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Purity and Shame

It was all Kanti's idea, you see.

Later that same night - a little after both of them stopped feeling horrible about Tasya have gotten into harm's way on the first place - she slipped a mention of being able to infuse the waters of his bath to ease Alex's own pain. From there to Tasya - who unfortunately would not heal as fast from the sore parts of her body like a Zenith Solar who has had the crap beaten out of him from the moment of Exaltation onward - was but a moment.

And so, they are here, Highlane's favorite place. The Steam-Born Dreams. Where the visiting nobles and bussinessmen - or those that for some twist of fate happen to live in the hellhole - can forget what it is like outside, the cold and the dirt, and enjoy the heat, the steam, the scent of herbs and clear water driving all pollution away. Built over natural hot springs that appear around Whiteshield here and there, and booked all for them for the evening, it is a chance to relax as much of a chance to heal the little Alex could not take out of Tasya.

In fact, he could take the rest away now, but it is also a chance for something else - to make sure Kanti has someone to talk, to befriend for once. She had Fiona, and it seemed that was it. That could not stand!

And so, the Prince went to the men's changing room, leaving Kanti and Tasya to their own... full of towels if they need them, soaps, spices, bubble solutions... the whole place made in such a beautiful, all-wood eastern style... only a few bolts and gears for good luck reminding one that is the Boil.

Tasya: Tasya's eyes had been wide from the moment the invitation had been given. She'd almost said no. Nearly did, and if Eciarde hadn't pushed her to accept, it would have been the usual Spooky treatment of pastes and hot compresses to help deal with her bruised ribs. But he never gave her the chance to refuse, so there she stood, fidgeting and nervous in the changing alcove for the women's baths, hugging her coat tighter around herself rather than taking anything off.

She'd heard about this place, but never seen it. Not from the inside or outside. It was a step apart from most of what you'd find in the Red Lantern. From what you'd find in the entire Boil. Like something ripped out of distant Whiteshield and planted in a secret place, where only the worthy could find it. It was beautiful and grand and completely beyond anything she'd experienced.

"M-maybe... maybe this isn't such a good idea," she ventured quietly, huddling in her coat and standing on the tips of her toes, trying her best not to touch anything in the room for fear of breaking it. Even the floor.

Kanti: Kanti smiled as she inhaled the fresh wood scent of the room, the hints of spices and soaps such a welcome one after so many months without such ... well, there had been a time when she considered them essentials. But now, now they were luxuries. Wonderful luxuries.

alexander is kind to me she smiles a little wider as she thinks that, turning to the girl and tilting her head.

"Don't be so nervous ... there's only me here and it will be good ... relaxing, I promise."

She takes a few steps towards the girl, looking disarmingly non-threatening, despite the scars visible on her body. She gets close, but doesn't touch Taysa.

"But first you need to get out of that coat..."

Tasya: Oh, a-alright..." she answered softly, staring openly at Kanti's black scars for the first time as the Terrestrial came closer. Tasya had seen them on the Terrestrial's face before, but hadn't really taken the time to look at them nor realized they extended further than that. All over her! They were strange and exotic and just a might be creepy. Not a lot, not compared to the sort of things she dealt with daily. Just creepy enough to be fascinating.

A moment of silence passed as Tasya starred and as soon as she realized that she was staring, a blush crept up her face. Looking down towards her feet quickly, she began to fumble with the buttons of her coat, popping them open awkwardly one by one. "I-I just... I'm not use to this sort of place..."

Kanti: Kanti didn't seem offended by the staring, if anything her posture encourged it with the subtle spread of the arms and the expression on her face.

"It's okay ... There's nothing to worry about, really."

She takes Taysa's coat, hanging it off a hook and then slips the pair of elaborately detailed bracers off her wrists, the flame-flow guides, and then she slips from her screaming robes, the colours shifting as the light changes and they are set away from her, revealing yet more of the swirls of scars and a red jade flower set over her belly button, a gem set within the petals shimmering and glowing.

Tasya: Freed from her coat, Tasya shifts uncertainly and folded her arms protectively over her chest for a moment, then forced herself to lower them as she watched Kanti. The Terrestrial was so casual about it all, so confident it was almost galling. It was no wonder the prince took her as a companion.

Tasya bit her bottom lip, then balled her hands into fists and planted her feet bravely. She loosened the corset of her ragged and worn dress, peeling the dirty fabric slowly off her skin. Though, without the tightening restrictions of the draw string, her chest did it's own share of the work pushing the gown away. The simple dress slid off her shoulders and tumbled down her body, pooling into a ripple of soiled white around her feet.

Her skin was so pale, it nearly glowed in the steamy light of the bathhouse. There were scars a plenty, the most prominent a two jagged looking things that crossed together bellow her breasts and the still fresh and pink marks from the battle with the skin-hunter. Her moment of confident having come and gone, Tasya self-conscience did her best to cover herself with her arms as she peered down at her feet.

Kanti: Kanti studied Taysa as she undressed, slipping the dress from her body.

so many scars....

at least the wounds she got today won't scar...

I wonder ... would she ... let me ... remove them?

She divests herself of the last of her clothing, leaving her lingerie atop the wailing robe, and unconcernedly unfastening the many golden clips which held her hair up, leaving just the soulsteel laced collar on her next as she walked over to pick up some towels stroking them briefly.

She starts to study the spices ... hopefully ...

Tasya: After a moments hesitation, Tasya follows Kanti's example once more. Plucking at her hair, she frees it from it's normal braid and shakes it out over her shoulders. Getting her underwear off takes a moment to build up courage, but she hooks her thumbs into waistband of the snug cotton garment and quickly skims them down her legs and steps out of them.

She all but snatches the towel away from Kanti when it's offered, wrapping it around her shivering body as quickly as she can. Then... waits, looking about uncertainly.

"W-what do we now?" she asks finally, taking a step closer and peering over Kanti's shoulder at the line of unusual bottles and vials.

