do you believe in magic in a shared bath's heart?

[dadsandals]

The bath at the mansion really is extensive -- probably more extensive than a lot of them have seen, considering there are literally multiple pools of varying temperatures, probably statues and indoor plants or something for atmosphere, steam rooms, complimentary bath things (everything in the manor is kind of complimentary but shshhh) and whatnot.

On this particularly fine and nondescript day, though -- there's a bit of a commotion whenever you wander in butt-naked for your soak or whatever you like to do in here (you can hang from the ceiling like a bat or something we ain't the judge of you); there's two enterprising wizards flitting about poking at things.

The thing with 🪄 Cid Kagenou 🪄 is that he is Very Into Baths, and Very Into Magic, and thus the Bath Magic is one of the few areas where even his li'l old self can shine. Or not shine, given that they've all been here for 2.5 days (extremely rough estimate) and the miracle is nobody has blown up the mansion trying magic yet. But there is definitely magic happening! Since there's already steam and everything.

And then there's 👓 Yamato 👓. Yamato is Here and enabling himself by watching Cid experiment with various things in the area. Initially he probably would've tried to stop him, but seeing what Cid's been doing has made him want to try some magic experimentation of his own. Pairing a teenager who kind of knows what he's doing with a man who has no idea what's going on makes it even more of a miracle that the mansion has not been blown up yet.

But if you look even closer, you'll spot various small differences:

🛁 all of the water has bubbles in it; the hot bath in fact looks like it has small duck-shaped bubbles just sort of trundling along, occasionally a duck pops and releases a puff of scented air (scents may vary at your discretion)

🛁 the cold water bath keeps turning different colors, maybe they should stop experimenting with it before somebody ends up blue for the week

🛁 some of the statues and potted plants have been slightly altered; nothing too outrageous, but at least one or two statues have been turned into roomba replicas and there's a potted plant with leaves that look like people in the manor's faces in miniature

🛁 the steam room is letting out an intermittent screaming noise that sounds very human, but there's no one in it

🛁 some of the bath soaps are extremely bright and keep on changing colors, as if they were colored like a disco ball (rave! in the bathhouse!)

............. Enjoy your bath!

(OOC: This is backdated to before the South mission so South Wizards get in on the fun too!)

Comments

[dyingtohealyou]

The bath's boiling. Look, you're even turning red.

[Buddy?????? You good????????????]

[shortleash]

I'm not.

( Reflexively. But then he actually lifts his arm from the water to look at it...

...

Hm, )

... I'm fine. It's fine.

( The simmering starts to fade... His embarrassment grows, however, )

[dyingtohealyou]

Definitely not you, sure, sure.

[For some reason!!! He doesn't sound convinced.]

Still, casting without realizing it, huh? That's something.

[shortleash]

I didn't even know you could do that.

( He'll have to ask about it... but, ugh, actually going out of his way to talk to people...

The water is probably safe enough to get back into, if a touch warm, at least. He's... calmish. The agitation's still there, but he's aware and controlling his stupid hunger more actively now. For now, anyway. )

Maybe it's because I was that annoyed. Magic responds to emotions, or something.

( "Annoyed" is gonna be his lie for "obscenely hungry." He'd rather seem irritable than starved. )

[dyingtohealyou]

Neither did I, but the method of this magic is a mystery to nearly all of us.

[Dipping a toe in, and then more of his foot, before deeming the water a suitable temperature to cautiously dunk the rest of himself into again.]

What's annoying you?

[In the interest of not getting boiled alive.]

[shortleash]

( Ugh. Mika allows it (as if he could stop it,) looking at Ahito slipping in from the corner of his eye. )

... I can't stand humans, and there's too many of them in this damn manor.

( Good luck fixing that(?) )

[dyingtohealyou]

[-????]

If you dislike humans, that would make you...?

[shortleash]

( He snorts. )

A monster, no better than a spectre or a ghoul. I could kill you without a second thought.

( ok mr shadow the hedgehog )

[dyingtohealyou]

[Ok thanks that explains exactly nothing to him.]

Like a vampire type of monster, or...

[Literally only throwing that out because he's met Malice.]

