Girl Talk in the Baths

Baths (#5705J)
Polished tiles glow underneath, through the humid steam that is the inevitable accompaniment to the baths; in a colorful mosaic they spread their graceful pictures, the disarray and languor of bodies nude: dragon, human, 'lizard. The pool seduces long and broad in the center of the antechamber, about which the walkway crowns its way, an outer ring of relative dryness circled yet again by a series of stout wooden benches and hooks for cast-off clothing. Stacks of soft white towels pile loosely in large baskets, inviting indulgence and envelopment in fluffy clouds of warmth.
The mosaics stream along tiles that dive into the central pool, coalescing into patterns along an underwater bench which circumscribes the bath before fading into blue-green waves and swirls that show faintly through the deepest waters. Time is nonexistant here, the cares of the world outside slip away in weightless luxury. Pots of herbs placed at strategic intervals invite you to 'add' exotic scents; sweetsand is available, for foaming 'bubbles'. All rumors of the hedonistic pleasure enjoyed by weyrfolk seem to be confirmed here - indulge yourself!
Obvious exits:
Out

Steam rises and moves in the humid air and the baths seem quiet and empty except for the odd dripping sound and gurgle of the constant flow of water into and out of the pools. A bundle of clothes lie discarded on a bench indicating that perhaps someone has forgotten them. There occurs a faint rippling in the water as if something thrashed briefly but after a moment it stills again and all appears calm and quiet.

Aadi steps into the steamy room, taking a moment to breathe in the heavy air before finding a dry place for her clothes and stripping down. Hair is untied and fingers comb out the braids, leaving a curly, crimpy mass of red to be washed. Everything in order, she moves to a corner nook and steps in, a blissful sigh escaping her lips at the heat.

Mika hates fish. Or at least today she hates fish. She has spent much too much time on the docks dealing with fish, especially after her tour for a couple of the new candidates ended. She never thought she'd be /wishing/ for a job that put her in more contact with people. One could not smell like a stable, a latrine, or /fish/ when one worked with people! She strips out of the distastefully smelly clothing, grateful she thought to bring a spare. She's not putting /those/ back on until they're properly decontaminated. She gets into the pool without really looking where she's going, other than making sure she's not on top of anyone, though with the steam she can only check the surface, not the sub surface.

Emilia arises in the middle of the pool with a burst of splash and droplets, water streaming from her now not so frizzy hair which is plastered down her back and across her face. She gasps for breath and sputters, a brief thrashing occurs before she gains her footing. "Much much better," gets coughed out as her wheezes subside and air actually gets pulled back into her lungs.

That little exclamation from Emilia is what really catches Aadi's attention. Days as a Candidate haven't changed much since her last runabout — well, her last runabout in this time anyway. It's hard, dirty work, but that doesn't bother Aadi one bit. Takes the mind off of things, and working in the stables isn't bad. It's basically the same as what she had been doing — breaking and taming young runners, working kinks outta the ones badly taught and so on. Now she had been looking forward to a nice quiet soak, but with a sigh resigns herself to bubbles of more than one kind. "G'eve, Emilia."

Mika blinks and jumps away from Emilia, this time not because she's displeased to see the other woman, but because she wasn't expecting to see her there. She bobs her head at Aadi and grabs the soap. "Evening." She greets neutrally to both of them.

Emilia will blink between the women once she catches her breath fully and smiles cheerfully, "Hi Aadi, Did you get settled in okay?" Mika will get a much more bright and perky "Mika," but not quite to her normal levels. Her face is already flushed from whatever was going on down there beneath the surface and hazel eyes still look a little peaked. She casts another smile at each of the women once more with a quiet, "Excuse me won't you," and then down she sinks. This time she apparently doesn't go quite so deep and a brief thrashing and flailing of arms will occur causing waves and bubbles to rise to the surface of the pool.

Nodding to Mika, Aadi turns her attention to the whirlwind that is Emilia. "Yeah, I got it okay, thanks." She watches Emilia chatter away with an expression of minor shock, watches her dart back under and shakes her head, reaching for her soapsand and beginning to work up a ladder. "Does she have klah running in her veins? Instead of blood?" she wonders aloud.

Mika eyes where Emilia disappeared into the water a little suspiciously. "What do you think /she's/ up to?" She murmurs, overlapping Aadi's comment and shakes her head. "No, I think it's got to be stronger than Klah, if that's possible… Something from the healers. You're a new candidate, right?" She asks, thinking she saw the girl in the candidate, rather than residents barracks, earlier…

Emilia says, "Ever so much better," gets punctuated out of another cough when Emilia rises for the second time. Once she has pushed her mass of wet hair and its streaming water from her face she'll glance at the two women and notice the lingering curious and suspicious expressions. "It's not laundry day," is the explanation she gives first. "I was screaming! It's a very good way to get rid of frustration, especially if someone pisses you off, and no one can hear you underwater." Then Mika earns a quick grin, "I hear congratulations are in order again even though you were already a candidate. Is R'ki proud?" Aadi just earns a bright smile since she hadn't really heard the klah comment submerged."

"Yeah, well. New is a relative word, but for this clutch, yeah. R'ki and Seiketh Searched me the other day." She watches Emilia for a moment and then goes back to scrubbing. "Rather than break your vocal chords, y'could go n' fight somethin'. Or do someone — seein' as you aren't a Candidate. Plenty of other ways to rid stress without damagin' yourself."

