The Necessity of Bathing

Log Info

• Title: The Necessity of Bathing
• Emitter: Cryosanthia
• Characters: Cryosanthia, Braelnoir, Jinks, Seyardu
• Place: Mictlan, the Nesting Grounds
• Time: Friday, September 02, 2022, 8:43 PM
• Summary: Cryosanthia is called out for lapsing self-care on a routine day in the Mictlan Nesting grounds. Braelnoir is helping her, in a miniaturized version, when Jinks arrived and draws some affectionate ire from Xochi. They catch up, on their research activities and what has otherwise been going on, including the defensive preparations Mictlan has been making against the Wight Worms. As the Tribune doesn't make it out to Mictlan, the news that the Wights have been defeated and driven back finally arrives with Seyardu, as well as several loaves of bread. Bathing options, in groups and more private arrangements, are discussed before Cryo goes into a pocket dimension.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cryosanthia  6'9"     291 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashing, elegant white-scaled lizard woman, nest-mother.
Braelnoir    5'11"    146 Lb     Human             Female    A tall, pale Acanian woman, branded in silver, Egg-Watcher.
Jinks        3'4"     39 Lb      Gnome             Male      A gnomish fellow in fancy garb and jewelry.
Seyardu      5'6"     150 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Xochicotzin, 'Xochi'             Sith-Makar        Female    A red-scaled, mesomorphic, Egg-Watcher, nest-mother.
Cozamalotl, 'Zama'               Sith-Makar        Female    A brass-scaled, stringy, Lore-Keeper, nest-mother.
Yaotl                            Sith-Makar        Female    A black-scaled, sturdy, very patient, Egg-Watcher.
Little Fang, 'Lily'              Kobold            Female    A crafty and creative, pinkscale youngling, Cryo's daughter.
All the Nestlings!
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

"You have successfully broken your compulsive scent scrubbing."

Zama, the stringy brass-scaled lore-keeper makes an observation as Cryo, the lithe, white-scaled speaker enters the nesting grounds, prompting a "What?"

"It has been 13 days since you used your apprentice gloves to wipe your scent away." Zama expounds.

"You've been counting?" Cryo blinks, a confused expression crossing her face, matched by confused scents. The white-scale is wearing only a loin cloth and on the gritty side, layers of dirt on the scales which aren't frequently rubbed against something.

A pink head pops out of her nest, followed by five smaller reptilian snouts, all on the verge of charging.

"She means you stink, Cryo." Xochi cuts directly to the point, "There's establishing your territory, and then there's whatever you're doing. Practicing to be a troglodyte?"

"I... uh..." The white-scaled diplomat is stunned by the implications, "This one... is... uh..."

"Rawrr! Get Ssassa!" Little Fang leads the charge, leaping out of the nest, five nestling bounding after her as they surge towards their nest-mother and scuttle up her like a tree.

Maybe not the most frequent visitor to Mictlan in general (nor the nestmothers, specifically), Jinks is still known in these parts. The fancy gnome is on foot, humming to himself as his black eyes scan the lived-in wilderness. His muted traveling clothes bleed bright motes, shedding the illusion of dull colors for the flamboyant and the modest ensemble twists into a custom and flattering cut. Away from the threat of roadmen and brigands, the rich bard glitters, swaddled in the colors of pumpkin and apricot.

The humming catches and a brow furrows, a reflexive lifting of the hand to his nose masked as a stroke of the goatee. Jeweled fingers waggle and he whistles a simple melody to conjure a reinforced perfume of lavender before continuing on...

"Sure, why not?" tinyBrae chirps in from the other side of the nest, covered in the usual side effects of maintenance. She's clad in her usual one shouldered affair, though she's actually bereft of her Korish accessories in favor of those more... custodial. It certainly helps that she has claws, now.

For that personal feedback.

At the rush toward Cryo, the bitty Stormgardian cheers a gleeful, "Aroooyaaaaaaah!" and, full of mischief, joins in the charge.

There's a bit of a misstep at the closing hum and the little human pads to a stop halfway, "Oy!" she calls, clapping a fist to her breast the gnome's way, "'ow ya been, luv?"

Unexpected shock has a way of stealing the initiative, and the white-scale is still processing the critcisms of her self-care when she's hit by the onslaught of offspring and relatives.

She is climbed, conquered, little lizardlings up on her shoulders, hanging off her horns and ear-fins while Lily hugs one thigh and waves for Braelnoir to grab the other. The carnation kobold happily hisses at Jinks, "Backsstabsss!"

