to Miho.

    "Heat is good." A frown and she adds, "Please make sure nobody is sneaking a look at me."

Asuna starts taking out the plates. Four of them are set out. Her work is energetic, loud, but skilled. She has a pan snuck in by the steak and the veggies-and even some mushrooms-are all merrily frying away in it.

Goldenblade's look to Fuka is about three quarters raw disbelief, one quater frankly giving up. She's apparently not buying that no one's told Fuka to grow up since she was six, but she doesn't bother to argue, there's no point. But apparently the hot water is meeting with approval, so she keeps it about as hot as she can stand, which is pretty hot, all things considered. "No need," she says to Miho turning up the heat in the water. "We're at child-baking level now." Luckily, no kids are in the water. But it's noticably hotter than normal onsen water, particularly close to Goldenblade, who can only shrug at undead. She can't be everywhere.

Asuna's cooking preparations are initially met with a sour look, but the smell makes her belly rumble. She has, after all, just recently recovered from her strange mood, and the normal food-eating moods are once again available to her. "Why would we look at you?" she asks Asuna. "I'm just trying to see what you're cooking. It smells delicious."

    "Why wouldn't we look at her?" Fuka counters, not quite as lecherously as the words might suggest. She's playful after all, not actually perverted. And she IS watching. Not because she has the hots for Asuna's body mind you, but because frankly she's more than simply impressed at the skills on display. "You can have this towel if you want. There's a lot more of you to hide than there is of me and ..." she pauses, running her mind back a ways. "Wait, this isn't the mixed bath? You mean I closed my eyes for *nothing*?!"

    The heat is beginning to work its magic, she notes. Not that she's going to jump out of the bath any time soon, or pass on what's seeming to be a wonderful snack being cooked up. But she can handle the heat... she's a hokkaido girl. And even if the water's painful to her half-frozen self, pain's a lot more easily tolerated here than it was back in the old world.

Miho pause at Goldenblades warning about the heat just as she's taking a deep breath and one could see the fire forming if they looked down her mouth then itis smotehred. She looks to Fuka and ASuna and grins.

"I'll happily take some of the food if your offering as I said." She will lean in to get a look then back to Fuka.

"Sorry it's just the women's side."

    "Not you.. I mean." Asuna looks over her shoulder towards the entrance. Her voice goes much lower. "Men. The smell of cooking meat and the thought of women in the bath certainly draws them."

For a moment, when her left hand lowers to her hip, her rapier flickers out of and then back into inventory.

Cooking duty calls, though. The steak is set aside to rest and Asuna ponders something. Cups are set out and after looking at the bath water, she wisely opts to use up the last of her barley tea to fill them.

    "He's probably not here, anyway," she mutters.

With a very utilitarian approach, she portions the cookied veggies and mushrooms on each plate, then does the same with the gruntie steak. Everything is steaming hot as she offers it. Goldenblade's plate is handed from a bit farther away, cause Asuna is a cook who doesn't like being cooked.

    "I don't often cook for others. I hope you like it."

Mostly because she actively avoids others. Except Soujiro. She likes his cluck clucks.

Miho peers at Asuna for a moment. "Yeah, kinda like how a man working a forge with no shirt would draw ladies no? Oh gods that smells great! Oh I see so there is someone you wanted to peek on you?"

Miho blunt as a warhammer. She'll sneak over when her meal's ready to go to get some and her tail will raise out of the warter like some kind of sea serpent.

Goldenblade shakes her head wearily to Fuka, complaining. "It's a kids thing," she explains wearily. "Japanese have been bathing for a thousand years in communal baths, and sixty years after Americans got invovled and now everyone's losing their minds, separate baths, towels in baths, gah." She doesn't mention that /she's/ American. It's embarassing. On the other hand, food is food, and that she won't complain about. "Thanks." Even if she shouldn't be eating in the onsen, it's too good to refuse. She does set her plate on the floor around the onsen, so at least she won't dribble into the water.

    "Men." Fuka repeats with a caveman grunt. "Meat. Fire. Girls." she grins. "I bet that'd warm us up! You know, from blushing I mean. HEAT FROM THE INSIDE!" she suggests with a playful smirk. Not that she'd mind being warmed up by cuddling, but that sort of thing really requires the right guy. Or girl.

    Glancing at Miho, Fuka nods in agreement. "Big burly smith man isn't exactly my type, but I suppose I wouldn't exactly turn away either!" she claims. She doesn't object to looking, and of course Goldenblade has a point too. "You don't need to tell me. I grew up with older siblings. *Several* older siblings." she adds with an eyeroll. "It's not something worth making a fuss over, but there are times and places, you know? Out in public is neither!" she claims, watching to see if Goldenblade will react to Fuka reversing on what is an appropriate way to act as an adult.

    Alas, she doesn't watch for long however. Instead, Fuka's quickly captivated by food. And not just food, it's grilled food! "Just like a festival!" she claims, applauding, waiting only barely long enough to be handed a plate before practically diving into it, probably burning her mouth and not caring in the slightest, moaning in delight in a manner that sounds entirely unwholesome.

