It's fairly obvious that you'll need to split up to do this properly with the time you have. It's also clear that you don't have anything to report back to the rest of the Playerbase and won't worry about that until tomorrow, at least, when you
might.
"Best to get our own masks on before we assist the others," Alesha says, and you nod.
Sekhmet will try to deal with their Company stewardship stuff; provisions, housing, better equipment, with Ace along to assist. Hikaru will be doing research, contacting the mage guilds and what other members of the Free Company he can find. Alesha will be going to the temples to look for her daughter, and for outreach to the locals.
The Mundanes.
You'll be going with her. You owe your best friend here that much, and you're a Cleric besides; you're beginning to suspect that as an official godbotherer you'd better learn how to start
bothering the Gods.
"One other thing," you say at the tail end of breakfast, when everyone is down to their last one or two
porras. "I think it would be, uh, prudent to visit the baths. Before we meet with the Countess, if possible."
"Oh god please," Ace groans. "That and like, laundry and new clothes."
"How much would that cost?" Sekhmet says, ear twitching. "We have not a lot of money and a lot of not-going-anywhere and time. Inn will probably give us washing-up stuff."
"And the in-game function of it is mostly to remove some pernicious status effects we don't have," Hikaru adds. Then thinks, and frowns. "Though I admit I'm not sure how much that corresponds with, or elides, the present reality of the situation. Especially given the 'experience bonuses' from sleeping and eating."
"Ask my clients how well they remember things when they haven't been eating properly," Alesha replies, folding her arms.
You take a deep breath. "More than all of us very much needing it I think that the Countess would appreciate, and notice, our cleaning up before our job interview."
There's a moment of silence across the table and Sekhmet rocks back like she's been hit in the face with a cucumber.
"Fuck," they say. "That's what this is, isn't it."
"That or a citizenship exam," Alesha sighs, nodding.
Sekhmet runs their hand down her face. "We can't afford not to fucking go to the baths. Right. Let's, uh, let's send an Official Message to her saying why we're delayed."
"It shouldn't be terribly expensive," Hikaru says. "The price of a bath was measured in Sheaves prior to our... translation into Mundus."
Ace snorts. "Course, they'll be jacking up prices once they see however many thousands of us showed up for Renfaire 2047."
"I do not anticipate the cost exceeding one Crown Guilder for all of us, even if there's... an inflation problem waiting to happen," Hikaru insists.
"I've already agreed we're doing it," Sekhmet growls. "Please don't make me regret it more than I already do."
With that, the rest of the day's plans fall rapidly into place, and you're glad to have the rest of the hot chocolate. This will, very certainly, be a long day.
Navigating the city is easier than you thought it would be, even though it's extremely crowded and walking through people is no longer an option. The main roads and avenues of Viacruz are arranged like a wheel and axle, with statues of the Gods literally pointing to where things relevant to their domains are located and marking the entrances into new districts. At the main gate, a six foot tall bronze Thorne takes aim at the rose gardens and the olive and orange orchards to the northwest, while a 10 foot Ubasdjet's jar of milk points northeasterly, towards the rancher's grazing grounds. Just inside, Delvar rests his scaly head in his clawed hand, his other hand heading down the Bankway; Jae-Eun in her silks is in his lap, with his tail resting on her lap, her open palm inviting one to stroll down Peppercorn Street and stop at every stall on the way to the statue of Flamma in Cauldron Hex, at the literal center of town.
You were wowed by this the first time you got to the city and you feel a similar sense of awe here now, where you're physically present as you never were before; riding on a horse-drawn cart that's probably also full of silk and sugar. You smell cinnamon and pepper and chocolate and caramel, and sweat, and... horseshit.
There's probably a reason the game didn't try to mess with the olfactory component that much, in retrospect. It could, Neurohelms are some bullshit, but you're running into some of the good reasons it didn't.
The locals look upon your motley crew with... there's really no unified response. They're all different people, why wouldn't they see you differently? But there's an undercurrent of awe, and fear, at the out of town freaks that make their living by fighting things like owlbears and dragons and flesh-eating manavoric slimes. In your case, with bare hands.
You curl up around yourself tighter, hands on your knees. You don't want the fear or the awe. You... don't know what you want, but it's not that.
The cart drops you off at Cauldron Square, under the statue of Flamma mixing whatever it is she's mixing in the fountain at the center of town with her broomhandle, and after Sekhmet tips the driver a silver piece you look for the statue of Meredar above the skyline and walk down the street that leads in that direction. Signs denote it with the anchor holy symbol and as "River Alameda," and it's lined with grass and trees.
