[ 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]

[ It's a momentary relief to have Richie shift back from laughingly commenting on the assortment of bad b-movie extras they're sharing space with and assess the situation like the professionals they're supposed to be. The relief fades when Richie lays out the exact nature of just how fucked they are, on top of Richie eventually needing a next meal. Seth had been letting himself ignore that, hoping Richie would come up with a fix on his own, except if they stayed on this airship, Seth was likely going to have to stay involved. He wasn't sure he wanted to, though he also knows he doesn't exactly have a choice. ]

Yeah, well, reserving a private room at the pool isn't exactly a groundbreaking show of teamwork.

[ Any excuse to throw shade at Lakshmi, even as the knotwork of scars on her bare skin flash into Seth's mind. ]

How long can you go before we have to start worrying about your next meal?

[ophidia]

[There's no point asking Seth how long he can go without eating. Use it as a snipe back, show him how fucked that question was. They both know the answer. They'd experienced it enough times as kids.]

Worrying starts at a few days. [That he knows well enough from his time with Kisa. When the hunger really started.] But I can go a week, maybe longer. As long as I don't have to heal.

[He doesn't know if Seth understands that, how the timing of their arrival had been the reason why he'd ended up so hungry so soon. The bullet wound, the walk in the sun. All of that, and then the attack at the motel had come before he'd even had time to think of going out for a bite.]

[detestable]

[ It's a fucked question. Seth isn't completely unaware of what blood is to Richie. A sandwich scrounged together from whatever he could lift from the market or a pit stop at the nearest burger joint wasn't going to cut it anymore. All the old go-to's Seth had learned when Ray hadn't bothered to stock the kitchen were useless now. Food had been a language between them, and now Seth can't keep up with the translation. It was fucked. For all the reasons Richie's thinking and then some. ]

It'll be easier to get the drop on someone when we're on the ground.

[ And there's already a murdered on the loose. That was useful. ]

If we play it right, they'll all keep on blaming each other and no one will look at us.

[ Us meaning them and their veiled cohorts. ]

[ophidia]

[We would normally be natural. No thought in it. The Gecko brothers together. But in the context it catches Richard's attention as unwanted. He looks at Seth flatly, ignoring the temptation to start bouncing off the facts he's stated, cutting the flaws away and working on the good.]

I'll handle it, Seth.

[He doesn't want a repeat of the closet. He knows Seth doesn't, either, no matter how much he might avoid stating it directly.]

[detestable]

[ Record scratch. They're running into those more and more these days. Seth frowns over it, off-put by the dissonant chord as much as the rebuke. ]

Oh yeah?

[ Does he want to restart the argument they'd only just barely put behind them? Seth's tired of that calculation. ]

Look, you're going to need someone to watch your back. That's all I'm saying.

[ And that the idea of someone else watching Richie's back rankles, but like hell is Seth going to admit to it. ]

[ophidia]

[Richard raises his eyebrows, a bitter pettiness in the press of his mouth.]

As long as it's just my back, right.

[detestable]

How many people do you want getting an eyeful of your mouth?

[ Not that keeping it a secret was going to be easy in this kind of set up. ]

[ophidia]

We’re all playing dress up as pretend frog aliens. Maybe my mouth won’t be that much of a problem.

[Not everyone reacted to culebra the way Seth did. Richard had seen that enough times back on Earth.]

[detestable]

Your mouth has always been a problem.

[ As if Seth's smart talk hasn't gotten them into an equal amount of trouble. ]

Are you going to take this seriously or not?

[ Or worse, take it seriously but without Seth. ]

[ophidia]

[That has more of a sting than Seth likely intended. A lazy, accidental hit that just summons up the full sensation of Seth's revulsion back in that closet again. Because Richard's mouth was the problem, one Seth didn't want anything to do with.]

This is the difference between me eating or starving, Seth. I was already taking it seriously.

[Expression flat and hard, unimpressed.]

The question is if you can stick with how I decide to deal with it.

[If he'll listen, or if he'll push and shove in his involvement, and then just leave Richard with the bitter aftertaste of disgust again.]

[detestable]

[ The hurt rebounds. But there's nothing Seth can do about it now, after he's already spoken. The conversation teeters on the edge of a more damaging precipice than either of them could have anticipated. Seth's jaw works around the snappy answer caught in his throat: It's not like I have a choice, do I?

But he doesn't say it. ]

I'll figure it out, Richard.

[ There wasn't an alternative. And they aren't in a place where Richie can get his own food without trouble. ]

Look, you do what you have to do. Just make sure you don't end up like the elf.

[ophidia]

[It's almost a concession. Not completely, but enough to have Richard ease back a little. Watch him for a moment. The sentiment in the last peeling everything down to the core of things, Seth's motivation, his own. They keep each other safe.]

I'm not gonna end up like the elf.

[More of an assurance than anything defensive. He'll do what he has to do. And if that means he needs Seth involved, then he'll have Seth involved.]

[detestable]

[ It's the best assurance Seth is going to get. He looks at Richie for a long moment, then gets up. ]

Right.

[ What more could Seth ask him for? They'd never really be able to have concrete assurances of safety in the best of moments, and this is far from their normal operating procedure. ]

Look, I got somewhere to be. Find me when you're done soaking.

[ "Somewhere" aka the bar. ]