Watering the Wisteria

    Wisteria snags Mizukichi "Come on, you've been the most vocal about how much I'm not washing... and now that I can concentrate lets check out the new bathhouse." she heads on to take the iron bacon express up to Tolbana.

    Mizuki is happy to tag along! Weird thing about a life of adventure... it doesn't actually involve much just hanging out! Though she gets to spend a bit more time around Wisteria than she does around others, any of THAT for the past month has been... "I was trying to make sure you take care of yourself, is all. I was worried, seeing a sudden change in a friend without knowing why... I know how much your daily practice meant to you, and seeing you give that up... I knew you liked baths too..."

    Eventually she asks, "What was it like? Being in that... state?"

    Wisteria rufles Mizuki's hair between kitty ears. "Yah I know, and it is really hard to look and go... oh yah that was normal." she says with chuckle. "But my crystal research was... just important... like." she nibbles her lower lip "Like vitally important I tried to keep up my practice but I'd forget, like eating or bathing it just slips out of your mind and you have to keep working to figure out just HOW they work, how to fix the flaws. It was a big flashing sign I couldn't ignore."

    Mizuki presses into the ruffling, her ears turned to Wisteria, and nods. "I see... I kinda get it, I certainly feel a difficult-to-resist pull when someone states an apparently easily-solvable problem in earshot... but it doesn't last for a whole month... well, it *wasn't* normal after all, it's just that... all sorts of strange things can happen to us in here..." She looks down. "Like being a catgirl..."

    Wisteria slips her arm around Mizuki and squeezes. "Yah I had to get use to being all white and bunny, but I like you as a catgirl, you're my Mizukichi." she says with a smile and squeezes warmly again.

    As surroundings haven't been all that described... well, they're on their way into the bathhouse! Mizuki stops as she's squeezed, and turns to hug Wis back, tightly! "Thanks! It's nice to be liked... sometimes I feel like I'm just sort of hanging around in the background... contributing, but not really important..." Just... holding the hug until they continue further inside.

    Wisteria huggles Mizukichi and then gets off the iron bacon express... or whatever it is Doc decided it should be called. She drapes her arm around the catgirl's shoulders and heads for the bathhouse. A month of menu bathing has her craving a nice scrub and long soak.

"Well well, look who's back to just normal weird instead of obsessively weird." Vertina had just happened to notice the pair of friends as she was stepping out of her tavern.

    Mizuki returns to walking along, looking lost in thought. Her ears twitch as Vertina speaks up and she turns her head. "Oh, hi! We were just going to the baths... how've you been?"

    Wisteria smiles and bounces forward to hug Vertina. "Hey yah, back to normal." she says squeezing tight. "We're heading to the baths now that they've finished and I need to clean and relax."

Vertina laughs as she's hugged. "Going to the bathhouse. Yep, you are back to normal!" Pause. "Oh, the Tolbana one is finished? I didn't notice. The Festival period tends to keep the Tavern pretty busy. But I'm find and dandy Mizukichi, thanks."

    Mizuki hmms. Runs after Wis, hugs both of them! "Group hug!" Her tail twitching, before she lets go and turns back towards the bathhouse, cheerily. "Yup! Back to the normal that is being stuck as our videogame characters in a world where crazy stuff happens every day!"

    Wisteria and squeezes both of her friends. "Joining us?" she asks Vertina with a laugh. She slips an arm around Mizukichi's shoulders and hooks her arm into Vertina's.

Vertina glances over her shoulder a moment, but one of the waitresses is already waving at her to go have fun with her friends before stepped back into the Tavern. "Looks like staff has things covered for the night, let's go check the new baths out!"

    Mizuki glances up at Vertina as Wis pulls them into a group. "So 'let's go bathe together' is really just that normal of a thing to do in Japan, huh...? Not that I mind, hot water feels so nice especially when we don't have, y'know, houses with hot showers, it's just... well, foreign to me."

