[Aquillar Springs] A time to relax. [Daniel Alecson]

[Carina]

Timestamp: 19th of Spring, year 512. Climbing up in the sky, the moon watched the world below it, no clouds to obscure its view. And from down on the ground, small gazing eyes could look up and see the stars dancing amongst themselves. Tiny specks of light that shimmered like jewels. It was nights like this that Carina loved the most; the cold dim light that poured down from the heavens lighting her path wherever she chose to wonder. And walking out in the darker parts of Sunberth, she needed such light. That evening, like most others, silence was pushed out of the city by the many voices of lively citizens and the activities that kept their attention. The perfect opportunity to take advantage of the hot spring she rarely used. Especially after the long day of training she had just survived. The days events left sweat and dirt clinging to her dry skin and crumpled clothes; it wasn't often that she worked her muscles as hard as she had today. She didn't doubt that her tightening muscles would be crying in pain and stiffness by the time she woke the next morning. Opening the front door to the hot springs, the chill of the nights air was abandoned at the door when the warm heat that gathered inside spilled out and around Carina. Inside all was silent except for a few sounds that contributed to the relaxing atmosphere of that night. Clinging moisture gathered on the surfaces inside, eventually running down the the dark wood walls or falling from the ceiling above. Meeting the floor or waters surface to grab your attention for but a moment. The patten forever continuing as long as vapors rose from the hot pools to fill the room and kiss its inhabitants. After a long day of training with a few of the other members of the Crimson Edge, this was exactly what she needed. And to her surprise and pleasure, the bath house greeted her with still waters and empty space. Her once placid features turning up into a slight smile at the prospect of having the spring to herself if even for just a moment. Seizing this rare opportunity, Carina was quick to remove her grim covered clothes; finding no need for flustered decency when the only onlookers were blind walls and floors. Her clothes releasing their hold on her, slender white lines were revealed over bare skin where sweat came to rest and dry, leaving salt in its place. They would soon be washed away though, as she draped her clothes over a nearby bench and hurried on eager toes to the waters edge. Carina wanted to relish the few moments before stepping down into the calm water. To anticipate and expect before letting herself give way to the promising pleasure of relaxation. The build up was part of the fun, wasn't it? When she finally stepped down into the water the ache of her muscles and weariness of body succumbed to something of an ecstasy. Unable to contain her bliss, a soft moan escaped her lips. Feeling the days stress starting to leave her. Her decent into the water was slow and almost painful from her earlier training, feeling slight twinges of pain from muscles she didn't even know she had. It didn't take long before she found a seat to settle into as she grew accustomed the the stinging temperature, and enjoyed the alleviating heat of the water. The liquid took her in greedily, embracing every inch of her body and licking at what skin remained exposed to the suffocating air. For some time, she simply sat with her eyes closed and enjoyed the silence. But once she was used to the intoxicating heat, she slouched in her seat and let the water climb up her skin until her neck was completely submerged. Then pushing herself out from her seat, she sunk down into the middle of the spring until her entire body was hidden below the rejuvenating water.

[Daniel Alecson]

It was a pleasent night in sunberth, the weather was nice, being cool but not cold and having a clear sky. Overall though Daniel enjoyed the quiet, by this time of night everything had died down. The drunken tavern fights had been quelled, the drunkards all passed out wherever they happened to fall, and for the most part the gangs had all retreated to their hideouts. There was the occasional street urchin still up but they were wary of people out and about and tended to stay out of sight. Daniel let out a contented sigh as he walked through the empty streets, it was nights like these that made staying in sunberth worthwhile. Whilst the lawlessness made for a horrid place in the day, during the midnight hours the town was almost completely peacful. No armored guards tromping around and harrasing who ever they happened to find in the streets and the gangs need not come out at night cause they could walk freely during the day.

Daniel made his way to the Aquillar Springs, he tended to visit often, usually at this same time of night, because he could enjoy privacy without having to pay extra for a private room. The bath-house was one of the few places Daniel went unarmed, he knew that one day that might come to bite him, but he just couldn't bear to bring weapons of death to such a peaceful place. Daniel had always had a soft spot for bath-houses but had become especially attached the Aquillar Springs along with the kindness of Max and Natlana.

