Roman Baths / Minor-to-whatever-aphro-desired / Open

[golden_blazes]

The thing with being constantly regulated to taking showers, is that Arabelle hadn't had a true submerge-yourself-in-water type bath in years. Tubs generally weren't designed for folks with wings, let alone folks with wingspans as impressive as hers

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[warriorscribe]

Enoch had the fortune of not falling prey to temptation just yet. It helped that he was focused on the goal of finding an escape route, and was still convinced he'd be able to find one. Sure, Sariel had said there was no escape, but he seriously doubted the fallen angel would even try.

So it was in his wanderings that Enoch found the large public baths and the winged woman within them. In general, the scribe tended to assume any being with feathered wings was an angel, but he was used to them not having physical forms like this.

The hot water looked inviting, and Enoch knew he could use a break. But sharing the space with what could well be an angel gave him pause. He would have to ask first. "Excuse me. Can I join you?"

[golden_blazes]

Enoch, if he could sense it, wouldn't detect anything holy about one miss Arabelle Kintotech, even as she swam lazily through the pool. The woman was athletic, though leanly so, with several scars on her body. And if he could see them, the most recent being four in a line below her ribcage.

Nonetheless, she blinked and made a noise in surprise, ducking in the water at first largely because he wasn't someone she knew, at least, before she realized he'd probably been there for at least a minute or so. Her wings flicked in the water as she took a moment to compose a reply, "Ah. Sure, there's plenty'a space in here. Name's Ara, who might'cha be?"

[warriorscribe]

He couldn't sense it, of course, he was still far too human. At least he wasn't giving her any lewd looks, exposed as she'd been. His armor vanished into nothingness in a flash of white and he bent down to take off his sandals. "Thank you. My name is Enoch."

[golden_blazes]

"Neat trick with th' armor, by the way." Arabelle was actually rather appreciative of that, all considered. "Wish I could do that sometimes."

"So, hotel treatin' you alright, or are ya new?" She asked, lazily swimming in the deeper end, using her wings to facilitate a kind of backstroke for the moment, keeping her head, shoulders, and the tops of her wings above the surface of the water.

[warriorscribe]

"It took me a few months to learn how to do this myself," Enoch said as he pulled down his jeans and underwear at once, quickly stepping into the water to escape the relative cold against now-bared skin. Male and female angels often bathed or swam together, yet another thing Enoch had grown accustomed to by his privilege of living in Heaven (after a few weeks of awkward adjustment, of course).

He sighed as the warm water relaxed him, his body tense from constant roaming. He stayed in water he could stand in, being unable to swim.

"I've only been here a week." Or it felt like a week, about. Time had the tendency to blur together on him if he didn't keep track.

[golden_blazes]

"Magic, or some kinda other power?" Arabelle asked, coughing as she flushed and averted her eyes when he dropped his pants. Uh. Right. She was naked to, he was gonna be as well. Way to think that cunning plan all the way through, Goldenwing.

"I think I've been here about th' same, maybe a lil' more, maybe a lil' less. I don't have a watch on me, and there's no real frame of reference. Even the 'outdoor' rooms seem to follow different times." She shrugged in the water, closing her eyes and ducking under to get her hair and the rest of her wings wet before surfacing again with a deep breath, running her hands through her hair to get it wet, and doing the same with one wing at the time, kicking her legs and using whichever wing she wasn't doing it to, to keep herself at the surface.

[warriorscribe]

"In a way...it's my own power." Enoch mentally scolded himself at her reaction, sinking a bit in the water. For someone who'd lived more than three times his years with humans than with angels, he certainly was far more comfortable with the latter's set of mores. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I saw your wings and thought you were an angel..."

[golden_blazes]

"Ah, I've seen both magical and technological ways t'do that at home, s'why I asked." Arabelle explained, running her hand over her other wing to get it nice and wet as well. The gesture made her shiver a little, but she swallowed it down for the sake of it hopefully not being noticed.

"It's alright, I should'a realized you'd get naked too, since I ain't wearin' a stitch of clothing in here either." She shrugged, "It's a bath-house-thing, for the lovva everything." If nothing else, momentary embarrassment aside, she took it in stride, but Arabelle tended to be that way about most things.

That said, she did swim closer so she could semi-sit nearby, to make conversation a little simpler, "Y'wouldn't be the first to think that, and frankly, I doubt you'll be the last. Nothin' di--" Beat, "Holy about me, Enoch, I'm no angel, and trust me on that. Just your garden variety mutant gal with wings." She flashed a grin. Ara didn't mind the mistake, while annoying, it was more amusing than anything else.

[warriorscribe]

Enoch didn't know the word 'mutant', not really. He had a very vague idea that he wasn't sure was right. But whatever it was, if she was any indication, it wasn't a threat of any kind.

Enoch leaned his head back so some of his hair soaked up the warm water. "It's why I thought you wouldn't mind. Angels of both sexes bathe and swim together." At least he seemed relaxed about it now. Talking for the sake of filling silence, rather than a continued apology.

[golden_blazes]

Honestly, if Enoch had asked, Arabelle wouldn't've minded explaining. God knows a lot of people tend to just assume with the term as it was, and she didn't mind clarifying what she did know, if nothing else.

A few beats after he said that, Arabelle blinked, "Wait. Are you an angel, or do you just know a lotta angels? 'Cause you're talkin' about 'em like you're really familiar, so..."

[warriorscribe]

"I'm only human." Not quite, but he didn't know that. "God gave me the privilege to live and work in Heaven." Normally, this is something he would hide. But he'd managed to find himself forced to tell the truth by his own slips enough times - Ara was the, what, third person he'd mistaken for an angel now? It would be just his luck to assume the next winged person wasn't one and then find they were.

And with so many people from a future he'd never see even living on Heaven's time (or so he thought), what did it matter?

[golden_blazes]

Huh. Human and in with the big G man upstairs. Here, Arabelle was hoping that his version of God wasn't so vengeful about other gods or divine-like-beings as she had always heard. Nor was she terribly religious, to be completely honest. "That must'a been interesting." Arabelle mused aloud, "Can't picture anything like how that could've been."

Arabelle had yet to meet a real angel, here or on her version of Earth. She's met (and fought) the occasional demon, but that's what happens when you have a wizard on your primary team, it tends to make you a target for the nastier, and meaner magical set. "I'm more or less law enforcement back home. Deal with folks that the normal police can't, really."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch looked like he was about to laugh. Even if his original ascent was so much longer ago than it ought to be, so long ago it was painful to think. "I was scared at first, but angels proved to be more...human than I expected."

Her occupation got a nod of respect. "It's important to uphold peace. Be proud of what you do."

[golden_blazes]

Arabelle snorted out loud at that admission, "Really? I never thought of it like that, t'be completely honest. They're not that different from most folks?" Admittedly, while not terribly religious, thought angels would be super-serious constantly, to counterbalance, well.

The craziness that were demons.

"Most'a the time I am. So what'cha do up there with the angels, anyway?" She asked, admittedly curious. Focusing on that actually helped from focusing on ... other things.

[warriorscribe]

"They have their own personalities, curiosities, and interests, just like we do." They were more serious than humans, for the most part. And somehow, he'd wound up especially close to the two that most prominently weren't. Even though he was more serious than most humans. "I worked as a scribe for their Council."