    Wisteria laughs "Well we had a furo at home but we still went to the bath house after practice. Cause it's a good place to relax and spend time with friends if you're sore from hours of hitting each other." she sticks her tongue out.

Vertina reaches over to pat Mizuki on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad, you're no more confused and awkward about it than any visitor would be. But yes, public bath houses are pretty standard."

    The kitty blinks at the shoulder pat. She smiles at Vert's friendly response. "...Thanks!" That seems to have continued to make her feel more comfortable. "Well, I can be down with it then! It's pretty nice..."

    Wisteria nods her head "It's a good thing." she says with a laugh and leads the way into the new more roman style bathhouse. She isn't much bothered by the difference in style it's all about getting clean and soaking with friends so style isn't much to worry about in her opinion.

Vertina whistles softly. "And to think this probably wouldn't be possible this far up the Tower without all that other research and stuff that was done."

    Mizuki takes a moment to smile and take in the impressive construction before walking on. "I mean... well, I guess hot springs would only occur where underground heat is ... I guess you can't have that in a tower, but... it's a magic world. We could have The Floor Where There Are Volcanoes, who knows... still, it's ncie to have hot water wherever we want, so easily available rather than having to, like, heat up a barrel."

    Wisteria smiles and squeezes "Okay shower to clean up. Then soaking with friends to relax." she says with a laugh and happy squeeze and hip bump to each friend.

Vertina playfully blows a few embers of fire breath. "Not that some of us have trouble with heating things up." Her tail swishes as she returns the bumping of hips. "Sometimes using the menu command is all you have time for, so an actual bath to soak is definitely a nice improvement."

    Mizuki seems confused at the hip bump but doesn't question it. She grins and her tail twitches as she matches Vertina's embers. "Well yeah, but still, it's more convenient for everyone!"

    Wisteria scoots to the showers to go clean... quite possibly with the menu becasue dang that's easy. Then to the hot soak to sink in up to her neck with a happy sigh.

Vertina just goes straight for the baths, so she's already in and soaking by the time Wisteria joins after showering. "I bet that's the best you've felt in weeks."

    Mizuki thought when Wis mentioned showers she was talking about the old world. They have them here?! In her excitement, she loses any self-consciousness about de-equipping her clothes and purrs as she rushes to the shower!

    It... it is warm... but she's covered in wet fur. In a bath it kinda floats but in a shower she feels the weight of it, short wet hairs pressed against her body all over. It feels kinda gross... -_-;

    Detransforming means confronting a body that's... uncomfortable to look down at. She got used to the other one, but... the inhuman appearance helped... dissociate from it? Think of it as a game avatar this mind is stuck in. When it's a human body... the differences that remain hit harder. ...It's a cute girl's body too... Nope. Nope nope nope. She closes her eyes and just tries to enjoy the hot water running over her while the menu washing timer counts down.

    When she hears Wis leave, she turns off the shower and leaves too, hesitates... grabs a towel and goes fuzzy again, hurrying to the baths to ditch the towel and sink in. She grunts noncomittally at Vertina's comment. Ugh, she's used baths before, why'd that have to make it get confusing...

    Wisteria siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighs "That's the best, I love bathtime." she says sunk down to her chin. "I'll feel even better when I can start getting my thousand cuts done each day." she floats by her friends happily, her cheeks turning rosey in the heat. "Everything okay Mizukichi? Not still feeling weird about baths are you?"

    Mizuki hmms? "I wasn't weird about them... mostly. I get a little nervous around girls besides you because..." She looks at Vertina for a moment. Then sighs, slumping slightly. Telling the truth is just so much easier than lying. "If they knew, they might not believe I can be a perfect gentleman. ...I'm not some jerk who can't control himself. Besides, lesbians manage somehow..." She gasps and her eyes widen, then she claps her hands over her face. "I shoulda just said I was a lesbian! That'd be less weird..."

