[ 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]

[ 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. ]