    "URK!" Asuna's left eyebrow nearly twitches its way off her face at Miho's accusation.

    "Whaaat?! I don't want him to see me at all."

She busies herself handing out chopsticks. Asuna's glare dares anyone to say anything further as she does. And then she's turning away and stuffing her face with nice, hot food. And muttering. And blushing.

A lot of blushing.

She seems to be trying to use food, her back, and the water to hide from the topic that she herself created.

Goldenblade smirks as Fuka goes off on men, and ... is she trying to bait her? Well, a lot of the higher level types know, she's not sure if the younger ones do, so she'll drop it here and now. "So, /I'm/ a guy, if you're going to lose your minds, too." A glance at her will show that she's entirely female, so she clearly means she's cross-playing. "My son told me it'd scan -me- and that's what I'd look like, but I must've hit a wrong button because this is some random graphic the game picked for me, and then I couldn't back out and I've been stuck for coming up on what, two years." Heavysigh. "Amusingly, at least half of the women in this game are played by guys though, so whatever that does to your thought process..."

Miho grins widely at Asuna's reaction. "Uhuh very well." She sees Asuna blushing, this is so not the end of it for her but for now she'll relent. At least until she has her food in hand. She looks ove rto Fuka for a moment. "I'm not daging nay guy who can't at least lift a forge hammer. It would bring dishonor to my family." She seems serious about that.

"Everyone has their tyhpe I totally get it. Oh lord my Sister is a real terror, she dared me to name myself front loaded pillows. I was damn lucky I managed to get it changed before we landed here. You should have seen her in running the shop for the family forge too..."

She looks to Goldenblade and nods.

"Some cultures just get hung up on the strangest things."

Miho shrugs for a moment at Goldenblaade.

"Yeah it happens here a lot could be worse though right? Also you don't have a history of being a creeper about it either."

She eats some of her food.

"Now if someone got handsy even ina mix bath that's when you get rocketed to the sun like it's Muv-luv."

    Fuka peers at Asuna over her plate of grilled food speculatively. There's just something about a girl who blushes easily that attracts her attention. Maybe it's because her best (and at one time only) friend was self-consciously shy, or maybe she just enjoys teasing people she likes, and she's quick to like shy girls. In any event, knowing Asuna has some guy she *definitely doesn't want to see her in the baths* who means something special to her... well, it's something to notice.

    "I know that feeling." she says, shifting the topic slightly. "I mean, tried to get my best friend into the game but ... she's probably not here either." Fuka claims with some actual sympathy. Teasing, when she goes that route, will come later. When it's more suitable. Now, she just shares some warmth. And ... huh, she's actually feeling warm. Her teeth aren't chattering! Hooray!

    Fuka stretches, looking around. She heard Goldenblade's confession, and if her stretching is any indication it doesn't bother her in the slightest. She pauses, contorted a bit weirdly, and peers back at the 'old man'. "What?" she asks. "Should I hug you now because you heated the water? I could do that. I know how irresistably cute I am." Fuka claims teasingly, not even trying to sound sincere. "Or did you expect me to care you were once a guy? Not the first I've known. Not the first I'd suspect either, but I just figured you were older! You know, all 'get off my lawn' and stuff."

Asuna looks back over at Goldenblade. More blushing, but at this point, she simply straightens her back, sets aside an empty plate, and sinks into the water. She takes her mugicha and sips it. That she crosses her legs and covers her chest with her left arm is simply comfortable to her.

    "That has to be weird. I'm glad my bodyscan worked."

More blushing and she sinks so low that she's down to her nose now. The drink is set aside before it joins the bath water.

She's not hiding. She has no ranks in stealth.

Goldenblade nods to Miho, but says, "I moved to Japan in 1957, and I've been in thousands of baths, and I've never seen anyone get handsy. Young guys might ogle a bit, but that's part of being fifteen and they try very hard not to get caught at it, because that's a huge faux pas. And there's grannies in here that haven't been ogled in decades that probably wish they still had it. But anything further. It's just not what people do, at least in Japan. I don't know if that they'd do in America with mixed bathing, they probably -would- segregate it and lose their minds if anyone suggested communal bathing. I'm just here because they were cleaning the mixed bath when I came in, that's where I normally go." That way no one can accuse her of being on the wrong side because crossplaying. She smirks at Miho about not being a creeper. "I'm too old for that anyhow."

Fuka gets a puzzled look, and she says, "I know I'm not the first guy you've met. Half the women in the game that I've met are guys. At least half. It's not like it matters, though." The hugging threat gets a skeptical look, and she says, "And now you're trying to bait me." As far as older, she asks, "How much older have I got to be? I've got /grandkids/ your age as it is." Asuna hiding draws a sigh, and she says wearily, "Honey, you have nothing I haven't see before, and yours isn't special, so you don't have to worry about me peeking, okay? I'm thirty years oast any level of interest anyhow. Well, fifteen, anyhow."