"Good evening Natlana. I'll just have the usual", Daniel said cheerily, placing 5 coppers for the bath and a silver for a kettle of tea. Daniel really enjoyed Natlana's tea, there was something about the way she made it. Her tea was much more flavorful then his, then again all Daniel knew about making tea was how long to let the leaves seep.

=Natlana=
"Of course, dearie. Go get comfortable and I'll bring your tea into you when it's finished", Natlana replied, sweeping Daniel's money off the counter into her hand before placing it into a pouch. Daniel turned and went to the communal bath, already begining to relax after a long day's training. In all honesty Daniel hadn't trained as he had earlier that day for a long time, he'd been in plenty of harrowing fights, which were nearly as good as training, but he hadn't done any true training in a long time.

Opening the door Daniel stepped into the area for the commnal baths, suprised by the amount of steam obsucuring his sight. Daniel didn't care though he knew no threats hid in the mist, however the mist did hide from him a woman who was nearly submereged in the water, and the ripples of her finally fully submerging as he striped. Stripping down took Daniel just a few seconds, and he slipped silently into the water, pulling the leather strip that held his hair into a ponytail as he did. Daniel quietly sat for a few moments in the water, before he dunked his head, soaking his hair. When he came up he began washing his long black hair with the soap he'd brought, whilst softly whistling a tune his father had taught him.

[Carina]

Gently, the hot water held Carina, and in its embrace she heard the rhythmic thump of her heart. There was also one other quite noise, one she could never bring herself to ignore. In the beginning, it was difficult to understand or discern, but over time she started to. It was the pained sound of a screaming woman. And while to some it may have been maddening, Carina found it strangely comforting. Wrapped in a cocoon of isolation from the world, all other sounds were muted. When she was in this place, the springs, time seemed to slow. That was one of the reasons she loved it as much as she did, and why she spent to much time there. But then her world of silence below the waters surface was invaded. Displaced water rising slightly as two legs and a torso sunk down into it. Felling the rush of restless water as it greeted its new guest, she pushed herself up to the surface. Breaking the surface, she opened her eyes. And to her surprise, her eyes were met with the site of a young man. His knees resting at the right an left of her shoulders, the position forced Carina to look up to meet his gaze. Any closer and the two would be touching. For a moment the unexpected meeting left her frozen where she knelt, her eyes fixed on his. But when her senses returned after a few moments had passed, she was quick to back away, waves of water rushing up and over delicate shoulders as she retreated to a more comfortable distance. That's to say, a distance that the stranger might have been more comfortable with; herself finding no shame or embarrassment when confronted with such close contact. A humorous laugh escaped her lips as she found her seat opposite the new visitor. "I'm sorry, I thought I was alone in here." With those words a smile tugged at the corners of her lips and an awkward silence fell over the room as Carina let her eyes wonder over the mans form. Resting one arm on the edge of the spring, her head rested in a wet palm. Something seemed familiar about this man, but her mind kept drawing up blank. And as she watched the emotions that played over his features in silence, she wondered who would speak first. It was a game she played from time to time. Men did the strangest things when there were no words to fill the air. OOCI know this post is a bit short, but I'm curious to see how Daniel will react to the situation and want to see what emotions you put into him. ^^

[Daniel Alecson]

Daniel had noticed small waves as he had looked down into the water, while washing his hair. At first he thought nothing of it, then he noticed the sensation in his legs of someone almost, but not quite, touching him. Yet it wasn't until the woman spoke that he finally reacted. With a hearty gasp, Daniel pushed back as far as he could, which wasn't very far as he'd been nearly resting on the wall that was now digging into his back. Catching sight of the woman in the pool Daniel averted his eyes, it wasn't polite to look at a woman while she was in the nude, let alone while he was as well. When he'd gone to averty his eyes whoever he'd caused a a small ammount of the suds that was in his hair to slide down, into his eye.

"Gods damn it!" Daniel yelled in pain. Normally such small pain wouldn't have elicted such a response from him, but Daniel was hardly composed at the moment. In coming to the bath-house Daniel had let his guard down in more ways then one. Daniel attempted to wipe the suds out of his eyes, dropping his soap into the pool in the process. However this just agrivated things as he hadn't been thinking clearly and as such hadn't washed the suds off his hands first. Daniel did the only other thing he could think of in that situation, he dunked his head fully under the water, blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear the soap out.