Kanti: Kanti wraps her own towel around her and then picks up a selection of the spiced oils and scents, holding them in one hand as she gestures out of the other door.

"Now we walk to our bath...."

She offers a hand to Taysa, after only a moment's hesitation.

Tasya: Maybe it was Kanti's own attitude bleeding off. Or maybe it was simply that now that she'd finally done it, there was far less to be afraid of. Whatever the case was, Tasya was growing steadily less agitated and uncertain. With a shy smile, she took Kanti's offered hand and walked side by side with her, letting their joined hand swing in the air between them.

"W-what did you take?" she asked, peering down at the bottle curiously.

Alexander: As the girls walk out of the room, they can see the steam coming out of the doors to the baths... the moist wood floor under their feet... and there, waiting at the entrance to the men's baths, to the left of their own(there was another passage that would not lead through there, but Alex had asked Kanti not to use it) is the prince, towel wrapped about his waist, arms crossed over his chest, wings crowning his back. The scar left by the Disciple all those weeks ago plainly visible now... "Tasya? May I... have a word with you? Sorry, I... just remembered it before this..."

Tasya: Tasya freezes dead in mid step as the steam clears away and the prince stands before them, his chest damp and glistening in the bathhouse light. Taking on a will of their own, her eyes move downwards slowly to the fleecy white towel wrapped around his waist...

Then snap back up instantly to his face, both her cheeks Exalting to the element of flame. The sound she makes is like a mouse waking up to the awareness that it's naked. A squeak of pure mortified humiliation. Tasya twists and dives behind Kanti, crouching and huddling against the Terrestrials back. Her fingers clutching Kanti's shoulders, she peeks cautiously out from behind the other girls' hair.

"Y-yes, highness?"

Alexander: This was no time to say that... god, I am a clumsy little... "Oh, um..." He hides his eyes under his hair for a moment, wondering how to say it... "Oh, neve.." Well, when would be the time? You already stopped them here... He thinks, sighing and stopping mid-sentence, lifting his face slowly... his face like morning in the middle of the steam, like the mists at beautiful sundawns not seen at the Boil. His voice also managed to string a sentence better, but just tentatively... "Well, I wanted to talk to you... about what happened before. The accident. When I got my face on.. you know..."

Tasya: The red in her cheeks spread through out the rest of her face, until it nearly looked as thought Kanti has a second head growing from her shoulder. Her eyes flickered back and forth, caught between wanting to stare at the prince and not wanting to be caught staring.

"O-oh." she said very quietly, then added. "I... um it's okay..."

Alexander: "No, I... I have to say it. Look, I... I have been hearing those things since I got here. I know how my uncle was with the people here... I have heard about his children. About how the few nobles treated the people here. Like what the Spider does... I know the reputation they have. And... I did not want you thinking the same." He was calm, now. He was saying his piece.

"I do not think you are just a girl from the Boil. I did not call you here today to impress you, and I did not want to take advantage of you. You are part of the Office of Unusual Occurrences, and even if you are a beautiful girl, you are a soldier, an agent of this city and this kingdom. And I respect you as such." He says with a smile.

"Sorry, I just... I just had to say that. Saying it, it seems so much more overdone than I imagined..." He shakes his head, turning around. "Just... enjoy your bath. And I am sorry for anything."

Tasya: "Um..." her voice followed after him.

She'd come out from behind Kanti and stood with her arms twisted together in front of her. The blush still lit up her face, but there was less humiliation there than shy embarrassment. "T-thank you..."

Alexander: It might have been overdone... but after all he had learned, he was, at least, too self-conscious about it. But at least, she took it well, and did not think he was making a idiot out of himself, like those other girls in his Circle might. He gives her one last look over his shoulder... a long one, where he stops, smiling... and for the first time, finds himself staring as well. She was only in her towel after all... and such a nice, pretty...and his thoughts begun to wander, and it took something short of him bonking himself on the head to stop, and head into the men's baths. "I hope you have fun, both of you."

And then he runs the doors, and is gone.

Kanti: "He likes you." Kanti whispers in her ear in a conspiratorial tone, filled with a sudden whimsy after being momentarily lifted by the behavior of her prince. Proper behavior. Almost.

"But we should get to the baths .... then I can show you the things that I brought from the changing room, and I can do something for your side." She smiles compassionately at the girl, and takes her hand, leading her through the baths and to one of the smaller female pools, a slightly secluded one that offered hints of privacy, dropping her towel gracefully as she reaches the side.

Tasya: "He... he's very shy, for a prince..." she whispered back, eyes lingering on where Alex had vanished to and face glowing at what Kanti had said. Tasya followed the Terrestrial complacently, letting herself be pulled along by the arm.

"Was he like that, with you?" she asked, shedding her own towel and slipping quickly into the water. A startled gasp escaped her a moment as the warm water rose around her, the luxury of a heated bath a pleasure she'd never truly experienced before. With a soft sigh, she sunk into the water until it rose up to her eyes.

Kanti: "He ... can be yes." She whispers as Taysa settles into the water. "Very shy, sometimes." slipping in deeply herself, letting the water cover her body, the better to hide the scars swirling over it's surface.

"Sometimes ... sometimes he's like that with me..." Kanti's mind flashes back to memories of her tied to bed and Alex pounding ... "Sometimes he's a lot more demanding." she finishes, not sure if Taysa had heard, submerged as she was, reaching for the bottle of spiced oils and removing the elegant glass stopper.

Tasya: "N-never had anyone be demanding of me..." she said confessionally. Her eyes had closed, but opened at the sound of clinking glass and now hovered just about the water line, her words muffled by the sloshing water. "N-not like that, at least. There is work, I suppose. But thats not the same..."

There was sadness in her eyes, a touch of jelous melancholy as she looked at Kanti. "It must be nice, having someone like hi... w-well, just having someone. Is it hard? B-being in a relationship, I mean."

Kanti: Kanti pours some of the spice into her cupped hands, warming it with her essence and infusing it with warmth of fire and the health of the wood dragon, watching it swirl with polychromatic motion as she wraps the oil in essence.

