Cascade [Open party time!]

[morphitudinous]

Billy had just launched another portal in that maze of mazes, exhaustion setting in. Surely this time he would land on another moving platform of death?

Nope, just the exterior of the finished bathhouses. All polished, systems running, and just about ready to open! Given how sore and exhausted he was, that sounded like an excellent idea at the moment.

With a quick message to the rest of the crew, he set out the 'Open' sign for the first time and took advantage of his owner status---the prime waterfall spot could be his!

((ooc: The bathhouses are now open! Feel free to mingle around, relax, and have a party. Or cause trouble, but that might invite more trouble. Just start a subthread with your character's location and have fun. For reference there are individual showers in front, followed by hot tubs centrally located, saunas further back, and private baths along the side. The showers, tubs, and saunas have smaller sex-segregated units along with a central group unit that's larger.))

Comments

Co-Ed, Open Baths

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate was an emotional mess. While she did her best trying to hide it from the others, there were hints; the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes from a few days of restless sleep, and the fact that her almost always-present smile was nowhere to be seen. So when she heard about the bathhouse opening, she took it as an opportunity to try to relax and clear her head.

And now, here she was, submerged up to her nose in hot water. She may not be in much of a chatty mood right now, but feel free to approach her!

[wontendlikethis.livejournal.com]

Even though she wasn't particularly fond of bathing (because she's a dog...), there were times when it was simply necessary. Now was one of those times. Her timing had been good, at least! As she spied Fate, she let out a happy yelp before rushing towards her, splashing water all over the place as she went. She wasn't too concerned about bothering others, but as she grew closer she quickly noticed Fate's expression and disposition. Something was bothering her obviously.

Arf quieted down a bit as she got closer, though her presence was already probably more than obvious after the racket she'd been making a second ago. "...Fate?"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate pulled her head out of the water when she heard her name, and smiled a little when she recognized the owner of that voice. She may not be up to dealing with people at the moment, but her familiar was one of the few exceptions.

"Hey, Arf." She said. Even her usual soft-toned voice sounded quieter than normal, if it was possible.

[wontendlikethis.livejournal.com]

Yes, something was definitely wrong. Another might have been more delicate about broaching the subject, but that was never Arf's specialty...

"Is something wrong? You look like something's bothering you. What is it? Can I help?" she blurted out, the questions kind of rolling off one another and never stopping.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

... She didn't know. She really didn't know. In a way, Fate was glad. Arf made her feelings towards Precia as clear as crystal, and she really didn't want any unnecessary conflict. But on the other hand, if Arf didn't know, and she ran into the woman somewhere else on the ship... well. Maybe it would be a good idea to tell her.

Still, Fate was a little reluctant to, so there were a few moments of silence before she spoke again.

"... Mother is here."

[wontendlikethis.livejournal.com]

Arf brightened up at the immediately, her expression lighting up. Lindy was here? That was great news!

...but wait, why would Fate be...

Oh, then it wasn't Lindy she meant, was it? That could only mean... She let out a slight growl of irritation as realization set in. "How is that... why... she shouldn't be here!"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"Maybe..." Fate kept her gaze straight down, watching the steam rise from the water. She knew everyone would probably think she was crazy if she told them what she was thinking, but... she didn't really blame them. Even though they respected her feelings concerning the woman, she was pretty sure the rest of her friends and family saw Precia as nothing more than a horribly abusive criminal.

"Maybe the ones who brought us here think it's possible for her to change. Maybe this is a chance to help her..."

[wontendlikethis.livejournal.com]

Arft knew better than most just what Precia had done to Fate through her childhood. But at the same time, she also knew that this was a matter Fate wouldn't budge on. Still, she couldn't help but be concerned. If Fate was set on this Arf would support her. But she had to make sure...

"...do you really think you can do that? Are you ready for what might happen if you're wrong?"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to do whatever I can." Fate said, the determination clear in her voice. "I think I'll be be able to. She... Mother seemed different." Sane? Probably not completely.

"Even after everything that happened, she's still willing to talk to me... that has to be a good sign."

Fate's not even going to think about what might happen if she turns out to be wrong.

Re: Co-Ed, Open Baths

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"CANNONBAAAAAALL!" shouted a voice that came from much higher up than it had any right to be. The source of the yell, Peter Parker, impacted the water at a fairly decent speed, splashing water everywhere.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate was taken completely off-guard, so she didn't have any time to scramble out of tub before the wave of water hit her. She coughed a few times, shook her wet bangs away from her face, and turned towards Peter with an expression that was far from the mopey one seen just seconds before.

