Orpheus

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Drych Lake Spa – Hot Springs

The path leading to the springs, for no apparent reason, suddenly made Lute very nervous. He was actually having a fun time planning his schedule for the day, and was considering having a haircut just like what Estelle suggested, but the appearance of the homely wooden structure suddenly rattled his wits. He had never gone to a hot spring before, but Atlas (or was it Robin?) described the experience equal to ‘getting stuck inside a water-filled glass bowl in the middle of summer. Naked.’ and he only remembered their words now. Before Lute could change his mind and bolt out of the building, their group separated and headed off to their respective changing rooms.

Oh Gods, it was hot.

Opening the door to the springs was like getting hit in the face by a wall of hot air. Sure, the ‘dressing room’ was already steamy thanks to the mist from the springs seeping in from partitions, but… “Think summer. Think sunny,” Lute chanted to himself as he approached a locker and opened it. There were a stack of fluffy white towels placed on the stone benches in between the lockers and he nabbed one, for a moment frozen with how immaculately soft it was. It was... It was like the towels were made from the dreams of children and clouds! That lovely texture! The pure color! Would anybody notice if he stole one... or three?

Yes. Yes they would. Lute sighed. No matter, he'd buy towels of this ilk once he's become an aristocrat with so much money he'd be all condescending and fancy accent-ed.

“So…” Lute tried to hide the way he was rubbing the cloth against his face and turned towards Quentin, “uh, not to make too fine a point on it, but… We take off our clothes before jumping into the water, right? I mean… Really? I haven’t been to one of these things before.” Lute, by then, seemed ashamed enough and Delilah’s chants about seeing the ‘booty’ wasn’t helping to clear away the embarrassment.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

I'm about to give up on my internet *sighs*

Posted!

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

The guy with the spear was pretty hostile, wasn’t he?

“Prick,” Numair muttered under his breath. Mr. Cuddles looked sadder by the second, but who wouldn’t be gloomy upon being called ‘Yogi’? Okay, maybe he was overreacting; the nobodies probably didn’t recognize the inside references Inadi was throwing, but Numair sure did and he was the one getting upset. His eyes narrowed when the other man went so far as to suggest a fight and thankfully Toby interrupted before the hotheaded surfer could do or say anything that would hurt the Hooded Figures’ cause.

A short stretch of silence followed Toby’s outburst, which Numair broke by saying, “Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence.” What a sweet kid. Gary could certainly learn a few things from him. The other humans started to react in a domino effect after that; Sacha was the one who answered their questions with some help from Luke and C.

"No offense, but why do you suddenly want to help us? Last time you hit one of our friends on the head and tried to take the list. If you really wanted to help us, couldn't you have told us from the beginning? Then again, you also saved us from the witch. Why did you do that?"

Uggghhh could somebody please take the role of ‘middleman’ from him now kthanks…

Hey cutie, we're a little confused right now, but we don't want to fight, so if you could just clear it all up?"

“I think he forgot that we asked first,” Gary whispered as she elbowed Numair. The surfer grabbed a caramel apple from a nearby plate then gave it to her, and the girl was distracted once more. He grinned back at Lesley and straightened up in his seat, the sour expression on his face quickly disappearing as he turned to Harper. “Harper, right? I kept calling you Harp before. So here’s the thing. I apologize on behalf of Gary, but seriously she’s a softie if you get to know her. Uh, asides from that… You do realize you lot were in Delirium’s territory most of the time? Heavy surveillance. Even we weren’t that stupid to bust in the castle and induct you guys into the Loco Order. Next! The witch,” The tanned young man leaned back against his seat and sighed. That witch was bad news for everyone. “Well. We couldn’t just leave you there to die, right? Although we did, I get it,” his gaze turned sharp and he suddenly scowled, “but don’t blame us for your comrades. We’re not superheroes and if we arrived too late to ‘save the day’, then boo hoo. Don’t pin that on us. I’ve had enough of that shit back home.”

"They are. Are...are your memories gone?"

“Not much. I’d say I still remember my last name, but yeah… Minor details went whoosh,” Numair waved his hand away dismissively as if to make his words sound less ominous. “This one though,” he gently prodded Gary with his other hand and she glanced up, irritated, “she’s pretty much going down the deep trench.”

“I don’t scuba dive, Numnums,” The pink-haired human muttered before she returned to her meals. “Point made,” he replied.

The talk about turning into a bunny guard sobered the group up.

“How long did they have? ...how long do we have?”

