Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Hotsprings Day three: Hotsprings Hijinx

[SalmonMax]

Lily's shoulders sag. "Great. Another world's fate to decide."

She looks up at the sky. "What happened the last time someone got the Grail? And what's a Master Seal, and what happens when it fails?"

[Justin OOC]

"Shizuru smiles saving Lily's first comment for later. "To my knowledge No one has ever successfully used the grail. It has been activated several times. This has lead to several series of disasters that have scarred the land. In the last war Arich came the closest to attaining the grail but it was not to be."

Before she can go into greater detail Suzuka stands and makes her way into the group. She holds out her hand and nods. On the back is a stylized "X" superimposed over an "M" surrounded by arcane symbols. It glows with faint blue light. "This is an example of a Master's Seal. Some Servants, or Champions, have one, some have more. To My Knowledge, Lady Asia is the only one to have ever had Five. The Seals reperesent a direct Link to the Archmage you serve or champion. They allow you to call upon the Archmages immense power in limited fashion, but at a cost. By using the seal the Archmage may summon you from wherever you are, or more importantly, they can command you to do any task, even one that goes against the very fabric of your being. This is how seals are normally used."

She seems to glower. "The magic of the Seals is nearly irresistable. It hearkens back to another time where magic was much stronger and more potent, When the Amaha still graced this land with their presence. It was they who created the Grail, or so it is said."

[Lawrence Thebes]

He smiled. "I'd love to." He responded, putting some food into his mouth. As he chewed, he looked around. Everything was pretty busy, and it was moderately inconvenient. "You can get a private sauna, right?" He said, sounding mildly worried. "Because this place is kind of a rush."

[Justin OOC]

Asia's smile brightens and she nods. "As soon as we're done eating. When one is a well-known champion, few will ever deny them what they wish."

[Georgi]

Very interesting, Georgi notes to himself, as he listened to discussions about Master seals and the Grail. He had several questions that he wished to ask this Shirizu when he had a chance. While the conversation was important and informative, he kind of wished that it would stop. That way, he could concentrate on the girls who were splashing water and hiting eachother with towels.

[SalmonMax]

Lily gapes at Shizuru in horror, then looks at the brand on her shoulder, the X over the M worn like an epaulet.

"That's monstrous," she says in a shocked tone. "How do you get rid of them? Is there any way? You called Kai an Amaha...could he somehow remove the Seals? I agreed to help Growler, but I never said I'd become some kind of slave!"

[Valerie]

Valerie grabs the towel as Shizaru goes on explaining to Lily about the world, listening intently to their conversation while playing with Ibis.

Dodging a throw and returning the throw at Ibis Valerie took a pause. "So this marks, are magical tattoos that the owner can use to put somebody under a profound state of trance making them do whatever they wish to do?" The slight pause was dire to Val as the two towels in a row landed on her. Dunking into the water she appeared behind Shizaru and Lily once again. "That's cheating Ibis!" Val blindly throws the towel back at Ibis. "But Arich didn't look like such a bad guy, maybe he won't force us to do anything beyond what we would be willing to do. On top of that, does having this seal not mean that we can directly draw from Arich powers to use them?"

[Justin OOC]

"I did notice that the young man had no seal, perhaps it is true that Amaha cannot be forced to bear the Seal. As for getting rid of them, only through usage or the attainment of the grail or end of the tournament, as it's sometimes called, will remove them." Shizuru muses.

Suzuka had grown quite quiet and nods. "That is what the legends say Lady Kaunac." She turns to regard Valerie and gets splashed by one of the catgirls, she sends of wave of water at them with an arm and smiles. "There is no trance, you are quite cognizant of what you are doing when the seal is activated. To your second question, yes, you can in a limited fashion draw upon the mana of The Archmage you champion."

It was there now, these two groups fought for opposing masters, and the thought that they may have to fight was the unspoken issue.

[SalmonMax]

Lily looks around at the others and feels a stab of concern.

"These contests the Champions involve themselves in. Do they have to be lethal?"

[Justin OOC]

Suzuka shakes her head. "Normally no. When an opponent concedes normally that's the end of it for that battle. Some will continue and slay their opponents after they have yielded, others must be forced to do so." There's a certain inflection in her voice that would lead those present to believe she is one of the latter.

"It make sense to slay your opponents, since you no longer have to fight them at a later time, however most view not slaying your opponents as taking the devil you know versus the one you don't. If a servant or champion is destroyed the Archmage can find another, one who could be even stronger."

On the other side Lancer shakes his head. "Stupid bitch talks to much, it's clear what the situation is." He stands up to leave and Kai calls out to him. "Lancer.."

