M [Fallen Shrine] Beware Bathing Kitsunes

[Glein]

Carmelian Expanse - Syndari System - Estran Moon
Kido Onsen

Sophia groaned. "Seriously Lys? This is the first thing you decide to spend your money on? Dragging me to a bathhouse? Seems kind of wasteful to me." She said, following behind the kitsune. It wasn't like they had done a hard transport, but it was worth the money, so they had done the job. And per the contracts, everyone got paid a cut. Was a bit nice to have the accounts be a little more black than they usually were of course. As it was, the foxmod was metaphorically dragging her heels as she was lead to some mountaintop bathhouse that the kitsune knew about.

“Quit your bitching twin tails and come on.” The elder Kit said as she made it up that mountain path like a mountain goat. “There are things you need to learn if you ever want to be a true fox.” Her pace had been quick the whole way up and was showing no sign of slowing.

"Oh please, I'm not a 'true fox' that you're talking about." The foxmod replied, huffing. "I'm an artificially created being who was expected to be thrown into war and die." She pointed out, keeping up without any real trouble. This was honestly easy for her. "And just because I have that damned mark on my gut doesn't mean I'm some magical creature now. I hope to absolutely avoid drawing on whatever she's trying to offer."

“Well, if what you said was true she might not give you an option.” She shrugged and kept walking. “And that bit of ink you don't like does offer you passive power, don't you figure it might be a good idea to learn how to control it?” She posed that question as if future lives might depend on it and they very well might.

"And? We got Cate for holy powers, since she's apparently the daughter of one of the gods or whatever, and I doubt any of us want to play around with whatever the hells have to offer." Sophia replied, snorting. "And so far, all I've found it does is fuck with my libido and interests."

“Seems like that's par for the course with Orias as you guys have told me. Pretty woman, probably could not match her freak, but that's neither here nor there. What does the mark change specifically?” She stopped to look out over the foggy valley below.

"Dunno, dun't care. So long as it doesn't make my life miserable, I honestly prefer not thinking about it." She said, resettling the backpack she was wearing on one shoulder as she paused next to Lysandra. "What makes this damned bath house so special anyways?"

Lysandra just looked at Sophia a bit sympathetically, a life filled with combat and other..inconveniences had totally skewed her worldview to the negative. She just sighed through her nose and kept a step ahead of her, “A mineral bath they say rejuvenates your skin, makes you look and feel younger, as well as lifting your spirits while melting your worries away. A slogan to be sure, but it does hold a certain charm.”

Soap just 'huh'ed about that as they walked, this seemingly never ending climb up this mountain though looked like it was finally coming to an end as Soap could see a couple of lamp posts. "Guess we're almost there." She commented, seeing one of those weird gate without door things that had greeted them at the base of this whole damned climb. "That another one of those, what're they called... lori gates?" She asked, partially to make sure she remembered correctly, but messing up the pronunciation on purpose to get back and Lysandra.

Lysandra just rolled her eyes at the obvious poke. “They're called Torii gates.” She said in an unamused tone. This little shit was starting to spoil her mood with her dour attitude. “Would it kill you to be excited to be able to relax?”

"I relax on the regular!" Soap pointed out. "Especially during the longer trips we have. Not a lot to do but relax while in the black." She continued. "I'm just more grumpy about the fact that I could be seeing about finding us work while we're here and instead I'm here. Just like Sarah dragging me off the ship to get some change in my wardrobe. Then she had the gall to go through and chuck all my things afterwards..." She grumped.

“I'm not Sarah you grumpy little pup.” She snapped. “I'm offering you something not many people get to do. This place is almost exclusive to nobility and officials. At least try and be appreciative of the strings I had to pull.” Lys ears backed in anger while her nine tails flicked with her agitation.

"Fine fine. Sheesh." Sophia said, sighing as she followed through the torii gate, only to shiver as she felt *something* prickle along her skin. "The hell was that?" She asked, looking around. IT made her think of a scrubber, but there wasn't any obvious signs of the technology here... Not that she realized it was just her newly granted magic reacting to the power of this place. Much less the influence Lysandra was having upon it's direction.

They had just passed through an inner gate, Lys had felt it as well but she indeed knew what I meant. “That was a ward. These gates usually protect shrines so it's not really a surprise to me that they have some here protecting the bathhouse.” She shrugged it off like it was just Tuesday and pushed on up the hill. “You feeling alright, cap?”

"Yeah, just, felt like a decon scrubber all across my body." She said, shivering a moment. It had been gentler than the ones she used to put up with back in the Zoo, but it still left her feeling like she was completely raw and exposed after. "So, what, this kind a fox shrine or something?" She asked, as the bathhouse began to come into view proper, with a few more of the Torii gates between them and it.

“Foxes help here yes, but it's a bathhouse made in the image of our culture. Not owned and operated by us though so it isn't completely authentic” She stopped before the next Torii gates and placed a hand upon its red painted surface. She marveled in its smoothness and offered Sophia to touch it as well. “You may have been artificially created, however the magic inside you can still become..this” As she guided soaps hand onto the gate an explosion of warmth crept up Soaps arm. The magic felt as if the colors of the rainbow had their own airs, their own feels, as if the whole spectrum had true aura.

"Huh." She mused, listening to Lysandra speak. "Kind of reminds me of Onikari culture actually." She said, before watching as Lys put a hand on the big ol' gate. She was about to roll her eyes and continue on when Lys gently grabbed her hand and pressed it to the wood. And she shivered, but not because of a prickling feeling on her skin or a sense of cold. But as if the energies flowing into her was akin to triggering the response after being in the cold for so long her body forgot it needed to shiver to warm up. "Woah."

“This is what we feel naturally as Kits. Likely due to your artificial creation you lack the aptitude to magic, right now anyway.” She let go of Soap and her nine tails fanned out, each tipped with a blue white flame. “This is fox flame. You'll learn about it soon enough.”

Sophia looked over as Lys stepped away, about to point out she wasn't interested in learning magic, when she saw the little balls of flame. "That seems unsafe, and unwise." She pointed out, gesturing to the flames themselves. "Ain't you risking lighting your tails on fire doing that?"