The really pale girl from the SSF seemed really shocked, though he couldn’t blame her for it. When the HF first told him, he almost went catatonic… or maybe that was a side effect of the painkillers he had ingested by that time? “Like Sacha said, it varies per person but…” Numair’s voice trailed off and his eyes shifted to the side in uncertainty. Gary wiped her mouth and raised her hand. “Liara and Caleb were the last in our group to go down, around… Hmm. A little over when the next train arrives? For you guys- and for us too, I guess- it’s…” She separated her thumb from her other fingers and squeezed down in the universal gesture of “tiny”. Despite the gravity of the news she just imparted, Gary didn’t seem to be bothered much… or at least that was what it looked like from the distance. All who were nearby could see her tapping the surface of the pole in a quick and irregular fashion, something she did under duress.

A red-haired chick suggested splitting up the items in some sort of “trust” alliance compromise thing. Numair’s eyebrows knitted together as he frowned. Her terms were pretty unfair and since he was the only sane- er, the sanest as of current- one in the Hooded Figures, he was the one who often stopped the others from getting duped. This was a prime example of said one-sided negotiation. “Two. Two items. And the pole is out of the question. Don’t even think about it, seriously,” The surfer extended his arm and pinned Gary back as an agitated snarl ripped out from her throat. “I’ll also enter that as a part of the compromise- nobody touches Gary’s pole because none of us have the right to, okay?” Besides, it would prevent the humans from having a vital organ ripped out and the Hooded Figures- er Sacha- from cleaning up the gore.

“Oh, mother of- C, what do you think? I’m done negotiating. I suck,” Numair raised his hands in the air when Jasper interjected with the “our rules must be followed” bit. Despite the humans being wary of the HF springing some trap on them, the Hooded Figures themselves were just as cautious. Well, at least Sacha and Numair are. “I push for two items left with us instead of one, plus a sub-tenet banning anybody from stealing or utilizing Gary’s pole without her express permission. That last bit is for the safety of everyone involved, okay? The rest is up to you, but that’s what I’m going to agree with in case the lot of them decide to throw their dice with us,” The surfer’s handsome face was filled with distress and a little bit of irritation, as he was expecting a violent reaction to his and Ace’s laying down the groundwork from… well, Inadi or the others..

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

I'm going to reaction pooooost!

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

JASPER'S FINALLY HERE OMGGGGG *rolls around*

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

No, Ace. That last part is completely out of the question. Haha.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Oh no, I'll edit it ASAP!

Edit? Done, in case that was what we were talking about haha.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Cuttersbury – Drych Lake Spa

Lute had planned to spend the aftermath of the battle begging for Estelle’s forgiveness, but Penelope’s appearance (and her subsequent manhandling) pretty much cut that plan short. He did express his displeasure the trip to the spa though, pouting like a child and kicking innocent pebbles off the path in order to annoy his captor. Unfortunately, the Stevenson lady had an iron grip and didn’t let go until they were in the spa’s interior, and by then Lute was far too amazed with his surroundings to remember that he should be irritated. “Ooooh, is that honey I smell? I’m closer to home than I think!” The virtuoso had the gall to laugh up until his bleeding nose graced the smooth floor with a few drops of scarlet. When that happened, it was all about trying to wrest the cleaning rag from the attendants while simultaneously apologizing for the mess. In other words, typical Lute.

He stayed in and listened as Penelope explained the workings of the spa. Delilah desperately wanted to have her hair styled- ‘It’s so darn stubborn sometimes!’- and Lute had to repeatedly remind her that she was, well, intangible and the stylist would have a hard time fixing air. Anyway, he really wanted to tag along with the ones who were heading for the hot springs, but… Hmm. “I’ll come along with you two… er, three. I’ve never gotten a massage before. Is it as terrible as it sounds?” The virtuoso moved closer to the remaining Guilders- Estelle and Aria- as Quentin introduced himself to the swordswoman.

“By the way, Estelle. Thanks for earlier, and I’m really sorry about that. It’s twice you’ve gotten your shoulder skewered because of me now,” Lute laughed weakly as he removed his handkerchief from under his nose. The bleeding had stopped. “Anyway, let’s get a move on? I seriously feel like… Ugh. Ew,” The virtuoso shuddered and goosebumps broke out all over his skin before he walked off towards the general direction of the baths.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Pooooosteeed. Lulu being all 'eew'-y on grime and dust haha.

I got some problems with my internet, so if anyone wants me to edit something better comment on the OOC instead!

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Oh gawsh oh no Estelle why not again Lute's gonna joke about this in better times



Anyway, thanks for covering for me last round Pach ahahaha ; A ; /