"I .. I've only really been in ... two ...three...four ... and the first two of those...."

they hurt so much ...
...they're not over!
...they're over...!

"It's so wonderful, at times ... to know someone is there for you, that they care. Do you really truely have no-one like that? I thought you would ... you're pretty and so pleasant."

She pours the oil from her hands into the waters, swirling them with a finger, drawing in the scents

Tasya: The compliment made Tasya sink lower into the water as her face grew red, but she giggled coyly as the top of her head dipping bellow the surface. Bubbles frothed around where she had vanished, as if her face burned hot enough to make the water boil. She stayed half-submerged for a few seconds, before finally bobbing back up. "S-some of the trainees a few years wanted to, but they... I mean I... they just didn't feel right."

A small frown worried her features, distance growing in her eyes as she thought back to faces of the bashful or boastful boys and girls who'd once chased after her. "Then they died. Or got old and went with someone else... no one ever stays."

She sighed or started to. The small heave of breath drew long as she breathed in the scent of the spices Kanti had begun to mix with the bathwater, the worry of her features melting away. A small, pleased purr came out of her throat and she hugged her arms against her chest. "But your kind don't, do they? Not as fast? So, you really do know they'll always be there" Tasya looked up at Kanti suddenly, her eyes wide and inquisitive. "Are you going to marry the prince?"

Kanti: Oh but choose who felt right ...

...not that any felt wrong...

...except when He left me.
...except when She scared me.
...except when she was a monster.
...except when he burns me.

...and all those felt so right too.

"I ... am sorry to hear that but ... even we move on, as Exalts ... we do not grow old except slowly, but sometimes we grow ... different. I think ... I have spent most my life living with those who will still be young when I have passed on. And we are fighting in a war ... I know my prince will survive but he is of the Sun. It is what they do. Shine against the darkness." but I...

"I ... don't think I will ever marry him. I don't think he will ever ask. It is not my place in the world to be any man or woman's wife, certainly not a king and a solar."

Tasya: "Why not?" she asked, her look turning to one of surprised. The prince, she could understand. Tasya wasn't ignorant to the concepts of duty or rank. But no one? No one at all?

Kanti: "There is no-one for me." She says, simply, without sadness, though something in her face suggests that she is, but the warmth of the pool and the spice, the friendly face across from her ... it brings about a certain honesty.

"The sun, the star, the moonchosen ... they will all live long beyond my years, I could not tie one too me, it is my place to serve them."

"A mortal I would live far beyond, it would break something in me as they passed away."

"And as for chosen of the dragons ... I am ... changed. Fire is my first ... love but ... I am above that. I am a knight of heaven and agent of the cycle. It would ... set me apart."

"I still love ... it just ... is not right that I ever read the scripture of the bride."

Tasya: "That's sad..." she answered, her lips parted and eyes stricken. Kanti may not have sounded sad, so Tasya did for her. Her face fell, staring at Kanti's watery reflection rippling on the pool's surface. Her hand moved across the pool, darting bellow the water's surface like a gleaming fish. It touched Kanti's knee, moving until her finger tips found the Terrestrial's hand and... simply stayed there. "T-thats very sad..."

Tasya inched a little closer, scooting along the edge of the pool until she sat beside Kanti, the span of a few inches separating them. "I-I don't have anyone like the prince. I use to live between places too, b-but I've never alone like that. The Spookies have always had a home for me, a-a place for me. How... how do you live like that? With no where to go? With nowhere to belong?"

Kanti: Kanti smiled as the girl took her hand and then slipped to her side

"Why is it sad?" She asked in a quiet voice of the woman, and then Taysa asks her other questions, and she ... almost understands.

"I'm not alone ..." except when I miss Him
"I have a place to be..." At Her feet.
"I have a place to go..." where she wills
"I have somewhere to belong ... at my Prince's side. I could not marry him, but that does not mean I am alone. I will never be his wife, but that does not mean I cannot belong with him. Venus wears five faces as she ties lives together ... she shows me a different face to the one she shows the bride."
I will read the scripture of the whore.
"I will not marry, but I will belong."
I hope.
I pray

Tasya: She thought about it. Considered what Kanti said in silence, letting the only sound to fill the air be the dripping of condensing water and the gentle slosh of the unsettled pool. Tasya didn't share the thoughts that moved behind her eyes, though they played out on her face one after another. Her expression grew dark and bright, confused and clear, until after sampling them all finally reached the conclusion of a small, sweet smile. She gave it to Kanti and squeezed her fingers gently. "I understand. We... we're kind of alike, I think... i-if thats okay to say..."

Kanti: Kanti takes the smile and is warmed by it, returning it with a look from her deep dark eyes that has cracks only in the deepest corners and a small smile of her own, squeezing back.

"It is ... of course." she nods, and then kisses Taysa's cheek, softly, the kiss of a friend.

Greymane: ((Meanwhile, in the next room over! Alex: ... that's it? ;_; Come on! Tits or gtfo!))

Tasya: The cheek bellow Kanti's lips was warm and soft, bent into a smile that would not leave. Tasya sighed softly and leaned against Kanti, their shoulders touching and her head tipping to the side to rest against Kanti's gently. It hadn't been an easy trip, to lead Tasya to the point where she did so without a hint of self-consciousness. Relaxed against Kanti's side, Tasya let her eyes fall closed and shifted a little.

Then shifted a little more.

Then even more, this time the motion accompanied by a small, soft hiss of pain. Her hand left Kanti's, sliding between them to grasp her own wounded side as she. Leaning off of Kanti, she gave the other girl an embarrassed look. "I-it still hurts, where that thing cut me," she said, sounding apologetic for it.

Greymane: ((Alex: I know the cure! Hot lesbian sex! Kanti: My prince? Alex: Yes? Kanti: Go back to the men's tub before Tasya combusts. Alex: Fine. =( ))

Kanti: Kanti started to relax into Taysa's side, sighing softly and pleasantly as the girl calmed by degrees at her side, feeling a connection she hadn't felt in a while, a new friendship.

