[ 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

[sistershoggoth]

Well that's fucking great for you!

[ She just... splashes him in the face, whatever. ]

I still feel shit, it sucks.

[justttkidding]

[ November doesn't even bother to dodge the water, simply laughing in the aftermath. He's already damp, so who cares? ]

I imagine that must be very difficult for you. [ A pause and then: ] If you ever need to not feel anything, you know who to ask.

[sistershoggoth]

Egh. Don't offer me that kind of shit like you're my fucking drug dealer.

[ Isn't it already bad enough he's enabling her drinking? ]

[justttkidding]

When you say it like that– perhaps I should renege on that offer.

[ And he's not enabling her drinking. Not totally. Just, maybe for now. He might not feel emotional turmoil anymore, but he knows what it looks like. And everyone needs their own ways to cope.

Though speaking of which: ]

Then again, it would be better than drinking yourself into a stupor, so I suppose there's an upside.

[sistershoggoth]

Nobody but Noctis lets me hang around in his head like that, and he's my fuckin' broodmate, so he doesn't get a choice.

[ A statement of her suspicions. What could possibly be in it for him. ]

[justttkidding]

[ What is in it for him? He supposes it's a bit altruistic to offer. But he's a little blunt when he answers, silently:

Stability.

They're all connected. And even though Annie isn't in his brood, their connection is still there. It's like a wound he can't ignore, when she's drowning in her misery. ]

I'm sure if Noctis were less upstanding, he'd wouldn't let you.

[sistershoggoth]

[ For some reason she feels like she should protest. That there's no possible fucking existence where Noctis wouldn't even try to love her. She frowns. ]

Yeah, well, he's a dumb baby prince. What else do you expect.

[justttkidding]

A dumb baby prince.

[ November echoes her description, but his tone is amused. What a way to talk about Noctis. Those aren't quite the words he would've used, even if they're somewhere in the truth. ]

He does seem quite earnest. And stubborn.

[sistershoggoth]

[ She loves Prince Noctis so much it hurts. Earnest. Stubborn. Those are words that fill her with an affection she obviously isn't able to hide from November after dumping so much of herself into his empty receptacle. ]

The stubborn part is the only reason he can deal with me.

[justttkidding]

[ The flood of affection is so strong it almost feels like it's his own. But that's what this is, a bleedover. And Annie feels so much at any given moment– it's interesting to experience in this manner, after so long of feeling nothing but numbness. ]

And your stubbornness leads you to try and shove away, hm? Sounds like you've met your match.

[sistershoggoth]

Shut up.

[ An exhale of exasperation. ]

I don't shove him away all the time.

[ Sometimes she wanted to outright consume him. Kiss his mouth until it was red, fuck him silly. Something like that. She can barely keep her hands off him at times, fingers clutched into his clothes, arms around his neck. It was terrifying, with the amplification of the symbiote--

So no wonder she wanted to shove him away sometimes too. ]

What do you know about it, you robot.

[justttkidding]

No? I suppose you don't.

[ That's the game, a push and pull. Like tides, like water and the ocean; like Annie, an all-consuming deluge in one moment and then leaving nothing but salt and brine in the aftermath. When she forces herself to pull away, at any rate. ]

I don't know if anyone's told you, but studying people and patterns is part of spywork. I'd say I know enough to get by.

[sistershoggoth]

Just because I'm a shitty spy doesn't mean I don't know how it works.

[ Her lead lolls back, eyes closed. ]

You don't have to spy on me anyway.

[ She's already up in there, sprawled out on his rug without even bothering to hide. ]

[justttkidding]

I don't.

[ A gentle affirmative on something she's already said aloud. It's weird, in a way. He's not used to people just letting him in. Even more unused to people sprawling on the carpet, because contractors aren't seen as warm or friendly. They're given wide berth by the people that know about them. And even wider from the people that handle them, like Decade.

And then there's Annie. ]

That doesn't mean I can't keep my skills sharp with you at any rate. [ November reaches over, taps her on the tip of her nose. ]