Sword and Snow

Once they decided to bother Ieji, the women moved quickly. They stood, stretched out a bit, and went to gather towels. Once they were nominally clothed - or at least covered - they made their way out and toward the doors that led to the different baths.

The mixed bath that Ieji had chosen to use was a little off to the side. Overall, it was rarely used in comparison to the other baths because the older kids didn’t want to bathe together, and they took the younger ones in with them most of the time. Occasionally, Emery and Avuri would take a group of the younger kids into the mixed bath for a larger communal bath time, but otherwise it wasn’t used much.

Despite all that, it was the largest bath, as well as the one that was the cleanest. It was cleaned every couple days, just like the others, but the lack of use left it much cleaner than the others. The water was also typically kept hotter, which left it perfect for the adults to enjoy a good soak.

Evidently, it had been getting more use than normal recently, as Gray appeared to know all of this as well. He led the group of men out of the men’s bath just after the women had left their bath, similarly towel-clad. They all stood in the main room of the bathhouse fighting laughter.

“Going to see Ieji?” Talya asked with a smile.

“That was the plan.” Gray answered, mirroring the smile. “We were worried they’d be bored on their own.”

“And we’d like to get to know them better, too.” Glenn said. “We’ve spent a while working with them now, but Ieji was never really…engaging?” He sounded unsure of his word choice.

“That’s just Ieji.” Emery said, nodding. “They’ve always enjoyed time alone to decompress, especially in the bath. But I’m not against going in there and causing a ruckus. Clearly.” She noted, motioning to her group who were clearly headed in that direction. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” Cove said, as the groups converged and marched through the door.

“Oh, Ieji!” Emery called in a sing-song voice. “We’ve come to bother you!”

The whole group waltzed in through the door to the mixed bath in an unorganized mob, bringing in the commotion with them. Glenn and Cove were shoving one another over something, while Talya and Gray were already talking about what each side did while apart. Mica was poking Avuri, trying to get her to answer some question she had asked.

Ieji was sitting up against the far side of the bath, fully relaxed. Their face was angled to the sky, though Emery couldn’t tell if their eyes were open or closed, as a veil of wet hair was draped entirely over their face.

“Oh joy. And you brought the whole crew.” Ieji said. Their voice held the same flat tone as always, but they employed so much sarcasm that it came through anyway.

“Oh, Ieji. Ever the beacon of light, hope, and happiness.” Emery shot back, her tone equally full of sarcasm. “Pardon us for thinking we could all enjoy a bit of time together as adults.”

“I don’t mind.” They responded, slowly sitting up and leaning forward, away from the bath’s wall.

Mica took a few small hops forward before saying, “About that. What about spending some time together…a little childishly?” She asked. Cove and Glenn stepped up alongside her then, arms crossed, looking somewhat like bodyguards.

“What did you have in mind, exactly?” Avuri asked, now that Mica had stopped poking her for attention.

Mica’s eyes glimmered in the moonlight as her face took on a bit of a mischievous edge. “Truth or dare.”

“Truth or dare?” Avuri echoed, considering the option. “I’m not against it, but the dares wouldn’t be very interesting. We’re mostly family, and it’s late.”

Glenn shrugged. “That’s fine. We can do mild dares. I think the truth part is more fun anyway.”

Emery slipped into the bath, holding her towel to avoid it from slipping off. “Why not? It could be fun. How do we decide who asks and who gets asked?”

“That’s…a good question.” Mica said, biting a nail to think.

“I have an idea.” Talya said, holding up a hand. “Everyone pick a number between one and twenty.”

Everyone answered in turn, as Talya nodded and took note of the choices. Once everyone had picked a number and everyone was in the bath, Talya said, “The number was 12. Avuri, you were closest, so you get to ask. Glenn, you were furthest, so you get asked. After this, Glenn, you get to pick the number.”

