trans_9 | Splish Splash, I was taking a bath (Bendy timed to just after the weddings)

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Splish Splash, I was taking a bath (Bendy timed to just after the weddings)

Not everybody wanted to go to the consummation huts straight off the bat. Which meant if they wanted to get cleaned up, they needed another spot to do so in.

Luckily, the city had just such a place: the great public baths. They were rather immense. And open, since the Moai didn't have much in the way of nudity taboos. There were private stalls around the edges, though, for those who weren't quite so open. Or just wanted to do a little 'private' bathing (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more). It's traditional for the baths to take a while. After all, pretty much everybody here has just gotten married! Enjoy!

(Oh. And your clothes are going to disappear. Nothing personal, the Rapa Nui just want to make sure you have something clean and dry to change into when you've bathed. Isn't that nice?)

((Yep, there are public baths in the city. Have fun with it! And Jono's still outside the city. I just want to be able to get notifs after I ask for no notifications on the main post.))

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"Oh, aye, of course," comes the rather dry-sounding reply from Jamie. He considers continuing to tease Billy, just a little. It'd certainly be easy enough to do so, especially given that look on his face right now. But...he can tell Billy is happy, and Jamie doesn't want to spoil the mood. He starts in on scrubbing away the very geometrical lines on the side of his neck. The Doctor did a fine job with those, and he's almost reluctant to have to remove the markings.

Still, he can't keep them on forever, even though he did enjoy having them there. And spending time with the Doctor, even if it was in a completely different way than with Billy and Ronnae. And even if he didn't quite manage to keep his word about wandering off. "Er, more or less. There were these dancers, and we got separated for a wee bit."

He did catch the word 'all', though, which seems to imply a larger number of people than just Ronnae. "Oh? Who else did ye wind up meeting up with?"

Billy can tell that Jamie's smug teasing is only held back by the faintest of barriers. Actually, he's in such a great mood that he could probably handle it very well just then---why be irritated about the insinuation that you're in love when you are and proud of it? It just doesn't make sense.

He glances over, studying the marks curiously. "Were those your marks or the Doctor's?" Whatever they were, they were fascinating. More methodical and solid than the loving vines and branches still spread on Billy's back.

"I haven't seen too many people. Ronnie and I have been on our own for most of the day. I saw Kang and Sofia in the square, and Hoshi in here, but everyone seems occupied with their partners. The people who are happy with their marriages have been more elusive."

Jamie flicks a glance down at his chest, still covered with more of that very precisely done pattern. He's going to be here awhile, it seems. "That would be the Doctor," he says with a small shrug. "I'd not be able to get it to look like that if I tried."

The spiral and the roundels he did came out well enough, but to do something as exact as what's been done on Jamie takes either a lot of patience, or a remarkably steady hand. Although...

"Hey, do ye mean ye could have done your own, then?" Clearly that idea hadn't occurred to Jamie. He saw a few people painting each other and figured that was how it was done. Jamie cranes his head to look at Billy's back, somewhat perplexed. "How did ye manage to get them on your back if ye did?"

Billy nods lightly. He'd thought so. "I wouldn't have been able to do it either. I'm lucky Ronnie looked presentable in the end---not that she wouldn't on her own, but I didn't really have a clue about what I was doing."

He turns to give Jamie a better view of the artwork. "Yeah. The couples who weren't too comfortable with each other did that. I could have painted myself, including my back if I'd had time to rig up a small device for the task, but we thought painting each other would be easier."

And more enjoyable, if the pink tinge of his cheeks is any indication. Ronnie had really liked skimming her fingers all over him.

"I had a wee idea in mind, but I don't know if the Doctor picked up on it or not," Jamie admits. The Doctor hadn't said anything, but maybe once he got back on Stacy and went to the TARDIS, maybe he'd notice. Or maybe he wouldn't. It's hard to say, sometimes. "I'm sure Ronnae looked nice, though."

He hasn't missed that nickname Billy gave her, but he's sticking with her regular name unless Ronnae lets him know otherwise. She didn't introduce herself as Ronnie, so he figures it best for now. "She did a good job on ye as well," he adds, not quite managing to keep a slightly amused note out of his voice. He hasn't missed that faint change in color on his friend. He does actually mean the compliment, though.

