trans_9 | Cascade [Open party time!]

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Cascade [Open party time!]

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.))

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"Yes," Alessa said, looking up idly, kicking a little bit of water in his direction. Normally Alessa would have been intimidating: thanks to people like Sasami, she was actually being playful.

"You came from somewhere, didn't you? That is the story I am interested in."

Playful seemed a terrifying concept to Alex at least. He was still as white as a ghost, though his cheeks occasionally flushed red. "E-E-Earth. I-I u-u-uh, program. Th-the c-c-computer nerd. Th-that is not good with these situations."

Well, the women situation. Not the demon situation. As scary as she was, the fact that she was a girl and she was naked was the part freaking him out a it more. The demon bit was a pretty little cherry on top.

"I was unaware that being skilled with computers meant that you fail in bathing yourself well," Alessa replied, purposely missing the point. "One would think you should like to bathe regularly."

She grinned. "Unless a lack of clothing really does render the male species incapable of coherent thought. What a jewel of your race you are. It's just another human body."

Alex went a paler white. "Y-yes, s-so c-c-could y-you m-maybe p-please p-put a t-towel on. I-I d-d-don't d-do w-well w-with n-naked 's wh-what I-I-I meant." A bit of him wanted to argue that he wasn't a good judge of human men, but he knew how disgusting humanity was when it came to that sort of thing, so he let it go.

"I see no reason to do that," Alessa replied. "I had only done so for modesty's sake at first, and the very idea seems ridiculous in a bath. I have no real concept of shyness or embarrassment, not in the manner of nudity, and as far as the make of my body goes, I am fairly normal looking. It is only humanity's conception of nudity as a dirty thing that forces humans into clothing, which results in fruitless money spent to look a certain way. Other than protecting one's body from the dangers of the weather, what other reason could you give me for wearing clothing now?"

He couldn't think of one, aside from his own past and hatred of the naked body. But he wasn't exactly going to even start going into that with a stranger. Instead he just defaulted to a strained, "please!"

He closed his eyes and focused on breathing, the way Zuko had taught him. Maybe if he could breathe he could will his legs to move as well.

Alessa sighed, but a moment later, she had a towel on, and she was already letting water pass through her fingers.

"Humans," she muttered darkly. "The only thing that doesn't change is how ridiculously repressed you make yourselves. No wonder you're such beasts when your inhibitions are removed."

Alex looked down shamefully, still thinking of those less-than-half-remembered hours in that room. He seemed to have relaxed a bit now that she was clothed, but her words also weighed on him heavily.

"W-we are...

"Wh-what are y-you anyway?" Clearly not human.

Alessa looked at him in mild surprise. "I did not expect that. I thought you might stick up for your race, even though I have lived long enough to know that what I say its true."

She looked ahead. "A demon," she said simply. "If you ever go near the deepest, darkest part of the City, where it is quiet as death, you will find my domain."

If that was meant to unnerve, it did it's job. He slumped against a nearby wall. Sure Zetta was a Demon Overlord, but, compared to this girl- in appearance and demeanour- Zetta really seemed like just a joke.

"A demon," he echoed in his surprise. He took a deep breath. Well, it explained the appearance change, and some of how she acted at least. He was quiet for a moment, "I-I've s-seen a lot I hate about u-us... B-but there's o-only so m-much I c-can do. S-staying s-sane is hard e-enough." One step at a time, really. He couldn't unmask the whole mess with Shadow Eaters and change human nature. Not that he believed it would be really possible to get rid of people like that in one life time. He just would need to try to be as good of a person as he could.

"What's so hard about staying sane? The problem with you humans and sanity is that you base it too much on the world staying within the confines you know it to be, and that is just ridiculous. The biggest joke of human beings is the idea of normality, when there is very much proof that the world is NOT within the confines they wish. Nature itself is proof of that. Nature does not move to the whims of puny humans. It does as it wishes, destroys or stays stable as it chooses. As for hate, hate is as old as life itself. But as there has been hate, there has been ways to fight it too. It is all one big auroboros eating itself."