It took another minute before everyone was fully settled in the water. Avuri was sitting close enough to Emery that their knees were touching under the water, and she kept purposefully bumping into her. “Alright Glenn…You know the deal.”

“Truth.” He declared, chest held high.

Avuri tried to think of a good question, but shrugged after just a moment of thinking. “Well, in the spirit of the game…Do you have a crush on anyone right now?”

Laughter immediately erupted around the group at the childish question. “What?” Avuri said, looking around at everyone laughing. “This is a childish game! We should ask childish questions.”

“I do.” Glenn said, keeping his voice even. The laughter petered out quickly, as both Cove and Mica turned to Glenn, looking suddenly ravenous for more information.

“What?”

“Who is it?”

“Grace? It must be Grace, surely.”

“No, I bet it’s Izzi.”

“Hm. There’s always Rain, too.” Mica paused, blinking at Glenn, her expression clearly confused.. “When did you suddenly surround yourself with so many women?” Cove pointed at Mica enthusiastically as everyone else chuckled at the outburst.

“I only have to answer the first question, Mica.” Glenn said, the absolute picture of serene calm. And I believe it’s my turn now - name your numbers. Between one and fifty this time.”

After the numbers were cast, it left Talya asking Avuri.

“So?” Talya asked, a little smirk on her face.

Avuri played up the drama as she hemmed and hawed over her decision before she finally settled on “Dare.” Her eyebrows popped up suggestively when she answered and she grinned in turn, trying to bait Talya.

And Talya took the bait; she laughed. “Fine. Kiss your wife. But,” she held up a finger, “really get in there.”

Childish snickering and wolf whistles erupted around the group as Avuri turned to look at Emery. “You heard her.”

Emery didn’t say anything, but adjusted the way she was sitting on the stone bench in the water and patted her lap. Avuri raised a questioning eyebrow, and Emery sent her response through their Qi. “You heard her.”

Avuri laughed, and the group egging them on cheered as she threw her leg up and over Emery’s lap to straddle her. Emery pulled her down and into a searing kiss. They wanted to put on a bit of a show without things getting truly dirty, so there were a few quick breaks apart before a second, third, and fourth kiss. After the last one, Avuri licked Emery’s lips as she departed, and rolled off back into her seats.

The gallery continued their cheering and catcalls until the little ‘show’ was over. Talya, the one who had suggested the whole thing, had her face in her hand, shaking her head. “You two, I swear.”

“Hey,” Avuri whined, “we just did exactly what you said.”

“Did you really need to get in her lap?”

Avuri shrugged. “Why not? Anyway, everybody pick your numbers. Let’s go with one to one hundred this time.”

Once everyone had called their numbers, Mica was left asking Ieji. Ieji asked for a truth rather than a dare. They clearly had no interest in any of the likely obnoxious dares that could happen with the group in attendance.

“Alright, Ieji. Are we bothering you by being here and being loud?” Mica asked, sounding about as sincere as she could manage.

The corners of Ieji’s mouth quirked up, about as much of a smile as anyone was likely to get out of them. “No, I don’t mind the commotion. I may look dour, but I don’t mind it.”

Mica nodded, accepting the answer, and motioned to Ieji to call for the next set of numbers. This time, Glenn would be asking Gray the truth that he had requested.

Glenn seemed to take his time thinking about the question. “Sorry, Gray. I just met you, and I’m not sure what to ask…”

Gray laughed. “Don’t worry, Glenn. Ask away. I’m an open book.” He threw his arms wide for effect, with a big grin on his face. Glenn continued to look contemplative for a moment before nodding to himself.

“Assuming you’re the one that approached Talya,” he said, glancing toward the woman, “how…did you go about doing that?”

Mica and Cove seemed immediately interested in the question, but not so much in Gray’s answer - they were clearly more interested in why Glenn asked. Gray, for his part, smiled, clearly reminiscing.