"Yess, ah, Peace on your Nest, Jinks. It's good to see you." Cryo carefully waves in his direction, and takes the opportunity to sniff her armpit, then disputes her findings, "This one doesn't smell that strongly."

"Coyote laughs," Jinks greets in return, already working two buckles and a pair of buttons loose to open his coat; the weather within Mictlan is a lot warmer than without. Still working, he shrugs shallowly at the miniaturized Braelnoir and answers: "Coin's happy to land either way.

"Combat training continues apace?" Asks the gnome, shifting topics to the melee before quirking an eyebrow. He's still on his approach but his voice carries easily and he's hard to miss the way he's appointed.

Xochi, the redscale, refrains from commenting. Instead she leaps out of her nest to charge up in front of the gnome. Crouched low and on all fours, her mimicry of a small red dragon is exceptional, right down to the flared crest.

She makes a point of sniffing him as if it's the first time, a long inhale of those lavender and small humanoid scents. She also stares.

Like she's dragging out the moment.

Which she is, to allow her pair of nestling to circle around Jinks. Two small weights land on his back, tiny claws on his shoulders, as the red-scaled nestlings climb him under their mother's watch.

"Training never endsss." Xochi repiles, unblinking.

Braelnoir gives a wink to her niece and pads over to latch onto another leg, "We'n talk about pincer attacks after dinner, luv!"

As Cryo gets defensive about her pheromones, she gives a llloonnnnnng sniff, then, "A soak wouldn't go amiss."

A patpat to the ivory thigh, then, "But, gettin' that compulsion under control's a good thing... proud o'ya, gal."

Jink's greeting, and reception draw her eyes and she grins with a little nod toward Lily, then the tableau Clan Zochi put forward, "It starts with somethin' like that."

"This one hadn't planned to." The whitescale says, neck curled so she can gaze down at her living leg-weights. She moves slowly, two nestling swinging from her long horns, holding on by the skin of their pointed teeth. Cryo exhales.

"This one has so much routine. Awaken many times during the night, check the nestlings's scales in the morning, find and chew their food for them. Catch something they might hunt, practice that. The hour where someone watches this one's nest while I cast what defensive spells I have on Mictlan, to assist the druids and the defenses we are building. Plus... other things."

Meaning Junior, or perhaps the search for Akoniril.

"Then Lunch, more play, more practice and exercise. Meeting the male." Tenoc, without doubt, "watching the others' nests so they may take time away."

She shrugs, "Washing down... I guess I forgot about it. My nestling must smell like me and recognize my scent."

"We're all about to smell like you." Zama laughs, "Are you sure you aren't trying to be the dominant female?"

Xochi growls. Her status should not be questioned.

There's a wince as Jinks flinches one way, then a giggle as he bends the other. The gnome's face is a knot for the half-second it takes to regain composure as the two hatchlings go spelunking. A quick look at Xochi is all he needs to suppress the impulse to dislodge the uninvited riders-- and so he hooks his thumbs into his belt instead. Easier to resist the urge that way.

"It's good to find your intensity intact, Xochi," he smiles. The sniffing isn't his favorite thing but he's become accustomed. Whatever personal faults and vices they might find in his scents are often plain to see, anyway. "Though, I prefer the path where training never starts.

"-- and that sounds like far too much work. You need an assistant, Cryo," the gnome adds with a wink of his own.

Braelnoir grins at her sister, then, "How long since ya been fer a dip, Cryo?" That usually has an appear to the large sith.

She looks toward Xochi and Jinks, "Train'n's done when ya end, permanent like."

Lily sticks her tongue out at Jinks, oddly human in the gesture despite her kobold features. "I assssisstantss Ssassa!"

Xochi remains present and vigilant as her children examine the gnome, and then she carefully disengages them from him. "Your pressencess iss tolerated," she hisses, turning to stalk back to her nest, jaunty in her stride.

Cryo meanwhile, is carefully wedging her tail down between MiniBrae's grip, working to dislodge her from her leg, "This one... is at her limits, with the work. This one would not be seeking Akoniril if..." She waves her hand, "... if not destiny, need, all that. The future is here, within this ziggurat, this is what I need to focus on."

Another sniff, her other armpit, "a bath wouldn't hurt. A long time Brae... when did the Tarrace close?"

"That's the best I can wish for, some days," Jinks quips at Xochi's back, holding his arms out to either side. He puts his hands to his lapels, then, and adjusts his coat as he finishes the walk in. Lily's tongue-out is met with a playful wrinkling of his nose.

