awashlogs | Event Six.

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Event Six.

If you see this hairy creature
Your first choice should always be to run
Otherwise you had better hope
You have silver bullets in a gun.

he full moon hangs brightly over the Town, hovering so low that it almost feels as though you could reach out and touch it. It should be comforting.

But as the howl of wolves fills the air, it's anything but.

There are werewolves on the prowl, and their target is very clear -- the Town won't be able to last without your help.

Welcome to Awash's sixth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post.

You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

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[ do you think he has TIME to BATHE once a WEEK?

dextera has more than enough time, actually, so it’s not like taking a bath would ever cut into his daily life. he just doesn’t do it, because it’s not a habit he got into, and as long as he can purify himself, then… what’s the point? ]

…

[ finally, dextera nods. put him in the bath. ]

Don't look like I'm punishing you or something. Next time, I'll let you use some of my shampoo.

[And then it'll be worth it. For now, though, he walks past Dextera and pats him on the shoulder.]

You can stay here with your birds, and I'll get it ready for you. It won't take too long.

[ dextera gave away his shampoo to shiho, unfortunately for guren, but the idea of using guren’s sounds strangely appealing. he likes the way guren smells, after all. ]

…

[ he nods again, and once guren leaves to get the bath ready, he can’t help but think about how—ridiculous, this is. there are werewolves outside, and guren is forcing him to take a bath, but maybe there is something to it.

if he smells like chicken, this might make him less of a target. it’s fine. ]

[How the fuck did people live without running hot water, Guren's going to make a lot of trips with buckets or something, I guess, to the bathroom closest to Dextera's room. But he manages!! And when he's done, he finally moves to find Dextera, gesturing for him to come along.

He still leaves his sword leaning in his room, but he really does think they'll be fine. If, somehow, they're not, it's not a big deal.]

I can stay outside the door to make sure it's safe, if that'll make you feel better. But I want you to actually relax.

[ guren is a hero that dextera doesn’t deserve, maybe, for setting up this bath for him. he spends the idle time playing with the chicken that’s still awake, stroking her feathers and trying to get her to settle down. by the time guren returns, she’s fallen asleep, and dextera follows him. ]

Stay.

[ he’ll ask that much of him, with his hand on the door to the bathroom. before he can think too much harder about this setup, he closes the door behind him, and there’s the rustling of fabric as he strips his clothes and drops them to the floor.

and a looooooooong pause, before he actually audibly gets into the water. ]

["Stay" and then the door shuts in his face. It's a relief to have this barrier between them, but it's also incredibly tantalizing. He can try all he want to worry about werewolves or the bogeyman, but this is the right now. He's leaning against the door of Dextera's bathroom and listening to him get into the water, and he realizes now that even if he talks it's going to be one sided.

That's even worse.

Still, he can't stay silent, or Dextera might not relax.]

See? You can relax. I know the water's still warm, too, so it should be comfortable. I'll be staying here.

[ dextera realizes, too, once guren speaks—he won’t be able to say anything back, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. guren’s voice sounds different, through the door, but it’s soothing just to be spoken to.

this week has left him too anxious, terrified of the world around him, and feeling the warm embrace of a bath is strangely, perhaps, exactly what he needed without even realizing it.

he closes his eyes, pushing his body under the water so his scar isn’t so visible, and he gazes over at the door. ]

…

[ guren is always worrying about him, like this. ]

[He can hear the slight movement of the water, and it makes him want to picture too much, but he can stay calm about it. Stand here like nothing is the matter, arms crossed, silent only until it stretches for too long and he feels he should speak to help Dextera.]

This will get cleared up, one way or another. There are hints left around for the cure, probably to encourage us. I doubt they'd pop up now otherwise.

[Another stretch of silence, and he glances to the side, like it might help him imagine what Dextera is looking at from the tub.]

Just like everything else in this shitty town, this'll pass, and we'll be able to play chess again.

[ dextera wants to play chess, too. he doesn’t want to be scared of the sound of people outside anymore. he’s tired of worrying over the health and safety of his chickens, and the health and safety of his friends.

he wants to go back to relaxing, but it feels as if this town is relentless with the things it throws their way. he sighs, and touches his throat.

guren heard his voice once. he wants guren to be able to hear it again. ]

…

[ he’s trying. he’s trying—he wants to speak to guren even with a door between them, but he can’t. ]

Mmhm.

[ that’s all he has. ]

You don't have to worry about talking back.

[Why else would he make a noise like that? Guren feels a little bad, but he continues soon enough.] One knock on the tub for agreeing, two knocks for disagreeing. If you really want.

But I still think I can understand you well enough even when you're silent.

[ dextera knocks once, agreeing to the system.

it’s nice of guren to accommodate him like this. it’s nice of guren to do all this, even though he doesn’t have to. he doesn’t have to do anything, and yet he’s here, standing guard while dextera soaks in the water to try to wash off the smell of fowl from his skin.

he cleans up, dripping water over his hair even without shampoo to properly wash it. he can purify his skin and clothes, but there are still twigs and down feathers and all sorts of small things that get caught on him, and it’s probably good for him to wash all of it out now.

he wonders, briefly, if guren will see him differently afterwards. ]

[The knock gets him to grin to himself, though he doesn't say anything back to it yet. He's busy listening to that shifting, the water splish-splashing just enough that he can tell Dextera is actually using it.]

