Life After the Apocalypse

Atalanta doesn't seem to be having the issues with the water Clara is, but with her sliders set to minimal all she really has is the ears and a tail.

"I don't know about Clara, but so far I'm having a hard time noticing my tail. Or rather, it seems to be...automated? As long as I don't think about it too much it seems to be mostly behaving, but when I think about it I seems to really clumsy with it."

Taylor doesn't bring up that he was using this same automation to basically bathe right now.

Now that Taylor mentions it, Clara suddenly becomes more aware of her fluffy tail. It feels natural enough that she is barely bothered by it. "Speaking of which, how are you guys adjusting to this world? So much has happened that I can't believe it's only been a day." Clara tries to get to know her new friends, while apprehensively dipping a paw in the hot bath.

Grace feels a little guilty admitting it, but—

"A part of me would prefer to stay like this. Deep down, I know—or think—it’s gotta be… wrong, somehow. But this body is Me from my debut album cover." Glancing at her knee protruding from the suds, she whispers, "Right down to the airbrushed smoothness. It’s like a miracle o’ sorts."

Not wanting to sound insensitive, she notes, "I’m sure it’s not the same for everyone. I mean, you’ve got lives to get back to, I’m sure, and so I’ll help. What I’m not sure is whether I’d go back if each of us had the choice." She recalls her childhood summers, the arcade at Hampton Beach. Every game there had one common screen which she is now picturing in her head:

GAME OVER


"I suppose I’d go back," she says with a hint of trepidation. "Mend fences and whatnot…"

"Yeah, I... I haven't really had time to process everything," Raquel says. "I'm still a human, but other than that, this body is, uh, significantly different than what I'm used to. So, uh, get back to me on that one..."

She looks down at herself, blushes anew, and sinks down lower in the tub, still wrapped in a now soggy towel.

"Too early to tell."

Hearing Grace's confession, a thoughtful expression appears on Clara's feline face. "Actually, I kinda get where you're coming from. Real life has put a lot of pressure on me lately. This whole situation, bizarre as it is, gives me the temporary escape I need."

She then smiles, as much as a cat can smile, that is. "I'm an optimist, so I have faith we'll figure things out. Sure, being stuck here for years would be scary, but for a short time it might be a welcome break."

Still, a flicker of worry crosses her mind. "My only concern is how time flows here compared to the real world, if this were some elaborate VR program." She thinks about her parents. While they're a tad perfectionistic, and their expectations can be stifling at times, she knows they care about her more than anything else. What would happen to them if she may never return?

"Ok, I will take both of them. I am pretty sure I will find some Goblin Iron soon." says Fren. He sees that the elf is prepping for closing shop and he leaves to get some rations from the market. If there is time after this he will go to the bath house to take a hot bath.

Isbjorn laughs a little while ruffling his hand on Bradley's head. "Don't mind him, he's a bit testy about that," he says to Guy and Tina. If he's being perfectly honest however, even when Isbjorn believes that he's older than he looks—some of the others have become non-human after all—he himself couldn't help but treat Bradley as a kid. Maybe he's missing his own kid too much. Speaking of—

"I unfortunately can't remember my son's username. I think it was based on one of the characters from a show he likes... it's called anime I think? And he didn't directly use his own appearance like I did, he looked like a wolf." Isbjorn sighs. He and his ex-wife parted in not so good terms, but it would've been nice if he knew of his son's existence earlier. That way his knowledge of him wouldn't be so shallow at the very least. "I do know his class is guardian though, since I was playing a sorcerer and he said he would protect me," Isbjorn adds with a huge grin and a touch of fatherly pride.

