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It’s like an oasis in a desert, except it’s a natural hot spring in the middle of gods-fucking-nowhere. They’re lost, sort of. Nugget ate their map a few nights ago, but between Caduceus and Caleb they’ve been navigating the heavily wooded mountain slopes rather well, presumably. Whether they’re going the right way or not isn’t of much concern anymore, not with the promise of a hot bath before a night’s rest.
Jester, Beau, and Mollymauk are already on their way to undressing and jumping in, but Fjord pipes up with the voice of reason, “ Wait . We need to make sure it’s safe first.”
“It’s water , it’s never safe.” Nott says a matter-of-factly.
“You don’t have to go in,” Caleb says, leaning down to pick her up. “You can sit on the rocks.”
Fjord and Caduceus investigate the pools. The springs hold up a large area but chunks of rocks split it into uneven, more personal pool areas. Caduceus puts a hand into the water and hums, smiling, while Fjord uses his control water spell to splash about from afar, making sure there isn’t anything dangerous waiting for them at the bottom of the water. Mollymauk saunters up to a different pool than the other two and dunks his head straight into the water.
“I think it’s just fine,” Caduceus drawls, taking his hand out. “Water’s real nice. I think the Wild Mother brought us here for a nice rejuvenation of morale.”
“You think so?” Asks Fjord.
There’s a splash from Mollymauk’s pool as he emerges from the water, hair sopping wet and bangs sticking to his cheek. “No tentacles, we’re clear!”
The eight of them divvy themselves up into pools befitting their size, both personally and group-wise. Jester, Beau, and Yasha take the largest pool, Caduceus and Caleb the next in size with Nott perched up on the rocks, leaving Fjord and Molly to some of the smaller pools befitting two grown men to choose from. Nugget laps at the water generously, fumbles in with his long legs, and blinks to each person’s pool respectively.
“ Gods , this is just what we needed!” Molly exclaims, stretching his arms high above his head as he sinks into the water as best he can.
“Yeah, and you can never say no to a hot bath.” Says Fjord, easing his way in. The water’s hot, a stark contrast to the chilly air on his naked skin, but the longer he’s submerged the more it begins to soothe.
“It’s one of life’s natural pleasures. You can’t say no,” Molly sighs, closing his eyes, but peeking one open to look at Nott briefly. “Unless you’re Nott.”
They lull into a comfortable silence afterwards, letting the chatter of everyone else fill in the white noise of a relaxing end to a non-stop day of travel. The heat works its magic, undoes the knots in their muscles, the pains in their feet that even Nott dips in at the very least. Jester and Beau do most of the talking, leaning over the rocks to bother other pools of people. Despite the springs being so out in the open, surrounded by trees and nature’s splendors, it feels much more private than when they find a hot bath place in the cities. They’re a large group, a noisy and bit of a rowdy bunch, sharing a bath with total strangers sometimes earns them a look and a couple smarmy comments. Fjord, for one, is glad for the relative privacy, that it’s just The Mighty Nein enjoying themselves in a way they haven’t been allowed to in a good week or two. He knows they’re a bunch of weirdos, but they’re his weirdos, they’re family like no other, and sometimes it really irks him when people snub their noses at their less humanoid companions.
“You’re thinking far too much.”
Mollymauk’s voice is practically in his ear and it makes Fjord jolt from his thoughts. As per usual, he has no concern for personal space as they’re hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, with Mollymauk’s chin hooked on his collar, smiling up at him, but Fjord would be lying if he said this sort of attitude from the tiefling hasn’t grown on him.
“What?” Fjord offers dumbly.
“You’re thinking. Stop it, you’re supposed to be relaxing,” Mollymauk says as he leans away, enough that their shoulders are no longer touching but their thighs still are beneath the water.
“I am relaxing!”
“No, you get this look,” and Mollymauk scrunches his face, furrows his brows, and pouts in an exaggerated motion. “When you’re thinking about shit.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“You do.” Beau chimes in, arms folded over some rocks with her cheek resting on them as she peers into their space.
“Thank you Beau,” Mollymauk grins, slaps Fjord on the shoulder gently. “Look at that, the stars aligned and we agree on something so it must be true.”
“Goodbye, Beau ,” says Fjord, giving her a look.
She laughs and slinks back into her pool’s bubble, giving them their privacy once more. Mollymauk cackles, patting Fjord on the shoulder once more as he settles against the rocks.
“I ever tell you about the time Ornna tried to teach me how to breath fire?”
He hasn’t, so he does, and Fjord’s as always enthralled. Stories of Mollymauk’s life in the circus, albeit just two short years, fascinates him. It doesn’t even matter if the stories are true, they weave a believable picture, of Ornna and Mollymauk in the back of the circus tent drinking alcohol and spitting at a torch and the latter of the two nearly burning his damn throat to shit because he didn’t hold proper lip technique.
“Can you believe that? Me, not having proper lip technique!”
Fjord wants to quip something dirty back at him, but the chatter of the girls to their left, and Nott’s ears peeking up from the right are a distant reminder that they aren’t as alone as he keeps thinking they are. It’s easy to be lulled into such a feeling, Mollymauk has no qualms about who hears what kind of obscenities fly out of his mouth. Instead, Fjord opts to just laugh and listen and the other goes on about another time he and Bo almost got arrested for “indecent exposure”.
Mollymauk goes on until he’s run out of stories, or he’s just tired of talking, and the two of them go back into their comfortable silence. This time, however, Fjord is relaxed; his mind does not wander to more important things, what tomorrow holds, what trials and tribulations they’ve overcome. He’s just simply in the moment, as Mollymauk has told him time and time again he needs to indulge more often in.
It’s a little while before Fjord feels a weight on his shoulder and he thinks it might be Mollymauk trying to get his attention again, but as he looks down it’s something a little different. It’s still the lavender tiefling, roommate, bath mate, best mate, but he’s fallen asleep, slumped against Fjord’s side as a prop so he doesn’t slide into the pool completely and drown. He smiles, a warmth filling his chest, as he goes to move a chunk of stray hair out of Mollymauk’s face and back behind a jeweled horn. There’s a quiet giggle from the left, and Fjord glances up to see the remnants of a pair of blue horns ducking behind the rocks, but he doesn’t say anything. He lets the girls have their fun, is grateful that the other three have given them their privacy, and doesn’t move Mollymauk from his position on his shoulder.
That is until Nugget blinks into the center of their pool and gets them both yelling in surprise. Bath time’s over.