"No Kai. You are servants of the enemy of my master, or at least your friends are Kai. I may yet have to fight them and even you in battle, and I follow the first outlook Suzuka laid out. I kill all my master's enemies, just Like Asia."

[Georgi]

Hearing Lily's outburst and Val's simlar outrage. Georgi stol a look at his own arms and shoulders. Sure enough, there was a mark. I did not volunteer to be someone's slave! he gritted his teeth in anger as he turned to face the others.

,,

Quote:

"Stupid bitch talks to much, it's clear what the situation is." He stands up to leave and Kai calls out to him. "Lancer.."

"No Kai. You are servants of the enemy of my master, or at least your friends are Kai. I may yet have to fight them and even you in battle, and I follow the first outlook Suzuka laid out. I kill all my master's enemies, just Like Asia."

"That's too bad lancer!" Georgi yelled towards him with a large grin on his face. "I also follow the first ideal, but only because I am a soldier. The sad part; is that I'd really hate to kill you."

[Justin OOC]

"You won't." Lancer leaves... "But first..." then he sticks his head through the curtain out into the Women's bath. "Suzuka, you've said enough I think. Time to get out."

The catgirls screamed as his blue-haired head peeked through the curtain. "Get out get out get out you pervert.!!!"

He gives them a hard predatory glare, his eyes suddenly going red and emitting an almost tangible enmity. "Silence from the Gallery. Come Suzuka. We have to get ready for Their arrival."

Suzuka looks pissed then nods. "Perhaps you're right Lancer." She turns to Lily and Valerie. "Enjoy your stay, I promise no harm shall come to you for the remainder." She got up and left the Springs, after slapping the holy hell out of Lancer. "That's for peeking you disgusting pervert."

His response was heard as they left. "You just wished you looked half as good as those cute young women."

Kai hears the girls scream and nods to Georgi. "Come on they may be in trouble..." He takes his towel up and climbs up the bamboo wall and peeks over the side, preparing to make the final leap. "Is everyone ok over here?" at least six sets of eyes turn to Kai, as the four catgirls scream again. "Pervert!!!!"

[Lawrence Thebes]

It was very late in the day by the time Lawrence and Asia had gotten done with their Sauna. Surely their ‘invite only’ rule made the other saunas that much busier, but it gave Lawrence and Asia some well appreciated alone time. Lawrence was seemingly drunk on her word, giggling and tripping as they left the hot room, followed by much steam. Many onlookers caught a glimpse of them, both in their towels and holding hands. They stood close while whispering secrets to one another with broad smiles on their face. Lawrence attempted to keep eye contact from anyone, but when he did he blushed. He seemed to be ashamed or embarrassed of his overly thin body. Asia was content as ever, not bothering to hold herself back. It was an odd scene, to see these two cats together. They were more different the more you thought about it, yet they seemed to fit with each others’ personality flawlessly. When one talked, the other would smile. Many of the onlookers thought their union was beautiful and unexpected.

No one bothered them as they walked towards the room. Lawrence kept his eyes on the floor or upon Asia. He was really, really, really liking her. He felt at home next to her, his hand connected to her. Their fingers intertwined to make a knot of flesh and fur, something that he didn’t want to let go of. Her words filled his stomach with butterflies and his heart with happiness. Experiencing this was like letting his soul loose without danger. It was what he thought the notion of love might feel like, even though he thought he couldn’t feel it. Occasionally his mind would wander to Lily and his other companions. He felt like he was leaving their cause for his own, forged by Asia. He was on a different team then Lily and the others, and if they were forced to fight he wouldn’t know what he would do. He knew he would protect Asia, but he had to protect Lily too. Did he want to protect her because it was his duty to his people and the emperor or was it something more. Long ago he felt as if there could have been between something between the two, though it was merely a boys’ fantasy. She was the emperors’ daughter, after all. Infatuations seemed to plague him but could this current thing more than that? When he got too deep within his thoughts he brought himself to the surface and listened to Asia’s words some more.

They’d spent the time in the sauna next to each other. They knew no one would enter the room, except for the chance of common yet rare mistake. They began by holding hands but as time went on they got closer. He put his arm around her and she must’ve heard his heart beat. Words didn’t need to be said as they spent their time in the small room, full of emotion and steam. When they did speak, it was expanding upon their pasts. With her growing up in the tribal-like villages far from their current location and his growing up in lands of technology and an incredibly complex caste system, they were from complete different backgrounds. The odds that they even met were astronomical and its things like this that made Lawrence believe in fate. Eventually they fell into a laying position, both covered by a thin layer of cloth. He laid upon her; it was much more comfortable for him to do than her on him.