>>>His tantrum subsiding and trying to avoid having his hair ruffled again, BradL33 retreats back to another part of Varduhn's Apothecary and looks around a bit more while Arga hangs around the "adults" and leaning on his staff as he listens to the conversation.
'Guardian, huh?" he patted the white trimmed armor breastplate he wore. "That's what I picked. Well, Tina picked it. She needed an escort for the playlist she was making about how to play the more difficult Elder Tales classes."
>>>"I'd done a short 'How to Play' video for Elder Tales a couple of years ago when I was first starting out. I did a bunch for older niche games back then just to have some views coming in but during the COVID Lockdowns it really started getting some hits and thought I'd get back around to an update sometime." she sighed, the emotion behind it sort of complex. "With this new expansion coming out and some big names starting to talk about it, I thought I'd make a few quick 'tips & tricks' videos on the harder to play classes and cash in on the hype. Dragged G into it and ended up here...and stuck playing the most obtuse class in the whole damned game." She looked apologetically at Guy.
>>>"Eh, she does the MMO thing. My expertise are FPS games; though I'm kinda glad we didn't get dumped into one of those!" >>>The sun had begun to set behind the abundant treeline around the village as the group spoke together, commiserating the situation they found themselves in. Outside on the boulevard, the shadows grew long as the sunlight dimmed only to be replaced with a warm glow from flickering lanterns that had begun to be set out in the tables in the middle of the boulevard by the women of the village. Large plates of simple food items soon followed and it appeared as if the villagers had begun to arrive for the evening meal.

---

>>>The young Maids quickly shuffled in and each took a tub and attended to its occupant, each girl with a sort of demure nature that was a bit unsettling to 21st century egalitarian sensibilities.
The young boy that accompanied the Maids simply assisted them until called away by Aegelby.
"oh my gosh, you're all so pretty!" one girl squealed.
>>>
"How did get such long hair? Is it Magic?" another asked, a sense of wonder in her voice.
>>>
"We're really getting to do your hair? I can't wait to tell Mama I helped wash an Adventurer's hair!"
>>>
>>>The way these girls went on about things made it feel like they were in the presence of celebrity or royalty or some social station to which these girls could never climb. Supremely eager to please, the girls pulled out all the stops in making the bathing experience memorable and pleasurable.
>>>For Grace, Raquel and Atalanta, the Maids explained the trick to managing their hair in an age without blow-dryers...hair oil and a thorough brushing. That seemed to immensely speed up the drying time of even Grace's mountain of hair and keep it tangle free while eliminating the frizz.
>>> Piphany rebuffed any attempts at help or assistance bathing, preferring instead to lurk mostly below the water. With only her nose and eyes above the waterline, crocodile-like, she seemed perfectly content to bathe herself.
>>>By the time the girls had finished and retreated from the room to allow the Adventurers to finish and get dressed, the windows to the outside were dark and the sound of the cicadas intensifying in the deepening dusk.

---

>>>While the girls settled in for a bit of pampering, Fren entered the Bath House and was quickly greeted by the Matron, Aegelby.
>>>"Well, another Adventurer come for a bath?" she met him with a stack of towels and clothes. The clothes he recognized as belonging to the others so he must be in the right place. "Right this way..." Aegelby led Fren to a room separate from the girls, but no less spacious. "I'll say, it's been an age since we've served a Fox Tail. If you'd choose your tub, I'll send Martin in to be your attendant shortly." The Matron left Fren to choose his tub and a young boy appeared a few minutes afterward. He was dressed in a crisp white shirt with his sleeves tied back and toting a caddy full of bath supplies for Fren's needs...whatever those might be. Having a fur pelt was a new experience.

Grace is about as giddy as the maids. As soon as they leave, she says, "Oh, those little maids’re so adorable—so polite! Talented, too." Her posture straightens as she stops short of rising from the tub.

"Well, shall we head to the center of Belle?"

"So I guess the real question," Atalanta says to the group after the baths are done, [b]"Is along the line of, 'are we going to Mound City?'"

Grace could spend the rest of her life in a place like Belle… except that the royal treatment she’s received in her short existence in Elderscrollsville is because she’s an Adventurer. Not Adventuring would pull the plug on that. So yeah, taking it easy ain’t happening. stick to the plan.

"Of course," she replies. "Dinner, bed, breakfast… then off to Mound City first thing in the morning!" She adds, "—after breakfast."

"It feels...weird...to have NPCs just kinda fawn over you, doesn't it?" Piphany stirred in her cooling bathwater, a bit hesitant to get out. "It was kinda okay when they were just like robots. They only repeated the same dialogue prompts, walked a path track they never deviated from and now they're like...like...people" She hurriedly splashed out of the tub while the others were distracted by towelling off, their own body insecurities or getting dressed. She towelled off rapidly, continuing in a more hushed tone "I mean, ARE they people?"

