Soakin' Away the Day's Worries

Half Moon Bay Weyr - Hot Springs
Created by the fires of the volcano a pocket of ancient air has created this huge open cavern in the black stone. Most of the floor is covered by bubbling mineral water that gleams azure in the dim light of glows. Swirls of green, blue, red, yellow, black and white are awash on the walls and floor, earmarks of earlier times when the hot water boiled out of its bed and rose to fill the dark cavern.
A few signs of humanity can be found. A trunk with soft fluffy towels, soap and a boardwalk erected through the middle of the four pools so that people can find their way to the hot water without burning their feet along the way. It is rumored that an hour in the hot water can melt away even the worse of troubles, leaving a person relaxed and ready to face a new day with vigor.


Scrub a dub dub, there's a goldrider in a tub. Well, not a tub to be exact, but a pool of piping hot water comes pretty close. Draped against one of the walls of the middlemost pool, Enka's got her folded forearms resting against the rim, supporting her chin which is snugged down against them, eyes closed. Her hair's got that frazzled look, of someone who might have been tugging at it in a stressful sort of way which combined with the steam rising from the surface of the water doesn't make her look exactly glamorous. There doesn't seem to be a lot of noise coming from the junior weyrwoman, except maybe some muttering under her breath.

Daranyl is not clean. Mud and foliage smear his face, arms, legs, … okay, all of him, really. But if it bothers him, he hides it well, just making his way into the Hot Springs like it's any other day He finds a hook to hang his crossbow from and piles the dirty clothing beneath it. As he turns back towards the pools, he notices Enka for the first time, barely pausing as he processes the new information before he scoops up a pot of soapsand and moves to the next pool over, lowering himself into the hot water until only his head remains above the surface.

Sundari is wandering on towards the pools, clothing in hand and a towel around her as she paused to well take care of that back in the cave bit of the spring. Her items are setled upon a place before she is off to the water itself. Pausing to set her towel to the side before she hops into the water of the pool that Enka is in. Yes she just hopped right in without glancing around mind you.

Enka really can't miss the slosh of water against her back, clear indication that the pool is now occupied by at least one more person. But hey, it's not like there was a sign or anything saying 'private pool party only' now was there? Lifting her head from the nestled crook of her arms, the goldrider reaches around, moving her hand to grab the rim of the pool and change direction to get a better glance at her pool mate. Oh! "Sundari," the bluerider gets a wry smile. "Soakin' away the day's worries are you? Or just relaxin'?" And they certainly aren't alone, there's someone in the next pool over, and now that her eyes aren't closed tight against the world, she can at least see a head over there. "And who's that over there?"

It's a good thing Daranyl doesn't mind being forgettable. He nods to Sundari, then ducks under the water, the surface moving and sloshing as if he's rubbing the moisture into his hair, and when he surfaces the already haphazard affair is spiking up at random angles. Still not bothering to join the conversation, he reaches for the soapsand and wets a handful, watching it lather before starting to scrub it into his hair.

Sundari smiles to Enka and waves while she moves to reach out and get a bit of the sandsoap. "A bit of both I suppose. How have you been Enka?" She does catch sight of Daranyl and waves on over to him. "Hey Daranyl, how goes?" So much for him to staying forgotten it seems.

"'Aint nothin' wrong with relaxin' and soakin' away the day's worries." Enka remarks, trailing her other hand through the water, fingers wiggling like little goldfish in a very small school. "That's the whole point of comin' here, because if you can't soak out the day's worries, you'd have a pretty hard time relaxin'." She pauses, and shrugs, water sloshing around her uplifted shoulders. "I've been better. Had extra work to do, y'know. Stressful." Oh, well then, Sundari's outing of the young man quite clearly identifies him to the goldrider. "Ah, Daranyl is it? You were right, we did run into each other again." Well, sort of. "Any good huntin' to be had lately?"

Daranyl shrugs his shoulders, still scrubbing the soapsand into his hair, "Some." He glances at Sundari and nods again. They're polar opposites, his sullen quiet to her bright exuberance. He works his way down to his neck, scrubbing off dirt bit by bit, "Feelin' better?" That's clearly aimed at Sundari before he ducks under the water to rinse off the suds, reaching for more soapsand once he surfaces, "Knew we woul'."

Iris meanders in, already be-toweled and ready to slip in and melt away the day. She pauses for a moment near the pools, assessing occupants and water clarity before deciding on the pool on the opposite side of Enka and Sunny from Daranyl. She'd wave, but her hands are occupied with tugging at her towel and dropping into the pool. She sighs with gusty satisfaction and turns her body so she's facing the others. "And how fares the water for you this evening?" is her form of a greeting. She doesn't bother reaching for the soapsand just yet- she's mostly just here to soak, after all.