Through the labyrinth-like hallways of the hot springs they travelled. The more they walked together, the more people dressed and seemed to notice them. The air grew colder and colder, giving away to the lack of sun and their absence of proper dressings. Still, though, they wandered. They must’ve passed by the same spot two or three times, neither caring about how quickly they got to their respective destinations. But soon Asia commented about getting back to her room for the night. It was well past dinner time so she’d have them make something later.

Lawrence was disappointed as she mentioned about her leaving their party of two. He didn’t particularly want to untie their knot but it must be done at some time. He was just happy they were together now.

They moved to her door, whispering words and keeping their secrets. No one was around to see as she closed her eyes as he moved in to kiss her. It lasted only for seconds both seemed Ill-satisfied with letting go. As they did, Asia slipped her foot backwards, knocking the door ajar slowly. She drew her body from his, and her hair began to stand alone. Lawrence gave a quick whisper and it seemed like a goodbye. His steps backwards put tension on their arms but neither seemed to let go. The strength of his fingers seemed to loosen, but as a reaction hers strengthened. She stepped into the doorway, giving Lawrence a slight tug and a mischievous smile. Lawrence looked nervous and excited as he took a step closer to the door. He seemed to lean forward to kiss her, but her arm shot out and grabbed him by the shoulder and he disappeared into the doorway as quickly as the arm grabbed him. The door slammed behind him.

[SalmonMax]

Lily looks up to see what's behind all the commotion, and gets an eyeful of Kai getting an eyeful of her!

"Kai!" she shouts, "What are you DOING?! Get out of here!"

It would be an easy thing to plunk down into the water to escape Kai's wandering eyes, but Lily was Dalaraan at heart, and tended to think vertically. Her aura flared blue as she erupted straight up in a flume of water and streaked to the sheltering embrace of one of the palm tree tops.

[Valerie]

Valerie, having just recently been aimed at with a towel used this to her advantage as she enveloped herself into her towel, extending a force beneath her foot she created a small section where to push back and be able to jump high into the air, repeating the motion like a stairwell right into Kai.

"Kai! Stop peeping!" summoning all of her strength, Valerie vaulted higher than Kai and closing her hands together hit Kai's head like a Volleyball throwing him back into the mens spring or at least that was the intended action.

With a quick reaction Kai managed to weave his body back just enough distance to make Val overshoot herself and end up doing a vertical three sixty, her own forward momentum sending her into collision path with Kai. Hitting her mark, both of them tumbled through the air back towards the male side of the hot springs, Kai managed to maneuver the surprised Valerie to be away from the landing spot as Kai landed on his back protecting her, while Val landed on top of him, straddling him like one would a pony. "Uwaaaaa..." was all Val could say.

Confused and a little shaken, Val sat down on the position she was in on top of Kai without realizing, keeping herself straight by putting both hands on top of his chest Val had not opened her eyes. "Sorry Kai...I guess I overreacted."

[Georgi]

Georgi could only stare as Val leapt over the wall and pinned Kai underneath her naked body in a highly sexualized position. Something inside him longed for that sort of contact, and he found himself flushing. "I guess that is my cue to leave." It would be highly inappropriate for a teacher to be in the presence of naked female students. Especially when one of them was in a highly compromising and suggestive pose.

He picked up his towel and tossed it over his shoulder, leaving the rest of him bare. He walked out of the spring and towards the changing area, his soldier's physique moving gracefully. His thoughts once again wandered towards Amane, as he gave the naked couple one last glance.

[Justin OOC]

ShitShiShitshit......... the thought echoed in his mind even as he was hurtled back over the divider by Valerie. He was already blushing a pretty deep red when he'd first actually focused on what he'd seen when he looked over, Their reaction was what some part of him expected, but still being thrown by his head and then being forced to adjust so he ened up breaking the water underneath Valerie as opposed to on top of her, was somewhat disconcerting to say the least.

When he regained his senses after the slpashdown he looked up to find Valerie straddling him, and the unmistakable feel of skin to skin contact. A very quick search revealed he did still have his towel, and by a chance his hand brushed up against Valerie's leg. He looked up at Valerie and turned an even deeper red. He heard Georgi's words and saw him leave... Her eyes were still closed.

"Oh my God... I'm so sorry Valerie."

With the two of them like that, the two other men who thus far had been silent laughed and got up to leave. When they were gone Kai whispered to Valerie as he closed his eyes. "Ok, the coast is clear, I think you can stand up now, everyone's gone and I just closed my eyes."

[SalmonMax]

Aghast, Lily stared down from where she clutched palm leaves around herself. The high vantage gave her a ringside seat. And suddenly the red in her cheeks had nothing to do with embarrassment.

"Valerie!" She demanded from on high like some vengeful god, "WHAT! ARE! YOU! DOING?!?!"

