[ OPEN ] Hot Springs Episode!

[shri]

CHARACTERS: EVERYONE
WHERE: The Second Flight
WHEN: DAY :022
SUMMARY: The Sauna!
WARNINGS: Nekkid times.

[ A few hours after the murder, she hasn't blown the ship up, and here they are. Another knock knock on everyone's brain: ]

( For those of you that are interested - I have secured us a place at the Sauna. Free for us to be use without interruption from outsiders.

You are to be clean before you come in. )

[ Maybe you're here because she bullied you, maybe you want to soak - maybe you're the poor bastard that is standing guard at the door. Either way, welcome to the Suana, have fun. Or don't. ]

Comments

[detestable]

[ If Seth were inclined, he could delve right into her head. Maybe Richie would have. Richie likes to know everything. But Seth doesn't. He has enough of a read on Lakshmi for the moment, and needlessly exacerbating the friction between them wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Or it won't at the moment.

So he lifts the bowl and lobs it at her, sending ripples across the surface as he sits up. It's hard to shake the sluggish haze of contentment from his muscles. He's going to resent that more later than he does now. ]

You could cut out the middleman and just get back in the pool.

[ So he'll ruin things another way. But it's a better follow up than asking about her scar, or how unbothered she is by her own nudity. ]

[shri]

[ One of these days - she won't rise to this - her hand lifting and catching the bowl he tosses back her way. The way she pushes herself up on both her elbows, then up to the flat of her palms. The narrowing, flat line of her mouth. The slide forward as she swings her legs into the water and pushes her way back into the water. Warm and calm on her skin. She presses against it and moves across the short distance towards him.

Though at the last minute, she catches the bowl in her hand, scooping it across the surface of the water as she comes up closer to him. ]

Are you enjoying yourself?

[ Like she doesn't know, like she doesn't know every little shift and shudder under his skin like he knows hers. ]

[detestable]

[ It turns out he won't be able to lean his head back and close his eyes again. Coexisting with Lakshmi had seemed doable until she was disturbed and set into motion. Seth briefly considers their nudity before he turns his attention to the question, elbowing himself fully upright with a sigh. ]

You wasting both our time asking a question you already know the answer to?

[ Because he can't block her out yet, not satisfactorily. ]

Unless you're fishing for a thank you.

[shri]

[ Her advance is steady, through the water. Cares little for all that skin exposed as she presses forward. Scars enough to tell how little her concern is for any of it. Skin was just skin, after all, and she's sure enough of her ability to deal with any problem that comes her way. ]

Do I seem like I fish for much of anything when I want it?

[detestable]

[ The predatory nature of her approach isn't accidental. Lakshmi doesn't strike him as someone unaware of the effect she's having. Seth hasn't gotten up yet, but he's keeping his avenues of retreat in mind. Elena's assurance that they can't do each other harm doesn't mean Lakshmi can't make this supremely uncomfortable for Seth in other ways. ]

Depends on what you want.

[ And right now, Seth's guessing it's the satisfaction of a reaction from him. ]

And a few minutes ago, it looked like you had everything you wanted over there.

[ On her side of the pool, so to speak. ]

[shri]

[ She mercifully stops - when she's a good three feet away from him. Nothing too close, not even in striking range, at least where her fists are concerned. But mercifully, she is unarmed at the moment. ]

I did.

[ The bowl is lifted up, between both her hands, the smile kicks briefly - someone, sooner or later, is going to learn not to trust that either, when her teeth flash. ]

But I thought of something better.

[ And it speaks to that infectious mirth when she darts up and proceeds to dump that whole bowl of water over his head. Barking with laughter for it, light and easy - she perhaps doesn't have a beautiful laugh - but it certainly is earnest. ]

[detestable]

[ The impulse takes shape in the space between their minds. Lakshmi's intent comes to him fully formed. Seth's immediate instinct to recoil from that closeness means he's rewarded by a bowlful of water splashing over his face.

It really isn't the first time someone's dumped water over his head. Or any drink. People haven't been picky. He still splutters, half-rising in the water to drag a hand down his face. ]

What the hell, Lakshmi.

[ Seth knows full well how she'd prefer to be addressed. But if she wanted familiarity, then Seth would skip the titles. Particularly now, when Seth doesn't understand her objective at all. At least in the tent, he knew exactly what her angle was. ]

Weren't you giving Prompto hell for splashing around in here?

[shri]

How dare you compare me to a boy throwing himself around at the top of his lungs, I'll have to dump more water over your head for that.

[ But she doesn't sound particularly bothered by any of it. Mirthful, if that slow dry tone she does best. Flat and deep in the back of her throat where she lets the words sit before she speaks. ]

Oh, half a dozen people here tell me I should 'lighten up', and now I do so. Is that so much a bother to share that with someone who does nothing less than to share my mind?