Vertina was already leaning back and relaxing so she didn't really catch onto anything getting awkward until it's partially coaxed out of Mizuki. One scaly brow raises a bit. But then after the explaination she just leans back again. "Yeah, you could of. But it's not -that- big of a deal. We're here together because we're friends, not what someone may or not be playing as. Right?"

    Wisteria smiles and ruffles Mizuki's hair. "I know you're a bit worried Mizukichi, but really it isn't a problem. Just because before Mizukichi was a guy, here you're just Mizukichi. That's all that matters to me, you're my friend." she squooshes the werefang tight "So just enjoy spending time with friends in a place that is comfy and don't worry so much about what you look like." she shrugs "Really, I've had to tell girls that I just don't do that kind thing just like I've had to tell boys." she licks her lips "Being tall and strong and in sports... people tell you stuff like... I have a secret confession and it's all the same." she shakes her head "I'm sure girls and boys have all confessed to Vertina too, she's tall and cool and did football so she knows." she smiles and squooshes her tall friend too before sinking back into the water with a happy sigh. Someone never understood boy and girl boy and boy or girl and girl stuff before and being trapped in a magical world where she can cast curses has NOT helped that at all.

".. Yeah, what she said. Wist said it a lot better." Vertina chuckles softly. "I'm still not the best with words type." She reaches over to give Wist a playful ruffle. "Well at least the guys that weren't -scared- of a girl being taller than them."

    Mizuki is visibly relieved by Vertina's calm reaction. "That's kind of you to say, but this is still technically the girls' side." She points over in whatever direction the mens' is. "...Although I guess it's not like I can go /there/, either." A realization dawns. "Oh. THAT's why they have all those private little baths... for everyone in this situation." Her ears splay. "But then I couldn't hang out with you."

    Wis hugs her! She hugs back happily. At least she's used to being around Wis! And Wis gets to feel her soft fur, even if it's wet fur.

    She watches Wis thoughtfully. "I was thinking about that, since the train ride. Just... hearing you say you like me. It made me wonder... how'd you figure out you were ace, and not that you just hadn't met the right person? I didn't have any girlfriends in high school either... well, I didn't get that close with anyone, really. But then college came..."

    She tilts her head and taps her cheek. "...Okay, maybe college is a bad example, both of those girls were... the relationships didn't last long, I was just glad to have any cute girls interested in me at all. But..." She looks briefly sad, "I couldn't help that Rosa with her problems either, and we drifted apart... but then I met someone who really clicked! We hung out together, we liked a lot of the same games, Elder Tale AND older stuff and all that... If she hadn't gotten a career opportunity she desperately wanted overseas... We'd still be together, hopefully."

    She looks around. "Well, before this all happened, anyway."

    Wisteria giggles "Well yah girls are better about saying it up front. Boys creep around and get weird sometimes... girls do too..." her idea of creeping around and being weird is probably pretty vague given that weird for her is wanting to do anything other than hugging and cuddling. "I duno... people wanting to kiss and do stuff from health class are all so..." she shivers "It's all weird and I just don't want any of it so I find friends who I can hug and spend time with and don't get all weird on me that's all." she says happily.

    Creep around and get weird... who knows what each of them is picturing there. "Well... yeah, I mean, it'd be *kinda weird* if some classmate I barely knew was like 'Hey, let's kiss' or 'wanna ffffff--'" mid-word she remembers she's talking to someone just out of high school and thinks twice about that language. "...anyway, yeah, I wouldn't wanna do it with just anybody! ...I say, but I guess by college I was starting to wonder if I'd ever like anyone that much. Still, at least we talked for awhile first..." She splays her ears and looks sulky briefly. "Even if they both lied to me..." Then brightens, "But the others were cool! I mean... it's not like the goal of the relationship is sex, it's more like... something you can do with someone you really like, to make eachother feel good! Kinda like snuggling, but more intense."