Then Taysa winced and she was guilty once more. "I .. I'm sorry ... I should do something for it. I can ..." she hesitates, not sure how the young woman will react. "Would you like a massage?"

Tasya: "You... you know how?" Tasya asked, her teeth gritting slightly as she rubbed at her wounded side. "Magni and Modi offer to g-give everyone one, sometimes. But I don't like them touching me, so I never let them. Will it help?"

Kanti: Kanti nods with a little smile and a hint of naughtyness.

"I could give you any type of massage you wanted." She winks.

"But the one I had in mind will help, yes ... for more than just the cuts. Who are Magni and Modi?"

Tasya: The mention of "any type" set Tasya's face a blaze once more and she giggled at Kanti's teasing tone, willing herself to accept that the Terrestrial was just playing with her. Though, it was difficult to say. There were a lot of women who enjoyed other women, like Franciska and the Passion of Nari. There were even some who liked men and women both. As much as she blushed and giggled, Tasya couldn't help but glance at Kanti in a side-long fashion and wonder just how much of a joke it had really been...

"Cadets. Trainees. T-they're the Chief's attendants too. Twins w-who came here a while ago," Tasya paused and looked around, as if checking for spies. She leaned closer to Kanti and whispered to her conspiratorially "They're weird."

Kanti: Kanti looks innocent as Taysa gives her a sidelong glance, knowing just what was going through her mind. Truth be told, she would not mind in any way a cerulean friendship with the sweet young woman, and perhaps Taysa would like that even ... she certainly hadn't seemed against the idea that girls had been chasing after her but ... she couldn't stay here, she would have to move on and Taysa didn't want a love who would do that.

So she smiled back innocently and then burst into giggling at the conspiratorial whisper.

"Ohh, I see." She nodded.

Then she pushed herself up and out of the pool and picked up a towel for Taysa with a helpful smile.

Tasya: "They were rich when they came here," Tasya went on without prompting, standing up as Kanti did. She stepped into the towel and then took it away from Kanti to wrap it about herself. "They even lived up here on Highlane. Then it just sort of... vanished. They say it got stolen. I think they just spent it all on drugs and parties and prostitutes in the Red-Lantern district."

The towel snug around her, she bent down and picked one up to offer Kanti as well. She smiled as she held it open as the Terrestrial had for her. "So... what do I do?"

Kanti: Kanti smiled at the unexpected courtesy of the towel, stepping into it and securing it with a deft gesture of her hands.

"I guess maybe they did ..." She says, hesistantly. Money was something of a strange subject to Kanti. She had handled it of course, and seen storekeeps take it in exchange for goods, but it still seemed very odd to take some small coins for goods. You could make things from Ambrosia and Quintessance ... but silver was just for jewellery. Still, she supposed, they weren't exactly making goods of great quality, so maybe it worked...

"So who else is there in spookies?" Kanti asks as she gently leads the girl from besides the pool and through to one of the massage palours.

"All you have to do is lie down and relax, though." She reassures her as they walk towards the room.

Tasya: "I'll try," she giggled bashfully. Relaxing was something she had trouble with on the best of days. Doing so while Kanti ran her hands across her would be... challenging. But at least Kanti was giving her something else to focus on.

"Who else?" she tapped a finger to her lip thoughtfully as she followed Kanti towards the room. "Hmm... well, you've already met Eciarde and Noel. There is also the Chief, though I don't know if you'll ever meet him. He... um, doesn't go out, much."

"Oh! There is Team B, Franciska 's team. She's old. I knew her when she first joined us. She quit later, but came back after the war. We were really glad to have her back. We... we've been very short handed..." she trailed off, hesitating to say anything more about that.

Kanti: "Here we are." She walks into one of the several palours within the complex reserved for female clients.

"Who else is on her team?" Kanti asked, stearing her back to the topic of comrades still there, not comrades that had passed on.

Tasya: Following Kanti within, Tasya stopped and looked around the parlor. She paced the room lightly, inspecting the padded benches and shelves of exotic oils with the tip of her finger. Her eyes were wide once more, less from the opulence of the room than from the sheer strangeness of it. Massage parlors were far from rare in the Boil, but Tasya was hardly the sort of frequent them.

"Hm?" she looked back at Kanti, distracted from her inspections with the question. "W-well, there is Kozak. He's only been working with us for a little while and might move on soon, too..." she frowned slightly at that, but shook it off her face and went on. "He's a metal-man. A 'legionary,' he called himself. S-sort of like the ones Lord Iron Tears had made, but much older. He's very nice though."

Pausing once more, she looked over at Kanti. "Where do I lay down?"

Narrator: The wooden palour still held the damp warmth of the springs,.. and as Tasya asks, a figure steps from outside of it, a tall woman with long blonde hair, wearing little save bathing clothes under a white jacket - so as to seem more presentable, walking up to one of the benches and smiling towards Tasya and Kanti.

She took one long, hard look at them, a look that Kanti had seen on those guarding the gates of the houses of the rich and powerful of the Boil, as if to gauge their worthyness... and also, a look that was not much different than many male spookies had given to Tasya over the years. And then the look faded, and the smile remained "Just lay down here, Dragoness, and I will see about what I can do. Do you wish me to call another one for your friend?"

Tasya: Tasya squeeked in surprise as the woman suddenly joined them from seemingly thin air. She fumbled with a small vial of amber rubbing lotion she'd been examining, juggling it on her fingertips for a precarious few seconds. She finally managed to grasp it in both hands and clutch it tightly against herself, then quickly put it back on the shelf she had found it and scampered away, drawing up close to Kanti's shoulder.

She eyed the woman uncertainly. The lady certainly seemed to belong here, but Tasya had thought they were alone in the bathhouse today. Were there more women lurking about? And if there were... exactly what was Alex doing, out of sight and ear shot on the men's side of the baths?