The bard glances between Braelnoir and Cryosanthia and he issues a sigh. "I'm tired just hearing about all the work." He grins, distracted by the antics of the hatchlings for a moment or two. "... you might take your man and make the dip an event. 'I wash your back, you wash mine.' So on and so forth," he offers with one hand making a rolling gesture.

Ever the stickler for details, Brae gives a little shrug and an, "I'unno, months?" The littler human throws a big grin up at her sister as she presents a little more substantial resistance than her size would suggest, but ultimately relaxes her grip.

Peck.

Her man....

Amber eyes flit to a brass skeleton dancing from one of Lily's horns, then, "He's got the right of it, Cry, ya need some you an'im time, an a dip'll do ya a world o'good."

"Just thought o'somethin', ya have yasselves a good talk, now, I'ma head back ta the City'n the mornin, but first!"

The little human in comparatively large boots tromps on after the withdrawing redscale, "'oi, Xochi, just remembered a fight ya'd wish ya'd been in, here lemme tell ya'll 'bout it!" throwing a blind wave over her shoulder.

"Yesss. Tell her of fightss." A black-scale standing behind Jinks hisses. One of the Egg-Watchers appearing out of nowhere, as they do. She smiles toothily down at the gnome, then nods her head after the Red-scale, "Mothering has mellowed her, but she is still full of fight."

Cryo's head flicks between Brae, Xochi, Lily, her little ones and the other sith-makar around. She removes the nestlings from her horns, then her ears, holding the wriggling clutch against her chest. The fifth that has moved around to her spine is allowed to stay for the moment. "Yes. Tenoc, this one should spend time. He has been so devoted. Where he finds all the mangoes this one cannot fathom."

She gazes into the distance, "Perhaps where we scouted Sabina's new place." She immediately expands her plans, "This one would love to take the nestlings too, so they could swim in a proper river." The plans contract, "it's not safe though, with the Wights and the worms. This one could ask Mikilos to cast Mage's Magic Mansion."

Her tailtip starts flicking, prompting a lizardling to crawl down her tail after it.

The quiet sound of bells and gathering lights around the tips of the gnome's fingers disperse as he issues a slow exhale and narrows his eyes subtly at the watcher. Reflex suppressed, he takes a few casual strides and puts his back to something, crosses his arm, and leans against it. The gnome squints again at the black-scaled makari.

"Sabina is looking at putting something else up? Just a home for herself or competition for the Wayfarer?" Clearly, the bard is intrigued by the latter prospect. "Regardless, you should get out. The kids can't live in the nest forever, right? They have a big sister that might enjoy teaching them how to fish..."

The black-scale, Yaotl, maintains her fangy-grin and her focus on Jinks, as she steps back against the palisade, along it, and into the shadows where she'll watch more discretely.

"Sabina was," Cryo nods, her twitchy-tail now a bucking bronco for her nestling, who bites down and holds on tremendously well. "This one helped her scout, before I laid. I had plans to use my spells to build it for her."

She exhales, "Those spells go to strengthening Mictlan's defenses. It is not easy to pull the bedrock up higher."

Her head shifts, looking at the other Nest-Mothers, "perhaps, we all go, with some extra warriors as well as all the Egg-Watchers. Once the countryside is safer. It's not Am'shere, but... before winter, would be best..."

"... if you're not planning for it to be an intimate affair, I could sneak out and help to chaperone." Jinks offers after smirking and shaking his head at the voyeur of a guard. He glances from Cryo to the canopy of trees and thoughtfully twirls a ring with his thumb. "I'd just need a bit of notice."

Blinking, he looks back down and considers the very nests, one after the other. "Maybe rent a druid," he snorts. "Ask along Sabina and your redhead--" the gnome nods to where Braelnoir disappeared-- "that seems enough of a small army to dissuade all but the most foolish of brigands."

Seyardu wasn't able to come out nearly as frequently as she used to with all the defenses and dangers ongoing outside of Alexandria, but she was still able to make some time to go out as much as was possible, when she wasn't dealing with the flood of injured within the walls. Hatchlings needed health check ups on the regular, and mothers needed a bit of time off that she could provide on occasion.

She hadn't left Mictlan for a few days since the worms were slain however, and she had stopped by the nesting grounds much more regularly since. Today was no exception, and the silver makari, clad in leathers stepped into the building after stopping to converse with the guards. The warm scent of baked goods and meat followed them with the large basket in her hands. "Peace on your nests all of you, this one has brought food for those hungry." She calls out, before looking around. "Ah, peace on your nest too, Jinks, it has been some time."

