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The Onsen, Thursday Afternoon

The onsen was something Carter had meant to check out much, much sooner as he had missed the one in Mineral Town rather terribly--something he hadn't thought he'd miss until it was no longer within easy access--but his duties finally smiled upon him enough to have the time to leave the church for a few hours to go and indulge, just a little.

As it was his first time, he listened solemnly to the attendant's rundown of all the rules and regulations of the onsen, before thanking them graciously for their time.

Carter sank into the hot water blissfully. It was a cold day out, but in the hot water, it was impossible to mind such a thing.

It was the small things, really, that made life so very worth living.

[Open, naturally!]

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Zack was... tired. Still no way home, still no reply from Iris whenever he placed a call. He was a breath away from calling somebody, anybody back in Midgar, in spite of the fact that he was meant to be dead.

In spite of the fact that doing so might actually make that happen.

He was also sore, old aches that he'd denied had been there since Nibelheim bothering him more than usual with the shifting of the weather. Today the two things combined with enough force that he decided he didn't much care who saw the scars left by a madman across his torso, he needed some quiet and a hot soak before he could get back to reality, and trying to traverse it.

It was with a soft sigh that he slipped into the water, eyes closing. He wasn't alone in here, but just then, for the first time in some time, he didn't seem to notice or care.

It wasn’t polite to stare but, nonetheless, Carter was grateful that the other man had his eyes closed, even briefly as he did stare and tried to not.

By the Goddess, what had happened to the poor man!?

But, no, it would be rude to ask and the man seemed tired. Best to leave him to his relaxation, then, and leave his own wonderings in the back of this head, where they belonged.

Carter shook his head at his own silliness.

Edited 2018-11-29 19:42 (UTC)

It took Zack a few minutes to let his mind creep away from the instant heat of the water over his body, back toward the rest of the room at large.

Eventually, he did open his eyes, looking at the other man, and offering him a faint smile.

"Hey," he offered. "Good day for a hot soak, huh?"

"It truly is," Carter said agreeably, smiling at the other man. "I'm glad I made the time for it; it's my first time here, I must confess."

"I've never really spent much time here before myself," Zack admitted. "Today just seemed like the day for it, I guess. Winter coming on or something."

He barely felt the cold itself, granted. He gave the man a nod.

"Zack Fair, pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine! I am Pastor Carter."

He shook his head, smiling.

"There has been quite a chill in the air lately," Carter agreed, "though I confess that the seasons and months here still baffle me."

Everything was so long.

"I'm... kind of used to them by now," Zack offered. "Ish. We don't really have much in the way of distinct seasons in my hometown. Jungle town, you know?"

And Midgar was a whole different creature entirely.

As Zack was usually oblivious to that kind of attention, Seivarden was going to indulge in an appreciative glance at those nice shoulders.

"Zack," she said, "How are you?"

Zack blinked his eyes open, and then smiled brightly at the familiar face.

"Oh, Seivarden, hi," he greeted, warmly. "I'm great," this was a lie, but it was one that he was exceptionally good at making convincing, "how are you?"

"Oh, not bad." This was a lie too, and very poorly hidden, but Seivarden was going to hold on to it.

"Issa doesn't like the weather."

"Oh? Too cold, too wet?"

Zack would let her have her lies. He understood just how important it was to be able to cling to that particular lie, himself.

Sometimes desperately.

"Both of those, I think," Seivarden said, smiling a little.

"Poor girl," Zack chuckled softly. "This place really does have terrible weather for outdoor cats."

"I should probably take her to that sword club warehouse Kanan has so that she can play with his dog," Seivarden said. "I think she's a bit bored."

Zack blinked in interest at that.

"There's a club for swords?"

Ssh, he didn't listen to radio nearly enough.

"Well," Seivarden said, "I don't think they call themselves a sword club, and they could probably use a few more members, but..."

They were a sword club.

"Huh," Zack replied, looking thoughtful. "Maybe I'll see if I can find them, sometime. I wouldn't want to just invite myself somewhere if I'm not welcome, though."

Zack, if Seivarden was welcome, you most certainly were.

"Oh, they would be happy to have you there, I'm sure of that."