“Well,” he began, looking over at his wife, “I met her when she first moved to Green Vine City. She came into the company I was working at at the time for an interview to be a new Array designer. She walked past me on her way in, and pointed out an issue in the Array I was working on, entirely off-handedly, and just went on her way.”

He chuckled. “Turns out, it wasn’t a mistake I had made, but just a design style she had never seen before.” As he smiled at Talya, she gradually turned a little red, embarrassed. “When she came back out from the interview, I pulled her aside and showed her exactly how the Array I had been working on worked. She apparently decided to take that as a challenge, and basically became my work rival for the next few months, determined to get promoted before me.”

“She did, obviously. She’s way more talented than I am. But when she got promoted, I told her I’d like to treat her to dinner, and she accepted. After that, things went pretty smoothly once she wasn’t hellbent on challenging me at every opportunity. I learned a lot from her, too.”

“He’s being humble.” Talya said, with a big smile. “I did beat him in the end, don’t get me wrong. But he knew a much wider variety of Array styles than I did when I started. I basically learned all of them from him, then iterated.”

“She’s much better at improvising and reworking things than I am.”

“That’s true.” She agreed.

Glenn seemed more or less satisfied with that answer, and then looked like he was contemplating something. Cove and Mica poked and prodded him about it while Gray took his turn getting numbers.

“Okay, Mica,” Talya said, having gotten her chance to ask. “What’ll it be?”

“Truth.”

“How about you then? Any secret crushes out there?”

Mica didn’t even miss a beat and responded “Yes,” immediately. But rather than the response that Glenn had gotten, Cove and Glenn clicked their tongues and groaned.

“Mica,” Cove whined, “she means romantic crushes, okay? Play along.”

That got a few questioning looks from everyone else until Glenn expounded, “Emery, she has a crush on you. Not a romantic one - as far as I know, at least, she likes men - but she’s totally in love with the way you fight.”

Mica nodded along the whole time, rather enthusiastically. “He’s right. I love the way you move in a fight. I’m so jealous that I’m more built for sturdy, grounded type moves, while you’re all dance-y.”

“You know,” Avuri said, a devious little smile on her face, “you’re not the only one that thought she moves like a dancer on the battlefield. She even had -”

“Avuri, you say another word, and you’re gonna regret it.” Emery said, trying to shut her wife down before she could leave enough clues for the others to follow. “I do believe I told exactly what would -”

“Wait, she had a what?” Mica asked, excited.

“She had a nickname.” Talya said, looking annoyingly smug as she threw Emery to the wolves. Emery stared at her sister, feeling utterly betrayed.

“Talya!” She shouted, splashing water at the other woman.

“I don’t care who’s next, you better ask what her nickname was.” Mica said, threateningly eyeing down everyone else in the group. Evidently, she didn’t to.

“Steel Dancer.” Ieji said, and Emery whipped around to face them. “Not only that, but she was a teen at the time, and thought it was so cool. She even made -”

“Not. Another. Word.” Emery said, her ears starting to burn red.

Unfortunately for Emery, the last bit also caught Avuri’s attention. “Now, hang on.” She said, grinning. “Emery told me about the name. But I didn’t hear about anything more than that.”

“And you’re not going to.” Emery said, definitively. “Now, where were we in the game?”

Mica crossed her arms, pouting. “No, I don’t have any romantic crushes right now. Numbers between one and ten, everyone.”

Emery’s head was in her hands as Avuri grinned at her. “Alright, love. What’s it gonna be?”

“Dare.” Emery said through her hands.

“I dare you to tell me exactly what it was that you made because you thought the nickname ‘Steel Dancer’ was so cool.” Avuri said, looking triumphant.

“Hang on, that’s not fair! That’s just a truth with extra steps!” Emery complained, but found zero support from anyone in the bath. If anything, everyone wanted her to answer.

Once again, Emery dropped her head into her hands.

“I made robes with a custom crest on the back…and a full costume to go with it.”

The laughter that followed was loud, boisterous, and carried the group through several more rounds of their game as they relaxed for the night.