“This is how it works? Each tail is a conduit for our magic, The flames are harmless to us anyways. To us their like phantom fire, to others though they burn flesh and soul alike”

"Yeah, not gonna take my chances touching them still." Soap said, snorting in amusement as she did. Taking her hand off the Torii gate, she waved Lys ahead. "Since you arranged all this, I suppose you should be the one they see enter first." She said. She certainly looked like a night and day comparison to Lys. Soap had managed to save one of her utility uniform sets, and was wearing it like she usually does. Sarah was more than a little miffed that it managed to escape her, but Soap just stuck her tongue out at the human woman.

“I still wish you would take some interest in the culture..” Lys bemoaned as she did indeed take point into the bathhouse proper. A receptionist was waiting for them, took Lysandra's information and returned two wooden tokens back to her. *”Please enjoy your stay.”*
Lys lead Soap around to a changing room, inside she removed her boots and tool belt, slipped out of her body suit and stood stark naked in front of Soap with a towel sling over one shoulder.

"I do take an interest in the culture. Enough to know how not to royally fuck up." Soap said, as she followed Lys to the changing room. This she knew well. And began to disrobe without any qualms or even hiccups. She had her stuff folded up and put in a cubby in record time, and had a towel wrapped around her neck to drape over her breasts. Such as they were. She was nowhere near as stacked as Lys, the neko twins, or 'boobies' as Olyv called her.

"I don't mean to be a bitch, to be clear. Just, my experience with culture was basically getting defrosted and smacked face first into a culture that was such an eclectic hodgepodge of everything I knew or had been trained to combat that I was kind of put off by the whole concept." She explained, following Lys to the next room. "Then I smacked into the UNS after hearing rumor of a space-faring society while north of the NDC." She continued. "Been trying to figure out where I fit in this whole 'culture' debate since."

“Seems whoever turned you into a twin tail had it out for you. And that demon lady kick started your magic. Whether you know it, or don't your magically well has been growing since I've known you. In tiny increments but growth is growth.” She said as they walked out into the hot spring Onsen. There were a few lounging chairs and umbrellas spread about and Thankfully no one around.
Lysandra tossed her towel on a chair and slipped into the steaming water, as it reached her upper thighs she jumped as it made contact with her nethers but soon slipped down to her collar bones and sighed in bliss. “Oh yeah..momma needed this..”

"My second tail was a genetic fluke. Standard template, then some shuffle thrown in to keep it from being too easy to off the whole unit with a tailored bug." She explained. "So literally, it was a mutation." She said, following the kitsune into the onsen area proper, and chuckled at the sight. "On one hand, expected there to be a bunch of high and mighty folks lounging around with what you've said, on the other, the privacy is nice." She said, throwing her own towel over another chair, before following her into the water, and barely even twitching as she slipped fully in to the neck. "Oooh very relaxing. Better than the hot water showers we enjoy when we can spare the water."

“We deserve this, the last job Drake got us was hideous for my skin.” She slid further into the water up to her chin. “Also, who's that blonde headed girl he brought onto the ship? A new lover?”

"I dunno. Honest. I'm honestly putting a lot of trust in ya'll to bring on crew who'll benefit the ship and not stab us in the back." She replied with a shrug. "Besides, the last weird passenger we had was one of said demoness' followers. Young girl, learning magic and apparently wanted to visit some UNS magical academies or some such. And since Drake hasn't brought her to me to introduce her as crew, I'm pretty sure she's just hitching a ride. Hoping we're getting a decent bit of pay for it."

“Perhaps it's someone he knows personally.” Lys shrugged and leaned her head back against the rock soaking up the steam and hot water. “So what's up with Sarah? How come she trashed your wardrobe?”

"She wanted me to expand my wardrobe. And stop wearing the surplus gear I keep getting and using till it falls apart." She replied, leaning back and relaxing. "Despite me pointing out that in terms of cost, what she got me is four, five times more expensive and not nearly as built to be abused as my utilities and such are. Not to mention, I often feel silly wearing it. Like I'm trying to pretend to be a civie all the way through."

“You could start wearing body suits like I do.” She shrugged and Left the offer hanging in the air. “Comfortable, pretty durable, free range of movement, and sexy as fuck. I know I get looks with my exposed hips and thighs.”

"Please, I try not to play the sexy card. I ain't got the figure or the personality for it." She pointed out, huffing. "I've thought about it, but they cost a bit more than my utilities, so seemed kind of a waste when I wouldn't look good in them."

“Just because your not as busty or full around the hips does not mean you couldn’t make some people swoon.” She winked and scooted a bit closer. “So riddle me this, when you got that tattoo, what made you think kicking a demon was a good idea?”

"I was mostly acting on instinct as I was grabbed and lifted. So I struck my foot out to try and force her knee to bend. Except instead my ankle snapped in the process." Soap grumped, sighing. "And so I got this bloody mark. And she fixed my ankle too." She said, having to admit that Orias wasn't entirely terrible of a person. Even if Soap didn't exactly agree with the whole 'magical' thing.

“Well, at least we know not to kick demons who are likely infinitesimally stronger than us. Well, you maybe. I figure I could give Mrs. Orias a tickle with magic.” She chuckled and held her hand palm upward to Sophia. “Why don’t we test and see where your magic is at right now, yeah?”

"I mean, I don't think I've used it, so I couldn't say I even know how to demonstrate it." She pointed out, but eased over to Lysandra's spot in the water and put her hand on top of the other fox's own. It wasn't like it would cause trouble, right?

“Breathe deep. Find that plain of nothingness deep within your mind.” She paused for what seemed like an eternity, but continued after a while. “Focus on my voice, and only my voice. I want you to envision that spectrum of color you saw earlier, try and feel it. Reach out with your soul and manifest it within your mind. Become familiar with the way each color feels against your skin. Once you have done that, push the magic to your tails, allow them to be your conduits.”