"Huh." Vertina sits up and turns her head to look. "So they do. That's considerate of them... though not here for bathing alone at the moment, anyways."

She shrugs and leans back again, sinking all the way down to her shoulders in the hot water. "You want creepy? I've had people try to use me to get to my sisters just because they're twins and apparently that's... a thing." She wrinkles her nose a little. "Relationships don't have to be about... that stuff. I'd rather have someone I could do fun stuff we both enjoy like that, anyways."

    Wistiera nods her head "Yup, fun stuff everyone enjoys." she says with a smile. Insert cartoon bubble of sword fighting, hugs, and snacks, and floating in hot water.... and now crystals. "That's what I do too. That's why I hang out with you two." she says happily.

    Mizuki makes a similar nose-wrinkling expression. "Ugh. I never understood guys being so desperate for sex that they'd chase after women they don't even KNOW. How exactly do they think a relationship with your sisters is going to /work/, exactly? ...Well, they're not thinking, they're thinking with their di--" She coughs. "...Anyway, they don't want a relationship, do they? Just the sex. I kinda get it in movies, when they have the guy chase the girl he barely knows and we're supposed to believe they'll be perfect for eachother, I mean... showing a relationship properly building over time? That friendship, that closeness, that interest in eachother, wanting to share everything and support eachother... You just can't condense a real relationship into an hour and a half, let alone combine it with comedy shenanigans and action scenes."

    She sighs and crosses her arms. "Sometimes I worry that those stories have warped people's minds, though. They say gamers are out of touch with reality? It's the people going out to bars on Friday night that act like it really works like in the movies, like when they find the right girl they'll look at her and it's all, like, soft focus and the music starts up and *she's the one*. You couldn't possibly know when you don't even know her yet!"

    She sinks a little deeper into the water. "But I guess it wouldn't be the first time a lot of people acted illogically... I kinda wish movies gave people a better idea of how relationships work, though..."

    She smiles. "Yes! I love doing fun stuff together! I'd..." Her ears blush and she gets a bit quiet, "I'd be happy to do *more* with you, but..." and then she speaks up again, "Your friendship is what's *important*!"

Vertina pfffs softly. "Because no one goes to the movies for realism, that's why they're not.... but for some people that don't have any other frame of reference... Seriously, it's just as bad with tourists at the family inn that came to Japan expecting some thing they saw in an anime once to be a real aspect of life there."

    Wisteria nods "Yah I mean... I only even consider any of the stuff I read in novels because uhm.. we're stuck in a video game so I guess my light novels are less weird to possibly be considered real sources of information?"

Vertina laughs. "Don't get me wrong, I love being able to spit fire and actually do crazy wuxai stunts. But it works because this world runs on different rules." The salamander slouches back down in the warm water to resume relaxing. "Aaaah it's going to be so nice not having to trek all the way down to one of the root towns for bath house time..."

    Mizuki looks around. "I mean, apparently the public baths thing is real. Or were they hoping to see mikos fighting demons in the street?" She giggles. "But yeah... media's kinda poisonous sometimes. A lot of plots would fall apart without 'comedic misunderstandings', but really, if you heard someone you loved did something outrageous, if you *loved* them you'd give them a chance to explain themselves before overreacting." She shakes her head. "Ah, sorry. I guess I haven't had a forum to post my critiques of storytelling tropes on for awhile. It was good to get all that off my chest though." She glances down. "Not like there's much else on it." She smiles, hoping that was an appropriate joke. She's... almost flat. Given the circumstances, it's probably a blessing.

    She slumps a bit when Wis points out that they're living out a novel scenario RIGHT NOW. "Well, okay. Right. But just because we're trapped in a videogame and there may have been incidents like this before with Fragment that were kept out of the news because CyberConnect was doing some kind of AI experiment, and there are people who knew about that and tried to save the trapped people before who now have ~special powers~ now that they're stuck in the game too, doesn't mean that oh my god anime is real /what else is it right about are relationships like that NORMAL/??" Mid-rant, her eyes go wide and she claps her hands to her cheeks.