Daniel relaxed slightly, the hot water actually feeling rather good on his still smarting eye. It was at that moment that Daniel caught a full view of the woman, who'd slipped his mind during the commotion, from under the water. Blushing profusely Daniel sat straight up, pulling his head from the water, his eyes tightly clamped shut. Daniel was profusely blushing, his face the color of a rose in full bloom, whether this was just from the blushing or a combination of the blushing and having his face under the hot water was unknown, however the color was quite vivid nonetheless.

I am very sorry. I usually come here and the baths are usually completely empty at this time of night so you startled me and I didn't intend to see your body under the water. . . . . . . . and I'm rambling. I normally don't ramble but I'm nervous because I'm not used to being around people while they or I'm indecent. Cause my father always taught me that people shold hold themselves with. . . . . . I'm doing it again aren't I?" Daniel turned his head away from the woman sheepishly as to make sure he didn't accidently look at her naked body again. Daniel still hadn't actually looked at the girl long enough to see if he reckognized her, he actually hadn't seen enough, besides under the water, to deduce anything about the girl.

[Carina]

Watching Daniel from the other side of the spring, she held back a chuckle that had built up in her throat and threatened to escape. The scene before her was rather entertaining; though not because of the pain the young man was going through. She was entertained by his reaction to the mere presence of a nude woman. It was rare to find somebody so reserved in Sunberth. When he lifted his head from the water, she could tell his features were a few shades of red darker, and it wasn't just from the waters heat. That happened over extended time in the water, and he had hardly spent more than a few seconds with his eyes below the waters stirring surface. Her face was a bit flushed as well, but she had been in the spring a might longer then he. Once the pain had left his eyes, the young man started to ramble on about the spring being empty, seeing her body, and something about the naked body being indecent. She let him speak until his words ran dry and ended with him staring off nervously. In his moment of near hysteria, it seemed he didn't recognize her from the training earlier that day. She recognized him though, but she wouldn't say anything about that just yet. Instead she would try and strike up a conversation. Maybe try and make him a bit more nervous. "You think we are indecent in our nudity? The human body is a beautiful thing... Only indecent if we make it to be." Until then her head had still been resting in the palm of an open hand. But shifting in her seat, she brought her other arm up out of the water and laced her fingers behind her head. "I feel pity for those that view our nakedness in such a way." Falling silent for a moment, it seemed the man was still a bit too nervous to look at her directly. "There is no need to force yourself to divert your eyes. Would an artist force himself to look away from a subject he thought to be beauty?" That was assuming that he did, in fact, view her as attractive. She asked the question in ignorance to his dabbling in calligraphy. Carina wasn't one to be shy about her body, in fact, she thought it was a precious gift to be beheld. Because of this, she viewed the mans apprehension to to gaze at her, a potentially fun game. Perhaps he needed a lesson on the beauty of the human figure. With her intentions hidden behind a twinkling eye, and the steam that filled the air, she motioned for him to come sit by her and wondered if he would accept the invitation. Perhaps she would learn a thing or two about this shy man in the process.

[Daniel Alecson]

Daniel still looked away from the woman, and had started to regulate his breathing in an attempt regain his composure. The girl had brought up a good point about indecency though. Daniel honestly had never cared about the indecency, to him it was about vulnerabilty. To be disrobed with another was to be vulnerable cause you bared yourself fully to another. Daniel wasn't one who enjoyed being even slightly vulnerable, being without his swords was hard enough, to be caught nude as well was almost to much. His instincts screamed to jump from the bath and run from the bath-house. However his mind objected, he'd paid for this bath and he wasn't about to let his money go to waste.

"Yet I am no artist and you are not my subject. Though I have no doubt you wold be wonderful muse", Daniel said his voice flat and monotonus. Daniel's face was completely blank and his eyes seemed almost dead. Daniel had regained his composure for the most part and his mask was back up, although some small amount of redness was still on his cheeks. Daniel's mask wasn't perfect, but it was sufficent, as long as nothing too "suprising" happened he'd be able to keep it up. Daniel noticed the woman gesturing for him to come join her, Daniel cleared his throat before speaking.

"Thank you for your invitation but I think I'll be able to clean myself fine from here", Daniel responded in the same flat, nearly dead tone. Normally Daniel wasn't this emotionless in his responses but it helped him keep his composure in this situation.