"Wasn't exactly a spectrum of color, more like a shiver all over my body, but okay." She murmured, and tried to think about that feeling again, and trying to direct it. And well, it wasn't like she was really figuring it out. Since it was a sensation she was familiar with, but never tried to really focus or direct. So she wasn't used to trying to focus on it. Often she just wanted the shivers to go the fuck away because gah.

Lys frowned and placed a thumb on Sophia’s forehead pouring some of her own magic into the other female’s body. “Don’t force it, you're so tense.” Lys placed a hand on Sophia’s thigh and squeezed. “Maybe we need to soften you up some before we try this.” She said in a sultry tone that would have sent shivers down most peoples spines.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I am as relaxed as I can get right now..." She said, before shivering as Lys suggested they do something, 'saucier'. Oh for fucks sake, why did it seem like 75% of the women she met now wanted to get into her pants for one reason or another?! There was Olyv who was constantly stealing her undergarments, then Sarah who was trying to get her to 'unclench her ass around that pole shoved up to her neck in it', and now Lys! Oh, and the demon lady, Orias, and Drake's mother…

“No you are not” Lysandra cooed. “You always so tense, relax your shoulders, let your proverbial hair down and relax.” Lysandra moved Sophia so she was almost sitting in her lap with her back to her. “I know you have a lot on you, but all that stress is going to put you in an early grave.” Lys took a small bucket and doused Soap’s hair before taking a palm full of shampoo to lather the smaller woman’s hair. “There you go, let go of the tension in your body, let me do all the work.”

"I am relaxed!" Sophia grumped, before gasping as suddenly she had a bucket of hot water dumped on her head, and then having Lys scrub her head with shampoo. "I can do that myself!" She complained, reaching up to do just that. Not really accepting that Lys was working on helping her relax by not letting her do anything for herself right now.

Lysandra spat out Soap’s hands and ‘AHT!’ her. “Stop doing and just relax dammit. Let me take care of you, you wiry little fox”

Soap just grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest, and hunched into a little lump of grumpy. "I really dislike being pampered like this... I may run the ship, but I sure as fuck ain't the one who's doing the worst of the work."

“Your the one female I have met that doesn’t enjoy a little pampering from time to time. Why? It isn’t like you don't have a whole cadre of people willing to do something nice for you from time to time. Myself included.” She frowned and worked a few knots from Soaps mane of golden hair.

"Mostly cause I don't like being dependent on others more than I need to be. And I also ain't worried about looking 'pretty'." She said, shrugging, before grunting as her hair was tugged at to get knots out. She was tempted to complain, but at the same time she was sure if she did Lys would do something worse.

“Who said anything about being dependent? Can we not do good deeds or acts for our dear captain? Honestly, the longer I’m around you the more backwards you seem.” She took the brush and combed Soap’s hair straight before wrapping it up in a towel to dry.

"Backwards huh?" Soap huffed, and gahed as she had a momentarily mouth full of hair while Lys brushed. "You did that on purpose!" She accused.

“Oops. Sorry Cap’n~” Lysandra teased before grabbing a bottle of oil to rub on her hands, then to rub into Sophia’s skin. With deft hands she rubbed soap’s shoulders and neck, working knots out as she went. Sophia surely had a lot of tension in her body, for all of what Lysandra couldn’t say but this was likely why the cap was grumpy. At least part of the time.

The fact that Soap managed to move as smoothly and naturally as she did despite being basically all knots as Lys worked her hands on the muscles was probably a testament to her construction as anything else. There wasn't a single muscle that Lys touched that wasn't coiled like a spring. "Oooh fuck..." Soap groaned, reaching a hand to her stomach. And actually looking a little queasy suddenly. A response Lys would recognize as her body suddenly getting slammed with the 'come down' from long-term adrenaline running. Seems even Sophia's construction couldn't get around that part of biology.

Lysandra noticed how Soap seemed to go rigid from the pain in her stomach. “Easy cap..” Lysandra cooled her palm with magic and pressed it to the smaller womans forehead. “Breathe slowly. Deeep breath in and let out through your nose. And repeat.”

She sat there for several minutes, just focusing on her breathing and trying not to hurl all over the pool and herself. But soon it settled and she groaned. "Fuuuck, that was miserable." She said, closing her eyes tightly for several moments before opening them again. "I've had crashes like that before, but never that hard or rough."

“You are all out of balance, Cap.” Lysandra said as her hands became cold from magical enhancement. Her hands rubbed all over Soap’s body, minding her sensitive areas and worked out knots and spots of tension with skilled movements. “How do you live day by day all knotted up like this? I’ve seen coils of rope with less kinks.”

"I just do? I mean, we just learned to cope with it. Six months of constant training with live-fire exercises against other gene-mod groups meant we didn't really 'relax'." She said, shrugging. "Just weren't as wound up." She explained, shrugging, and regretting it as it made her stomach flip again. What the actual fuck. Why couldn't it just stop? But it just kept coming back as Lys kept unknotting the various muscles and joints.

“Well this might be part of the problem of why you are having an above average hard time with magic. Your body has ley lines and undoubtedly you and your knot problem have your natural ley lines fucked beyond belief” Lysandra only half heartedly.

"Great... So making me sick to my stomach is correcting that problem?" She asked, figuring that Lys was going to give some kind of high and mighty answer, or maybe treat her like some stupid kid.

Lysandra frowned at her snarky comeback. “No, for starters we are fixing your health issue. You're tensed up so tight you could probably cut steel tubing with your sphincter.” The older woman frowned deeper as she worked out a particularly nasty knot in Soap’s lower back.

Soap groaned, not really able to do much but lean forward as Lys worked. She felt so weak and ill right now. "Bucket..." She whimpered, feeling her stomach about to perform a very aggressive ejection. She was reaching towards the side of the pool, hoping to find the bucket herself but not sure she'd be able to in time. Even her ears had drooped low onto her head as she felt herself preparing to be sick.