>>>The main boulevard of the small village was quite a bit more bustling as ths girls meet up with BradL33, Isbjorn, Arga and a couple of new people, an armored man and a robed woman.
>>>The deepening shadows of the end of twilight and the beginning of night are dispelled by the sudden flickering of lanterns flaring to life. The lanterns cast a warm-hued light across the boulevard and point out that most of the village must be gathering here to eat. Long tables & benches sat in the middle of the boulevard, gathering various congregations of villagers. The tables were there when Varduhn gave the Adventurers their tour of the village but it wasn't evident at the time what they were for.

>>> "Oi! Hey, hey!" the armored man enthusiastically waved at the girls as they entered the boulevard. "More people!"

>>>"Here, my friends, let us all take this table." the old Apothecary waved towards a long table that should fit everyone. "We villagers often eat together at evening meal when the weather allows. As guests of Belle, it's only natural that you would get welcome to join our meal. We don't often get visitors so please don't mind the stares. Many of us are curious about Adventurers but also a bit...wary."


>>>As if bound to disprove her grandfather, Adanna and her felinoid friend run right up to the table and hop onto the bench, much to the chagrin of Varduhn. "How many people have you killed?" she asked bluntly to none of the Adventurers in particular with the brutal honesty of a child. Jean Louis' father was in the guard and he killed lots of people..."
>>>For his part, Jean Louis covered his whole face with his paws, tail swishing agitatedly. He looked like he was about to die of sheer embarrassment. "non. non. That was a war." he said demurely from behind his paws. "not adventuring..." his accent was very different from Varduhn's or Adanna's or Aegelby's, almost like French??

Fren prefers to be alone in the bath so he says to the boy to leave. Not that he has insecurities with his body, at least he did not had in real life. He undresses and sees that the cosmetic scars he chose during character creation were there. He even has long "hair" like fur on his head, that fall like a lion's mane when they are untied. How deep is this game after all? What really is happening? he thinks as he enters the bathtub. He feels his body strange, feeling fur instead of skin and his tail is soaked. He spends some time soaking and then he gets out, he dries himself as best as he can with the towels and dresses up. He leaves to find the other people.

He feels the warm food in his belly and, strangely, the feeling is like hunger and sustainance in real life. He shares the same concerns with Piphany and he starts to miss his girlfriend and his dog. Fren likes Piphany's style, as he did some "death lolitas" dolls for a client some time back. "I like your style and I think the scythe is awesome...what class you picked?" he says as he eats.

Raquel finds herself relaxing a bit as the maids tend to her hair. It feels good to be pampered. It's something she's never really experienced before. So she feels a bit less self-conscious when the time comes to exit the bath, dry off, and don her clothes. She tugs on her breeches and the padded undershirt before strapping on her armor, somewhat annoyed that of all of the women in the group aside from Atalanta, she's the only one whose outfit exposes her midriff. She silently curses whichever (probably male) developer coded the assassin's armor set.

When Piphany brings up the nature of the NPCs, Raquel frowns. "I don't know. They definitely act like living, breathing people. I think we should treat them as such."

She introduces herself to the new people at dinner, but mostly keeps to herself from that point on as she eats. Every so often, though, she'll sneak a glance towards Grace, somewhat taken by the boisterous bard's bold personality.

As Grace dries and dresses, she echoes Raquel’s sentiments. "I’m all for treating NPCs like real people whether they are or not. They’re being very kind to us, and if anything, I’m afraid I’ll let ’em all down."

---

At dinner, Grace happily introduces herself to Guy and Tina. She finds the ‘killed-people’ comment unsettling, but does not respond to it. It comes as a relief that War and Adventuring are seen as ‘different.’

She decides that the People of the Land deserved to be entertained for their hospitality. She slowly removes the impossibly large baroque theory from her purse……and again, Grace. Cannot. Play!

She is mortified by the novice mistakes. She blushes furiously, and in a pathetic squeak she says, "Forgive me. I should know better than to tune my instrument at the table. Haha?"

She’s about to put her instrument away, but is afraid even that will draw attention—which is what she wanted, or would want if she didn’t suddenly suck at the lute! This should be easy. What is wrong with me?

Raquel sees Grace struggling and decides to step in to help. "That was pretty good, Grace. Do you know ‘Wonderwall?’" She begins to sing, hoping the bard will start accompanying her. Raquel’s singing voice isn’t great, but maybe it will distract from Grace’s earlier mistakes:

Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you
By now, you shoulda somehow
Realised what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now...