Kanti: Kanti watches with a little amusement at Taysa's exploration of the room, the expression on her face as she looked at all the exotic oils.

"Oh, you just lay..." and then the blonde woman approached them, giving Kanti a look she was well used too, one that she meets with one of the hundreds of appropriate poses Damian had taught her. Like all the best, it was both hardly obvious and entirely impossible to miss.

Then Taysa suddenly appeared beside her, blushing and she smiled at the lady.

"No, thank you, we won't be needing your services today. You may leave us."

Alexander: As a matter of fact, Alexander Holysword was laying back on his bath, with the water up to his neck, eyes half-closed and mind half-asleep, crossing through so many dreams.... seeing the faces of everyone he knew, imagining great ideas he would forget when lucid and wild dreams that made no sense... and still quite a ways from realising he was not hearing any voices from the women's bath anymore.

Narrator: The woman's eyes lingered on Kanti... drawn to her like a fly to honey. The pose brought heat to her cheeks... but then she turned away, waving them. "Well, if you need some help with anything... just call. We are close by... so as to better serve you." She nods, before walking away...

Kanti: Kanti smiles at her and gives her a small wave. The fact that she could make her look like that, even as a mortal was slightly cheering.

"We will do." She reassures her, then waits for her to leave the room, before she speaks to Taysa.

"All you need to do is drop your towel then lie down on the bench there ... did you see any oils you might like to try?"

Tasya: Tasya's gaze had dropped to Kanti as well when the Terrestrial struck her... provocative pose. A blush had started to crawl up her face, but realized it might only make things worse in front of this woman, whose eyes had already judged her out of place and unworthy. Chewing at her bottom lip, Tasya pushed her hip out to one side and, as awkwardly as a baby taking it's first steps, tried to copy Kanti's position. One could say that she performed... admirably, for someone who had done more in the name of hiding her body than showing it off. She would have certainly been praised for the effort, even if the end result looked more painful and awkward than sensual.

As Kanti turned back to her, Tasya embarrassedly dropped her hands and straightened out. Not quite meeting the other girls gaze, she stepped over to the bench. "I... um... n-no, not really. I don't know what any of them are..." she admitted at first, then hesitated before adding. "M-maybe that one."

She pointed to a bottle of something lavender and sparkling resting near by. The label was in firetongue, something she knew nothing of, but at least it looked pretty.

Kanti: Kanti giggles once the woman has gone, though not in a hurtful way, her face looking the most relaxed Taysa has seen in the time they've been together.

"That wasn't bad for a first try ... so much better than my first time. I fell over...." Then, I was only twelve ...

Kanti smiles though, as she sees the pink bottle, with the label helpfully noting what it was, not that she needed to be told. "Desert Rose Silk. That's one of my favourite Southern massage oils. It smells wonderful." She unstoppers the bottle and takes a sniff, pouring some onto her hands. "And it creates such a wonderful tingle on your skin." She rubs the oil between her hands, her palms soon heating it. "The spiders they use only live on the roses of a few oasises around the city of Chiaroscuro." And with that information imparted Kanti presses her hands to either side of the base of the womans spine then pushes them up smoothly but firmly to shoulderblades, leaving her back coated in a thin sheet of gleaming oil.

"There, how does that feel?"

Tasya: Laid out on her belly, her arms folded under her chin, Tasya waited in mild trepidation for Kanti to begin. She was glad at least for the towel, her brush with the sensual leading her back in quick retreat to the timidness she was more use to. Kanti's comment still made her giggle softly though, even if she had trouble picturing someone as graceful as the Terrestrial tumbling over as she described. Some little part of her took smug satisfaction in it though, that she'd somehow done a little better than Kanti had.

As with her front, scars marred the pale flesh of Tasya's back, though nowhere near as many. A large jagged cross, perfect mirror for the one which framed her breasts in front, slashed over the tender flesh. Her upturned rear was still pinked from the heat of the bath, as were the dimples upon her lower back. She'd pulled her hair out of the way, the pale blond strands dangling over her shoulder and painting the floor in broad, wet strokes.

For a moment as Kanti's hands press against her, Tasya's body grew far more ridged than relaxed, stiffening from shoulders to toes.

"Oo-oo-ooo-ooooooh..." she quivered, the momentary strain melting out of her. Her eyes rolled back slightly, then close as her body slumped slightly against the bench. Color crept up into her face, a slowly advancing army rather than the wild-fire swiftness that usually came. "I-it... it feels nice..."

Kanti: Kanti starts to draw her fingers down the woman's back, the tips moving up and down, slowly but firmly working their way down, gently starting to ease the stress from the muscles. She'd start to work on the nessesary chakra's later to help her side heal, but for now relaxation was the order of the day, firm finger motions working the knots out from around the scars, wondering at just how she had gotten some of them. But then, she did seem to be quite old, from what she had said. Probably even older than Kanti.

"You're very pretty, you know." she says, as she start to knead at her shoulder.

Tasya: "O-oh... um, thank you..." she answered quietly, words failing when Kanti's fingers touched a spot near the cross-shaped scar. Tasya gasped softly and bit her bottom lip as the tingling sensation of the oil seemed to spread on it's own across the scar. It dove into her skin, turning warm feeling through her belly as it passed to the scar's mirror on her front. Her toes curled inward slightly, legs shifting back and forth a little, fingers clutching at the edge of the towel bellow her. She almost felt the urge to bite it. Weren't these things supposed to be relaxing?

"Y-you're very pretty too, Kanti."

Kanti: Kanti smiles unseen behind her back, fingers moving across to the other shoulder, knuckles working out the stresses that had accumulated there, slowly trailing her fingers down to one of the chakra points on her back, thankfully a little away from the cross-shaped scar.
I wonder how she got this...
She concentrates on the point, manipulating fingers and essence to allow energy to flow freely through the woman's body, to help with the wounds on her side.

"...Really? My ..." hideous, perfect, ugly, beautiful "...black scars don't bother you?"