Lysandra grabbed the bucket from behind her head and shoved Soap’s into it. “God you do not take care of yourself.” Lys groaned as she rubbed up and down Soap’s back to help with the stress or pain of heaving up whatever was in her stomach. “Get it out, cap. You’ll feel better when you do”

And she definitely got it out. Her dinner *and* lunch it felt like. And for whatever reason, despite not having had any, it all tasted like peas and carrots. She was never gonna look at either food item the same now. And oh lord did it hurt coming out. She was left groaning as her gut finally stopped emptying itself that way. "Ugggh.." She got out, lifting her head momentarily and blearily eying the mess she made of the bucket's interior. And how some of it had splashed onto her face.

Lysandra took a spare towel and wiped Soap’s face clean and with a flick of her wrist made the bucket disappear. “Better?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kinda..." She grumbled, sliding off Lys's lap to rest her chest against the pool wall, and lay her head on her arms resting on top of the walkway. "Just, don't offer me peas or carrots for the next few days okay? I'm not sure my stomach could keep 'em down."

Lysandra chuckled to herself and continued to rub Soap’s back. “No peas or carrots, got it.” After a little while of prolonged back rubs Lys stopped and just rested back against the pool wall herself, keeping silent and listening to the still slightly labored breathing of her captain.

Soon Soap had herself functional again. "Ugh, worst, adrenaline crash ever." She said, dragging her hands down her face to get some sense of feeling back into it. "All you did was my arms and back.. I'm not sure I'm done with the bucket if you still got my legs to get through." Sophia muttered, looking somewhat miserable actually for once.

“Plus hips and back and neck.” She said with a slight chuckle. “You might indeed need something more than just a massage though.” Lys reached into the water and began working the tightness from her thighs, calves, and waist. Each stroke a blissful expression of negative tightness in every joining, fiber, and cell of Soap’s being.

"Oh fuck me stupid." She groaned, feeling herself get worked over and oh lord was the adrenaline crash miserable the whole time of it. Don't get the genemod wrong, oh god did it feel good once the muscles and such no longer constantly tight or in agony, but oh good lord almighty did it bloody well suck as it was being done because her stomach once more started doing flips.

Lysandra chuckled and shook her head. “That, my captain, is a job for your seeming multitude of partners to do, not me.” She teased Soap but kept that bucket handy juust in case she needed to hurl some more of her guts up, if there was anything left after the first time she ejected her breakfast.

Thankfully, there wasn't much more to add to the bucket, but she kept it close by just in case something decided it wanted to come up the wrong damned way. She was left groaning and miserable, but certainly the most relaxed she'd been since Lysandra had met her. Of course, she was also practically a limp noodle with how little energy she had left after all the muscles were let out of their knots.

"No more... Mercy.." She groaned out, lifting her head just barely out of the bucket to look at Lys.

“Well, Do you at least feel better? Aside from the sickness I mean.” Lysandra asked as she snapped her fingers replacing the full bucket with an empty one under Sophia’s face.

"I think so?" Sophia said, grateful for the lack of stomach smell the bucket had. "The sick definitely didn't help me much." She said, letting herself let go of the bucket and collapsing on the lip of the pool.

“Well, I’m sure once your color decides to return you’ll look a hell of a lot better. You’ll likely start feeling better too once you get over the nausea.” Lys, shrugged and leaned back on the pool rim herself.

"This was your plan wasn't it? Make me helpless while you plot?" She asked, groaned still really, as she looked over at Lys. "Well... Do whatever it is you plotted on doing in the first place." Soap stated before just letting herself go slack. She just didn't have the energy right now to do anything to stop Lys.

Lysandra raised an eyebrow and frowned. “The fuck did you think I brought you up here for? Sex?” She cackled just like the fox she was. “Please, you’ve been hanging around the crew and that demon too long. All of them take cracks at you every now and again, but when I bring you up for a genuine relaxation day you think I want in your pants?”

"No, I figured you were probably gonna stick a knife in my ribs and take over the ship." Soap said, groaning as she rolled over and groaned. "I don't think I have the energy to stop you right now."

“Reset your expectation’s cap. Not my intentions or goals, not with you anyway.” She shrugged and offered Soap a spoon full of water from a separate bucket.

Not sure what to make of it, she accepted it anyways, and drank the proffered spoon of water. She wasn't going to say she felt better per-say, but she didn't feel any worse, so she guessed it was a step in the right direction.

“Your too drained now for much in the way of magic practice, maybe in a couple hours when your body has had more time to recover. For now, relax. Enjoy not having to worry about anything and let your body be slack and limp as a three day old ramen noodle.”

"That doesn't sound appealing woman." Sophia pointed out, chuckling weakly. "Got something more fitting for what you've left me in a state of?" She asked, since it seemed bad puns and jokes were all she had to defend herself with. "Then again, I don't think I've seen a three-day old ramen noodle that wasn't outta a ration pack."

Lysandra stopped and pondered a moment, her nose scrunching up in concentration. “How about, relax like an outpatient still recovering from having their stomach forcefully pumped.” Not a better analogy but it was more apt.

"Fair enough." Soap groaned out, just letting herself be a lump on the well of the bathing pool. She just didn't have the energy or will at this moment to do more than that. "As unappealing as the idea of food is right now, the gap in my gut is making itself clear..." She grumbled. If there was one thing Lys learned real quick about Soap, she ate around double what one would expect of her size and musculature.

Lysandra leaned back against the smooth stone, steam curling around her ears and tails as they slowly fanned out in the warm water. Her eyes half-lidded, she let out a slow breath and looked toward the mountain peaks veiled in mist, their silhouettes soft in the pale morning light. It was peaceful here, something rare and precious in the chaos that was their lives.

She didn’t respond to Sophia right away. Instead, she closed her eyes, letting the heat soak into her bones and the silence stretch for a heartbeat longer than was comfortable. Then, softly, almost too quietly for even a foxmod to catch, she spoke.

“You know... I didn’t bring you here for the water.” Her voice was calm now, the earlier agitation cooled by the bath. “I brought you here because you're spiraling. Whether you know it or not.”

Opening her eyes, she turned her head slightly toward Sophia but didn’t look directly at her. “You wear that bitterness like armor, and maybe you think it's made you strong. But strength isn’t always about enduring. Sometimes... it’s knowing when to let go of the fight. Just for a little while.

