[Soothing Waters] A Bath? What's That? [Douglas, Troy/ Open]

[Taryn]

Season of Spring, Day 83, 511 AV

For much of his short life, Taryn had lived in the Great Bazaar, of the Dyres District in the fourth tier, and had yet to be many places outside of the district. He had no reason to venture to the upper levels, usually, but today was different. Taryn skirted one of many halls of the third tier, darting past many a residential rooms. Some were silent and unoccupied, while others were not. But thus far, he'd managed to run into plenty of closed doors, which was not what he was looking for. He wanted to see the human houses. Taryn skidded to a hault when he came to a fork in the hallway-- right or left? He kept his back to the wall, avoiding whatever plodding steps that might pass.

There was a sudden clamor of voices, raucously laughing, and Taryn lifted his gaze. A trio of Syliran Knights, each which seemed to be of the "Knight" Rank, came wandering by, conversing lightly about something that had happened the night before. Together, they exited the hallway to the right,and all the while, Taryn watched with big, dreamy eyes. His mind had been made up-- he was going to wherever they had come from, no matter what. Taryn darted across the hall and veered right, certain that he was going in the right direction when the clamor of voices reached his ears, and he saw a rather important-looking doorway from which steam was furling.

"Peculiar," he commented, with a smirk. This was going to be fun. He veered down the stairs, which were narrow and hot with steam, leaping and landing and leaping again skillfully. Coming back up the stairs would be a pain later, but it would be worth it. As Taryn neared the base, he encountered taller people, who were lining up to enter the steamy abode of the Knights. Taryn tugged the pant leg of a man who stood beside him, and the man peered down at him.

"Do the Knights come here?" he inquired.

The man gave him a funny look, and replied, "Everyone comes here, particularly the Knights."

Taryn leapt up and sprinted past, cutting past numerous peopele that were in-line unnoticed. He paused at the receptionist, moving cautiously along the podium. "Please, enjoy your bath here at the Soothing Waters," he heard the young man quip before Taryn slipped into the Baths. Once in, he darted for one of the pillars, following the men towards the right of the room. Taryn followed them until they veered for the dressing room, at which point, he took the opportunity to survey his surroundings.

The splendor that met Taryn's eyes astonished him, for before him he saw an enormous stretch of steaming blue water, in which many humans and humanoids alike soaked. He had to get closer. Taryn darted skillfully across the walkway, and fastened onto another pillar, edging around it until he was poolside. Taryn peered down into the water, cautiously looking into the swirling depths. He was a poor swimmer, and had a general distaste for water, but he was still transfixed by the water of the bath. Taryn leaned precariously over the edge, only rooted by his small hands, which gripped the side. He was so intent on the water, and the overall appearance of the bath that he didn't notice the pair of eyes that were watching him.

[Douglas]

The sound of water always helped to clear his mind. One could not always be in thought, it makes a person go mad. Douglas sat cross-legged far from everyone else, eyes closed, mediating. No matter how often he visited however, he could never truly come out clean. Douglas had been here for a time unknowable, possibly a few hours, but it was just as likely that he had been sitting there all day. The energy here was calm, serene, peaceful. That is until...

The young man felt a new presence enter the room, minuscule in size but the energy behind it was astounding. As it got closer, Douglas wiped the sweat off his brow, noticed red in his palm when he opened his eyes. He shook his head, examining it again. His eyes were playing tricks on him, a man does not sweat blood. The Pycon was so absorbed in his fascination with the water, he was completely oblivious to his surroundings, most importantly the placement of his body. One sudden movement would send the Pycon tumbling into the endless abyss that was the bath.

"Be careful." Douglas nudged him lightly in the opposite direction of the water. "It is very deep, and I don't care for saving people when I am trying to relax." He allowed a light smile to creep across his face as he spoke.

[Troy]

Troy was laying back in the hot bath, his eyes closed as his mind wandered. He had come in here everyday since entering syliras, and it still was his favorite place. He loved to soak in the waters and listen to the splashes. And unlike some of the more modest people, he had no problem being naked in front of so many people. It was just his body, and if people wanted to appreciate him then fine. He had been floating on his back, only his eye's and nose sticking out of the water as he rested. However as he heard buzzing he would move and stick his head out of the water looking around. His curly locks sticking to his head in a mess. Looking around he would see what looked like a clay statue and someone talking to it. He had seen a lot of things lately, but why would someone talk to a statue? Moving over quietly to the edge of the pool he would peek over the edge at the the pair before gasping. The statue was moving! How was that possible at all? No, he must be imagining it. Looking up at Douglas Troy would open his mouth to talk "Umm, why are you talking to that statue and why is it moving?"