It's as you remember it; the Alameda opens up to the Lavish Arcades, a name that always made Hikaru chuckle at the pun - a series of bathhouses and salons in a set of Romanesque buildings with archways, watched on either side by the statue of Meredar with her coral horns and her two guard Capricorns.
You always liked the Capricorn raid.
You approach the bathhouse, entering behind Alesha, and that's when you see the signs with spears and distaves and you start to hyperventilate. Of course they're segregated what are you even doing here why did you think it'd be simple and -
Resolve+Composure DN 10 said:
You take a deep breath and
think.
No one here knows you're not really a -
No one here knows that you
weren't born female on Earth. They'll just see Deedee, who was female from the moment you checked a box at character creation. No one will know or need to as long as you don't act like a
creep and you have practice at that.
You're not the person you were at 16.
No one who grows up likes who they were at 16, either.
Square breaths, here. In two, hold two, out two, hold two.
You feel Hikaru's hand on your back and exhale despite yourself; you see Sekhmet's ears pointing at you and their one raised eyebrow, before she turns from conversation to the clerk to the party.
"Okay. Complication," they say.
"Love those," you mutter.
"There are separate, smaller baths for the Adventurers. Locals don't wanna be gawked at, Adventurers don't want it either, I guess. More expensive, too," she says. "Not much, Hikaru was on the money, but this is going to run us a silver for each bath and we'll need at least two."
"And gender-segregated, too," Hikaru says, sighing. "I'll pay for my own."
Alesha nods. "I'm willing to go with Ace or Sekhmet."
Ah. Alesha
does know who you were. Makes sense.
Hurts more than you expected to hear her say it, though.
"That's - that's fine, I can get my own -" Ace stammers.
"I can pay for and get my own bath too," you mutter.
Sekhmet tilts their head at you, then rolls her eyes and grabs your wrist.
"Nah, fuck that," they say. "Let's not spend more than we have to. Ace and Leesh, me and Deeds, and Hikaru makes three silvers and I don't think we'll find better. Come on."
You're too grateful to put up even token protests as Sekhmet puts the coins on the counter and drags you off to your bathchamber.
"Oh, thank God," Sekhmet mutters as she takes the soap from the locker. "I was worried they wouldn't have any. Can't wait to tell Heeks the soap's historically accurate - is that a fucking
strigil?"
You pause, for a moment, before sighing and taking off your underthings too. It is extremely fucking weird to be this naked in front of your roommate, even if they're a catte at the moment.
"What's a strigil?" you say, trying to be nonchalant and not sure how well you succeed.
"It's -" they turn and hold it up; it looks like a blunt knife with the blade on the inside curve. "You scrape off dead skin with it. This place is Roman as hell, I should have expected this. But there are towels too. Were these in the cutscenes?"
They're looking at you, but not... staring.
You think you can do this.
"I don't even remember," you say, dropping your clothes in a basket. "I've had a lot on my mind. Could use one of those at home, though."
Sekhmet laughs. "Same honestly. Bet it does better work than our towels. If this place is basically a goddamn thermae, next room is the Cold Dunk, be ready to freeze your boobs off."
You think about that for a second.
"You're taking this calmly," you say, neutral as you can manage - and turn to see Sekhmet flip her top off over her head.
Her bust isn't very big.
You look up at her -
their - face instead and inhale through your nose. You're not going to stare either.
"What, getting naked in front of you? You've seen tits before and you've probably seen my tits before, which Sekh's are not," they say, and shrug. "Besides, you have your own now; both of us should get used to it."
You blink. "You aren't, uh, comfortable in that skin?" you say. Then, very quickly, "There was probably a less serial-killer way to word that."
Sekhmet laughs and you concern yourself with getting soap, towels and your strigil. "I'm barely comfortable in my terrestrial coil, and like." She pauses. "I made this character as a gag about how fast and loose this game deals with Egyptology, not because I'm attached to her. Like, her last name is
Clanclan, for Chrissake, she's a knifecat meme and always was."
You shrug and walk towards the 'cold dunk.' "I mean, I thought it suited you, but what the hell do I know apparently?"
"Nah. She's too girl for my tastes."
"Makes sense. Though you could have played an Eithyr if having a gender bothered you."
They laugh. "If I wasn't a coward, sure. Besides, most of them end up having boobs anyway, because the venn diagram of people who play Eithyr and people who think Rubellite and Charoite did nothing wrong is a circle."
You snerk, then look at the cold pool. And sigh.
And jump in.
You have a weird sense of deja vu as you immerse yourself completely, letting yourself stay under the cool water for a second before exiting.
Water streams down your body and your tail in rivulets. Your gasp becomes a whoop.
"Mikvah rules, baby," you say for no reason you can discern before towelling off.