Aadi
The 'solidly built weyrbrat' has grown into a blossoming young woman…sort of. Her hair — still the same rich red of her youth — is longer now, when down brushing just past her shoulders. But only rarely is it let free like that. For the most part it is tied back in two braids that run along her skull to the nape of her neck. Her face has tanned a little, but the true evidence of time spent in the sun can be found in the darkening of the dust of freckles that lies across her nose and cheeks. She's capped out at about 5'7" — a respectable height for a Pernese woman — and her body has finally shed the last vestiges of baby-fat, leaving her with a lean, toned appearance.
She wears the white knot of an Istan Candidate.
With her usual casual grace, Aadi has dressed herself in well-worn, tight-fitting clothes. The better to ride in, of course. Tight grey breeches and black wher hide boots cover her lower half, while the upper is draped in a rust-colored tunic, belted at the waist with her wher-leather belt, dyed to match her boots. On said belt are two hilts for small daggers — one on each side — and a small pouch of unknown content. There are slight bulges in her boots that may or may not be more concealed weaponry, but it's rather impolite to ask, don't you think? Prissy tilts her head, eyeing you from the other shoulder. Colum regards you, perched atop Aadi's shoulder. Nante peers up at you curiously from his safe vantage of Aadi's other arm. Synthe yawns from his perch on Aadi's upper arm. Rhett regards you haughtily from his perch on Aadi's shoulder.
Aadi is 23 Turns, 2 months, and 17 days old.

Mika nods to Aadi, "Is he doing alright?" She asks of Aadi. She hasn't seen R'ki in several days. She gives Emilia, "Meaning I'll get to stand for a second clutch soon?" Mika's tone actually is touched with irony. "At least it won't be three turns before the next one after this…"

Emilia gives a relatively mild smile towards Aadi but her eyes cross briefly, "Maybe that's why I'm screaming," she says with a faintly exasperated tone. A shake of her head springs some life back into her hair and she'll bounce in the water and roll her eyes towards Mika, "I told R'ki he should do something special for you, because you deserved it since you work so hard."

"He looked well enough to me," Aadi answers. "And yeah. Rhyolith caught Naomith when she rose. Eggs are gonna roll." Emilia's answer makes a modicum of sense, so Aadi merely shrugs and goes back to her washing.
Mika shakes her head, "He said we could go flying somewhere… but that only works if I can get permission, which with eggs comming gets less likely." She shrugs, resigned more than anything else. "It's good to hear he's looking well. I hear it was a good flight. Rhyolith's getting good at catching golds.' Which could explain the otherwise lack of golds at Ista, but that's only a passing thought at least as far as Mika's concerned.

Emilia will frown briefly at Mika's comment, "So how did Corana come here. Was she a transfer or something." She'll shake her head, "but no, that wouldn't fit given what I've heard.." For a moment she tries to figure out something in her head then shrugs, "I suppose he's better then our Weyrleader at home. My Father hates him!" She'll cock a tilted head grin at Aadi and shrug, "Eggs are always good for Weyrs and with thread there should be more clutches." She's preaching to the converted here, but…

"Naomith was bought." It's a simple explanation. "Ista was running out of golds and since Rhyolith sired the last clutch too, they had to buy one of the eggs from…Telgar or Benden I think. Somewhere with excess." She leans back to wet her hair before working it into a lather. "What's wrong with your weyrleader?"

"Telgar," Mika confirmed. "though I'm not sure how they convinced them to send the egg, rather than a gold /rider/…" She had only been 14, and barely that when that deal had been made. "More clutches is good, though there'll be some of us who don't impress at any of them."

Emilia is already the converted but she happily nods at Mika and then shrugs at Aadi, "Weyr politics. I don't know really, I'd been at Keroon Hold when all that went down and haven't really been home since. You should ask Igen though, he'd know. But since he owes me a ride home now, I'll find out soon enough."

"Yeah, right." Mika's unintentional barb hits straight home with Aadi, making her flinch before going back to her washing. "You keep mentioning an Igen, Em. Who is he?"

"Q'luin," Mika has heard that scathing moniker more than once. She gives Aadi a confused look, not sure what she said wrong, but picking up that at least something wasn't /right/. "You're going back ot Igen?" MIka's tone as soft as usual, but it wavered between hope and incredulity.

Emilia snorts at the name and makes a face, but responds to both of them, "I want to go home for a visit and if I don't have assured transportation out again then I won't be going. That's why I played the dice game with Igen. I won one favor and he won one favor. Though I owe Jacqueline three too." She's going to be doing candidate chores for a turn!

Nodding thanks to Mika for clearing that one up, Aadi turns to Emilia with a look of positive incredulity. "Emilia, dear. You do know you're in a /weyr/, yeah?" She shakes her head. "There're more riders than you could possibly want, all in one place. Ask one of them. Don't bother with cranky-pants." Her own personal name for Q'luin. "Hell, how do you think I get around in a pinch?"

Mika sinks a bit lower into the pool and concentrates on getting the fish-smell out of her hair. She leaves the argument over Q'luin to these two. She had the fortune… or missfortune… of being a candidate with the man.

Emilia rolls her eyes at Aadi but manages a cheerful grin, "I know I'm in a weyr. Born and raised thank you kindly. But how many times have you been flown someplace only to be stranded there because Weyr business takes precedence! I can get anyone of my brothers to come get me in a moment as long as they get the message, but they'd listen to my Dad and /he/ isn't going to be so thrilled that I'm no longer at Keroon Hold! This way I have assurance that my ride will wait for me!" She does grin at the cranky pants nickname though.

OOC: And here sleep over takes me.

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