"Un'eth could assist." Cryo assumes. She smiles and tilts her head, a grin creeping across her snout, "Well, if there are enough people it's possible to make it an intimate affair. A little crowd is hard to escape, but a large one isn't."

She glances outside, "This one might be able to make up a mudhole nearby too."

The scent of bread announces the silver-scale's arrival, temporarily suppressing the reek of the area. It pulls a legion of tiny reptilian heads to the rim of nests.

"I think everyone is hungry..." Cryo warns...

And then Seyardu us covered in Nestlings.

"Now, what's this about intimate gatherings in a group? Is it something I should let Sjach know about?" Seyardu laughs in the brief amount of time she has before she is swarmed by small makari. The silver cleric laughs, and she takes a seat near where Cryo and Jinks where, setting the basket down beside her. Inside were several pastries, small enough for small hands, with several larger ones for the adults. One of which she offers to Cryosanthia, and another to Jinks, before she works on the task of making sure every little one around her gets their fair share. "Sjach helped me make these. I've been around the temple of Althea long enough that I was able to make an approximation of the stone oven they have their with magic, here. And I figured that it would be a treat for all the nestlings and mothers."

"Ah... ah?" Cryo gives Seyardu an odd look, "It's only necessary once you have Nestlings and private time is impossible. You and Sjach should have no trouble there."

With the basket set down, small hands swiftly raid it, the little pastries bourn off like first kills to be messily eaten. The flakey crust crunching and spraying as tiny mouths snap away.

Lily is a little better, but equally enthused with her own.

"These are really good. Stone oven sounds cool." The whitescale comments.

"Liquid diet," Jinks declines with a smile and a raised hand to ward off the pastry. He reaches into his coat and produces the flask, giving it a quick shake to conjure a low sloshing noise. "Eating things like that, I'll end up looking like those nobles they have to roll from their mansions after they've died-- and their estates have to pay for the double-wide caskets." He smirks, unscrewing the cap.

"The gnome opens his mouth but closes it again without making a comment about stone ovens, in fact, being quite hot. He smirks to himself instead.

"Far be it for me to comment on the mating habits of another culture... but I hadn't pegged you at a 'tryst in the boxed seats of the opera' type, Cryosanthia." He laughs a little and a twinkle sneaks into his solid-black eyes. "How many of the Crimson Pens have you been reading?"

"No Jinks, I would not make foods unhealthy too often. Those for the adults were made without the need to put on weight while growing after all. Less organ meat and the like. But I understand." Seyardu notes. "Ah well, I wasn't sure if it was something I should go with him for or not. It seems like you rarely see us together, after all." The silver cleric muses. "But, I suppose you are right, as long as Sjach is not out hunting, this one is able to spend time with them when they please. Though he was out for some time, scouting an area called the Vast. I should ask him more about that, but I was simply too happy to see him at the time to think much of it."

"It's excellent for cooking large amounts of grain at once. There's almost always fresh bread to go with most meals at the temple, or desserts for special occasions. You can not get such even cooking over a fire, outside of flatbreads, really."

"Still, it's good to know about such matters in advance, Cryosanthia. This one will not be without a nest and young of their own forever. Even if now is not the time, it is something Sjach and this one would like in the future. Or er, what were you talking about? This one feels they are missing rather important context, which would explain the odd look from Cryosanthia."

"All of them?" Cryo brushes her frill back, "A lot. Because, well you know. That special project research. And this one goes to plays."

"I've been to the Everstorm. Ezil was from the Vast; I heard a few of his stories. Hadn't heard that Sjach had been. I think Faran mentioned something about it."

"Anyhow. This one was talking about taking all the nestling to the river and while others were watching them Tenoc and I could have some alone time." Cryo looks at Jinks again, "to answer your question, mating in the mud at riverbanks isn't my preference, but rivers or heated baths seem to be most of my encounters."

"The back of a theatre might be a nice change."

"That was a question I did not ask," Jinks counters with a laugh, starting to relax with the blackscale out of sight and Xochi retreated to her nest. He takes a long pull from the flask and sucks quickly at his upper lip afterwards. "If you're caught and the watch claps you in irons best not to implicate me in the suggesting; getting bans lifted from the theatres and concert halls grows increasingly more difficult each time you must."

A finger tap-tap-taps against the flask, the inside of a ring clacking against the tin and decorative filigree. "Faranmidahn was, yes. In the Vast-- the revelation I shared with you, Cryo. The fellow out of time, then the vrocks...