Enka gives a dry chuckle — no mean feat considering she's neck deep in steamy hot water — at Iris as the other goldrider joins her. "I'd say that th water's about the best thing that happened to me since I had to do extra paperwork to make up for that incident up north." And the less said on that score, the better, really. "Nothin' like a steamin' hot soak to just wash away the troubles." Because that's in here, and the troubles around out there — outside. "Sure thing," she remarks in Daranyl's direction. "All it took was bein' in the same place at roughly the same time. Not surprisin', here in a Weyr."

"'Xac'ly." Daranyl is… not the talkative sort, really. He spares a quick glances for Iris, sizing her up before he continues scrubbing the soapsand into his shoulders, looking rough around the edges, but still alert to his surroundings. More soapsand, more scrubbing. "Warm's good. 'Laxin'."

Iris makes a grumpy face at the mention of The Incident. "Yeah… always have to love splitting paperwork up again. And we finally had a good system going, ugh." Because obviously paperwork issues matter more than death. Iris sinks underneath the suface for just a moment, and on coming back up she peers across Enka and Sunny's pool at Daranyl. "I don't know you. Except you look like you were as dirty as Ila gets when he's been out in the forest awhile."

A wrinkled nose and a faint scowl clearly indicate Enka's enjoyment of the entire situation — which is sarcasm of course — "I almost hate to say it, but I liked bein' sick. Could do crosswords all day long, and read and relax. Now it's back to the old grind, and pushin' papers all over again." Daranyl gets a long look, and then a shrug. "I think we all like warm. It's almost soothin'. Better than freezin' anyway."

Daranyl's shoulders lift and fall, then he shifts so he can scrub his armpit, "Never seen snow." Because only snow is cold, right? He glances across at Iris again, then ducks under the water, shifts and splashing as he rinses off before surfacing again, "Water's good after a good hunt, though."

Iris can't help but chuckle just a little at Enka's comments. "Well, maybe it's the right time to be recovered, put you back to work and we can just go back to the old system." Cause it worked, too! The laughter fades though as Daranyl is all quiet and ignoring of the Very Obvious invitation to introduce himself. "What's your name then, hunter?" It takes a beat longer for her to remember she hasn't introduced herself, either. "I'm Iris. One of the juniors here."

Enka chuckles softly, her hand swishing through the water again as she leans back against the wall of the pool, turning her head slightly to regard Daranyl, and keeping Iris in her line of sight as well. "Aint ever seen snow?" she asks of the young man. "Well, you're not missin' much really. It's cold, it's white and it melts all over your clothes if you don't brush them off fast enough. So unless you've got some burnin' desire to see snow, you're better off skippin' it. There's other cold things too though. Like between, they say." Iris gets a look then. "I think I'm goin' to relapse." Except that would be mean. Real mean. "We'll manage, we always do."

"Never been b'tween, either." Daranyl shifts, reaching down to scrub his feet, then glances at Iris again, "Daranyl, Weyrwoman." He glances towards the exit as if somehow judging the time, then hoists himself up and out of pool. A towel is acquired over one shoulder, his crossbow over the other, and his dirty clothes are picked up carefully and held out before him, "Nice talkin'. Evenin'." He nods to each, then takes his exit, still dripping water behind him as he goes.

"I dunno, I think snow is pretty nifty. Though I always like coming home to warmth and sun." Islander through and through! Iris peers at Daranyl as he introduces, then quickly leaves. Eyes narrow curiously both at the elusive hunter, then at Enka. "Don't you dare," she frowns as the words come out. "Course we'll manage. You're back in fightin' condition. Sorta. Anyway. Whatever." Soaksoaksoak. "Let's just not talk about that. Came here to forget about it, ha." Time to get in some quality hot springs time before returning to life.

"I prefer the sun. And the warmth. And the sand, even if it gets into awkward places and makes you itch your pants at inappropriate times." Enka shares her views with quite unabashed cheerfulness. "I'd take or leave snow, which makes me glad I'm not a transport rider who's got to fly cargo to the Reaches or somethin'." Ah, there's Daranyl taking his leave of them so that leaves just the two goldriders together. "Whaaaaat? Meeeee?" Enka plasters a look of innocence personified onto her face, faking a cough or two, and winking at her friend. "I'm just kiddin' you, Iris. I aint goin' to relapse, the healers would have my hide for it." There's a long pause. "Mmmhmm. No talk. Just turn into prunes. All wrinkly. Yucky." Soaking away the cares of the world indeed. And at some point, Enka's going to haul herself out of the pool, and then wrapped up in a towel, ghost off for her weyr, bidding Iris farewell as she goes.


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