Grace does know the tune…

—and the memory of backing O’Keys’ vocals bolsters her confidence. Grace plays the bass naturally, and her voice is angelic as she counters her bass playing with a soprano harmonization of the second verse.

Backbeat, the word is on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now…

She rises from her chair, standing as she plays, moving her hips as if the oversized lute is her dancing partner. Her eyes meet Raquel’s as she bellows the chorus with feeling—whether Raquel continues to sing or not—and by the end of the song, she dances her way toward the sweet little maids.

She was hoping to repay them with a performance, and thanks to Raquel, she found whatever she was missing! And so she plays for the children, ending the tune with a curtsy.

Her "thank you" is directed at both the maids and Raquel.

>>>The villagers all settled into family and familiar groups to socialize and discuss the day. While mostly a human population, the village has a fair number of Elves and a noticable few families of Dwarves and Catfolk.
>>>Aegelby and her large gaggle of Maids soon appear, each carrying either a stack of bowls and cups or a heavy pot of steaming stew to place on the tables. Large wooden pitchers of an amber colored drink soon follow, brought out by the few boys in her employ. The young boy, Martin, who attended to Fren's bath brings the libation to the Adventurer's table along with a platter of earthy looking brown bread.

>>>"Aegelby is doing a fine job training the young ones of the village." Varduhn beamed proudly.

>>>"'Cept me..." Adrianna interjected, eagerly tearing off a chunk of bread impatiently. She nearly climbed onto the table to reach the bread before Varduhn intercepted her and handed it to her instead.
>>>"Yes...except for you
..." the old Apothecary sighed dejectedly before resuming his conversation with the Adventurers. "I trust your baths were up to your standards? I supply the Baths with their cleaning supplies, oils, soaps and perfumes. I learned the Recipes for those in my youth when I traveled to the cities."

---

>>>Zoning out while Varduhn was talking, lost in her own thoughts perhaps, Piphany was invited back to what passed for 'reality' by Fren as the FoxTail spoke to her. "Hm? Oh, um I picked Assassin for my Class. I kinda felt like beating on stuff for once instead of being a punching bag..." she explained, a brief panic setting into her eyes and she tried to cover with a quick explanation, "...like , um, the Warrior Classes. Guardians and Pirates and stuff. Yeah." She swallowed hard and reached out to pour herself a wooden cup of whatever was in the pitchers. "I got a gift card for the Elder Tales cash shop from a friend and bought the scythe. I don't really even know what it does but it looked...I dunno...cool. it sorta 'spoke' to me and I made my character kinda around that. I hope that's not stupid..." It wasn't clear if she was looking for validation or an opinion from Fren. "Anyway, Fox Tails are pretty cool looking. What made you choose that? Is it...weird...not being human?" Having tasted her drink, she shot a confused look and set it down on the table in front of her.

---

>>>A bit eager to eat, but not the first person to ladle out stew into their bowl, Guy spoons a healthy serving into his mouth...and immediately tries to stealthy return it to the bowl. Holding up the bowl, he looked at it's contents while he stirred it around with his spoon. Carrots, potatoes, something pale green like spinach or herbs, a thick brown sauce, maybe even a chunk or two of meat...he found nothing unusual or a miss but the expression on his face was unmistakeable.

>>>The sorcerer was close behind Guy in discovering how weird the food was, though he managed to swallow it by washing it down with an entire cup full of his drink. "Varduhn? Wha...what is this...er, fine meal?" he stammered unconvincingly.

---

---

>>>Grace and Raquel are spared from the immediate discovery of how bad the food is by their impromptu performance. Grace fires up her Bass Theorbo and finds the strings and her fingers again fighting her efforts to play the song she wants. It's disconcerting to have your body not obey your commands and the effort is frustrating to say the least. She knows she can play the tune she wants but her body is trying to play something else entirely. Activating her Troubadour Ability, a handful of gold coins rain down on the table from seemingly nowhere much to the amazement of Varduhn and Adanna. The surrounding villagers all pull their attention towards Grace and the Adventurer's table as the notes, both auditory and literally visual, start flowing forth.
>>>Raquel jumps up to start a chorus to give Grace a lifeline. Maybe it's the external beat or just the encouragement or the expectation of the musical resistance but Grace finds her beat and starts beating out the chosen 90s hit. Guy starts drumming (passably) on the table in rhythm along with Grace and Raquel.