[Carina]

From across the spring, Carina smirked. It was interesting to watch how a shy man dealt with circumstances that put him outside of his comfort zone. And she wondered how far she could push him. If she could get a rise out of him, things would be interesting. Suddenly it was becoming something of a personal challenge. Crossing her arms in front of her, she thought about what she would try next. The fact that he declined her invitation roused a quiet chuckle she fought to keep down. "Well then... I guess if you won't join me, I'll join you." With that, she shifted forward in her seat and pushed herself into the middle of the spring. Coming to a stop only a short distance from him, she spoke again. "At the very least, you could look at me." Pausing a moment, she smiled. "I doubt you've even realized your in the company of a fellow member of the Crimson Edge." She watched for a reaction. "Today's workout was a hell of a lot of work, huh? I guess you had the same idea as me." Then she moved to take the seat next to him, wondering if he would move, or protest the close proximity. Especially since her hip and leg were just barely touching. OOCSuper short, I know! D: But I didn't want to get too far ahead, or assume he wouldn't react to what Carina's doing. :x

[Daniel Alecson]

Daniel was attemting to casually find where he'd dropped the soap within the pool, to little avail. Between the steam and the small bubbles in the water very little could be through the water from above. Daniel looked up when Carina spoke again, affixing her with a dead stare that most would find a bit disturbing. Daniel's eyes were firmly locked on her face, so as not to stray to her unmentionables. Daniel hadn't quite caught what she'd said first, but from her movement Daniel had a slight inkling of what she might've said. The idea of being in too close of proximity with the woman was slightly unsettling to Daniel, although he wasn't quite sure as to why. Daniel didn't think that she really would though, she was likely just trying to make him squirm, getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of his unfamiliarity and thus akwardness in this situation.

"My apologies. There are many member's of the Crimson Edge and I have yet to remember all of them", Daniel stated his voice still flat and emotionless, mirroring his expression perfectly. Daniel slowly turned his face back to the water attempting to peirce it's depths and ascertain the location of his missing soap. When she spoke again, Daniel listened without letting it stop his fruitless search.

"Yes the training was quite extensive. Been a long time since I'd actually practiced in a traditional sense", Daniel's voice had finally gained some tone although not much. It was a tone of, not quite boredom, but almost of disinterest as if one was responding to a distraction whilst busy. It was at that moment he felt something slightly bump his leg, thinking it his soap Daniel grabbed that which had made contact with him. Before his head could swivel and his eyes come to rest on where his hand had come to stop Daniel noticed the soft, slight squishiness of what was in his hand and he was puzzled. As his eyes came to the point Daniel finally realized what had happened, the woman had moved closer while he hadn't been paying attention and he was now holding her leg.

Daniel's eyes went as he suddenly sat straight up, hastily letting go of her leg in the process. Daniel was frozen, nothing in his past or his father's teachings prepared him for any such situations. His emotions were still screaming to jump from the pool, gather his things and run from the bath-house. Logic was still advocating to excuse himself from the situation and finish his bath. However there was also a new voice, somewhere deep in the back of Daniel's mind, perhaps it was his animal instinct. This voice was encouraging Daniel to accept this attractive woman's advances and indulge in a wild night of rutting in the hot waters. With three different voices each demanding a completely different course of action, Daniel was frozen, stuck in an internal tug-o-war that was unlikely to be resolved without some change in the situation.

[Carina]

From next to Daniel, Carin watched him search, and listened to him speak. His distraction, and the sound of disinterest was a bit annoying to the girl. Though she easily assumed it was an excuse to divert his gaze. He wouldn't see it, but the only evidence of her annoyance was a slightly risen brow as she watched, her patience still unwavering. She sat, her torso twisted at the waist to face him diagonally with an elbow perched on the waters edge behind her. His hand was moving blind under the hot water until she pressed her leg to his. A smirk sneaking over her features when he unintentionally reached for her. Carina was interested in seeing just how he would react now, faced with that which he seemed to avoid. And when his eyes went wide, it didn't surprised her; given the way he had seemed to clam up or shut down when faced with her naked form earlier. However, it was at least a little interesting when he didn't instantly release her leg. Maybe he wasn't just a shy little boy after all. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?" She asked with a slight chuckle when he eventually did retreat his hand. She wouldn't touch him though; believing that if she did it could have been enough to chase him from the water. Instead she would try to make some conversation. "Tell me, what brought you to the lovely city of Sunberth?" Asking with a sarcastic voice, she thought a change in subject would help to calm him.