    Wisteria giggles "No anime and light novel relationships are like well any TV or movie or book relationships... kinda as good or bad as plot needs them." she shrugs and smiles a bit "But people expecting just because you're in a fuku that you want to be hit on in the street... and then you have to be like, Sir I'm sixteen... and then you find out he doesn't actually speak Japanese." she rolls her eyes.

    Mizuki calms a bit when Wisteria speaks. "Right, yes... crazy scenarios turning out to be real is one thing, but relationships are human nature." As soon as Mizuki hears the 'want to be hit on in the street' she looks as scandalized as expected. "It's a SCHOOL UNIFORM! They're HIGH SCHOOLERS!" After Wis finishes, she shakes her head. "What anime have they been WATCHING?"

    Beat.

    "Uggggh how could anyone think /that's/ real..." She sinks into the water and blurbles. Then sits up again. "Wait, no. No one's that dumb. They must just have thought they could get away with it for some reason. Blaming anime? Or they're just creeps. I mean, they are in any case, but there's creeps everywhere, not like only among tourists. They probably hit on high school girls in the US too..." She blinks. "Ah, that's it. Hit on /local/ underage girls, people will start recognizing you and do something about it. Hit on underage girls somewhere you're just visiting? They'll never see you again. ...They probably figure it's easier in Japan since everyone's so polite and non-confrontational, too. Ugh..."

    She leans back against the side of the bath. "I guess the outside world's problems are pointless to get too mad about over right now... at least in here I haven't seen as much creepyness... I've always kinda been oblivious, but I bet it changes the dynamic a bit when pissing someone off can get you PK'd. Or maybe they're worried about targets turning out to be crossplayers..."

    Wisteria smiles "Yes well, I don't know I just know that I bet the fact that I can crush them with curses and swords until they wake up in the church." she shrugs "Likely prevents lots of weirdos cause you know... twenty four hour lockout and even with reduced pain sensors they don't want the beat down." she grins and shifts so that she has OOOH so many razor fangs.

    "Mm... probably means they go after Landers..." Well, THAT's a depressing thought. Seeing her friend all bunny'd, Mizuki detransforms and hugs Wis tightly, as if hoping to push out the depressing thought with sheer warm fuzziness! "...Thanks. For being a friend. And being so nice. ...And so huggy."

    Wisteria squishes her Mizukichi "See the issue there...is when I find out." she says and squeezes tight. "Then they find out if I can curse someone to death."

    Mizuki smiles. "That's right!" She's... content to just hold this hug until her arms get tired of squeezing.

    "...Thanks... for not caring, too. What I am, or what I was, I guess. I... I am what I am, and this avatar is what it is, and I worry people that know both will think I'm weird... Although, come to think of it, *no one* I've told has. Am I suddenly a good judge of character, or... maybe people don't think it's weird after all. Or maybe there's just so many of us that it's normal now."

    Wistiera "I think that you're just right like you are Mizukichi." she says when finaly hugging is more work than fun and just floats in the water. "But mostly I think people will just accept that you are Mizukichi."

    The now-human girl leans against Wis, the usual height difference now exagerated even more as they're in reversed forms from usual. "Thanks. Maybe everyone here thinks that way... Is it just in my head that anyone would think differently?" She shakes her head. "I guess if I'm going to cheer people up by being a cute catgirl, there's no reason to care... we love seeing lovable characters on TV without needing to know anything about the actors who play them, after all!"

    Wisteria pets Mizukichi's hair "See lots of reasons not to worry so much." she laughs warmly. "You make folks happy just being Mizukichi." she says with a warm hug relaxing happily with her friends.

    "I do??" Her eyes almost sparkle at that compliment, and she hugs again, then relaxes contentedly agains Wis.