RP with lo_rider4
If ever there was a day that Lucretia was thankful for the baths, today would be the day. She didn't mind that for the time being, she had to hide out in the library due to the rebuilding process of the castle, but the library didn't have very many amenities to them and it had become uncomfortably obvious that she needed to...dust herself off. That being said, it was a good day for a nice long soak in the bath.
Lo Hak kept to the baths most days. Ever since Wyatt's disappearance, he'd had trouble facing people. He just... he was still having troubles coming to term with things, with him being gone. He'd talk to Caesar about it, but even that could only be of so much help. Right now he immersed himself in his work and only thought about it when there was no avoiding it. People might call that unhealthy, but it was how he was dealing with it to keep himself sane. If he didn't do it this way... well, he might not be running the baths anymore. He looked up when he heard the bell ring, wandering to the front to great his guest and sort of tripping over himself when he saw Lucretia. "Oh, Lucretia. Hi," he managed to recover.
Lucretia was a little surprised to see Lo Hak but she pushed that thought aside and smiled. "Lo Hak! I'm glad to see that the bandits didn't disturb the baths any. How are you?"
"I'm okay. And I defended my baths, thank you." He had a bow and arrows still, and he knew how to use them. "Here for a soak or a massage?"
"Both, I'm afraid. The area of the castle where I live is being rebuilt and all my things are in the library. It is as it should be, considering I've got so many books..." Lucretia chuckled softly. "I apologize in advance for my...dustiness..." She fluttered her fan slightly and let her voice trail away - of course one was supposed to be [dirty] in order to take a [bath] but there were some levels of dirtiness that were just too dirty in her own mind.
"I've seen worse come in," Lo Hak chuckled, going behind a counter and pulling out a small basket filled with bath things and two towels. "At least you aren't trailing mud and worse from a day on the trail. It takes forever to clean my floors and change the water."
Lucretia grinned. "I've seen some of the workers out there - they're an absolute sight at the end of the day, I'm sure." She started thinking about whether or not she wanted a drum an bath but her train of thought detoured slightly as she realized that she was talking to Lo Hak - the Lo Hak that Wyatt had needed to talk to so desperately while he was in Vinay del Zexay. She had no idea of how to bring this up, however, or even if she should. Maybe she should just wait until he said something - yes, that was probably best. She put that thought aside for now and went back to trying to decide which atmosphere she wanted for her bath.
Lo Hak never mentioned that to people, and he hardly felt the need to discuss it with Lucretia. It somehow seemed... rude. Or maybe he was just afraid to face someone that might have once taken Wyatt fully away from him. "I can light some candles for you too," he offered.
Lucretia shook her head. "No, it's allright. I'd hate to put you to too much trouble." She paused and watched Lo Hak for a bit. More specifically, she watched his smile. In her training at Soledt, she knew that one's face could betray one's thoughts almost as easily as one's words could. There was something behind Lo Hak's smile but she couldn't put her finger on it. Or maybe she could - there was one way to find out, and it meant abandoning her earlier plan. "Lo Hak...I apologize if I am forward, and you don't have to tell me if you don't feel you should. However..." She fidgeted, something she rarely did, and the words came out softly as if she herself were unsure of them. "When Wyatt came back from Vinay del Zexay, did the two of you reconcile?"
Lo Hak stopped, like someone had just hit him over the head with a mallet and his body was waiting to fall and catch up the fact he wasn't conscious anymore. "Yeah... you could say that," his voice came out thick, something he couldn't hide no matter how hard he tried as he thought of his lover.
Her face brightened for a brief moment before she caught the tail end of his sentence and she saw the light fade away from his eyes. "Did something else happen with his memories that he didn't get them all back, or were there other things he didn't remember or..."
"No, he got them all back," he said with a sudden viciousness. He didn't mean it, but something welled up inside him, a streak of jealousy, of fear maybe, that this woman commanded something of Wyatt he did not. He sobered, shaking his head as he gathered up the supplies and turned his back to lead her into the baths. "He got them all back," he said softly again.
"Then...did something else happen...?" Life had taught Lucretia to never ask the questions that you were sure you didn't want to answer to, but Soledt taught her that sometimes the answer, good or bad, was important to how one dealt with things going forward.
"You tell me how you felt if your lover came back to you after forgetting all about you then just up and died!" Lo Hak spat at her, the feelings still so raw. He couldn't help but lash out, no matter how unfair, as the feelings sprang forth.
For what it was worth, it would almost have been better that Lo Hak had just slapped her senseless for even asking, the feeling would have been the same. Her breath caught for a moment before she slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself. "He...He's..." She turned away, having heard the answer that she didn't want to hear. "Lo Hak, I'm sorry...I didn't know that..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words.