She power dove out of the tree, at Valerie, intending to knock the slattern clean off of Kai!

[Valerie]

Valerie could feel her heart beating terribly fast, the fibrous controllers had gone haywire with a sudden adrenaline rush from her fall, the high beating of her heart and a deeper oxygen intake made her blood flow faster and this lead to arteries expanding to accomodate for the higher volume of blood, her temperature raising and her muscles tensing up ever so sligthly with the renewed source of fuel, this all lead to a single thing.

Val's face turned beet red when she opened her eyes and realized just where she was sitting and in what position she was. This lead to a second adrenaline rush which made her even redder.

She could feel Kai's hand on her leg, she was aware of everthing up to how fast his heart was beating with her hands on his chest, she was also intensly aware of how her towel was drooping and how a kamikaze alien princess was coming towards her. Thinking fast she didn't exactly knew what to do, but she held onto Kai as she put her arms around his torso and rolled into the water to escape a certain head-on collision with the Azure Wonder.

Only one thing whent through Val's head. "This truly can't be happening."

[Justin OOC]

He heard Lily shout, then breifly saw her nude form as she rocketed towards them. Then he felt Valerie grab him again and roll over out of the way of the attack. Lily hit the water with a resounding splash and seemed to be quite upset.

The sight that greeted her was sure to only exacerbate that condition. Valerie was now on her back, legs still essentially straddling Kai, with her arms firmly latched around his body. Kai had managed to get his arms out and was using them to hold himself up, though he was clearly no match for Valerie's physical strength.

The only way the position could have been more compromising would have been if they'd lost their towels, which thankfully were still wrapped around them, Though Kai's had come undone and Valerie's was rapidly falling. Kai spared a quick glance at Lily, blushed a deeper red, and closed his eyes. "So Sorry!"

He looked down to Valerie. "Thanks for moving me out of the way, but I really think you need to let me go before we both get hurt." There was already a small amount of pain, where Valerie's nails had dug into his back some, so tightly had she been clutching him.

"Knowing what we do, I'm gonna need both of at your best soon enough. And I'd really prefer that the people I care about don't beat each other senseless." His appeal for sanity carried to Lily easily enough.

[Valerie]

Valerie´s head shook as she gathered her surroundings, and once Lily had drove herself into the thermal waters and Valerie had gotten Kai out of the way, she was supposed to let go of Kai and reappear far away from him, but for several seconds that seemed like an eternity for Valerie, her body would not answer to her commands, preferring to stick to the warm embrace it was currently the subject of.

After those seconds have elapsed and Valerie had regained control of her body, she let go of Kai and clutched her towel to herself. "I don´t plan on beating on anybody Kai. It´s power-bomb princess here who is planning on it."

[Justin OOC]

There was something else though that Valerie noticed. When she had been in actual skin to skin contact with Kai, she honestly felt stronger and generally more powerful than she ever had. The feeling left quickly as Kai disentangled himself and sat back into the water, his eyes still closed. There was however a weird look on his face, almost as if he'd felt the weird tingling sensation as well.

In some ways it felt the same way it did when she'd used the dragonslave, though there was a distinct warmth that had been lacking in the use of the Dragonslave.

About that time another voice echoed out. "You Know Lily, if you're going to stand there nude teasing him with that mental image, I'd say it's really cruel."

Shizuru's voice was very much that of a playful older woman as her head and shoulders were clearly visible over the partition. "I don't think he was really trying to peek, I think he just heard the girls scream an was concerned for the safety of the two of you, even if he is just a normal human male."

With his eyes closed his head turned towards the speaker and nodded once.

Before he could speak a wizened little bald man with a white beard and sunglasses appeared from behond one of the rocks. He looked at Kai and Valerie, then his eyes zeroed in on Lily's nude form. He starded chuckling madly and then calmed down. "So these are the vaunted champions Arich has brought to fight in the tournament for him?"

His lewd smile is almost tootheless. "You gotta admit Shizuru, he knows how to pick some flat out gorgeous young ladies, if nothing else." Contrary to everyone else, the little old man was fully clothed and kept his hands behind him.

At the sound of another male voice Kai's eyes snapped open immediately and he vanished in an explosion of water. In what seemed like only a second he'd returned and rather forcefully wrapped a towel around Lily.

"What young Man? Only you get to look at these two beauties, Is that how it is? That's hardly fair to a senile old man."

In the brief moment , Kai's hand touched Lily's shoulder and upper arm and she also felt the curious sensation Valerie had, as though she was momentarily stronger, and a sort of warmth, mixed with a power matching the Ragna Blade. It was gone when he had withdrawn his hands after covering her.

What was astonishing was the speed he moved with. She'd literally never seen a human move that fast.