A pause, as she rested her arms on the edge of the pool. “You’re not a weapon anymore. And you don’t have to be some martyr for control. That mark, the magic, it doesn’t care what you want. It’s there. And one day, if you keep ignoring it, it’s going to act without you."

She exhaled again, slower this time. “So yeah. I dragged you up this damn mountain to a bathhouse most people don’t even know exists. Not because I thought you needed a spa day, but because the mountain would make you slow down. Because the spirits here might reach you in ways I can’t. And because maybe, just maybe... you’d start seeing what I already see in you.”

Lysandra leaned her head back, resting it on the rock. Her voice was quieter now, the edge long gone. “You deserve peace, Soap. You just don’t believe it yet.”

Sophia didn't respond immediately. She couldn't. She was left mulling over the whole thing. "I'm not even sure what peace is for me." She finally said after a similarly long silence that'd been dragged out just a hair too long. "I went from training and watching those I knew die in droves... To waking up out of the ice box to hazmat suited people who were asking who I was because my file was basically wrecked from age, and I was the one they saw with the highest rank amongst the tanks they had." She explained. "Preparing for war, to suddenly peace. No chance to even know it was coming, or even hear it talked about, just, bam, I'm in peace now."

She scoffed. "I was still raw from the training. I, pointed them to Fredrick, asked if I had to wait, told I didn't, grabbed the box me and my fellow gene-mods swore would be given to the first to wake, and find a place to let their souls rest in peace. I still have that box in my cabin. Because I haven't found that peace yet." She explained, turning around to look up at the mountains hidden by the steam and the mists beyond.

Lysandra didn’t interrupt. She listened in that still, deliberate way she always did when something truly mattered. When Sophia finished and turned toward the mist-veiled mountains, Lysandra followed her gaze, eyes narrowing slightly, not in suspicion, but in thought. The silence stretched again, but this time it felt purposeful, reverent even. Then she finally spoke, her voice lower, quieter, tinged with something soft and uncharacteristically careful.

“Fredrick,” she echoed, testing the name like it was glass. “Someone who meant something to you, I assume.” She let the weight of the moment sit between them a little longer before she moved again, just slightly, her tails twitching, ears lowering a touch. “You don’t have to tell me about him. Not unless you want to. But I know what it means to carry something for the dead. A promise. A box. A memory that never really lets you go.”

Her voice dropped further. “Peace doesn’t always look like rest, Sophia. Sometimes it’s just the absence of screaming. The space to sit in your own skin and not feel like it’s a battlefield. And sometimes…” She hesitated. “…sometimes, it’s someone being stupid enough to drag you to a mountaintop just to remind you that you’re still human. That the war might’ve shaped you, but it didn’t erase you.”

Lysandra finally turned her eyes toward Sophia. “You think peace is a destination. But maybe it's not. Maybe it's just... a moment. One you get to choose to sit in, for however long you can stomach it.” A breath. A pause. Then she added, quieter still, “That box doesn’t have to stay sealed forever.”

"Oh, it's not sealed. Just held closed by a couple of latches. Nothing in it is fragile, just nearly a few hundred dog tags." She explained, shrugging. "And maybe, but I'm not even sure I'll ever recognize what peace looks like. Not with my soul and my psyche as fucked up as it is. That's why I put up the armor. I don't know anything else to go by."

Lysandra exhaled slowly, eyes still on the mist-wreathed mountains. Her ears flicked once, then stilled, her expression unreadable for a beat too long. "That’s a lot of names to carry,” she murmured, not with pity, but with respect. “And a lot of weight for one soul.”

She glanced at Sophia then, the crimson of her eyes catching what little light filtered through the steam and clouds. “You think your soul’s too broken for peace. But maybe it’s not about being whole. Maybe it’s just about finding the people who don’t flinch when the cracks show.” Her voice turned wry, quiet, but not without warmth. “Armor’s useful. I get it. I’ve worn mine long enough I forget how heavy it is sometimes. But you showed up here. You let me drag you up a godsdamned mountain, and now you’re talking about dog tags and the box you’ve kept shut for how long?”

Lysandra tilted her head slightly. “That doesn’t sound like someone hiding. That sounds like someone trying. Even if it scares the hell out of you.” She looked away again, tails giving a slow, thoughtful sweep behind her. “You don’t need to know what peace looks like, Sophia. You just need to be willing to stop and look when someone points it out.” Then, more gently, “Let me be that someone. For now.”

"You and Sarah both it seems." Sophia replied, chuckling. "Why'd it take me 5 years after getting defrosted to find people to shoulder the burden with?" She asked rhetorically, eyes focused on that distant mountain. "And I open it occasionally, just to look at the photo we taped on the inside of the lid. To remind myself what they looked like." She said. 'And to torment myself with how I failed to save too many of them.' was unspoken, but somehow, Lys could almost hear it in how Soap said it.
Lysandra didn’t answer the rhetorical question—not directly. She let the weight of it hang in the air, like the mist clinging to the peaks. Her eyes flicked toward Sophia again, quiet and unwavering. “Five years,” she said softly. “Maybe it just… took that long for the world to put the right people in your path. Or maybe it took that long for you to be ready to see them.” She shifted closer—not touching, but near enough that the gesture spoke of presence. Of solidarity. “Photos lie,” she added after a beat, her voice like a whisper caught on the wind. “They freeze a moment. A smile. A breath. But they don’t show the weight those people carried. What they fought through. What they meant.”

A longer pause followed, as if she were listening to something that wasn’t there—something in the quiet. “I don’t think you failed them,” she said at last, not arguing, just offering it like a thread laid gently on the table. “I think you lived. And sometimes, that’s the heaviest thing to do.” She let that settle, then said one last thing, barely more than a breath:

“And I hear it too, you know. That voice that says we should’ve done more. Saved more. But maybe that voice isn’t a curse. Maybe it’s just the part of us that still cares enough to hurt.”

"Hurts a hell of a lot then." Soap said with a snort. "Anyways, I guess I should just try and relax some, huh? Actually relax that is..." She said, with a wry grin as she looked over at Lysandra.