She starts to work on the second point, releasing another flood of energy into her body.

Tasya: "Nnph...!"

Now the towel was in her mouth, clenched tightly between her teeth as she used it to gag down the embarrassing sounds that tried to bubble up in her throat as Kanti's skillful hands moved across her back. She rubbed her thighs together as she wiggled back and pushed her hips against the bench, shifting around restlessly as if she were uncomfortable in the position she lay in. That wasn't it at all though.

"T-they're... different... b-but I'm use to different..." she said, voice muffled through the towel, then added in a whisper. "I-I like different..."

Kanti: Kanti smiles at this, missing the towel-muffled whisper, rolling her hands in circles around Taysa's back, working stress out even as the girls squirming seems to be trying to force it back in.

"My prince ... tries so hard, but sometimes I can see they bother him, that he considers me scarred and broken. But he's so good most of the time. He makes me feel like there is nothing the matter with them, with me..."

"Is something the matter? You seem uncomfortable Taysa ... is there something I could do to make things better?" She asks, her voice warm but with an undercurrent of concern.

Tasya: "NO!" she nearly shouted, her head popping up as Kanti's hands began to slow. Her face and throat were already emblazed and couldn't get much redder as embarrassment swept over her at the outcry. She quickly ducked her head instead, pulling part of the towel over it and drawing herself inward a little as if trying to hide her whole body under the little flap of cloth. "U-um... I mean, I-I'm fine... just... just... don't stop..."

Alex... prince Alex...

Knee's pulling in towards her chest a little, her back arched upwards to press against Kanti's hands. "H-he see's them... often?"

Kanti: "You're sure?" She asks, as she starts to move her fingers with force once again over the oil slicked skin, carefully chosen carresses intended to release more of Taysa's energy and focus it on the fresh scar on her side. She certainly seemed to have a lot of it...

"Maybe you'd prefer I work my fingers somewhere else? A little higher or lower?"

almost every night.
most mornings.
that time after lunch...

"Quite often, I suppose."

"He likes to watch me dancing dressed only in them and sometimes he spends hours just tracing his fingers over them..." She says softly, with a twist of her fingertips.

Tasya: Higher or lower...?

There was a little shiver in her back that wouldn't stop. Her toes had curled so tightly they nearly cramped. She knew this feeling. Tasya had no confusion about what it was, only why. But there was a little problem with thinking straight at the moment, with her whole body swimming in a tingling warmth. And then Kanti's offer...

"L-lower..." comes the hesitant, muffled response from beneath the towel. Tasya arched her lower back upwards and pulled her knees beneath her further, offering the small of her back up to Kanti. And pulling the towel down tighter around her head at the indecency of it.

"H-he... oooh..."

Tracing, tracing... like Kanti's fingers were roaming across her back. Tasya had scars too. Not as... artful as Kanti's, but surely just as good for touching...

Kanti: Kanti obediently moves her fingers lower, starting to work around the small of Taysa's back in little, relaxing circling, working the oil into fresh skin.

What is up with her?

"You really should spread your legs alittle and straighten them ... that would make things much easier. It's hard to give a massage when you're almost kneeling ... unless you want to kneel right up."

"What do you think of my prince?"

Tasya: Spread her legs... ?

"Y-yessss..." she sighed, her legs easing apart bellow her, splaying against the bench. Kanti couldn't see it, but there were tears in the corners of her eyes. This was... embarrassing. Humiliating even. And knowing that Alex was around, that those other women were around, that anyone could walk in at any moment and see her like... this. That should have made it even more embarrassing. It did, in a way. Just not in the way it should have.

Kanti seemed so oblivious, but was she, truly? Or was this planned? The talk of how pretty she was, of the prince... and the heat, the tingling that ran through her made her muscles tense even as the warmth of Kanti's hands soothed them. Her body didn't know if it was coming or going anymore.

"Lower... p-please..."

Kanti: Kanti's hands move lower, slowly massaging their way down, starting to rub the floral silk oil into the girl's pale cheeks so low are her hands before she she suddenly raised them in horror.

She is so....
so...

...the oil! Oh how could I forget it is an aphrodisiac ...
it doens't do this to m-... but she is mortal. almost.

"Oh ... Taysa...I am so sorry...I...I should have known .... I should not have put you through this .... my prince will will be so angry with me...sorry ..."

Tasya: "Y-you stopped?"

Tasya's face had emerged from beneath the towel, flushed cheeks glistening with sweat, pale lips shinning with saliva and shivering. Her eyes were confused with need, confused with disappointment, salty tears running down her cheeks. Tasya didn't know what exactly Kanti had done. She'd all but stopped caring about why it was happening. Caring meant being able to think, and by this point that had almost grown beyond her capability to do.

The warmth in her belly and her thighs..
The tingling that ran through every scar on her back and crackled through her body...
Those where what mattered. Stopping the feeling, relieving the need.

Tasya bit her bottom lip, looking up at Kanti pleadingly. "D-don't stop... please?"

Kanti: "Oh Taysa!" Kanti exclaimed again, pressing her hands to the woman's back once more, working over her skin, around her scars again.

"I'm so sorry ... you shouldn't be going through this."

She kneads with her hands powerfully, though with caring, focusing once more on the essential chakra points, bringing more energy to the surface, so hot it must almost be burning Taysa.

"You shouldn't be feeling like this .... I'm sorry for that...I should have remembered."

Tasya: "Nnnnmmm..." the young woman sighed, her back and buttocks unclenching somewhat as Kanti's hands returned to her skin. She shouldn't be feeling like this?

No, she shouldn't. She should be feeling the touch. She should be feeling... relieved. She had hands of her own. She knew how to use them, however little she ever had. But, in front of another woman?

How was that any worse than begging Kanti to do it for her? Did she even like other women? It was hard to remember anymore...

Tasya painfully unclenched one hand from around the towel and slid her trembling fingers slowly downwards along the bench.