Seivarden would, although she wasn't going to admit some of the reasons for that even to herself.

Was it because of his dashing good looks and fantastic shoulders?

"Well... maybe I'll ask around about it," Zack mused. "I won't be able to do much there anyway until I get my new sword from Amaya, though."

Maybe.

"What happened to your old one?"

"It's, uh... I put it in a closet."

And he hadn't pulled it out again since.

"Why?" Seivarden asked, before realizing that Zack might not want to talk about that.

"I mean..."

Zack shook his head a little and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't mind the question; he figured he'd be getting it enough anyway. He was braced for it, now.

"It belonged to somebody who meant a lot to me," he explained. "I... finally came around to the idea of letting go."

That was the kindest way to put it.

"Oh. Well, that's... I'm sorry."

Seivarden didn't know what to say, really.

"I'm sure Amaya will be doing a good job."

She didn't know anything about swords, but guessed Amaya knew what she was doing when it came to her work.

Zack hiked a shoulder up in a dismissive shrug.

"You don't need to be sorry," he replied. "It's an old scar. Moving on like this is... freeing, I guess. And I know Amaya understands how important it is to me, so I have faith she'll do it right."

"I'm sure she does," Seivarden said, trying to think of a good way to escape this subject, as she suspected neither of them particularly enjoyed it.

"I'm sure you'd be welcome in the sword club though."

"Guess I can hope, right?" Zack looked almost wistful for a moment, leaning back a little more in the water, shifting so that it was up almost over his shoulders. Ah, that was better. "And the shelter always keeps me plenty busy, so there's that, too."

Seivarden looked away, smiling a little. "Any newcomers?"

"All the time," Zack replied easily. "But there are always people looking to bring them home, too, eventually."

Except the poor chickens. Small island like this, you'd think more people would be interested in keeping chickens.

"We had a fox in just this week. So energetic he could have given Issa a run for her money."

"Really?" Seivarden said. "Do you still have it? Not that I want to adopt it, Issa wouldn't want company."

"I think he's still there, yeah," Zack replied with a grin. "Friendly little guy, but he wants to get into everything."

"Sounds like a cat," Seivarden observed. "I was stationed for a while on a planet where foxes were popular as pets. They bred them for all sorts of colours."

"This one is kind of silvery," Zack offered, "but I think he's descended from red ones? I haven't really seen many red foxes before. Or foxes in general, admittedly."

"You don't have them where you're from?" Seivarden asked. "Actually, we don't on my homeworld either."

"Where I'm from is... pretty different from Earth," Zack explained. "I mean, so far as wildlife goes. Most of our natural wildlife has kind of fallen to other things over the years."

"Other things?" Seivarden asked.

"Bigger meaner animals," Zack offered, meaning, of course, monsters. "Pollution. Habitat loss. That sort of thing."

Seivarden was in a terrible mood, for no particular reason, of course, and it had been a toss up between the Onsen and the shooting range.

She stepped down into the water, letting out a sigh before looking up and giving a nod in greeting to the other person here.

"Good afternoon," Carter greeted, his voice quiet so as not to disturb the peace of the onsen.

"Good afternoon." Seivarden shifted to let her elbows rest on the edge of the pool while keeping her hands in the water. After considering for a moment whether she could be bothered to do introductions, she eventually said:

"Seivarden Vendaai. I don't believe we've met."

"Not officially," Carter said, smiling. "Though I do believe I've seen you in passing, here and there. It's a pleasure to meet you; I am Pastor Carter."

Seivarden had no reason not to assume Pastor wasn't a name.

"It's a small place. What do you do around here?"

She made it sound friendly enough, but it was more that conversation felt like a nice distraction right now.

And Carter had been on the island long enough to recognize that not everyone knew what a pastor was.

"Ah, 'Pastor' is my job title," he explained. "I am a churchman."

"Churchman?" It took Seivarden a few moments to figure that out. "Oh, you're a priest. There's a temple on the island, isn't there?"

She wasn't particularly religious, and had never taken any interest in non-Radchaai sects, so she hadn't paid much attention.

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The Onsen, Thursday Afternoon

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