She shrugged. "The very plight we face now is far beyond the confines of normality. Yet here we are."

Alex stared at the girl and blinked for a moment. In a way, it rung true, but at the same time, "W-well, it b-becomes an i-issue w-when you g-get this s-sense that y-you are n-not part of your b-body, or when you c-can't deal with something so y-you r-repress it."

He sighed, deciding to not even touch on hate, or normality. Talking about sanity was exhausting him enough.

Edited 2011-01-15 10:40 (UTC)

Alessa shrugged again. "Repression is not an aid if you don't know how to control yourself in the first place. In that case it will only make you weaker, more susceptible to the things that can harm you. As for you, well, how can you expect to master a thing when you can barely speak without showing your own weakness?"

She was actually not being mean, but was curious.

"Th-that's my p-point." He buried his face in his hands. "I-I d-don't expect t-to master anything." He sighed, "I-I know t-too w-well about m-my s-speech."

"How would you with an attitude like that?" Alessa replied. "Really, while I have no reason to make even an effort toward aiding you, interactions with Sasami have made me a bit more curious. The way you act now makes you prey to anything that feeds on weakness. As for your speech, it can be worked on like anything else. What makes you so willing to believe so little of yourself? I was told human beings worst and best quality is their pride."

Alex was quiet, lost in thought. Finally, he realized that just sitting here, mulling over it, wouldn't do much to help him. "I-I... d-don't know..." He hung his head and sighed. "I've a-always j-just... C-computers h-have always b-been my only s-skill."

"I would not call aptitude for technology to be a small feat. If anything, it is a skill that will be sought after on this ship and will aid the crew. It will help if you were able to manage the fears that plague you, however. I hardly know you, yet I can already tell you possess a power all your own."

He looked up at the mention of power- not at her of course, but at least he looked up. "Th-the ship's technology's s-so far ahead th-though... B-but what do you mean? Power?" Could she tell of his ability to see negative emotions somehow? Or did she mean something else?

"Yes, your power," Alessa said. "I DID tell you I was a demon. You really don't think that I wouldn't have sensed that you had a sleeping power in you. It's all around you, I can see that much. A for the ship's technology, all you have to do is catch up. I'm sure that is something feasible when you put your mind to it. You really shouldn't limit yourself."

"I-it's n-not very g-good at sleeping. I-it k-kills me t-to m-make it s-sleep, a-actually." He sighed deeply. He was beginning to wonder if he really wanted it to sleep though, when he could possibly use it to help people more than hurt.

"I-I'm working on th-the c-catching up a-at least."

"Hmm." That seemed like a problem. "Have you ever asked anyone about helping you with managing that problem then? Someone who would at least know something about these sorts of powers?"

Catching up? "What do you mean?"

"W-with the c-computers I mean. A-and, y-yeah, I-I've been talking t-to a friend. S-she doesn't k-know about the p-power s-specifically, b-but she c-can still help in o-other ways." He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh?" Was Evangeline offering her services? That hardly seemed likely, she was more likely to taunt people like this boy. "I'm sort of curious now. Who would be able to help you with this?"

"I-I'm afraid I d-don't know Evangeline," he said shaking his head. "K-Katara's t-teaching me to c-control my emotions, o-or will. Zetta's h-helping me p-practice too."

Well that was something that registered to Alessa. Was Evangeline gone? She hoped not. It would be making things so much harder for her.

"Katara...that water affiliated female? I can't see what she would teach you, but then I am unaware of her abilities other than having the ability to command the abilities of water. Zetta on the other hand, I am at least familiar with. I am a little surprised a demon would be helping a human, but I am sure he has his reasons. I will find him and ask, of course, just to verify your story."

After all, a human helping another human was believable: a demon doing so was not.

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