[PRP] Hot Springs Drama (Li Shou / Helmut)

[Enoh Love]

A few days of silence passed and life went back to normal. The ghoul stopped fearing that the terrible feline would show up and ruin her day, and as time ticked on the happier she became. Everything was going to be okay. She didn't have to see him anymore. Of course a trace of him was still around: his plush remained on her perfectly made bed. He must not have wanted it anymore though, which suited her just fine. It was even beginning to smell less like him now, which was even better; it meant she could continue to cuddle it at night - because she had no plushies of her own - without feeling bad. A few more days and it'd be just like he was never there, but the plush had always been.

Today the plush had been left behind to guard her room while she went out, intent on heading to the local hot springs. It had been colder than usual lately, and the hot water in her bathroom simply wasn't doing it anymore. She couldn't get warm no matter what she tried, which made the hot springs her last resort.

So there she was, happy as a clam with a towel wrapped around her tiny body, staring at the steaming water. So far she was the only one there, which was even better, and she wasted no time in scampering on in, whimpering in discomfort as her eagerness made her too impatient to ease into it.

sexy cocaine

 

[Sexy Cocaine]

Li Shou had heard from fellow students (by eavesdropping) that there were hotsprings not too far from campus. While the boil had never been intensely fond of water, the amount of heat a natural spring put off was more than enough to tempt him.

It had been three days without his beloved plush. Why he had left it there so long was not a matter of consideration for Helmut, but rather a matter of embarrassment for him. The boil hadn't realized how hard it would be to sleep without his plush. It was a miserable scenario, yet it somehow felt like just desserts after making a ghoul cry like that. He hadn't been able to convince himself that she deserved what she got... Because she really hadn't.

Would that stop him from being an a*****e again? Oh no, of course not. At least now everyone knew he was capable of feeling guilt, though.

Sighing, the boil approached the pool of water, tossing his towel to the side before cannon balling in without a care for anyone that may or may not be around.  

[Enoh Love]

"WA---HEY!" Helmut yelped as someone cannon balled into the springs, the spray of water making her throw her arms up to protect her face from the offending water. "D-don't do---" She paused then, briefly, as the water stilled enough for her to see a pair of white tipped ears and two-toned hair.

"...Oh. It's you." The ghoul grumbled, disappointed, and sank down into the water until her lips were submerged enough to blow bubbles.
 

[Sexy Cocaine]

Li Shou erupted from the water like some kind of cat-lobster hybrid, red as a tomato. And thus, shouting obscenities from another language commenced.

Until his ears picked up on a certain someone's utter disappointment to see him again.

"Oh, it's you." He practically mimicked her tone and lack of excitement, his eyes narrowing. At least he was already red in the face. No blushing today.

"W-what're you doing here?" Li Shou asked for lack of a better question. It was obvious what she was doing here, but he wasn't about to leave just because the situation was awkward. He had every right to be here, after all.  

[Enoh Love]

Helmut continued to grumble and did her best to try and ignore him, going as far as to drift to the ledge that was furthest from him.

"What do you think I'm doin?" She muttered unhappily, ears lowered until they were practically glued to her skull. "Havin' a bath, dummy. It's warm." It was a proper explanation anyway, but one given while she turned her back to him, draping herself on the ledge to keep her arms in the colder temperatures.

"Whattre you doing here?" At least she had the courtesy to look over her shoulder when she asked.  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Oh, so THAT'S how it was gonna be.

Well fine.

Li Shou folded his arms in a huff and turned away as well, only glancing back when the question was turned on him. "What do YOU think I'm doing?" Seemed like they were at a stalemate.

This was ridiculous.

"Why are you so mad at me?" The boil asked after falling silent for a moment. He thought everything had been sort of okay when he left, and surely she hadn't been upset this whole time... Right?

"Not that I care or anything..."  

[Enoh Love]

...Was he really asking her that? Really?

"Because you were really mean!" She announced, more than happy to share her reasoning with him, even if he didn't care. "You hurt my feelings." She added, much softer this time. Now she turned to face him but kept her back to the wall, sinking into the water again to blow bubbles because she could.  

[Sexy Cocaine]

"Yeah?! Well..." The demon looked like he might switch to confrontation mode, but when her voice changed, he took a moment to reconsider.

His back stayed turned to her as he thought back to the words that were exchanged that night. What? Why should he care if the truth hurt?

But... She had played with him, and even made him dinner. Truth or not, he supposed there were better ways to say what he said... Li Shou just didn't know of any yet.

Maybe, just maybe she had deserved a little better.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled quietly, shooting a nervous look back at her. It wasn't every day he apologized, after all.

He didn't like it.  