[Douglas]

Sometimes it is difficult to grasp that not everyone is as learned as you think you are.

"I speak to him because he is moving." Douglas said to the boy. "That is a Pycon, a bit of clay given life through magic. Do not discount this creature, we have much in common with him; sentient creatures composed of dirt."

Douglas recognized the boy from his trips here, but he rarely interacted with the other bathers. It was not in Douglas' nature to chat up a naked man sitting next to him, or any naked man at that. Now that a gathering found itself in front of Doug, he shifted his posture, stretched his back, adjusted his towel, uncrossed his legs, and let them fall into the water below, letting them sway freely under the water.

He kept his gaze fixed on the little clay man. He had not seen many Pycon in person, and if he had, they were surely not the focus of his attention. "How do you fare in this humidity? I assume that the extra water in the air might hurt your composition slightly." The last thing he wanted to see was this creature melt before his eyes, unable to reconstitute itself.

[Taryn]

OOCPycon's don't melt in water, as according to Tarot in a Q+A thread. Just FYI.

Taryn winced as someone moved him away from the water, warning him against falling in. Yikes! Taryn gasped, his limbs pinwheeling as lost his balance and rolled back onto the tile floor, away from the water. He caught himself before he could somersault, and he leapt to his feet. Had he a circulatory system, his face would be flushed and his heart would be racing. While the dark-haired, green-eyed man hadn't pushed Taryn back from the edge with malintent, he still panicked, and was still a bit annoyed- both at the fact that he'd been caught, and the fact that the person who'd caught him had told him that, essentially, it would inconvenience him if Taryn had happened to fall in.

"I'm being careful, sir," Taryn countered peevishly, but remembering his manners, he added on, "But I thank you for your concern."

He sighed heavily, looking for his next leg of the adventure. He spun on his heel to survey some other part of the room, and came face-to-chest with a boy, whose head was full of soggy blond curls, and whose lucid blue eyes were staring straight into him. Taryn recoiled uneasily, and the boy gasped.

The blond boy approached the dark-haired man, asking about the "talking statue" and as to why this man was addressing "it". The man answered for him, much to Taryn's displeasure, so he added on to the explanation.

Sound peevish, Taryn added on, "And I'm a him not an it or a that. He was just cautioning me against falling into the water, lest I drown and need rescuing."

"The name's Taryn," he concluded. Taryn assumed that the blond one was from out of town, as Syliras was swarming with Pycon. Taryn allowed himself to glance around the bathhouse some more, still staking out his next destination, when the dark-haired man hurled another question at him.

"I am as unaffected by the humidity as you are, sir," Taryn replied, offering a single-shouldered shrug, and a wry smile. It was a common question to be asked.

[Douglas]

"Interesting. I might go so far as to speculate you are less affected by it than I am." He hated the heat. At least, the dry and awful kind. "The name is Doug. Sorry if I startled you."

The Pycon had peaked his interest. Creatures like this, born of magic, made Douglas green with envy. He had done some reading on Alchemy, all kinds of magic fascinated him. To create life from almost nothing was a power he could only dream of accessing.

"If you don't mind me asking, are you a first generation Pycon? Or were you born same as any other child?" No telling what this one was created for. A pawn for espionage, or was this one born from the love and labor of two?

[Taryn]

OOCSo, Doug, after this post, we're going to follow the post order of Troy, then you, then me + anyone else who joins in-between. Wouldn't want to accidentally leave him behind.

"It's fine," Taryn grumbled a bit huffily, pretending to adjust his clothes, "Nice to meet you." It was then that he was hit with another question, pertaining to his origins, and Taryn turned an odd gaze upon the dark-haired man. Doug, he repeated in his head.

"I have parents, sir," he admitted, "But Harameus is my divine father." He turned to the blond, quirking his head at him. It was obvious that he was intrigued, and it would be an injustice for Taryn to just walk off and not speak with him, and it would be very impolite.

"What of you, sir? What's your name?" Taryn inquired, "Are you from around here?" Of course he wasn't from around here. If he was, he would have known what Taryn was.