Sekhmet dunks herself soon after, leaving you to think for a second. You do offer your arm to help them out of the pool, though.
Seeing the water stream off Sekhmet is more interesting than you're comfortable with, but...
"Hot," you deadpan.
"Oh yeah. The bedraggled kitten look is sexy as hell," they mutter, as they grind their towel into their hair. "God, why did I pick the furriest of the furry kiths?"
"As a knifecat meme. You established this," you said.
"Right. I have regrets," they say, walking towards the next chamber - the hot bath.
You follow.
For a moment, you both soak, together, in silence, for a while; you leave to soap up, and then scrape off the dirt, Sekhmet demonstrating how to use the strigil on her arm. Then you take the plunge again, sinking deeper, until only your face is above the water, and sigh.
This is the closest you've come to the feeling of being home, together, as roommates and friends, since you arrived here.
The most comfortable you've been in Mundus.
And you need to ruin it, is the first thought that crosses your mind. But that's not what you're doing, is it? Jules is nonbinary, for God's sake. They'll get it, won't they?
Here goes nothing.
"I've been thinking," you say.
They grunt, rolling their shoulder. "What's the occasion?"
"Very funny." You blow out a breath slowly through pursed lips. "You, uh, have a very different relationship to Sekhmet than I do to Deedee."
Intution+Empathy+Flammite DC 12 said:
Jules was going to say something, but apparently thought better of it. Sekh's ear twitches in your direction, and she twirls a hand curled into a double-barreled fingergun. A gesture you've seen on Jules a thousand times:
go on, get to the point.
"I guess I'm lucky," you say. "She... suits me a lot better than your avatar suits you. So, lucky, on the one hand. On the other hand, it's embarrassing that it took this to get me thinking about it."
"If you say 'on the gripping hand' I'm gonna slap Hikaru," Jules says. "He knows what he did."
"I think I prefer being a girl," you say, in practically one word.
There is a long moment of uncomfortable silence where Sekhmet's radar dishes lock directly onto you as you sink lower into the water to avoid their all seeing-gaze.
Well. All-hearing...
What's the auditory equivalent of a gaze?
Sekhmet - Jules - clicks their tongue, and nods.
"That tracks," they say, more to themselves. "That explains a lot. Took you long enough - nah, that's not fair, it took me long enough."
Your long breath bubbles up around your face. You sit up, shoulders breaching the top of the water, and look up at the ceiling - a mosaic of Meredar slaying some horrible mottled purple and gold krakeny thing from the deep.
"Hey." They put an arm over your back and you let gravity take your head to her shoulder. "Hey, Deeds. Listen. I'm not on the same road but we're heading in the same direction and I got maps, okay? And now we know what's up, we'll get there. You saved my life and now I get to pay you back."
You're not sure that letting Jules stay with you the month after they dropped out of college literally saved their life but their embrace is too warm to argue with right now.
Also you should probably stop crying when you can.
It's not exactly easy, but still.
You feel them pat your head and hear them say something, and you pull back, blushing. This is no time to get a crush on Jules.
Again.
"Didn't... didn't catch that."
"Who else did you tell? Don't want to out you," they repeat, patiently.
"No one," you say. "You're the first. But..."
"But?"
Deep breath. "But I'm pretty sure Hikaru and Ace know."
"Hikaru knows," they say, rocking back. "Huh. Ace figures, she don't make a secret of it onstream, but I didn't figure Hikaru... hmn." They put a finger to their lip. "Okay. I'll, uh, liase with them."
"You're a lot less surprised than I expected," you say, almost an accusation.
They laugh. "Bitch, in every game we've been in you have played nothing that didn't have tits, including Ralph's
Dungeoncrawlers campaign and the
Delirium LARP. Most of our friends are queer. The last time I saw an egg as perfect was at a Denny's."
"Fuck you," you say, affectionately, as you rise out of the pool.
"Nah."
You grab your towel. "Hey, Jules?"
"Yeah, J- hmn." They think about it. "Guess I shouldn't call you that. Got any ideas?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhh." You don't. "Deedee, for now? Like I said, this fits me way better than Sekh fits you, and if there's a way back we'll think about it then."
"If," they say, nodding, frowning. "Yeah that's a burn after crossing scenario. Deeds, then."
You sigh, twisting your hair to squeeze the water out. "Anyway. Thank you."
They shrug it off. "What the hell else are friends for, Deeds?" they ask.
For all it's rhetorical, you can't help but wonder.
Special thanks to @minkhollow for prereading.
Part 2.2.2 coming tonight. Part 2.2.3 and the vote coming Friday. I said, you know, like a liar. Expect part two Friday afternoon and part three and the vote Saturday.