"Remembered...?" she asked suddenly as the oddity of the word pierced through the pink fog that had settled over her thoughts, her voice once more muffled by the towel as she snuggled her cheek into it deeply.

Kanti: "The oil....it has set you aflame." She whispers as her hands move over Taysa's skin, leaving warm trails of sensation on her back.

"It brings out such a powerful heat, but it is alchemical in nature ... it does little more than than titillate me and so I forgot." She reaches the woman's buttocks once more, rubbing along the tops of them as she pushed the muscles below the surface about her skin.

"I should not have brought you to how you are ... you are my friend and I would .... but not like this."

Tasya: Words didn't answer Kanti this time, only a shuddering sigh. Tasya's hand had finished it's journey over the tightened plain of her belly and finally dipped between her legs. Her fingers moved with an awkward rhythm that her hips worked against; knowing but ill-practiced. The cramped occupancy of the Spookies headquarters left very little time or privacy for... this sort of activity.

And as the Terrestrials hands returned to her raised backside, Tasya let out a squeaky moan, sinking her teeth into the knotted towel bellow her. Her other hand flew back, grasping over Kanti's, leaving the whole weight of her body to fall forward onto her shoulders and face. She didn't try to stop the Terrestrial though. Her hand only rode atop Kanti's, squeezing tightly as she touched some particularly sensitive spot or another.

Kanti: Kanti continued to work on her buttocks, following the guidance of the tensing hand as she moved, changing the tone of her massage just slightly as her hands started to move off and away, back up her spine, her manipulations far more subtle now, altering the flows of essence within Taysa's body, the the natural rythms of the woman. The release she was seeking might have been unintended, but now at least it would ensure her side would be left with not even a scar.

Tasya: Scars were the last thing on Tasya's mind. Skin burning bellow Kanti's touch, muscles contracting and relaxing as her body rocked back and forth. She had no finesse or technique, least of all compared to the woman standing beside her. But then it hardly took heavenly training to finish what a bath in alchemical aphrodisiacs had started.

Sweat poured off her, soaking into hair, plastering blond strands to her face. Her breathing turned erratic, tiny grunts sounding out every time her hips bucked downwards. However inexperienced, she could not be say to be uncreative. Tasya arched her shoulders upwards, her brow burying into the towel and bench as she raised her shoulders enough to let her breasts roll and rub against the sweat-soaked fabric bellow her.

Tasya suddenly clutched her hand around Kanti's wrist, squeezing desperately for support. For just something real to hold onto. Her eyes rolled back up into her head, the world of pastel flame she knew so well suddenly bursting into her vision. Her breathing stopped for a heartbeat... then came out as a wavering scream. A scream of pleasure and confusion and fear and release. Even with the towel piled around her face, it rang out through the salon and the corridors of the silent bathhouse.

Even before the echoes of it had faded, Tasya finally relaxed. Her body slithered downwards, limbs sprawling out from under her to either side of the bench, slick hand sliding off of Kanti's wrist and dropping limply. The muscles under Kanti's hand had all the resistance of butter and all the warmth of a spring day. They glowed with nearly the same rosy shade. Tasya had all but completely sweat the oil off her body, though she glistened as though freshly anointed with it. Her back and sides heaved as she gulped down air, laying with eyes closed, her head twisted to the side to offer one cheek upwards.

Kanti: Kanti leaned down after she finished, while she lay there, pressed her lips to her cheek and then whispered.

"I'm so sorry Taysa ... that shouldn't have happened."

She bit her lip for a moment.

"But you look so beautiful, just now."

Alexander: It was all in one leap.

His wings flapped, and he soared upwards, his hand touching the edge of the wall separating male and female baths, his golden strength and pristine wings pushing him foward... into the female baths, his feet touching the ground towards the massage house, sliding on the floor, striding into the room, urgent concerned...

"Tasya!"

Tasya: The limp remains of Tasya lay stretched out on the bench before Alex, Kanti crouched low over her. She looked... damp. Sweat slicked her from the bottoms of her small feet to the tip of her nose. Her hair was stained darkly with it or plastered across her back and face, water from the bath dripping off the tips. She was warmed over, flushed. Her pinked rump pointed out towards the prince, legs parted as she straddled the bench, dampness spread down across the white seat cover bellow her.

Tasya hadn't really answered Kanti. Not verbally at least. Soft, wordless murmurs had slipped out of her lips and the hand that had clutched the Terrestrials wrist so tightly had pulled itself over and rested against Kanti's foot instead. She didn't seem to have the strength or will to open her eyes, let alone operate in any meaningful capacity.

Alexes voice changed that.

As though a bucket of ice water had been dumped upon her back, Tasya shivered violently and grew as stiff as the bench bellow her, her eye snapping open wide. She snapped up, almost bowling Kanti over as she twisted around on the bench, throwing a disbelieving look behind her, dreading what she's see. Seeing what she dreaded.

Kanti: "My prince!" Kanti exclaimed as Taysa almost teleported behind her, so swiftly did she flow from the bench.

"..What...what are you doing in here?"

Narrator: The massagist from before walks steps in, much less concerned... until she sees the prince. Her face looks urgent, as she moves, picking a bucket of water on the ground and throwing it towards the prince, "Get out! Session is for females only!"

Alexander: With his blade in hand, he could stop massive waves, he could stop lighting from heaven. With it, he could stop anything.... but without it, he was harmless... and the bucket his him right into the nose, knocking him off his feet, out of the room. "owwww!" He cried out, out of sight. He then begun to take in the scene... Kanti was still there... all was calm... Tasya was so flushed... and then, his face took the same tinge. And his face did not appear on the door again.

Tasya: Tears streaming down her face, Tasya twisted back and forth from the massagist to the empty doorway where Alex had stood. She looked down at Kanti and a sudden, horridly sickening feeling of humiliation washed over her as she realized finally what had just happened. What Kanti had done, or rather, what she had tried to get Kanti to do.

