Cleaning!

[past_chosen]

Who: AU Zelos Wilder, AU Mikuru Asahina
What: Mikuru has kindly agreed to clean the bath-house! Zelos has come along to supervise.
Where: Bath-House!
When: After this BBS post.

Comments

[past_chosen]

She hadn't found some of the things she needed, and yet here she was with brushes and sponges and a bucket, looking worried and yet somehow determined to do as she'd said. It was endearing, really, and Zelos couldn't help but smile. "Don't you worry yourself too much there, little Star," he said, "we can just get some of the muck away, and maybe we'll get a chance for some proper stuff another time! Right?"

Quickly shifting into serious mode, however, he started to list off the problems he'd found. "Our problems here are pretty much dirt, dust and hair. And I think we need to drain out the communal baths, too - beats me as to when that was last done! Don't know about you, but I've been sticking to the showers - speaking of which, have you got a long... I don't know, I don't handle this kind of stuff. Something that can get hair out of the drains. A fair amount of us got long hair."

He didn't really want to mention the toilets yet - it would just be adding more to the list, and he had an odd suspicion that this girl would insist on doing everything in one go.

[bunnypassingby]

Dirt, dust, and hair. Without soap, a rinse and a scrub would have to suffice for the first two; the hair would be more difficult. What were you supposed to use for that, anyway? She'd never had that kind of problem with Itsuki and his sister, whom she assumed threw out their moulted hair the way she did. (Or the way she did on her own world: Here she left it under some plants and hoped it would biodegrade.)

"We can leave the baths draining while we do the showers," Mikuru planned aloud. "I guess we'll just have to try and soak and scrub everything off... I don't know how to get the hair out, though."

As she spoke, she set down the buckets for the moment and stepped out of her shoes and socks: Getting inside the tubs and the showers would make for better access for scrubbing. She also removed her pistols from where they were usually tucked at the back of her apron and slipped them inside one of her shoes for safekeeping. They'd already been through the lake; it was frankly a miracle they were still firing.

[past_chosen]

"Maybe a wire?" Zelos suggested, using a foot to pull the bucket a little closer so as to better see its contents. "Hook on the end or something. See, I have servants to do my housework, so I don't know. And hang on there, Starlet, who said I was doing any work here?"

Despite that, he bent down to pick up a scrubbing brush. It seemed simple enough to him - apply water, scrub like hell. That ought to do it, right?

"And man, is that the only outfit you got? Not that it doesn't give us men a lovely view and all, but it can't be practical." Yeah, he should see Mikuru's other outfit one day!

[bunnypassingby]

"You said 'we'," Mikuru pointed out despite herself.

And then Zelos made that crack about her costume. She blushed furiously, tugging her skirt down on instinct rather than knowing it helped in the slightest.

"It's the most practical outfit I have," she informed him with all the dignity she could muster. Given her blush, this wasn't very much dignity at all.

She attempted to make up for this by grabbing the bucket and storming off to the showers. Mid-step she remembered she'd said to drain the baths first, and in her haste to get there, she tripped and fell in, practical outfit and all.

Oops.

[past_chosen]

"Man, that's gotta suck," Zelos said, noting her embarassment. "Still, can't be helped what this place drags you in with! I think there's some hideous protective stuff in the warehouses, but who's gonna subject themselves to that?"

He was examining the brush with an expression of distaste, as though it was somehow offensive, when he heard Mikuru trip and crash to the floor. Okay, so the baths had an apparently rather clumsy girl cleaning them. It was looking yet more like his help was going to be a requirement.

"Careful not to slip," he belatedly cautioned with a smile, moving to her side and holding a hand out to help her back to her feet.

[bunnypassingby]

Mikuru took Zelos's hand without thinking, though as soon as she was back up she realized the equipment from the bucket was still scattered and had to bend down to gather it all again.

"Th-thanks," she stuttered, once she was ready again. "Ah, the baths..."

At least Zelos was the only one around. She would have been even more embarrassed if there were more people, which would have made her even clumsier. She could cope with just one stranger. Hopefully.