Lysandra huffed a quiet, almost amused breath through her nose. “Yeah,” she said, tilting her head with a slow, feline blink. “Radical concept, I know. Might even startle the mountain gods if you tried it.”She gave Sophia a sideways glance, a flicker of something warmer behind her eyes. “Start small. Breathe. Let the mist in your lungs instead of gun smoke. Maybe sit long enough that the silence doesn’t feel like it’s plotting something.” Her tails flicked once behind her before settling again. “You don’t have to pretend not to hurt, Sophia. Just don’t forget to let yourself heal, too.” Then, a sly smirk ghosted across her lips. “And if relaxing makes you break out in hives, I’ll take it as a personal challenge.”

--- LATER ---

Soap settled at the table and leaned back, not really sure how to properly sit in this situation. Following it's theming, the place had a Onikari-like feel to it's dining area. "So, we about to have fish and rice rolls?" She asked, a bit of that cheekiness she was known for having come back after the utter breakdown of her emotions in the hot spring. As it was, she was kind of just lazily lounging while they waited for their food to arrive.

Lysandra snorted, flicking an ear as she settled across from her. “If we’re lucky, it’ll be fish, rice, and about sixteen types of pickled roots I can’t pronounce.” She lounged with practiced ease, one leg folded beneath her and the other draped over the bench’s edge. Her tails swept idly behind her, lazy and content. “Glad to see your sarcasm survived the emotional exorcism. I was starting to worry.” A pause, then a small smirk. “Though if you cry on the sashimi, I’m stealing your portion. Just fair warning.”
"I should be good now. Sheesh. I get sick in the damned onsen once and now I'm a mewling crying mess. Where's the concern?" She said, shaking her head and sighing heavily, in a clearly 'being dramatic' fashion. "Why ain't we seen anyone else around besides the staff by the way? Magick? Or did you seriously book out the whole place?"

“Hm?Oh, no. There is only one onsen in this whole monastery. You have to make reservation time slots, you get six hours here per time slot and we aren’t hardly half way through our second. They truly want you to relax for as long as you can. Given your case as a prime example of why that is.” Lysandra smirked as she reached for a cup of sake. “You haven't been what you would call ‘relaxed’ in a very long time. And it not only shows in your posture, but your temperament, and your habits.” Lysandra tilted her head back and took the sip of sake in a slow drag.

“Now answer me this, why don’t you allow yourself to relax more often? It isn’t because you have in incompetent crew who can't do without you for a few hours. Is it more of a can’t rest or does it all stem from your old unit?”

"Bit of column A, bit of column B." Sophia muttered, while looking for the fork, knife and spoon... Okay, there was a spoon. "Where's the rest of the eating utensils?" She asked, looking a touch askance at the lack of anything she'd call such, not realizing the pair of chopsticks next to the spoon was there for that very reason. "As for the whole 'relaxed' thing, and why I don't? Never really learned how to not be 'on mission', and since we were disposable, it wasn't like they had much reason to. Two years. That was my lifespan once we finished training, and been defrosted to be officially deployed." She said, shrugging as she tried to work things out.

Lysandra’s lips curled up in a soft smirk as she reached over, picked up the chopsticks and replaced them in Sophia’s hand with a soft motherly guidance. She placed Soap’s fingers in such a way that she was holding the chopsticks properly and made the motion with her own index finger to indicate how she was intended to manipulate them in order to use them correctly. “Well, little kit, that is why I am here with you now. Stress is the blackness of the body, a poison, a hindrance on the soul. Back home, on Ama’Tsuin, there is a proverb: "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet eaten in stress and anxiety.”

Lysandra’s ear flicked some water as she took another sip off her sake dish. “There, indeed, are many lessons from our home that you are in much need of teaching. First among them is this: stress, in your world, is a sign of productivity, of efficiency. That could not be farther from the truth, stress is the result of you allowing your desire to be productive or efficient to cause your stress. Learning to pace yourself is key, as is learning how to see the problems for what they are, problems to solve, not mountains made from vermin mounds.”

"Uh-huh." Soap said, listening. Not completely, since she was trying to work out the logistics of the hand motions Lysandra showed her to use the chopsticks. "This thing is gonna leave food everywhere." She said, since she wasn't entirely 'eager' to hear that her being stressed so much was 'bad'. No duh, but she had a lot to focus on and keep from going completely wrong near constantly.

"So, whole world of foxes like you huh? How crazy do things get?" She asked, figuring that it was entirely likely that Orias had some kind of hold... Actually, wait, she'd not seen anything of the sort on Lysandra... "Wait, just to check, Orias isn't a regular figure there, is she?"

Lysandra’s ears backed and her hackles started to rise until she took a hand to smooth them out, her already slitted eyes narrowed to near needles of black among a sea of crimson. “For a time she was, til the elders saw fit to make her leave. Those who still opted to follow her left with her, those we who remained on Ama’Tsuin, call Rabenites to distinguish traitors to our ways and those loyal to the Veil.”

She huffed and eyed Soap. “We are a rather tranquil people, though that very depends on which Clan you ask..” Lysandra’s ruby eyes fixed on Soap’s “You would be best, in my opinion, to stay clear of that woman. I’ve tried to keep my piece to myself, but since you asked I will answer you truthfully.”
"Yeah well, I don't think we're getting away from her that easily." Soap said, sighing, both at the knowing what was coming, and also the fact that her attempt at picking up the food with those damned sticks failed. Again. "So, there was a schism or something? Was it really that bad?"

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that to be easy.” Lysandra’s eyes rolled as she nursed her dish. “So the long and short of it is, she was having a large influence on the population. Cause sex demon.” A shrug before she plowed on “We have a belief that you-” She gestured to Soap and then herself to signify every kitsune, “have your person, now until that person is found you're allowed to explore, experiment, see what you like, but when you find your mate, that bond is sacred. Your other half, your equal. See, we Kitsune, like the Vaigarin, if you know what those are, hoard our power like they hoard wealth. Your mate is the one person you allow yourself to share anything with.”

“Orias had an effect on a whole generation of kits, turning them from our ways, perhaps not her intention but intention is only half of the cause..” Lysandra said with no attempt to hide the bitterness and contempt in her voice.