It was far too much for the young woman. Her knees buckled out from under her, legs sliding outwards as she fell onto the floor. She buried her eyes in one arm, raising a hand and slapping it down onto the tiled floor before her. A bead of light streamed through the tiles like a droplet of water rolling down a window, cutting the outline of a door into the floor. Her fingers clawed at it, ripping it open nearly before it had finished formed, her face blasted by the familiar wave of warm, dry wind and radiance from the glaring tunnel of light.

Narrator: "... oh." The woman watched the point Tasya clawed at the ground, at the same time amazed and worried, azure eyes open wide... and then she turns to Kanti, trying to choose the right words... "Ah... um. Is... is that normal, or..?"

Kanti: "Taysa!"

Kanti lunges for her, plucking her from the floor, her smooth motion taking the towel under her, then scooping woman and towel up, wrapping her in the ... now slightly damp white fabric.

"Taysa...Taysa ... I'm sorry ... don't run, please."

Tasya: She kicked, her pale legs shimmering through the air as they flailed. She writhed, straining and struggling in Kanti's arms to escape to the sanctuary of the open door, to 'her place' beyond the world. But she did not break free and after a few moments more of trying, went limp in the Terrestrials arms, burring her eyes into the heels of her hands.

"B-but he saw! And... and w-we... we...!" she curled up in Kanti's arms, fists clutching the towel in a death grip. "I-I didn't mean... it's not... I-I don't... Never, never, never... a-and now he'll think I do..."

Kanti: "Ssshhh .... sshhh..." She smiles calmingly down at the woman in her arms, gently carrying her away from the room, back towards the baths to make very sure all of the oil was gone.

"He won't think anything. Just you relax now, and slip back into the water." She kneels at the poolside, holding onto Taysa's towel. Her voice is calming, and soothing, wrapping her in a warming cocoon.

Narrator: The woman walks to the door, looking at the springs outside... then back. "He is gone, alright. So it's fine for you to come out, sweetie. And the red one is right, relax... don't worry." She says with a compassionate smile, "Do you want some water? Tea? Anything to calm you down?"

Tasya: She said nothing to answer either of them, simply sat in the water. Her head bowed and faced masked behind a curtain of hair, Tasya hugged her arms around herself and stayed silent. The water before her rippled, as droplets fell from her hidden face and splashed into the steaming pool.

Kanti: Kanti slipped into the water next to Taysa with a shake of her to the woman, a grateful smile and a polite gesture that she should leave.

"I'm so sorry Taysa." Kanti says softly, once the woman has left. "You were so nice to me, and you listened, and you didn't let my ... scars bother you and then I went and did that to you. I didn't mean to, but it was my fault ... I should have remembered, should have noticed earlier." She kisses her forehead then pulls back, looking at Taysa in concern and embarrassment.

Tasya: Still more silence, but after a moment Kanti can feel Tasya watching from the corner of her eye. Her hands slowly released her arm and instead reached for the hair floating in the water around her. She ran her hands through it at first, then twisted it around into the semblance of a braid. Hand over hand, she stroked at the blond strands.

"I-I don't... i-it wasn't... it... I-I'm not u-upset at y-you..." she said, her voice as loud as the steam that drift through the room, pained and cracked with tearful dryness. "I... I just... never... a-and I wanted..."

Her jaw quivered hard. "I-it was s-supposed to be special..."

Kanti: Kanti looks over to her with guilt, though she doesn't let it show to Taysa, instead wearing a reassuring expression.

"You still haven't," she says quietly. "And it still will be. That ... that wasn't it."

Narrator: The woman watches... wondering how many times she had seen the same thing. If the Prince meant that as the Sheriff had... that is another matter entirely. But still, the result was the same, wasn't it? And it was not up to her now... but to her friend. She felt like intruding.

And then, quietly, she walked away, fading on the edge of the girl's sights.

Tasya: Tasya's knees raised out of the water as she pulled them back to her chest, slipping her arms around them and hugging them against her tightly. Stirred, the water splashed against the edge of the pool, lapped at the white islands of her legs.

"... it was... I-I never let anyone... never asked anyone t-to..."

She sucked in a breather, broken into a hundred tiny gasps, released again in a hundred tiny sighs. The water settled and a face surfaced, pale and haunted with eyes empty of all else save shame.

"A-all the others... they always would... they thought because w-we might die every day. They thought because whoever they slept with m-might be dead too... that it was okay..." she sniffed, rubbed her face against her knees until it was almost buried between them. "B-but they were wrong... I thought they were wrong..."

Kanti: Kanti shakes her head softly, looking a guilty now, wrapping her own arms around herself, speaking in the same low tone as Taysa is.

"It wasn't .... not you thinking straight." She risks a small slide towards Taysa, wanting to comfort her physically, but not knowing how she might react.

"Just because ... because it was right for them, doesn't mean it is right for you. It isn't right for you, or you ..." she reaches out and risks putting her hand on Taysa's arm. "..you wouldn't be like this. I shouldn't have let you ...get like that. It ... I should have noticed."

We haven't even kissed, and she feels like this.... '
why did I have to hurt her so?

Tasya: She didn't pull away from Kanti's touch, nor did she acknowledge it. She did not acknowledge anything, for a while. The tears had stopped, though from the sore red eyes reflected in the water, it seemed more an sign that she had none left to shed than one that she had moved beyond shedding them.

Her knees moved incrementally, one arm unwrapping around them. Her hand slid against her abdomen, until it sat in the center of the cross shaped scar. "I nearly died today," she said, slowly and deliberately, her voice forcefully calm. "I've nearly died before. A lot. But I never... I never let it mean..."

Several choking breaths overcame her. She gripped her leg tighter as the breath stuttered from her lips. Tasya swallowed it down with pain, nearly forcing the composure back into her words. "I... I've been alone so long... I've waiting so long... a-and I don't even know why anymore..."

She lifted her head and turned her face towards Kanti. The shame was gone. So was most everything else. A pair of blue eyes, nearly swept clean of all emotion, with only a mote of sadness floating in their depths. "I think I want to go home now."

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