[shortleash]

( He wrinkles his nose, clearly displeased by the vampire mention. Got it in one. )

Why was that your first guess? You have vampires where you're from?

( He's not annoyed Ahito got it right, he's just deciding how much of a hater he wants to be. )

[dyingtohealyou]

-Wait, really?

[Genuinely surprised.]

We have stories about vampires, but I never met one myself... Until this world. There's another guy here who's a vampire, too.

[shortleash]

( Bleh. Makes a face. )

Malice? ... I've met him. He's not like the vampires I know, but.

( That's not exactly a bad thing? His version of vampirism is cursed. Malice's version is like... weird evolution. )

Consider yourself lucky if you come from a normal world. Vampires are the worst of the worst, tied with humans.

[dyingtohealyou]

[...You know what? He can't even argue.]

Humans are pretty terrible. What did they do where you're from?

[shortleash]

Besides the usual? War, injustice, cruelty?

( His tone is acrid. )

Human greed drives suffering for selfish reasons, without exception. The only reason vampires even became a problem is because humans have driven themselves to near-extinction with their arrogant destruction. ( In other words, vampires stepped out of the shadows to preserve their food supply. ) Despite that, they find new and obscene ways to use and abuse one another, driving their numbers down to almost nothing— just to sate their lust for power. They disgust me.

[dyingtohealyou]

[Raising an eyebrow.]

Near-extinction? How did that happen?

[shortleash]

The first time, they were messing around with forbidden magic and experimenting on humans like guinea pigs. A domino effect later, it released a virus across the globe that killed almost everyone over the age of 13. You'd think they'd lay off the human experiments after that.

( He hmphs. )

The survivors didn't. It just made them want to experiment more, and with more intensity. They started brainwashing their numbers to go on suicide missions to protect their experiments and get them human subjects. They're a group of cultish fanatics.

1/3

[dyingtohealyou]

2/3

[dyingtohealyou]

[Sorry, but he just has to laugh at that. He sounds very hinged right now. It's fine.]

3/3

[dyingtohealyou]

[But once that's subsided, for the most part:]

Ha- yeah, that sounds about right!

Magic users always want for human test subjects, don't they?

[shortleash]

( That's not the type of reaction he expected, and it's enough to earn a rare look of surprise from Mika, though he suspects the root of the laughter quick enough. )

... I'm guessing it's a real problem where you're from, too.

[dyingtohealyou]

Sure is.

[He taps the side of his face - practically pointing at those strangely bright cyan eyes.]

I was a test subject, myself, years ago. And I'm one of the lucky ones - I survived.

[shortleash]

( Well, that explains those. )

... Then you'd know first hand the depths of human cruelty.

( He doesn't offer his sympathy or pity. He wouldn't want it if he were Ahito. )

... Are you human yourself?

[dyingtohealyou]

[He's right on the money.]

I am. The experiment I was a part of was concerned with imparting a specific type of magic - pretty tame compared to other experiments, really.

The same can't be said for other test subjects from other types of research.

[shortleash]

( Yeah, that sounds about right. Humans are humans, wherever they go. )

... Some of the victims I met begged for death. It was the only thing they could do anymore.

( Vague memories resurface in his mind - children used in the experiments he'd seen; the states they were in... )

... I was also lucky. The orphanage I was in was part of a series of experiments, too. I didn't realize they were doing things to me while I was there. But... I can't say for sure if all the orphans "adopted" out really made it away.

( Which frustrates him more than he lets on, but not as much as it used to, when he had his full breadth of emotions available to him. )

What magic was worth the risk of your life, to them?

[dyingtohealyou]

[Fortunate that they could even beg, he thinks to himself.]

...Healing. But just giving someone that magic wasn't the only objective.

There was a girl my age who'd been in a pretty horrific accident. Her whole family died - she was the sole survivor, but just barely. Apparently, the accident triggered her magical potential.

[He leans back in the bath, staring at the ceiling - or more like, staring somewhere far, far from here.]

They were trying to accomplish multiple goals. Giving someone magic who previously did not have the talent for it, offsetting the cost of that magic, and acquiring whatever power she had.

...It was considered a failure, in the end.