"Huh. I mean, figured she'd been around a while, but long enough to cause a big ol' schism in the population of an entire species? That's, well, that's impressive." Soap said, wishing she didn't sound *as* impressed as she did, but she couldn't deny that it was something to be impressed by. "But, like, how did she change their ways? And I know of the Vaigarin, but I don't interact with them much. Though I've heard it's only really one group that does the whole wealth hoarding thing."

“You know how Orias is, many partners. While there are some differing beliefs or allowances by a handful of the tribes for multiple partners its generally frowned upon. We are a people deep rooted in tradition and she made mockery of a few of our most sacred. Now those who follow her live within the NDC. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your genemod was based upon one of us, or them.”

"Don't think so. In fact, know so. NDC's only been in this part of the universe for about 50 years. 60 really if you want to include the transit time here. The template I'm based on is an actual plain ol' basic fox. Nothing special, nothing magical. Heck, we didn't even have magic until a few years ago at best I think." Soap said, finally getting some of the food to not be flung off from her attempt. Which got a small cheer from her.

"Then there was the 100 years of gathering supplies and materials to make that 10 year trip... then the 100 years of conflict I was produced in... And to my knowledge, at least, there aren't any actual kitsune in the NDC." Sophia pointed out.

“They are there somewhere. Have to be. Where did they go if not there? I don’t know of anywhere else.” She huffed a laugh as she watched Soap finally get something to her mouth with the sticks. Small victories. Though even that didn’t really do much to lighten the black cloud floating over Lysandra’s head. “And to know she has you marked boils my blood. She caused so much aggravation, she got her lot of our kind, doesn’t need any more of us.”

"To be fair, I kind of ran into her well before I met you, soooo... Little too late on that one." Soap clarified. "Not saying your opinions or such is wrong. Just, well, I was kind of screwed a while already. I mean, I even have 'Boobs' try and look at it and she basically told me to fuck right off because once marked it's for life." Soap said, shrugging while she started working on getting the second bit of food. "As for where they are? I mean, chances are, we'll find some evidence of them in our line of work. I mean, I didn't even know there was different, drastically different, cultures of kitsunes in the UNS till you laid it out for me. Most of the ones I'd seen were dressed not quite as, well, uptight and prudish as you were. So I kind of just assumed that was the style when I adopted my jacket design."

Lysandra sniffed and took a bite of her own food before she spoke. “And its all I can do not to shred that jacket with my claws..” She lightly snarled. “And we aren’t prudish, what you have seen have been traditional ceremonial garb. My casual clothes consist of a black sweater leotard.” Lys shrugged “Who knows, you may not even like our side of the rift.”

"Eh, we'll have to see. I mean, it's been only a couple of months since you came on board, and you've been pretty intent on correcting things. Sure, I don't agree with all of them, but I do know you mean well." Soap said, shrugging. "As for your casual, no offense, but you happen to work and sleep in some of the hottest parts of the ship, so you're just sucking up to it." Soap teased.

“Hardy-Har.” Lysandra snorted and flicked Soap's nose, the calm-level headed demeanor returning as she picked up a bowl and started chowing down on a bowl of rice, occasionally taking a slice of meat to down with it. “First good food I've had in weeks..” she muttered to herself.

Sophia chuckled. "I mean, I thought the meals on the ship weren't that bad. And we store what we can as best we can. And before you quip about the meat options, I get what'll store well for long term. I know it ain't always the most 'natural' stuff, but natural doesn't always store well." She pointed out.

“I know, but it goes against my very being to eat something either I didn't kill or isn't at the least fresh. I know I have to in order to survive but I will have to do a huge cleansing ritual once we're somewhere fresh food is available.” Her ears had backed as she stared off into the steaming pools. “You'll learn about that bit of our culture too when the time is right.”

"Well, sorry we don't have the room to house some kind of greenhouse or the like for fresh food." Soap remarked, shrugging. "Is that what part of this was? Some kind of cleansing ritual for you?" She asked, wondering if that was why Lysandra had been rather insistent on this trip. And dragging her along specifically.

“That's a small part of it, yes. If the food we put in our bodies is not of our own killing, or at the least fresh then it compromises our spiritual connection with the Veil. We look at it as the cycle of energy, life and death, rebirth. I bet you Orias hasn't mentioned that to you.” She scoffed

"I mean, I don't really talk with her. She only randomly shows up, either while I'm asleep or just randomly on the ship. So you're probably one of the better sources I've got in learning more about her and what she's done to me than I've got elsewhere. Not even Catelynn knew a great amount." Soap said, nodding slowly. "So I suppose I'll accept things as they are with ya, and that this is mostly to get me to relax. Which, let's be fair, you know I'm just gonna end up a big ol' ball of stress and grumpiness when we get back to the ship, right?"

“Only if you let yourself, Kit.” She winked as she took another bite of rice. “Those dumbasses are capable of doing more than what they do. Delegate, don't try and do everything yourself. Remember to vent the stress and not keep it tight up like a cooling system with faulty intakes. Just means you're building up heat until you explode.” Lysandra sat her bowl down and stripped her towel from her body and walked to the steaming pool of the onsen once more. “I'm gonna make the most of the last hour we have.”

Soap laughed. "Maybe. But what're you thinking of doing huh? Seem to be more open to showing yourself off now that you've had a good meal and a good soak." She teased, settling herself more comfortably next to the table, and continuing to try and eat her food. And when Lys wasn't looking, speared some of the meat with the stick and shoved it into her mouth before the kitsune could turn around.

“Pinch your fingers when you use the sticks, Kit. They work better like long fingers than daggers.” She looked back over her shoulder a noticeable change in her skin ,radiating youth, her crimson eyes even glowing faintly. “As for me, I'm back to my rightful self, for the time being, so I'm going to enjoy being at one-hundred percent.”

Damn, caught. "Yeah yeah." Soap said, waving a hand dismissively. "So, on the whole subject of kitsune again... You're saying I've basically become on of these, what'd you call 'em again? Ravenites?" She asked, curious.