[Enoh Love]

She expected confrontation. She expected more shouting, or more lies; anything but what she got. His apology, however quiet, stunned her into slack-jawed silence. It stretched on for a little while as she tried to process what she was hearing; certainly she had misheard? Maybe she had fallen asleep in the water and was drowning. That made sense to her.

Funny how that seemed more plausible than Li Shou apologizing.

"Oh. Um. It's...okay?" It wasn't, really, but it might as well have been. "And um...thank you for lending me Kitty. He's...really soft." The ghoul shifted awkwardly, carefully wrapping her towel a little tighter around herself.  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Was it? It sure didn't sound okay. He didn't feel okay either. Mama may have told him that apologizing was necessary when you felt in your gut that you did something wrong, but she never warned him it might not make one feel any better.

"His name is Mao Mao." Li Shou huffed, grabbing his tail to properly groom it. "And he was a gift from Mama." His tone grew softer as his thoughts shifted to the time before he left for school.

The demon sighed as he sank down into the water. "She said she would do her best to get me out of here and home, but I'm still here." That was why he didn't want to make friends. There was no point if he was just going to turn around and leave, which he fully intended to do... As long as there were no consequences for him.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

"Mao Mao." Helmut repeated, committing the name to memory; the toy was probably the only thing she immediately liked about him. It was cute, and he was not. Though once he admitted that it was a gift from his precious Mama, Helmut realized his initial gesture of lending it to her was...actually rather impressive. If it was that close to him, and he willingly handed it to her and didn't demand it back immediately...

The train of thought ended there, as she watched him groom his tail and mutter something about going home. The ghoul blinked slowly, trying to figure out what he meant, and rose out of the water just enough to speak without inhaling water.

"Are you homesick?" She took a shot in the dark that failed to meet it's mark, but then again, she often didn't want to be here because it was so far from home, either.

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[Sexy Cocaine]

"I never wanted to be here in the first place." Li Shou admitted immediately. "My father gave me an ultimatum. He said that if I could graduate from this place, I could do what I wanted and he would never bother me again. If I failed, though, I'd have to begin rigorous training under his watch."

The boil clasped his hands together and used them to shoot a little trickle of water upwards. "Mama is usually good at convincing him to back out of such things, though, so I figured I'd only have to be here a couple weeks before I could come back home." But a couple weeks had come and gone and... Well... Here he was. "Why are you here?" He wondered if all parents forced their children to enroll like that.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

"Oh." Was all Helmut had to say about that. That seemed like quite the ultimatum! It was hard to comment on it, and for a moment she was torn between thinking his Father had the right idea and that he was also somewhat unfair. She was back to blowing bubbles as he explained about his Mother, humming thoughtfully as well. That seemed like a skill all Moms possessed, wasn't it? The ability to make Dads change their minds.

"OH!" The noise was cut off with some gurgling and some sputtering, spitting out the water that had flooded into her mouth when she opened it. Once she had recovered though, she just went on talking as if it never happened. "They want me to learn to control my FEAR and be scarier...we um, had someone from Amity stay in our B&B and she told them all about it and they thought it was a good idea." She nodded into the water, watching the ripples instead of the boil. "I thought it'd be fun, and it kinda is, but I miss home a lot too." Her ears slowly drooped and her voice grew quieter as she admitted to her homesickness.

"Didja ever think maybe you should try to win the bet? That way your Daddy won't be able to bother you anymore!"  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Li Shou couldn't help but laugh at the ghoul's misfortune after she practically inhaled the water. Oh, good times. Good times.

But... Be scarier? She was already an eating machine with those terrifying teeth. How much scarier did she need to be?!

It didn't surprise him to know that the ghoul was homesick. He imagined whatever hovel she crawled out of was probably much more cozy than this place. Moreover... There wasn't that much fun to be had around here. The boil felt she might have been sugar coating things a little.

Truth be told, Li Shou had come here with full intentions of doing just that: proving to his father he could. But... "It's too hard." He said simply, arms folding. "It was unfair of them to just expect me to be suddenly okay on my own without any servants." Why, oh why couldn't he have just had one servant? It wasn't fair!  

[Enoh Love]

This time, when Helmut sputtered, it wasn't because of the water.

"Wh-what?! That's silly!" She shook her head so quickly water went flying everywhere. "But you can learn! You're a pretty stupid boil, but not that stupid." She had no doubt that he was capable of learning; after all, he got the hang of play fighting! ...Though he did drag his feet on it for what felt like an eternity in the mind of a rowdy ghoul.

"You don't need servants, and it's only three years!" Though three years seemed like forever to her. Maybe she'd go home on holidays to break it up.