fandomtownies | The Onsen; Friday Afternoon [09/27].

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The Onsen; Friday Afternoon [09/27].

Despite a few hiccups (which never really bothered him much anyway), yesterday's entire rose escapade had been wildly successful in Shunsui's opinion, and he still had so many more, which he suspected might come in handy still in the next few days, assumming they didn't start wilting away too quickly. He still had one tucked behind his ear, but, of course, he'd eschewed his hat and haori and his robes and his swords (but not his sake!) for the onsen, and gratefully so, as he let out a deep, pleased sigh as he sunk into the water, resting his arms on the edge behind him. Closed his eyes. Soaked it all in. Flirted with the suggestion of a nap that hit almost immediately, and chuckled a little to himself. He'd done a lot yesterday. Helped out a friend in a dire situation and brightened up the day of several beautiful ladies (some of them more handwaved than others) and had his own evening brightened significantly by one of those ladies in return, and so he deserved this. He'd earned it.

It would be a good soak. And, as he'd said the other day, if Octavia-chan were to join him (or anyone else, for that matter), then that would only make it that much better.

And little did he know, just how grateful he'd be later on that he'd actually taken some time to relax before all hell came crashing down on him...

[[ you know I'm a sucker for a good onsen post. and the fact that this boyo hasn't even had one yet is a damn crime. IT'S OPEN Y'ALL. ]]

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Octavia had maybe taken a couple roses home with her last night, but she didn't have any on her when she showed up. Maybe they didn't really go with her whole combat-ready look?

(Also, yes, she had swimwear on underneath. Don't worry.)

"Sleeping again?"

It was as good a greeting as any.

Especially when the odds were in Octavia-chan's favor that the answer would be yes.

This time, however, Shunsui was not quite there yet, though his grin in response was the only real indication of it for a moment before he cracked open one eye. "Ahhh, Octavia-chan ♥!" he said, then cracked open the other one, and shifted without thinking to push back the hat that he wasn't wearing, out of mere habit. "So you've made it; wonderful ♥! And, I see," here he chuckled, his voice lightly teasing, "dressed for the occasion, no less ♥."

"It's fall," Octavia drawled, already shrugging her jacket off. "I'm not going to walk around town in waterwear --" Yes, she forgot the word 'swimwear', don't judge. "-- this close to winter."

The cold really was her main concern. Showing skin, she was just fine with. As was about to become apparent.

[ooc: Soooo I guess this didn't post hours go, after all. Gdi.]

It was also still 27 degrees out, but that seemed a middling detail. "They do also have changing rooms ♥," he offered, mildly, helpfully, because she had mentioned not having heard of the place before. "But, either way, the water is perfect. At least, I thought it was, but now it'll be even more so now that I've got company ♥."

[[smooth move, dw ]]

"Don't really need a room for changing in when all you're doing is taking clothes off," Octavia said, but still took a look around, clocking said changing rooms, and shrugged. "But if it's what people usually do..."

Look, sometimes it was the little things, when you were trying to fit in.

Shunsui shrugged right along with. "You just came more prepared then most, then ♥," he said. "It doesn't make a difference. But come in, come in ♥!" He waved his hands to beckon her into the pool. "Unless you'd rather me come over and carry you in myself, which I am not, for the record, opposed to doing at all ♥."

"Well, if I'm going too slow for you..."

She wasn't being particularly slow in shucking off her tank top and requisite biker pants and setting them aside (while revealing a pretty basic black bikini set in the process), but, hey. Had to at least try for light-hearted, sometimes. Wasn't that sort of the point of this?

"I suppose you could have been a little slower with that part ♥," noted Shunsui, because how could he not have enjoyed the view? "And you are right, there's certainly no rush. I know I have no where else I'd rather be right now, and no where else I need to be, besides ♥."

Octavia hadn't been a view for anyone to enjoy in quite a while. Not that she was making any kind of a show of it, even now, but still. It was nice, in its own, unfamiliar way.