He re-wets the scrubby thing, glancing up at Billy from under the cover of his bangs as he reaches for more soap. He seems...content. More relaxed then Jamie's seen him been lately, unless he misses his guess. Starting on the other side of his neck, he asks idly, "She makes ye happy, then?"

Billy turns back to face Jamie, still getting the impression that he's on the hot seat. "I hope it was all right. I know you really trust the Doctor, but this situation is somewhat extreme."

There! Attention off him for a bit. Except...yeah, he has to answer that question while he settles against the wall and idly scrubs at his face.

"Yeah, and I think---I hope I've done the same for her. The ceremony and my kiss were essentially a public confession. I don't have plausible deniability about how I feel anymore, so the only way is forward."

A prospect that both thrills and terrifies him.

"Aye, well. It's not so bad, being married to the Doctor. It'll be over soon enough, though." It's not like he has to worry about it being anything other than a temporary situation - unlike some of the other couples who made their intent very, very clear. (Not just Billy and Ronnae, either.) He works on a rather tenacious spot of paint on his collarbone, focusing on that rather than thinking about it too much. He thinks, though, Billy's likely nervous about moving forward from here.

"You'll do fine, Billy," he says, although he doesn't look up from trying to get the paint off. "She's good for ye. I can tell."

Jamie doesn't seem worried at all on that front. Billy'll figure things out.

"Yeah, it'll be over soon." Billy repeats slowly. He likes Ronnie very much, but he's not sure about staying married to her. They're just a new couple, not devoted to each other for life. Or were they? These are the confusing thoughts bothering him as he focuses on scrubbing.

He looks up momentarily from his pretzel-arm twists of washing to Jamie, surprised. "You've been scoping her out? Were you worried I'd fall for a bad choice?"

"Scoping?" Jamie looks up, rather confused. The slang's gone right over his head, unfortunately. "No, I met her on the Obs Deck when Stacy first called us there, and we talked for a bit."

He moves on to the paint on the opposite collarbone, but he's no longer staring at it. Instead, he meets Billy's eyes, giving him a rather frank look.

"Your name did come up, but I'd not set out to question her on it, if that's what ye meant." The conversation might have gone a little bit that way after he picked up on her liking him, but that was mostly coincidence.

"If I had known ye were intending on marrying her, though, I would have. I'd not have let my little brother marry someone without my blessing, if things had hadn't turned out the way they did. It's no different for ye, Billy."

Edited 2011-02-18 09:03 (UTC)

"It's a term that means to investigate---to figure out more about her," Billy explains hurriedly. "It sounds like you did unintentionally."

Billy feels something constrict in his chest when their gazes meet. He can tell that this is heartfelt concern. The comment that he's no different from Jamie's little brother, watched over and protected...it hits him in the heart. Jamie really is too similar to Jason, Billy thinks, and that opens up a whole can of emotional worms.

If they were standing and wearing clothes, Billy would offer a hug, but he compromises by softly clapping Jamie on the back and nodding. "Thanks, Jamie. I knew I could count on you."

When his chest stops feeling tight, he smiles more widely. "I don't think you need my blessing right now, but...I want you to have it too. When you're truly happy with someone you love."

Billy's confident that it will happen. Jamie's too good of a man to go unnoticed for much longer.

Given the situation, it's just as well there's no hug, but that soft clap on his back serves just as well. It helps to quell that slight pang that he feels when he mentions his brother, even after all this time. But the family he grew up with was gone from his life well before Stacy, and not even the restoration of their universes is likely to change that.

So, instead, he returns Billy's smile, choosing not to dwell on that part of his past. "Aye, ye can always count on me. Ye know that."

He's touched that Billy wants to give him his blessing as well, but where Billy is confident, Jamie is realistic. Victoria is gone from his life as well, and while he could have felt that way about Kaylee if things were different, she's not his to have. The fact is, there isn't anyone else who he can see something like that happening with. "Aye, well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that anytime soon."

It's likely for the best. There's more important things to worry about, like the Ohm. Or, if you want to go much smaller and more immediate in terms of concern...

"So how are ye going to get that paint off your back, anyway?"