    Fuka peers at Asuna at that, though she's not trying to bypass the girl's cover-up attempt. Inspecting, to see what she might learn. Still she can't entirely ignore Asuna's revelation. "Damn girl, that's *natural*? All that?" she asks, impressed. "That's better than what I had before I came here, and what I had was fiiiiiine~!" she claims, not entirely seriously. Not entirely mockingly either, mind you. She jerks a thumb in Goldenblade's direction. "She maybe thinks it's nothing special, but I do! Bodyscan... huh!"

    After a moment Fuka pauses as if struck by a sudden thought. "Asuna sounds like a real name too. I mean so does Miho, but Mithrilscale's probably not a real family name and you don't inspect as having any more to the name. Goldenblade could be a real name too for all I know, but... Asuna, did you really? Human, bodyscan, and a real name? REALLY? Like, absolutely any creeper could just find you IRL!"

Miho says "It's got to be a trip yeah, I'm glad my body scan worked too."

She notes as she keeps eating. She looks to Asuna as he too start to sink into the water. "So you have a history in japan? Interesting must have been neat to be there in that era." Miho seems honestly curious about it. "My Grandfather told me a few stories about it. It took him a long time to get why America helped rebuolt but when he did he was glad. Honestly trying to prevent a second war by giving a hand up was a sound idea."

She sinks into the water some more.

"I think it's almost more whiplash to be young again I'd say."

She looks at Fuka for a moment.

"If you know my family's makers mark? Then you'll know who I am."

She grins

"Or was this your first time into a full dive game. Well when this /was/ a game, well I got to say if that is abody scan Asuna? Nature's been good to you!"

Too many people.. talking about her body. Asuna wants to put on a bathing suit. But she never got one. She bobs under the water for a moment, and as she does, her condition clears and the shivering stops. She pops her head out of the water a moment later. She strikes a very awkward pose, trying to cover basically everything.

    "I feel better now," she says stiffly.

... and starts to menu clean her dishes. Grill, pan, everything is getting put away in her inventory. Asuna tries to look like she's not running away while obviously getting ready to do exactly that.

    "I need to get back on that Wight's trail. There's another way out of the cave where we found it. I'm going to find that way and I'm going to kill that thing." Changing the subject always works!

Goldenblade inspects as 'Paula Diena Josephina Francisca de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Goldenblade', which overflows the inspect block, and is almost certainly /not/ her given name in RL. Though it does sort of explain why Uta calls her Paula. But most Japanese call each other by last names unless they're family or -very- close, so she goes by Goldenblade, and that's the name she gives people.

She nods to what Miho says about reconstruction. "Punitive reparations from World War One /led/ to Two, so we decided not to go that way, and Japan turned out to be a strong ally," she says to Miho, "And yeah, I've been in Japan since I was twenty, in 1957. I've seen a lot of change. But I don't know a thing about real life swords. Bricks, I can tell you about."

Asuna draws an odd look, but if the debuffs have gone away, that's good. She will pass back her completely cleared plate, telling her, "It was delicious thank you." So, that's her own unwashed and hungry debuffs cleared.

    Fuka grins at Asuna's reaction. Not that she's happy Asuna feels the need to flee, but it's not like the girl is shrieking and running so it's all good. The little blonde does feel the need to moderate her actions somewhat though. Getting someone offbalance is fine, but that's only half of Fuka's thing. The other half is to be perhaps surprisingly insightful... or at least useful.

    "Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good myself too! This was a great idea! Though I don't think I'm quite done soaking in the warmth yet... it's nice." Fuka says casually. "Say, isn't a wraith like ... already dead? I think you mean kill it AGAIN. And I want to help, if you'll have me there. Hopefully I'll get my arm fixed first so I can swing Frank properly! But if not, I'll kick its teeth in!" she promises.

Miho says "I'm feeling great and yes it's a form of undead. More like make sure it's down for good. Thank you for the food Asuna!" She grins a bit at and then muses "So you been here for eveything from that point it must be quiite a ride and bricks are useful! After all we need to build a forge. Grandpa, my uncle and cousin would be jelous if they knew how much steel I was forging here. That wasn't just Kitchen wares. Humm Fuka? I might stay a bit longer myself before I shove off again. I'm going to have to find a courier network if these orders keep up."

The Flash is at it again. With everything put away, she vaults back out of the water. Before she even stands up she's menu dried and fully garbed. She puts her rapier on first and last is her white cloak, which comes on with a flourish. Being ready, she looks back at the other women.

    "I'm glad you enjoyed the meal."

A moment later, friend requests are sent out.

    "I'm going to find that thing and.. anyone who wants to join is welcome to help me kill it properly."

She takes two steps, then stops, as if considering. The sound of laughter from the hall breaks her away from whatever she was considering.

    "I will let you know when I determine where it is."

Her part said, she moves on, swiftly. Her eyes forward, an unseen hand under the cloak gripping the hilt of her weapon.