“More or less, though your association with Orias, and its circumstances don't make you an enemy of Ama'Tsu. You were magically altered against your will, though it seems like that might have been for the better. You were genetically modified to look like a fox, but you ended up becoming one of us when Orias pulled her demon magic bullshit.” Lysandra said as she strutted down the edge of the pool, bending gracefully to all fours and stretching herself like a cat.

“Your happenstance has given you more boon than you realize.” She said as she straightened back up, the motion causing her larger assets to bounce slightly. “And that latent power is what I want to draw out of you”

"I mean, I wouldn't say modified. I was manufactured." Sophia pointed out. "Part of a big ol' vat of bio-goo with the genetic options set to scramble." She explained and shrugged. "But fair cop I guess. I don't have to worry about getting lynched by a bunch of kitsune if I ever run across them just cause of all of this, right?" She wondered aloud, curious if that was going to be a problem or not.

“The circumstances of your birth are irrelevant in the grand scheme.” Lysandra said over her shoulder before gracefully leaping over the water and plunging in head long. When she came back up her hair was plastered to her scalp and her tails were a droopy mass of fur.

"Well, that answers part of my question." Soap said, smiling as she watched Lys, well, swim in the onsen. "Didn't answer the other part of it." She pointed out, sighing as she watched a bit of meat fly out from between the sticks and onto the table. "Dammit." She muttered, going for just using her fingers instead of trying to use the sticks she was woefully terrible with to get the food off it.

“That you are a Rabenite? I think your a middle ground between the two halves of the species. You have the characteristics of the Rabenites, but you have the open mind of an Ama'tsu raised fox. Rabenite hardware, Ama'Tsu software, if that makes any amount of sense.”

"Well, good to hear. Just don't expect me to be some kind of bridge." She said, huffing.before popping the meat into her mouth and chewing. "And I dunno if I'd say the Ama'tsu have open minds, but who am I to judge considering things."

“Our people were scorned, I can't say I blame anyone for how they feel about sons and daughters, siblings and cousins being taken away. My views on the subject aren't as extreme as others I've known. I was just a kit myself when Orias left with the Rabenites in tow.” She shrugged and wrapped a towel around her hair as Lysandra got out of the onsen and began drying her tails.

"Oh? And how long ago was that? Cause it sounds like that kind of animosity was building for a while." Sophia asked, trying to get more food and struggling with the damned chopsticks. Why couldn't they give her a spoon at least for all the rice?! She wasn't one to want to be called 'sloppy' or 'lazy', but fuggit, bowl to face and using the damned sticks as a kind of wedge. She was gonna have more than one or two grains at a time damn it!

“Well, young one I am eighty-three years young so~ you do the math. Give or take a few years for age, I was a twin tail just like you” She said as she watched Soap face first into the bowl like a damned house pet. “Sophia..” Lysandra said in a motherly tone of disapproval.

Lowering the bowl, she stared deadpan at Lysandra, mouth stuffed with rice. Almost like she was daring the other fox woman to say anything. Anything at all.

“Good gods, I know you didn't have an active mother figure in your life, but please.” Lysandra took a napkin and wiped Soap's face clean. She then proceeded to put the chopsticks in Soap's hand, and like any good mother showed her the proper hand movements to manipulate them til she got it right, including how to eat rice.

Having chewed and swallowed as Lysandra approached, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah well, I was doing what I had to, to actually get any of this rice to eat." She defended her actions with all the confidence of a soldier used to dealing with some rookie who didn't know better. And sure, she let Lysandra guide her through the steps. But guidance and practice were obviously two very different things. And Soap was not faring well with the rice, or other smaller bits of food while using the chopsticks.

“Just about as bad as a suckling babe..” Lysandra rolled her eyes and with a well practiced and trained hand fed Soap what she wanted. “I swear, Its like having my own kit to take care of..” Her voice dropped into a hushed lull as she made sure Soap had her fill, her actions making it easy to see that Lysandra was motherly material.

"Yeah well, next time, make sure there's a spoon, fork, or spork available." She grumped, really feeling peeved at having to be babied like this. She wasn't bed-ridden and she sure wasn't no kid. And yet here she was, being fed like one.

Still, the table of food was soon cleared by both of them. "You got some silly ways of eating your food, but damned if it isn't actually pretty good." She said, patting her now full stomach.

“And you'll see why we eat so good soon enough. I've had a hunch that being in the UNS as much as you have, your magical pathways have been rewritten to such a degree that, being fueled by our food, your senses should come fully alive now. Hearing, strength, scent, reaction time. I could go on but then I would be boasting”

"Uh huh." Soap said, not fully buying it. Then again, Lysandra certainly seemed more alive and active now that they'd had this food. Maybe there was something to it. Not that Soap figured it was gonna do much for her. It'd tasted like food. Good food, sure, but it wasn't like she felt revitalized or anything. Just not hungry.

“Oh just give it time. Soon enough you're going to feel better than you ever have. A fog clearing from your mind, if you wanna think of it that way” She said with a smirk, her nakedness never seeming to have bothered either woman.

"I guess? I mean, I don't feel hungry, but I mean, that's kind of expected of good food." She replied, shrugging like she wasn't sure if what Lysandra was saying was apt or not. She didn't feel like a fog was lifting, or clearing, or whatever. She just felt... normal. Maybe her magical pathways or whatever hadn't fully settled after the absolute misery of a destressed mess she'd been made by Lysandra's not even finished massage.

“Could take some time, but being here, on this world, and eating the food, you should have more focused Kitsune magic running through you than ever before.” Lysandra stated as she stretched out on her chair.

"Will have to wait and see. Besides, not like we're gonna be here much longer." She said, shrugging, and glancing at the clock on the wall. "Our two hour's about up anyways." She pointed out, already pushing herself to her feet and stretching. "So best get yourself back to being clothed and decent before we scandalize those poor staff on the way out."

“Oh please. Like I have something they haven't seen before.” She said as she got up, stretching herself and fanning her tails out. “has been a much needed sobriquet, but i guess it is time to return to the ‘Shrine”