Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ennéa guiltily paused in her singing of a slightly off-tune rendition of Singin' in the Rain. "Sorry!" She called back from the other shower stall. "I can stop if you want."

Please do. Baraz said in an over-exaggerated pained and put upon voice. Ennéa flicked the bead on her bracelet.

She resumed scrubbing at her hair and then stood for a long while under the hot water, letting the force of the shower rinse most of the shampoo out. It felt nice just to let the water massage her aching body.

"Okay, you were right, Maddie." She admitted. "Showering was definitely a good idea." Her fingers were starting to get pruney though and her hair had been the last thing she'd needed to wash. Ennéa rubbed at her hair a little bit more just to make sure she got the rest of the suds out and then turned the water off.

"I'm going to go on ahead." She called to Maddie as she dried off and then wrapped a towel around herself. "I'll wait for you in the changing area."

And with that she scampered off, leaving a trail of wet footprints across the floor.

Ennéa studied the ceiling and idly kicked her legs to and fro. There was a fairly sizable spider spinning a web up over in the corner by the door and Ennéa watched it curiously.

Large as the spider was, Ennéa was fairly sure it wasn't a ceiling spider like the ones she used to see back at home. Which was good, because those spiders had probably been shadows and *that* was an icky thought now. Bad enough that Baraz watched her while she showered, but to have monster spies in here as well, watching her. If Aria had been a spy there could be others...

Baraz snorted. Like they'd be interested in watching at you, flatchest. Now your friend, she has some nice... spheres. Baraz's single eye leered at her.

Ennéa scowled and looked away from the spider, her attention turning inward. "Stop reading my thoughts."

I'm not reading your thoughts! Baraz was annoyed. I can't help it when you think so loud.

"Well, stop it anyway." Ennéa said, equally annoyed.

No, you.

"No--" Ennéa sighed, "forget it." She kicked at a locker and then winced when she stubbed her sock-covered toe. "Ow." She rubbed the toe.

So grumpy~ Baraz said. Maybe you should take a nap.

"I'm not grumpy!" She retorted crossly, then slumped a little. "Okay, maybe I am. A little." Ennéa sighed again and looked back up at the spider. "Do you think all our missions will be like this?" Her voice had a plaintive tone.

I don't know. Maybe. You're my first hunter. Baraz said. But we'll train hard and it'll be okay. Your biggest problem is you need to stop spacing out and focus.

Ennéa opened her mouth to reply but then Maddie entered. "Oh, hi Maddie!" she said, bouncing to her feet. Baraz rolled his eye. "I feel 100% less icky and sticky!" She confirmed. "Though geez, you were in there for a while; did you use up all the hot water? We'd better leave before Candice comes." She giggled at the thought of their fellow hunter's outrage and felt a small sense of vindictive satisfaction.

Ennéa laughed and ducked as Maddie mussed her hair. She'd forgotten to bring her bottle of conditioner with her so her hair was an even wilder mess than usual. She pulled a hair tie out of her pocket and pulled it into a ponytail.

"Not just giant," She said, "massive, colossal, gargantuan!" Ennéa grinned and hopped to her feet. "Well, shall we? I'm hungry." She said as she headed towards the door.

They entered the mess hall and Ennéa made a beeline for the ice cream machine though she had to make a U-turn when she realized she'd forgotten to get a bowl and had to go get one. She grabbed a fish stick off the steam table as she walked past it and stuffed it in her mouth.

"What flavor to you want, Maddie?" She asked around a mouthful of fish, but then she eagerly turned to the machine without waiting for an answer. "No wait, never mind," She said. "I'll just get some of each! It's more interesting that way." Ennéa proceeded to fill the bowl with a veritable mountain of ice cream that was indeed larger than her head.

You're going to eat all that? Baraz asked skeptically.

"Well, I'm going to share some with Maddie, but yes!" Ennéa said gleefully. The ice cream mountain was threatening to landslide and Ennéa had to quickly shore it up with a cookie. She then added a couple more cookies for good measure before slathering the whole thing with caramel sauce and a healthy dollop of whipped cream.