Billy doesn't really know that the pessimism's warranted, but it's understandable. After all, how recently had Ronnie awakened? He certainly hadn't expected anyone to come along. Jamie might be surprised too.

...drat. Why is Jamie always asking the difficult questions? Billy grins, knowing he's been caught.

"I was attempting to clean it using gymnastic feats of flexibility, but I am unfortunately not a contortionist. I suppose I could rig an abrasive cloth to the wall and rub against it..."

Well, Jamie might, at some point. But for right now, the possibility of him finding someone who he would love is so remote that even thinking about it is a waste of time. Instead, he focuses on something he can help with, like the matter of scrubbing one's back.

"All ye need is a stick and a bit of string," he says to Billy, holding up the scrubber he's be using and gesturing with it to make his point. "Maybe a vine in a pinch. If ye tie this thing with it just right, it should stay there long enough for you to get the paint off. I could show ye how to do it easy."

In fact, he thinks, getting a stick should be easy enough, and he might even have a bit of twine nicked from the TARDIS in his sporran. He bobs through the water over to where he left his kilt, and starts looking around for it. After a few seconds, though, a rather puzzled expression appears.

"Now where did it go? I left it right here..."

"Provided the string was long enough," Billy smiles, relieved to have found success. All the plan needs now is the presence of some string!

And Jamie was going to find that, good man. Except that it doesn't seem to be working if his voice was any indication. Billy pushes through the water at the sound of Jamie's confusion, suddenly thankful that he had steam-proofed his glasses and kept them after the last bath incident.

"By this fixture, right? I have some items in my tool belt that can help. It was with my clothes on the other side." Key word: was. He looks and looks, but no trace of their clothing appears. They'd been pranked. Fantastic.

Billy searches the area for a few minutes longer, eventually spotting something strange: a Rapa Nui with a bundle of clothing in his arms. Then another in a different spot.

"Look," Billy hisses, ducking down and gesturing an arm toward the culprits.

Long force of habit causes Jamie to duck down as well, but after a few seconds, he raises his head and peers in the direction Billy's indicating. He frowns as he recognizes a familiar plaid pattern in one of the bundles.

"Hey, they're taking our clothes!" he says, a scowl deepening his features. Luckily, he's not particularly loud about it, but he is decidedly not happy about the idea, and starts to half-rise out of the water with a very determined expression on his face.

Jamie doesn't really seem to care at the moment that he'd be subjecting the Rapa Nui to an angry, naked Scotsman demanding his clothes back. However, he's still quite easily grabbable should Billy care to stop him.

Billy loved Jamie as a brother, really he did, but jumping out of the bath and making demands of the locals while naked was not a course of action he was prepared to follow Jamie with.

"Jamie, wait," Billy called, rising beside him and moving for a grab. "I'm still looking, and I don't want to start a diplomatic incident unless we absolutely have to."

He kept searching the area for further clues. As he looked, he saw another local who had been there for quite some time getting out of the bath while a Rapa Nui went to greet them, clothes in hand. While he watched (discreetly of course), the person seemed satisfied and pulled the comfortable clothes on.

"They're also bringing clothes back. What do you think?"

As his arm is caught, Jamie turns and fixes Billy with a decidedly irritated look. Half moving to pull his arm free, he stops himself at the words 'diplomatic incident', and pulls a face.

"Aye, all right," he replies, still not sounding pleased about the situation, but settles back down to watch - for the moment. As the local pulls what seems to be their own clothing back on, he starts to look less annoyed and rather more confused.

"They're giving them back?" Jamie scratches his head, then spots a couple he had noticed earlier - one that had been a little enthusiastic about the ceremony, if their clothing had been anything to go by. They, too, are getting their outfits back, but there's something odd there.

"Hey, now wait a minute...I saw those two before. They had paint all over everywhere, but I don't see it now."

Billy's a little irritated too, but largely relieved to have averted a bad situation. Had Jamie gone out there, Billy would have felt obligated to follow, and that road led to nowhere good.

As Jamie notes the observation, Billy thinks for a moment. "The paint was removed? Then...based on this case, it would be a fair guess to say that they're washing our clothes. That's generous of them, but I would've preferred to be asked," he huffs.

