Welcome to Clean Street [Open!]

[morphitudinous]

Down on the city level, right by the Kohaku River and near the imposing castle, a modern-looking white building welcomed one and all to its promise of running water and warmth. Maybe even a little socializing was in order.

The ramp led up to the heated roof level, where one and all could sit down and relax in an almost sauna-like environment. Below, corridors contained plenty of towels, places to leave clothes, quick showers, and the baths, a number of them sized for any and all comers.

The private areas were accessed through separate corridors on the outside, but the busier communal baths were just as warm and welcoming. Anyone of any size or species was welcome here, so long as they behaved themselves.

[ooc: it's mingling party post time! Just start a thread or hop in one, and note if your character's in a single sex bath, co-ed, or the sauna level upstairs. My characters will be here to meet some people too.]

Comments

[a_mere_human]

This time, it didn't mean having an old man leering at her. It meant having a young man quietly staring intently at her.

Setsuna had a similar idea, not wanting to be disturbed, and generally wasn't bothered whenever he used this particular pool. He pondered just leaving her, but she didn't seem lost in her own world, and likely wouldn't bother him. Plus he was somewhat curious as to her state considering the last time he saw her here. So he quietly slipped in, and simply waited for her to notice him there, rather than disturb her.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

Cagalli noticed the sounds of someone the moment they slid into the water, but it didn't warrant opening her eyes right away. They weren't saying anything, so they were either shy or not interested in striking up a conversation, and she was alright with either of those.

Then again, they could be one of those aforementioned gawkers - she didn't know everyone here, far from it, so who knew what some of these people were like? She cracked an eye open, scanning around the bath and... oh. That guy.

"Guess you... like it hot too, huh?"

[a_mere_human]

She's lucky Setsuna had the sex drive of a brick except in memes, other wise he might have taken that as a come on. Instead, he took that question at face value.

"No." He didn't particularly like the heat, but not so much that it deterred him.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

Cagalli hadn't meant it that way, and Setsuna was lucky he didn't take it as such.

She gave him an odd look out of the corner of her eye. "Then why are you boiling yourself?" He wasn't stalking her, was he? He'd already come across her in some unusual circumstances.

The frustrating apathy didn't seem like it was hiding a pervert, though.

[a_mere_human]

Hey, you never know. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?

"Because it works." Setsuna wasn't a guy who never allowed himself to have fun, for his own reasons. He general wasn't there because he liked the water, so much as for personal hygiene reasons.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"It works?" For what? The sonic shower thingies were probably a hundred times better for actually getting clean, though maybe if he was talking about relaxing a sore body then he'd have a point.

But she looked a bit peeved by the vagueness. "I think you might be the most boring person I've ever met." At least Rau was engagingly insane.

[a_mere_human]

On some level, he couldn't decide whether he should be more amused by her response, or offended. On the surface, he seemed to choose neither, at most there being a slight eyebrow raise.

"I'm not here to be entertainment."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

It's a reaction, anyways. "Yeah, well... someone like you probably doesn't have much to keep them from being bored either." He probably didn't care about that either though, acting more like a robot than anything else.

[a_mere_human]

No, he didn't really care about that either. "I have bigger concerns than whether or not I'm being entertained."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"See, I'm just imagining your head exploding from stress someday. Your blood pressure's gotta be high no matter what kind of shape you're in." She looked pretty convinced of her prediction too, aside from the thought of Setsuna's head literally exploding. That was more a case of wishful thinking.

[a_mere_human]

"My blood pressure and heart rate are well within normal, healthy, parameters." He wouldn't be a Gundam Meister if he wasn't physically healthy enough to do the job.

"Is this what you do for stress relief?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Eh. We're still young for that, I guess." Cagalli shook her head. Why even bother with him?

"It's one thing, anyways. Sometimes it feels like, when I'm not working, I'm trying to forget about it."

[a_mere_human]

That struck him as odd.

"Why?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Well..." She felt like she shouldn't have to explain this. Didn't he ever get fed up with work? "It just wears you down, you know? And then you need a break, so you don't get too stressed out."

[jesus_is_gundam]

"No, I don't know." Being a Guindam Meister wasn't a job. It was a calling.

"Maybe you're in the wrong line of work."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"You know, in most sane military structures, the soldiers who don't think like me are the candidates for therapy." And Setsuna could use some serious therapy or something.

[a_mere_human]

"I'm not in the military." There was a slight edge to his voice there, instead of his normal monotone. He needed to get that point across clearly.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Most of our 'soldiers' here have military experience. Of course, I have no idea how your little organization operated where you were from." Probably more organized than the Three Ships Alliance that changed the course of two wars. Organization meant manpower, and it meant discipline.

[a_mere_human]

Celestial Being wasn't very little, actually, but she didn't need to know that.

"What about the organization you belonged to?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Organization? I fought with rebel guerilla soldiers, acted as an officer and later commander in chief of my nation's military, and piloted as part of a small, independent fleet of ships," she said, ticking off each item on her fingers. "And then my position here. I've been all over the command structure."

[a_mere_human]

He seemed to regard her curiously for a moment. She had been all over the place, seemingly jumping from one cause to the next.

"Did you find what you were looking for in any of those places?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

They were all related! Sometimes loosely. But totally related.

Yeah.

"I did." This was the truth, and she was sure of at least that. "But... figuring it out's a total wash if we can't actually restore what was destroyed by the Ohm."

[a_mere_human]

Were he someone who could actually display emotions, he'd scoff right now. As it was, a small noise of distaste did escape him.

"You shouldn't waste your time trying to get back everything you lost."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"One of the things I lost is pretty much what I was living for." Orb... if she couldn't bring it back, what was her purpose in life? She'd never been as good at focusing on the grand scheme of humanity the way Kira and Lacus did. Protecting her people was what she'd finally, after all the fighting was over, decided she wanted to do with her life.

[a_mere_human]

"You must not have had much to live for," he surmised evenly, though not cruelly. More like it was the most logical conclusion he could come to.