It feels nice, doesn't it? If a busy guy like me can find time for regular baths, so can you.

[ it does feel nice. dextera isn’t used to the water being warm—and, only vaguely, he recalls the feeling of taking a shower, rather than ever bathing. perhaps, as a child, it was too difficult for the two of them to bathe like this…

but it doesn’t matter. dextera knocks again, and he lets the light, meaningless conversation continue like that for a little while.

eventually, the water starts to cool off, and it feels a little weird to sit in it anymore, so he carefully stands. it’s true that he does feel better, and his body even feels like it’s been eased for sitting in that hot water for so long. he’s dripping everywhere, and there is a towel in the room, but for some reason he goes to the door first.

he knocks, gently, and then opens it just enough so he can see guren’s face. ]

Finished.

[Guren blinks when the door shifts, standing up just in time to not lose his balance from leaning against it. He turns to look at that face peeking through the door, and he can see that he's dripping, wet hair, skin—]

So go dry off with some towels. [He's looking away, pointedly, from that crack in the door!!]

You're probably making a mess. I'll help you clean up when you're dressed.

…

[ dextera nods, then, watching guren not look at him for just a moment, and then he lets the door close again gently.

towel first… he dries himself off, being tender around his scar. it doesn’t physically hurt anymore, the wound long closed, but it’s too stark to just pretend it isn’t there. then he pulls his clothes back on, making sure to purify them one more time before he wears them.

his hair is still wet, so he lets the towel rest over his head when he peeks out of the bathroom a second time. ]

[This time, Guren is prepared, catching Dextera by the towel over his head and ruffling his hair with it immediately.]

Gotcha. [Forget cleaning the bathroom, they can do that tomorrow. For now, he slips that towel back behind his head and over his shoulders, instead, looking proud of himself at Dextera's fluffed hair.]

Looking sharp.

Ah…!

[ he’s surprised, but not annoyed, when guren catches him like that. he should have expected that guren would mess around with him—!

regardless, guren said that he’s looking sharp, and that’s a pretty nice compliment even if all he did was take a bath. he does feel cleaner, less sticky with the cold sweat of fear, and getting through the night seems a little more possible now. ]

…it felt nice.

Didn’t I tell you it would?

[ Abandoning the towel, he moves a hand to run fingers through Dextera’s hair, slicking it back... just to watch it fall back into its part. But it’s sort of like combing through it. ]

Next time, you can use some shampoo, too. You’ll like how your hair feels after it.

[ there’s no way dextera’s hair will ever stay in place unless guren glues it there. even wet, it just flops back over, but the feeling of fingers in his hair is… pleasant. he wants guren to keep touching him like that, but that is certainly an impossible thing to ask for. ]

Yours. [ a statement, not a question. ] I like the smell.

[ As much as he wants to continue himself, his hand stops and pulls back to himself, touching at his own hair. Still soft... it’s important. ]

Yours can smell the same. [ So it’ll be nice, right? ] You can really tell?

[ He knows he was given weirdly feminine shampoo but also he doesn’t care, but... ]

[ dextera nods, but then, he pays close attention to most things that guren does. he would be absolutely remiss not to notice his shampoo as well, and he likes the scent because it reminds him of guren. ]

Fresh.

[ an assurance, as he steps out of the bathroom. half of the house is down, so no one is going to be using that for a little while. it’s fine to put cleaning it off until tomorrow. ]

Am I OK?

[ he didn’t use soap because he couldn’t, but he pulls up his sleeve—obviously asking guren to sniff his skin here, hoping that the BARN SMELL he insinuated is gone now. ]

[For a second, Guren looks caught off guard. Immediately, he wants to snap back with "I am not smelling you", but isn't he the one who started all of this? And the longer he thinks about it...

He touches Dextera's arm to keep it steady and ducks as he pulls it to him, a little too much like a kiss. But he just sniffs, really. Just a little.]

... [And then he's dropping his arm like he wasn't just overly gentle with him.]

Yep. No more of that bird smell clinging to you.

[ guren is extremely welcome for the favor dextera did by offering him the arm without the parasite, even if he doesn’t realize that dextera was so gracious. ]

…

[ guren is so gentle, when he touches dextera like that. he feels guren’s breath, briefly, on the sensitive underside of his arm, and goosebumps raise along his skin just in time for guren to drop it. ]

Birds like it.

Birds like you.

[He corrects him with a smile that he hides as he walks past him, gesturing for him to follow. Back to the bird pit.]

It'll be back on you in no time. I probably smell like them too, already.

Heh heh.

[ the birds are quiet enough in the bird pit. the chocobos take up the majority of the space, and the chickens have decided to sleep around them, all of them now settled after the time it took dextera to bathe. ]

…

[ he sighs, relieved, to see that they’re all just fine and perfectly unaware of the danger outside. ]

Safe. [ he says this, and immediately sits down to tuck himself against one of the chocobos. guren, come with him!! ]

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