"And breads, apparently." Jinks smiles again and cants his head before tacking on a shrug. "Maybe less bread, now, with the refugees crawling back into their caravans and scooting off whence they came." He quirks an eyebrow at the Althean, his inflection rising just enough to make it a half-question. "... until the next cataclysm, right?" He smirks and has another drink before joking "Maybe try for those kids before we're swallowed in the Void."

"This one, ah." Seyardu begins to speak, before she grows embarrassed. "This one only read a few, when they were still unsure of so many things. The advice was, poor, real love and relationships are nothing like those books. They are much more complicated, and not in the contrived ways that most of them seem to conjure up. A heated bath or the river does sound nice however, perhaps this one should invite Sjach in the future."

She stops whatever musings she has to pick up one of the hatchlings gently from the back of the neck as they were biting at the food of another. She holds them in her arms for a moment after so she can face them. "There is food for all here, Ea provides and you need not fight your clutch mates for food. Seek this one out if you need more, rather."

She breaks off half of another pastry to hand to the nestling, before setting them down to scamper off.

"Sjach left for some time, this one missed them greatly. They understand the desire for time alone with their mate." Seyardu admits. "This one is still young. And, perhaps it is naive, but they hope for a good time to raise their nest. Not that this isn't, but they wish to be, less needed, before forcing themself to be less available for aid."

The cleric sighs, and looks around until she can find Lily. "Have you been working on anything new of late Little Fang? This one is always happy to hear of your new experiments."

"The windows for mating and nesting get shorter and longer between. You do not have forever." Cryosanthia warns, "The decades this one lost in Winter's tower made that clear to me. As does our history. Am'shere has not been kind to nestlings and families. You will wait forever if you wait for Good Times. This one chose the lull between calamities."

The whitescale takes a seat, her own nestlings crowding around and climbing on her. Zama, Papal's and Metzli head back to their nest-mothers.

"Makess some pit trapss, for wormss." Little Fang says, biting her pastry. "Modelss. Ssassa makes them for realss."

"The alchemists have a cream for just about everything," observes the gnome as he tucks the flask out of view. "Anyway, much longer and I'll be missed."

Jinks pushes away from the post and begins to do up his coat as he walks. Another illusion is conjured to mute the colors and make his garb less-impressive. His rings fade from view.

"Coyote laughs," he offers with one last tilt of his head.

"Well, this one is gladdened that you have had time to raise your nest, Cryosanthia." Seyardu smiles. "It is what this one still fights for, there is only so much this one can do from behind the walls to aid others, and they wish for a good life for you, for Sjach, for everyone in Mictlan, Jinks and those in Alexandria too."

"Yes, that is correct, this one wishes you well Jinks. Take care on the roads back where you go, they are still not entirely safe." She offers with a wave to the gnome. "And, besides, Cryosanthia, this one still has too much doting for your nestlings and the others to do to worry about their own nest." Seyardu chuckles. "And they would hope for a time you are more free yourself to do the same for them, perhaps."

"Ah, that is a good idea, Little fang! It is good for you to think ahead like that, for the safety of others. I'm sure you and your Sassa saved many lives with the time for preparation that you gave. You have my thanks, and I'll need to prepare a proper reward for you for something like that. Promise." She says to the little Kobold, reaching to pat them on the head.

"The worms were met outside Alexandria and wards around it. Do not tell Sjach, this one wishes him not to worry, but this one needed to bring down the wizards who were preparing a ritual in the air. The only solution this one had was to disrupt it at close range, which, broke the magic being used for their own flight. Thankfully the celestial mother aided this one in fixing their bones and torn muscles afterwards."

"Oh! They are finished! Thank the Empress, and you, this one must say. Thanks." Cryo sits straight, eyes glittering, "This one will not tell Sjach, and magic flight has those flaws. It is good you recovered from the injuries."

The little pink kobold leans into the head pats, "Yesss. I needss Erector ssets Ssseventeen." She has a particular reward in mind.

Cryo shakes her head but does not correct her. "You can find that in Goblintown, or take her shopping, she'll find something better."

While both she and the pink-scale listened intently, the various shades of wintermint nestlings were completely oblivious to the tale, focusing on their food and climbing their parent.

"This one will have more time eventually." Cryo states, "This does not last forever, and this one would not miss the opportunity. The world will be there when this one is ready to engage it again, if it does not come knocking sooner."

"Still, if you would mind the nest a little longer, this one should perhaps spare the other Nest-Mothers and take Zama's advice, and bathe today."

That message delivered, Cryo carefully disentangles herself and climbs a rope to vanish into nowhere.