Definitely would've preferred it. Now he's still searching the pool's edge for some sort of string: if worst comes to worst, he can always jam the scrubber into the ledge and rub like a cat on a scratching post, but that's just undignified.

"I don't think twine needs to be washed, but maybe it's easier to organize that way."

"I would have as well," Jamie mutters, but joins Billy in searching the edge of the pool for something to use to tie the scrubber with. He doesn't seem to be having much luck with that so far, but he keeps looking anyway.

"I don't see what the point is in taking the other things," he complains. "It's not like we'd go anywhere without our clothes anyway."

Just ignore the fact that a minute or so ago he was prepared to do just that.

"See if you can find a plant or something, Billy. If it's got a sturdy enough stem it might do."

Edited 2011-02-24 08:46 (UTC)

"Some of us might," Billy commented idly, with a shudder that indicated that he would definitely not be joining these theoretical people. "At least they're not reselling our items at exorbitant prices."

That was the one silver lining that came to mind. Billy shared an exasperated look with Jamie while he kept up the search, his toe eventually catching on something. "Hey, what's this?"

He had to disappear under the water to reach it, searching desperately for a few moments. When the fleshy shape finally bobbed back up, Billy had a strange green rope in hand. It was slightly slippery, but very sturdy. Enough for him to tie a knot and scrub his back, which was a good sign!

Encouraged, Billy lifted the rope in his hand and brought the scrubber close. Much to his surprise, causing him to jump, the 'rope' violently jerked out of his hand and wrapped around his waist. It was apparently a tentacle with a very upset owner, drawing closer and closer to the human.

"I apologize profusely for the tugging without permission, ma'am---" Billy started to stammer out, but it was already too late. The curses (well, those angry noises were probably curses) heading his way heralded nothing good. Sending a look that could only be described as fury, the woman whipped the foolish human once or twice with the offended tentacle, making a pleasant 'crack' sound. She took a moment to survey the mark of her lesson before dropping Billy and turning away in a huff.

"...remind me never to try that again," Billy mumbled, surveying the damage. It was apparently very similar to a perfectly executed towel snap.

Jamie, for his part, is just about to give up when Billy's exclamation draws his attention. For a moment, it seems as though all their problems have been solved...and then Jamie gets a good look at the rope.

"Er, Billy, I don't think..."

Unfortunately, his warning isn't in time, and the owner of the tentacle is already making her displeasure known. Jamie winces. Ouch. Once the woman turns away, the Highlander goes over to make sure Billy's not badly hurt. It looks somewhat painful, but not permanent, which is a relief. It could have been much worse.

"At least she didn't decide to throw ye out of the water."

Billy sinks further into the water at that suggestion, clutching himself defensively. No, that would not be good at all.

"Right," he mumbles, swiping another cool rag across himself in the hopes of soothing the sting. His words are slow and deliberate, working around the swelling marks on his face and chest. "I should've been more cautious. She seemed to try it for a moment, but her tentacles aren't quite strong enough."

What a day. He looks back fearfully in the event that she's bringing over a husband to rough him up some more, but the coast appears to be clear. Now they simply wait for their clothes.

If Jamie was more familiar with the plants here, he might have been able to offer a suggestion on something that might work, but there's too many what ifs with alien vegetation.

He, too, looks warily in the direction where the woman has disappeared, but once it's evident that there's no angry husband or wife or whatever their race would call the spousal partner he picks up the scrubber.

"I don't think we'll find anything to tie the scrubber off with any time soon. Ye might as well turn around and I'll get the paint for ye."

"Not for a lack of trying," Billy mutters, turning obediently. Luckily it's a small area---Billy had been able to reach low and high, so the only remaining marks are mid-back.

"I owe you one, Jamie. Probably several."

"Och, don't be ridiculous," he replies, rather matter-of-factly going about scrubbing that small section. "Likely it would have come off on its own, anyway. It just would have taken a wee bit longer."

If nothing else, once they got back on the ship Billy could have come up with something to get the paint off. He's clever that way.

"Besides, ye kept me from going out after our clothes, so I'd say we're about equal."

Splish Splash, I was taking a bath (Bendy timed to just after the weddings)

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