...crush some potato chips and sprinkle them on there? Baraz asked.

Ennéa paused but then went to fetch some chips. "Favorite topping?" She asked as she grabbed a snack-size bag of plain potato chips bag and crumpled it in her hands.

Kind of. Baraz's tone was surprisingly subdued. It's actually roasted cave crickets but you don't have any of those and potato chips are an okay substitute.

Ennéa sprinkled the chips on the sundae and then added some rainbow sprinkles for good measure. "How's that?"

I still think you're going to make yourself sick, but it's fine. Baraz said. Don't forget the cherry.

"Of course not! I would never forget the cherry, Baraz!" Ennéa grabbed a single maraschino cherry and placed it on top of the whole ice cream mess with a grand flourish. "Okay!" She handed a spoon to Maddie and held up her own spoon. "Let's dig in!" She said grinning.

Ennéa beamed and happily licked her spoon. Strawberry and pistachio with a little bit of rocky road. Yummy. She reached around to get a little more of the chocolate ice cream in her next spoonful.

"I have a hard time imagining Caelius eating ice cream. Or having any sort of fun at all."

Baraz snorted. Fancy-haired ponce. At least he can fight.

"Oh, Baraz says he does have fancy hair though." She wiped at a bit of whipped cream on her upper lip.

Hey! That's not what I meant!

Ennéa smiled, pleased with herself, and ate a caramel sauce covered potato chip. "Hm, not bad."

"Your hair looks looks nice at that length." Ennéa patted Maddie on the shoulder. "Anyway, at least it's not this wild mess." She grabbed a curl and let it sproing back. "There's a reason why I put my hair up in bao."

Ennéa managed to get a bit of caramel sauce on her hair. "Oh shoot." She grabbed a napkin and tried to wipe it off.

"I won't, I won't!" Ennéa reassured Maddie, even though the caramel sauce seemed to be getting everywhere now. It was delicious but starting to get out of hand.

Ennéa stirred her spoon through the rapidly melting ice cream. Even with Maddie's help, they had only managed to eat about a third of the sundae -- maybe even less. She spooned up a bit and let it dribble back into the bowl. "I guess we should've invited Robert with us." She said and put down her spoon. "I'm getting kind of full." She admitted in a tiny voice.

Told you you couldn't eat all that. Baraz said smugly. Ennéa rolled her eyes.

She turned to Maddie, giving the older girl a smile. "Thanks for coming with me, this was fun."

Ennéa hesitated but then blurted out, "I'm so glad you're okay." She said earnestly and then punctuated it with a slightly sticky hug. "When you fell from that monster, I was... anyway." She sat back again. "I'm glad you're not dead. And um, let's do this again sometime, okay? The ice cream sundae thing, I mean."

"Thanks!" Ennéa beamed at Maddie's praise be then sobered a little. "I tried my best, anyway." She said. "Though you were right, I shouldn't have put off getting my weapon for so long..."

Hmph. I'd say. Baraz muttered.

"I was just scared." Her shoulders slumped. "I still am, a little." She admitted quietly.

Ennéa suddenly looked up and waved her hands. "Oh, though not of Baraz. I mean, he's kind of freaky when he gets all battle-crazy but he's just a flying eyeball."

Oh for the-- I'm an Ahiman, you---

"He protects me though." Ennéa continued, a soft smile on her face. She rubbed the blue bead on her bracelet. "I kind of get what they mean now, about how our weapons are our partners."

Baraz was uncharacteristically quiet at that.

"But anyway," Ennéa said briskly. "I'm going to work hard. That way we can hit those Halloweeners even harder. Baraz and me, you and Kouki. Phoenix. All of us hunters." She nodded firmly and then got to her feet.

Ennéa looked down at the still mostly full ice cream bowl and looked a little sheepish. "And yeah, I won't get so much ice cream next time..." She smiled at Maddie. "after our next mission."