Smuggler's Vale - Lost Meandering

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin sat down where instructed and immediately took a sip of tea. He was going to keep up appearances, but with how long they would remain he didn't bother. His normal upright firm posture slackened to a more relaxed slightly slouching one. "Always nice to have a meal that isn't a makeshift camp meal."

He bit into the meat pie that he had grabbed and took time to savor the bite. After all they got pastries and baked goods at best once every week. And to top that all off even at a full bore push it would likely take somewhere near two weeks to move across and reclaim the known points of interest in the Vale.

After his bite he let out a sigh. "Yeah, this food is good. And must taste even better when you've not had great food in a while." He took another sip of tea and sat there in the moment.

[Ancelas]

"Or in a mine cafeteria," Mirrai added. After Taliesin spoke again, Mirrai nodded and took a sip of tea. "Gruel and water... a far fall from the fruits of Telemon's garden. It's hard to believe how much has happened in the past month... I had no idea things would get so... complicated... once I reached Mobius."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin chuckled softly. He opened his mouth to respond, but stayed silent for a short moment. "Yeah, gruel is just barely enough to keep people alive and functioning. Not enjoyable in the slightest ... unless you like bland liquid foods."

He took another bite out of the food, buying him a short amount of time to think. "Hopefully the complications will ease in the moderately near future for you."

[Ancelas]

"It's hard to imagine it getting much worse," Mirrai admitted, returning to her meat pie with a little less voraciousness. "Honestly, I'm more interested in a change of clothes and a proper bath. Do you know what the plumbing is like in this place...? Better than those mines, surely, but I thought I ought to set my expectations accordingly."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin let out a nervous laugh at her comment about things getting worse. As she detailed getting cleaned up and asking about amenities he had to stop and think. That was something he never put too much thought into noticing in places that they went.

"Well ... I suspect that they have some water storage higher in the mountains. Because they have a setup that allows you to bath standing up with a mini rain shower coming from a pipe." He had no idea whether that might be something she was familiar with. But the description was as apt as he could make it.

"I prefer soaking in a bath myself. But they don't have a set up for that from what I recall." He took another sip of tea. "The last good bath I had was ... oof ... almost a month ago in Kel'Mar in the public baths." He smirked and chuckled as he remembered reactions from the others in Valor Company.

"Although, apparently my companions were not used to baths that did not bother to have specific sections based on gender." He shook his head again and took another bite of pie.

[Ancelas]

"I know what a shower is," Mirrai pointed out, before pausing. "Although... it feels strange that I know what it is..." Her brow furrowed and she sipped at her tea.

"Mm... I suppose baths are nice, but I can't imagine a... shared bathhouse? That seems... I don't know. Hm..."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin tilted his head at her acknowledgement. Thousands of years apart and showers were a thing as well. This was curious. Though to be fair there were numerous legends regarding what may or may not have existed before the cataclysm.

"Oh, yeah." He acknowledged that it felt off. "Mareki are ... interesting." He paused and thought on how best to word the next bit.

"The entire tribe is raised with military service in mind. At around 8 years old they go into conscription and early on they are taught about sex and are set to bathe together to demystify sex and ensure that both men and women can serve without distraction." He took a deep sip of his tea and looked up to gauge Mirrai's response a little before continuing.

"I mean, there are still urges. But depending on the situation it can be fairly simple to have a casual relationship to mutually manage those urges without it being binding or effecting social standing." He took another bite of his food, getting close to finished with his own pie and there was barely a sip of tea left in his cup.

[Ancelas]

Mirrai listened closely, with evident interest, slowly chewing her meat pie. "That is bewildering and fascinating in equal amounts," she confessed. "Not that I have a good frame of reference to compare it to. It does seem somewhat... stern, almost?"

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin shrugged. "It's what I had to get accustomed to at a young age so I really can't properly speak to it from an outside perspective." He took the last bite of pie and savored it.

Swallowing the last bite he tilted his head to the side. "Care to share what makes it bewildering and fascinating to you?" Immediately following his question he lifted his cup and took the last sip of tea.

[Ancelas]

"Hm... that's fair. And the idea of men and women bathing together... Public bathing houses do not sound out of the ordinary, but as a shared experience? It sounds... well, intimate."

She spoke plainly, a hint of color touching her cheeks. She did not seem overly embarrassed - the idea did not offend her, it just seemed...odd.

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin shrugged. "Only as intimate as you make it out to be." He flashed a smile.

"If you do a procedural cleaning with no emphasis and no mind to those around you it is no more intimate then accidentally bumping into someone while in the market." He shrugged his shoulders and bobbed his head side to side. "Of course if you find yourself sexually attracted to someone in particular and are sharing a bath with them, you might attribute more to it due to that."

"Although you can get self conscious even if there is no additional sub-text." He stretched and contorted to the side eliciting a cascade of cracking joints up his spine through his neck. "Speaking of which ... I probably should find a means to clean my clothing as well as myself."

[Ancelas]

"No, getting naked and washing yourself is most certainly not like bumping into someone in the marketplace," Mirrai sniffed. "The presence - or lack there of - of clothing most certainly affects the social dynamics of the situation. And that's probably a good idea, you're almost as dusty as I am.

"I think you have a feather caught in your cloak too."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin's smile grew and he shook his head again. "It all comes down to what you assign to an interaction. If someone were to be oggling me and make advances during such an encounter, then yeah. But honestly if everyone was doing their own thing it really doesn't matter."

He tried looking for the feather that Mirrai noted, but no matter how he craned his head or lifted bits he somehow missed finding it."Of course - I've not lived your life - or experiences so - "

"Where the fuck is the feather? I can't find it!" He said in a mix of Elvish and Sylvan as he made a few more movements to find it. ((Where - Feather? - Can't find - < The Sylvan bits))

[Ancelas]

"Oh wow, now you're just butchering the language, no matter how nice the words sound." Mirrai stood and leaned across the table, plucking the feather from a fold in his cloak just behind his ear.

"You'd offend an entire faerie court like that." She held up the feather to him as she sat back down.

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin actually froze a bit as Mirrai leaned across the table. He didn't realize he was holding his breath until she was sitting again and he exhaled. "Well, if they knew elvish they might've forgiven me."

He gave a short laugh. "After all, Elvish is modeled after Sylvan."