The Onsen - Wednesday morning

[spectre_alenko]

It had been an entire week of Mondays and it was only Wednesday. Kaidan's brain had shut down and he barely had the brainpower to string to coherent words together. He had to redo the shop hours anyway so he just closed up for the day and headed out for a beach day.

Then he saw the sky. Throwing the ominous clouds a glare like they had personally betrayed him, insulted his mother, and stolen his cookies, he did an about-face and headed to the Onsen instead.

He dumped his stuff in a locker, sluiced off quickly and headed into the soak pools. Dumping the larger towel on a bench with his phone, he carried the smaller towel with him as he slid into the water. Dunking it, Kaidan leaned back against the rock and plopped the towel over his eyes.

Tension left, soothed by the heat of the water. It was as close to a nice, warm, sensory deprivation tank as he could get. He soaked and let his brain run its background processes in the silence. Part of him wondered if anything would go critical today. If it did, it could frickin' wait until he was done turning himself into a two-meter prune.

[Open, except for Sam who is grounded :p]

Comments

[justice_undone]

Breq had thought about going to the Onsen for a long time, and she too found the weather inspired a visit.

She knew a swimsuit was needed so she had brought one, and wasn't completely surprised that there were two changing rooms. She looked around as she entered the pool room, not sure what to expect, then walked over to dip a foot into the pool, making sure to smile at the stranger already there.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan was wearing swim trunks.

He heard someone walk in and lifted the towel off his eyes long enough to smile and nod back at the newcomer with a quiet greeting of, "Hey."

[justice_undone]

"Hello," Breq greeted in return, then slipped into the water.

"It's my first time here. If I do something that isn't according to custom please let me know "

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan nodded agreeably, "Sure. I mean, as long as you're not doing a cannonball into the soak pools, you're generally fine. There's no real hard and fast rules for in here."

[justice_undone]

"In some places there are a lot of rules and rituals surrounding bathing," Breq said, adding: "Cannonball?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Not so much, this place," Kaidan acknowledged. He explained, "Cannonball's a way to play in water. Take a run up to it, jump, then draw your knees to your chest with your arms around and try to hit the water feet and butt first. Landing on your face kind of hurts. It makes a large splash."

[justice_undone]

"They have rules about bathing suits," Breq pointed out. "And that breasts should covered."

She sank deeper into the water. "I'll keep myself from doing a cannonball."

Her expression and tone of voice didn't betray if she was joking or not.

[built_fjord_tough]

As nice as the shower at the hotel was (once he had figured out how to both run the damn thing and not burn the shit out of himself), there was something to be said for a good, long soak. He'd heard there was a proper bath somewhere in town, and so, some money to his name now that he'd been working at the school for a few weeks, Fjord made his way to investigate.

"Uh, what."

Which was how he was coming across the list of rules that included bathing suits, standing in the locker room and looking stymied, at best.

"But it's a bath."

What the hell even was a 'bathing suit?'

"It's a bath!"

[spectre_alenko]

Loud. Kaidan frowned and took the towel off his eyes, shooting an irritated look toward the locker room. Voice sounded male, but who the hell even knew here. He took the time to call out, "Not that kind of bath. You clean off in the showers, you soak in the bath, and you do it wearing some form of clothing over your nethers. It's the custom here. Nobody else wants to look at your junk."

It was a stupid custom, to be sure, but it was a rule at the onsen.

Americans.

[built_fjord_tough]

"It's a bath," Fjord said back, clearly stuck on that point before... peering around the corner, still fully clothed, and frowning. "If they're looking at my junk, I'd say they've missed the point of bathing, somewhat."

[spectre_alenko]

"Not the custom here," Kaidan repeated, "Naked soaking or swimming in public isn't done here. That's not true everywhere, but it is here."

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord stood in the doorway, still a little stymied by that answer, before looking back at the rules as they were posted and sighing in resignation.

"I don't understand it," he confessed, "but I can respect it."

He frowned. Just one more thing to add to the fucking list.

"So I need to get myself... something like what you're wearing?"

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan considered. Fjord presented male but Fjord was also green so that threw human standards out the window. "Men wear swim trunks, that's what these are called," he pointed at his legs, "Women wear a bathing suit or a bikini." Or like, fifty other things that meant the same thing. "Breasts are things that get covered up, just like nethers."

He considered. "If you ask at the desk, they might have suits you could buy. I can't imagine you're the only person who showed up and didn't know the rules."

Because they were stupid rules.

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord considered that explanation - still stupid in a bath, but it wasn't as though he couldn't appreciate the... modesty? behind it, either. - And then nodded again, now balancing out the money he'd already spent on getting in versus how much he had left to live on until the next time the school handed him money.

"I... might be back," he said, tentatively. "Thank you, Kaidan."

Another ten minutes (and too damn much money, hell, shorts that were used so infrequently shouldn't have been that expensive) later, and he was making his way back in, wet from the pre-shower, and wearing a simple pair of brown swim trunks.

Now he could sink into the pool, heave out a long sigh as the tension started to leave his back and shoulders, and lean his head back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Maybe someday, this will all begin to make sense."

[what_the_shock]

Eh, this had seemed like a nice, relaxing, dimly-lit place to be.

Miguel hadn't been expecting so many people.

"Um. Hi."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan heard the voice and didn't bother lifting the towel off his eyes. "Hey Miguel. How's it going?"

[what_the_shock]

"Kaidan." Miguel waved to him as he settled into the water. "Not too bad; you?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Doing alright today," he noted. Last two days: utter crap. Today? Hot water and relaxation. What the combat medic ordered. "If I can find an hour not full of work or putting out fires, I'll be back at the gym this week."

[what_the_shock]

"You have a lot of fires lately?" Miguel asked. "Wait - literal or figurative?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Figurative," Kaidan said dryly, "Literal would be easier. Extinguishers are a thing."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Busy bath," Fjord noted, looking up at Miguel with a wry smile. "Water's fine, though. Good morning, Miguel."

[what_the_shock]

"Morning, Fjord." Miguel grinned back. "How's Fandom treating you so far?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"I have yet to discover a can of beer I enjoy," Fjord replied, smirking slightly. "I intend to remedy that."

Especially now that he was starting to come into money. Sort of.

"Besides that, it's all as confusing as ever."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel grinned. "Try the bottles instead. What's today's big confusion? One a day, I'll see if I can solve it."

[built_fjord_tough]

"This one, fortunately, was solved pretty easily," Fjord noted, waving a hand around idly. "Public baths where I'm from require a little less... modesty."

That was a good way to put it.

"Shouldn't have thrown me so much. It's such a small thing. Easy enough solution, buying something to wear."