"H-Hey! What was that for!?"

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"Eh-heh. Er, sorry. about that. Didn't notice anyone else was in here." replied Peter as he bobbed up.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, Fate recognizes him. She never did thank him for helping her out during the Fairplay mess, did she...?

"It's okay... Peter, right?"

[puny-parker.livejournal.com]

"Yup." He said, grinning a little.

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel had been pretty enthused to hear about the bathhouse opening. It was finally something to do... even if it wasn't her regular kind of 'fun' anymore (still a bothersome thought). She could appreciate it, though, and it was certainly nicer than doing nothing.

Sporting a bikini that she'd managed to get a hold of (she'd been working on scavenging good clothes, and she'd never pass up something cute like this), the blonde slipped into the tub not far from a different one. She didn't recognise her, but Rachel had been keeping to herself a decent bit on the ship.

"What's with you?" she asked, voice betraying her boredom, even though the girl didn't really seem like she wanted to talk.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"Rough couple of weeks," Was Fate's only reply. The other girl sounded pretty bored, so Fate will try to keep the conversation up... but she's just not feeling that outgoing at the moment.

[pretty_lethal]

"I guess the ship does that to you," Rachel replied, watching the girl. She didn't know her, but it was better than talking to no one, right. Maybe something interesting would come up, too. "At least we have some places to relax."

Re: Co-Ed, Open Baths

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Over here, a young red-headed boy was busy moving about to chat with others, as well as occasionally sit back and relax to enjoy himself. This felt nice ... almost like being at home on the Foundation.

One thing Jr. was good at noticing, though, was when those around him seemed to be unhappy. Even when he had just met Shion, he wanted to make sure she was okay, she had been acting strange - even though he didn't actually know her yet. Spotting Fate, he made his way over to her. "Hey," he greeted with a small smile, "not too bad in here, is it?"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate tried to smile, and thankfully, it didn't look too forced.

"It's nice," She said. "I'm glad there's finally a place where everyone can just completely relax." Sure, they had the Sensoriums if they wanted something like this, but that still required thinking the place up beforehand.

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

"That's good!" His smiled widened a bit. "You almost looked like you weren't enjoying it so much."

He sunk into the water a bit. "But, yeah. This place can be pretty stressful, even when we're not really doing anything big."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

Signum sees someone she knows, so this seems like a good place to relax, away from all the other people on this ship she was somewhat less comfortable bathing around as of yet. Of course, Signum's former superior officer has her mouth under the water, which was a clear signal she didn't want to talk at the moment, despite whatever was obviously bothering her.

Seeing as that suits Signum fine, she greets Fate with small but warm smile and settles into the water nearby, tension and general skeeviness of the ship's atmosphere seeping right out of her, gradually.

She keeps here eyes and ears partly open, though. In case Testarossa does want to talk.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate was thankful that someone wasn't immediately forcing her to talk. She was quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the silent company, but... they had to address the elephant in the room sooner or later, right? She had a feeling the mages were going to have to discuss what to do soon anyway, so it might be better to get it over with now.

Pulling her head out of the water, Fate turned to look at her friend. "You've... seen the other new arrivals, right?"

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"A few of them. Lots of very strange people on this ship," says the sapient incarnated computer program wizard knight resting in a hot tub.

Signum leans back very carefully to soak her hair. "I did recognize one of them from yours and Nanoha's descriptions. Has she been bothering you?"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate shook her head. "No, she hasn't caused any trouble. I just... I don't know what to do." Okay, so that was a lie. It's not that she didn't know what to do, she just wasn't sure how many people would really want to support her on it.

"I want to help her. I don't know how, and I don't know if it will work... but I have to do something."

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

"You want her to become a good person, and you want to be the agent of that change," Signum summarizes, closing her eyes. All this water in her hair was going to make her head weigh about 20 pounds when she got out, but it felt very worth it right now. Especially since she needed to focus to even be able to pretend to play psychiatrist.

"I'll be perhaps the last person ever to pretend that people who have done terrible things can't change for the better. Maybe second to last before Hayate," she begins. "I only know anything of note about Precia Testarossa because of the Jail Scaglietti incident, and because you're my friend. I'm not in a position to judge her, nor would I."

She sits back up, tucking her legs underwater to stay submerged up to her neck. At this point, she looks at Fate directly for the first time in the conversation. "But I do know a good deal about you, and I know about how people make themselves miserable out of love, whether it's returned or not."