He stopped and looked back at her, his eyes starting to rim red, the sky blue darkening to that of the ocean, turbulent and pained. His hands clutched the basket, knuckles pale, biting his lip. "It's okay," he mumbled, not sure what else to say.
Lucretia herself felt numbed and her legs felt like lead. "I..." She had no idea how to comfort Lo Hak, and she certainly had no idea how she felt outside of the numb shock that was dictating her motions.
Lo Hak turned and lead her into the baths. He set her things out with mechanical precision and emotion, then rose. "Let me know if you need anything. The changing screens are that way, along with cubbies to keep your clothes," he said, trying to keep from letting the pain rub him to raw, to let the tears fall. He thought he'd cried for Wyatt. Clearly not enough, not yet.
She nodded, listening automatically as she listened to his steps fade away from her. "Wait...Lo Hak..." She took a deep breath. "Whatever pain you feel now, I'm sorry if I'm even remotely a part of it. He was a true friend to me and it was never my intention to get between the two of you. I...oh, hell." Lucretia felt her eyes burning and rubbed at them with both of her hands, her hold on her own emotions slipping away. Even worse, she hated cursing because it seemed such an ugly thing to do to such a beautiful language as the one they all spoke. But right now, the emotion called for the word, a way to describe the utterly helpless and raw feeling that they were both feeling.
"I don't blame you for anything," Lo Hak assured her, because he didn't. "He lost his memories. You didn't cause that." He shrugged his shoulders, just that, no more. "I can't blame you either, for being his friend. Nothing wrong with that."
Lucretia nodded, but still the lump in her gut remained. "How long has he..." It hit her now that this had happened while she was gone.
"Been dead?" he finished bitterly. "A few months now, I guess."
She didn't know what else to say at this point that wouldn't sound awkward or insensitive, and she usually knew how to diplomatically engineer a conversation. "If you need someone to talk to...I don't know if I would be the best choice but I'm a good listener." She began looking through the basket for the soap, anything to keep her from thinking about crying right that very second.
"I think you need someone to talk to," he said, but not unkindly. He understood what she felt, and he had someone to talk to, though he was never sure how to explain what it was that hurt him so.
Lucretia smiled wanly at him. "On that we can agree. If you like, we can talk at the tavern once we finish up here?"
At first he wanted to say no, to walk away and just let her bathe, but... but he knew just holding it in would only hurt him, form into a terrible mistake. "All right," he agreed after a bit.
"Good. I'll come and find you once I finish." Lucretia did her best to muster up one more smile.
Lo Hak kept to the baths most days. Ever since Wyatt's disappearance, he'd had trouble facing people. He just... he was still having troubles coming to term with things, with him being gone. He'd talk to Caesar about it, but even that could only be of so much help. Right now he immersed himself in his work and only thought about it when there was no avoiding it. People might call that unhealthy, but it was how he was dealing with it to keep himself sane. If he didn't do it this way... well, he might not be running the baths anymore. He looked up when he heard the bell ring, wandering to the front to great his guest and sort of tripping over himself when he saw Lucretia. "Oh, Lucretia. Hi," he managed to recover.
Lucretia was a little surprised to see Lo Hak but she pushed that thought aside and smiled. "Lo Hak! I'm glad to see that the bandits didn't disturb the baths any. How are you?"
"I'm okay. And I defended my baths, thank you." He had a bow and arrows still, and he knew how to use them. "Here for a soak or a massage?"
"Both, I'm afraid. The area of the castle where I live is being rebuilt and all my things are in the library. It is as it should be, considering I've got so many books..." Lucretia chuckled softly. "I apologize in advance for my...dustiness..." She fluttered her fan slightly and let her voice trail away - of course one was supposed to be [dirty] in order to take a [bath] but there were some levels of dirtiness that were just too dirty in her own mind.
"I've seen worse come in," Lo Hak chuckled, going behind a counter and pulling out a small basket filled with bath things and two towels. "At least you aren't trailing mud and worse from a day on the trail. It takes forever to clean my floors and change the water."
Lucretia grinned. "I've seen some of the workers out there - they're an absolute sight at the end of the day, I'm sure." She started thinking about whether or not she wanted a drum an bath but her train of thought detoured slightly as she realized that she was talking to Lo Hak - the Lo Hak that Wyatt had needed to talk to so desperately while he was in Vinay del Zexay. She had no idea of how to bring this up, however, or even if she should. Maybe she should just wait until he said something - yes, that was probably best. She put that thought aside for now and went back to trying to decide which atmosphere she wanted for her bath.
Lo Hak never mentioned that to people, and he hardly felt the need to discuss it with Lucretia. It somehow seemed... rude. Or maybe he was just afraid to face someone that might have once taken Wyatt fully away from him. "I can light some candles for you too," he offered.