And with all those extra layers shed, it was time for her to get in the water, and so she did. Unceremoniously, but slowly, enjoying the warmth of it hitting her skin inch by inch.

"See?" she said. "Not rushing."

"Not rushing ♥," Shunsui agreed, grinning at her in admiration for a moment before he tllted his head back a bit, closed his eyes, and sunk a little further into the water himself with a long, savoring sigh. "All the time, and not a care in the world ♥."

He let that sentiment linger a little, to truly enjoy it, before asking, lightly, conversationally, "And how has your day been so far, Octavia-chan ♥? Hopefully nothing too exciting?"

Octavia exhaled quietly as she settled into the water. Funny how you didn't always notice how much tension you carried around until something was soothing some of it out.

"Fine." That was her stock answer. This time, it also happened to be true. "Nothing exciting at all, really. It's just... an ordinary day."

"Good ♥," Shunsui smiled a bit to himself. "Good ♥."

He cracked open an eye, lifting his head to see if it looked like she was enjoying it so far, and then he reached behind him from the sake jug always within reach, then held it out to pass over to her. "I've brought refreshments, of course ♥," he told her. "You'll have to drink from the bottle, though; they don't seem to appreciate when I use cups ♥."

Either that, or it was simply easier to get away with just sipping from the bottle than it was when he was holding cups. Did the details really matter?

Not to Octavia, they didn't.

"I don't need a cup, anyway," she said, readily accepting the jug. "My first time with alcohol was moonshine from a bottle. I don't think I'm destined to be a more refined drinker than that."

Even if what followed those words was more of a moderate sip than a hearty chug. But maybe that was due to a growing appreciation of sake?

And a hearty chug would only leave Shunsui wishing he'd brought a large jug, anyway. "Moonshine," he mused, "has never really made much of a presence in my drinking repertoire. Perhaps you'll have to enlighten me some time ♥?"

Octavia snorted. "It tastes like something died in it," she said, holding the jug back out to him. "Besides, that was back whwreere I came from. I don't know anyone who makes it here."

"Oh, I'm sure there's someone,"' said Shunsui, thoughtfully, before taking his own sip and setting the jug at comfortable reach for the both of them. "I'll look into it ♥."

He probably wouldn't. But he might?

"I suppose a logical follow-up question to that would be to ask about where it is you are from, Octavia-chan, but I have a feeling that wouldn't quite be in line with keeping the conversation light and pleasant and relaxing..."

"Probably not," Octavia replied mildly.

With her hands free again, she let them slip back in the water. In fact, she slid a little further down in it altogether, her tan shoulders and all their faded scars disappearing just barely under the surface.

She closed her eyes.

"Short version, anyway: Earth, about a century after a nuclear catastrophe. Before that, space."

"Mmmmmmm." Shunsui's rumbling hum was thoughtful, pensive, his eye sdrifting up toward the sky. "Space. Now there's something I have no experience in at all, unless you count an undying devotion to the glorious spread of stars on a clear summer night ♥. Though I imagine, no matter how far you reach for them, they always stay right beyond the tips of your fingers...♥."

As he said it, he reached one hand out as if to touch those imaginary stars he was envisioning, then dropped the hand back into the water with a dreamy, wistful smile.

Octavia's eyes blinked open again just in time for that. It might've influenced what she said next.

Her tone was a fair bit softer. More private, somehow. "I got to watch the moonrise, just once," she said. "It was beautiful."

That tone, those words, only made Shunsui's smile warm that much more. "I'm sure it was," he drawled, tilting his head her way, futilely brushing that constantly loose strand of hair back, only to have it tumble forward again. "What do you remember about it the most ♥?"

Octavia's tone remained much the same. Soft, open. "Feeling small," she said. "And like that meant that everything was going to be okay."

Things had gone to hell very soon after that, but she was choosing to focus on the good part, right now. Just isolate the good memory from the rest.

Her gaze was in the middle distance, really more looking inwards. "The Earth, the moon coming into view, and all the stars just -- scattered behind them. How could I not be okay if the world looked like that?"

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The Onsen; Friday Afternoon [09/27].

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