video: average sighren

[lanclan]

[ The scene is one of steam and muffled, echoing male voices from elsewhere, tiles covering walls. Xichen's face is in shot, hair unbound and soaked where it falls down his bare shoulders, pink from the hot water (no fear, he has a thin robe shrugged off but tied about his waist out of shot) where he is leaning over the edge of the bath. ]

This is rather unorthodox, in many ways, as first meetings go. Pardon my appearance, robes are somewhat contradictory to my surroundings. [ But he's out of seclusion, in a strange realm, and this is the only way he knows to prove the bathhouse is safe: by using it. ] Some of you already know my younger brother, Lan Wangji. You may call me Lan Xichen.

[ He sighs, nasal and soft. More of an exhale. His smile hitches back up. ]

I now live above the bathhouse. Technically, [ here he glances over blandly to a pair of guffawing sailors in the background, lips pursing as he holds back his real opinion, ] this is a private residence, but it would be rude to deny access to those who wish to use the downstairs, so I would like to invite over anyone who wishes to bathe in something other than cold lake-water — if my housemates wouldn't mind, I should like to meet all of you, too.

There is a separate area for women, of course. Please use the rinsing stations before entering the main baths and wear something discreet, for the sake of others.

[ Xichen glances around as someone calls his name and there is a momentary wider shot of him soaked to the waist as he straightens to nod in answer, raking back his hair so it isn't stuck to his chest you're welcome. He looks again to the video and smiles warmly, tilting his head in apology for the break in his attention. ]

It is seemingly busier in the afternoons.

Comments

[deescalate]

[#justlanxichenthings

Cal hesitates for a moment. Communal soaking isn't something in whoch he indulges....pretty much ever...amd doing so with strangers is even more foolish for someone like him. But this place seems to be so distanced from the Empire that he should be safe.

Also the idea of a hot soak makes his muscles ache. So. Indulging it is.]

Sure. Gotta find out if it really is better than lake water, after all.

[And Cal's been in a few lakes.

But some time later, he comes down and does a quick rinse as instructed. Then, clad with a towel around his waist and a loose shirt, he makes his way to sit at the edge of the pool, his bare legs slipping into the water. He sets a bundle of his clothes - with lightsaber and blaster wrapped inside - behind him, hopefully well enough out of the sailors' splash zone.]

[lanclan]

[ Xichen keeps an eye out for the redhead, easily spotting him. Having glanced him before, he thought he was just a visitor to the bathhouse but to learn he's a housemate has Xichen wading over with a polite smile. ]

Cal, I presume?

[deescalate]

That's me.

[He offers Lan Xichen a smile in turn and starts to gently move his legs. Not enough to splash or disturb his housemate, but strong enough to cause some ripples.]

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this is actually pretty nice.

[He gives in for a few moments longer, then speaks up again.]

You seem right at home, though. You do this sort of thing often?

[lanclan]

We have a Cold Pond back home, it's not like this but it heals injuries and can be invigorating, so in a way ... yes, I do this somewhat often.

[ Without the hot part. ]

[deescalate]

That's handy. Can't say the cold bit sounds all that appealing, though.

[Then again, he's taken cold showers by choice before. They have their place, just as hot showers do.

Cal leans back on his hands for a few moments, breathing in the steam from the hot water. It feels almost wrong to allow himself to relax like this, after everything that's transpired in the last month or so. When he should be back with the Mantis, with everyone else. But, at the same time, it doesn't hurt to have a little taste of a nice thing. All in moderation.

With a decisive exhale, he sits up and tugs off his shirt, displaying not only a rich collection of freckles along his pale shoulders and arms, but also what appear to be some burn scars, the most recent being a horizontal line across his chest and a circular scar in his left shoulder.

He slips into the water and can't help the small groan of appreciation that leaves him as the heat works its magic on his sore muscles.]

Yeah...that's real nice.

[lanclan]

[ He doesn't mean to stare but he has never seen someone with so many freckles before, and the scars are ...

It would be even more disingenuous to pretend he hasn't seen them. ]

You have quite the set of scars, friend. May I ask how you won them?

[deescalate]

[Ah. He put himself in this situation. Cal won't give the specifics; Lan Xichen is still a stranger, despite his friendly demeanor, and one of the wounds is still too fresh, the day he received it still too horrible to think about without his family here to be a reassuring presence.