Lucretia shook her head. "No, it's allright. I'd hate to put you to too much trouble." She paused and watched Lo Hak for a bit. More specifically, she watched his smile. In her training at Soledt, she knew that one's face could betray one's thoughts almost as easily as one's words could. There was something behind Lo Hak's smile but she couldn't put her finger on it. Or maybe she could - there was one way to find out, and it meant abandoning her earlier plan. "Lo Hak...I apologize if I am forward, and you don't have to tell me if you don't feel you should. However..." She fidgeted, something she rarely did, and the words came out softly as if she herself were unsure of them. "When Wyatt came back from Vinay del Zexay, did the two of you reconcile?"
Lo Hak stopped, like someone had just hit him over the head with a mallet and his body was waiting to fall and catch up the fact he wasn't conscious anymore. "Yeah... you could say that," his voice came out thick, something he couldn't hide no matter how hard he tried as he thought of his lover.
Her face brightened for a brief moment before she caught the tail end of his sentence and she saw the light fade away from his eyes. "Did something else happen with his memories that he didn't get them all back, or were there other things he didn't remember or..."
"No, he got them all back," he said with a sudden viciousness. He didn't mean it, but something welled up inside him, a streak of jealousy, of fear maybe, that this woman commanded something of Wyatt he did not. He sobered, shaking his head as he gathered up the supplies and turned his back to lead her into the baths. "He got them all back," he said softly again.
"Then...did something else happen...?" Life had taught Lucretia to never ask the questions that you were sure you didn't want to answer to, but Soledt taught her that sometimes the answer, good or bad, was important to how one dealt with things going forward.
"You tell me how you felt if your lover came back to you after forgetting all about you then just up and died!" Lo Hak spat at her, the feelings still so raw. He couldn't help but lash out, no matter how unfair, as the feelings sprang forth.
For what it was worth, it would almost have been better that Lo Hak had just slapped her senseless for even asking, the feeling would have been the same. Her breath caught for a moment before she slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself. "He...He's..." She turned away, having heard the answer that she didn't want to hear. "Lo Hak, I'm sorry...I didn't know that..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words.
He stopped and looked back at her, his eyes starting to rim red, the sky blue darkening to that of the ocean, turbulent and pained. His hands clutched the basket, knuckles pale, biting his lip. "It's okay," he mumbled, not sure what else to say.
Lucretia herself felt numbed and her legs felt like lead. "I..." She had no idea how to comfort Lo Hak, and she certainly had no idea how she felt outside of the numb shock that was dictating her motions.
Lo Hak turned and lead her into the baths. He set her things out with mechanical precision and emotion, then rose. "Let me know if you need anything. The changing screens are that way, along with cubbies to keep your clothes," he said, trying to keep from letting the pain rub him to raw, to let the tears fall. He thought he'd cried for Wyatt. Clearly not enough, not yet.
She nodded, listening automatically as she listened to his steps fade away from her. "Wait...Lo Hak..." She took a deep breath. "Whatever pain you feel now, I'm sorry if I'm even remotely a part of it. He was a true friend to me and it was never my intention to get between the two of you. I...oh, hell." Lucretia felt her eyes burning and rubbed at them with both of her hands, her hold on her own emotions slipping away. Even worse, she hated cursing because it seemed such an ugly thing to do to such a beautiful language as the one they all spoke. But right now, the emotion called for the word, a way to describe the utterly helpless and raw feeling that they were both feeling.
"I don't blame you for anything," Lo Hak assured her, because he didn't. "He lost his memories. You didn't cause that." He shrugged his shoulders, just that, no more. "I can't blame you either, for being his friend. Nothing wrong with that."
Lucretia nodded, but still the lump in her gut remained. "How long has he..." It hit her now that this had happened while she was gone.
"Been dead?" he finished bitterly. "A few months now, I guess."
She didn't know what else to say at this point that wouldn't sound awkward or insensitive, and she usually knew how to diplomatically engineer a conversation. "If you need someone to talk to...I don't know if I would be the best choice but I'm a good listener." She began looking through the basket for the soap, anything to keep her from thinking about crying right that very second.
"I think you need someone to talk to," he said, but not unkindly. He understood what she felt, and he had someone to talk to, though he was never sure how to explain what it was that hurt him so.
Lucretia smiled wanly at him. "On that we can agree. If you like, we can talk at the tavern once we finish up here?"
At first he wanted to say no, to walk away and just let her bathe, but... but he knew just holding it in would only hurt him, form into a terrible mistake. "All right," he agreed after a bit.
"Good. I'll come and find you once I finish." Lucretia did her best to muster up one more smile.