Instead, he compromises. He shrugs a little, the water rippling out from his body once again.]

I fight for what I believe in. I just encounter a lot of people who don't share the same sentiment.

[lanclan]

[ Sensing there's some mild defensiveness there, or at least deflection, he nods amiably and doesn't chase the subject. Instead, he taps his own long locks as he says, ]

You have beautiful hair. It's like a captured sunset, I've never seen that shade on anyone before.

[deescalate]

[Hearing his hair described like a captured sunset is so poetic amd kind of absurd that Cal almost laughs. After all the times people have screamed his surname in anger or announced they're going to make him suffer or bleed or any other variation of pain, it's strange to hear something so innocent and not laced with derision.]

That's...one of the nicest things I've heard lately.

[He glances over at the sailors nearby and then back to Lan Xichen. None of them have red hair. Which doesn't bother him, not like it might have when he was much younger.]

It's a rare color in humans, at least where I come from. Not impossibly rare, though. I've seen other redheads before.

You said you have a brother, right? Your hair must be similar.

[He thinks that's how siblings work.]

[lanclan]

His is a little longer, but the colour is the same.

[ Wangji's hair has always been lovely and long, Xichen thinks with a smile back to when he first arrived and helped to wash it, to style it neatly. All in a cave. Wangji really should visit the baths ... ]

If you meet him, know he says little but means well.

[deescalate]

It's a nice color.

[Cal would try to come up with some comparison like Lan Xichen did, but he's no poet. He doesn't think "it's the same color as Koboh tar" really comes off as appreciative.

It's also just not true. That tar is oily with all the colors that apply and that definitely isn't the kind of thing someone wants to hear about their hair.]

What's his name again? Is he shy?

[lanclan]

Lan Wangji. He isn't shy as much as reserved in what he says.

[ And kind of a bitch, but that runs lowkey in the family. ]

[deescalate]

[Ah. Lan must be their family or clan name, then.]

Gotchya. I'll remember that.

[The longer he soaks, the more Cal's muscles start to relax, but there is always that soreness under his skin. He reaches up and rubs the back of his neck and shoulders, holding back any noises other than a deep sigh.]

Is he older or younger?

[lanclan]

Younger by a few years, though his skill is higher than others of his age.

[ Distracted from humble-bragging about his brother, he tilts his head at the show of soreness in Cal. ]

Are you in pain?

[deescalate]

You sound proud of him.

[Cal is curious what kind of skill he has, but that's something that can wait until another time, probably.

Upon being called out on his soreness, he stops and lowers his arms back below the water.]

No, I'm fine. I just do a lot of walking and climbing and stuff like that.

["Stuff like that" including falling, being tossed around by people and creatures bigger than him, possibly having all his bones turned to powder, and classic insomnia!

He's fine.]

[lanclan]

I can help, if you like.

[ He doesn't offer anything else by way of an explanation, sitting there demurely in the bath as he lets the subject of Wangji slide in favour of paying his companion the appropriate attention. ]

My technique will ease any aches.

[deescalate]

[It's...tempting. The thought of having a proper massage nearly makes Cal give in to the offer, but he realizes he doesn't even know what Lan Xichen is offering at all. And while Cal doesn't sense anything malicious in the other man, he's been fooled before, and so recently. The betrayal still stings, still gurgles angrily in his gut.

Cal really wishes he didn't have to live like this, but when the alternative is potentially ending up dead and helping no one...well. He has to be like this.]

Really, I'm fine. I'll just soak here for a while.

[lanclan]

As you wish, Master Cal.

[ Xichen settles back and dips low to dampen his hair again, taking the opportunity to turn his attention to something other than the possibly uncomfortable other man. ]

[deescalate]

[Okay, that feels weird. He sits up a little straighter and runs a wet hand through his hair.]

Please, just Cal. I'm no one's master.

[lanclan]

[ Adapting to the mannerisms of others is still a strange thing to have to do, especially when restricted to using first given-names. Xichen hesitates before he smiles this time, feeling a little inappropriate calling Cal nothing but that, in a bath, with no mark of respect however small. Still, the over-familiarity has been borne by Wangji so it mustn't fall to Xichen to show his uncomfortableness. ]

If it pleases you.