Welcome to Gaia! ::

Some days it was hard to keep track of what world she was one. There were oodles of worlds that were more developed than her own homeworld, others that were approximately the same level of civilization as her asteroid, and some were more primitive. Though the setting was quite different from the homeworld of Iris, the civilization level was approximately equal to that she was used to. Certainly, the weather was warm (and humid, which did not agree with the performer very well), but she still felt very much at home, despite being on the road.

Despite the familiarity with this particular world, the Rainbow Dancer was not 100% at ease. Her skin was sticky from sweat. After a good performance, it wasn't so bad. However, the problem had been a daylong and nightlong problem, and after a good performance, she felt the need to cool off.

The other girls had wandered off to tend to their own agendas after the show, but Iris stayed behind. Some had decided to go out on the town and enjoy the good eatings to be had on this world. Some decided upon tidying up the performance space and keeping ********* company.

The blonde had instead decided to go into the dressing area and cool off. The area was messy, various street clothing tossed about carelessly, piles of costumes and accents filling the area. There were even some boxes and crates stacked about, since they continually had to pack up and ship out for the next destination. The Iridian casually rounded a low barrel that had a few rags hanging off of it, fingers delicately touching the edges of the cloth.

"...I don't think I will ever get used to it here..." she muttered to herself.

Perhaps it was the muggy weather of Pomona that had dulled her senses. As far as she knew, she was alone in the dressing area. Even then, the only ones allowed in the dressing areas were usually the other girls, and there was no real need to be shy in those cases. They were all girls, they knew what other girls looked like!

With a hand, the blonde grabbed all of the rags from the barrel, then with her other hand she popped the top. The contents were simple. It was water. It was all at room temperature, which made the water a bit warm, but it would still be refreshing compared to the sticky feel sweat left one with.

Setting the stopper of the barrel to the ground, she then leaned over the barrel and dipped a cloth into the liquid. Her fingers barely touched the liquid and they already felt refreshed.

First thing to get treated to a momentary wash was her face. One thing about being a performer is that one had to wear paints upon their face to be seen by the audience. She was pretty quick to wash such off usually, but the weather had slowed her down quite a bit, so only now was she getting the chance to do it. With the wet rag, she wiped down her face, colors bleeding off her face until what was left was just Iris.

On a normal day, that would have been where the washing would have ended for now. However, with as gross as her body felt, she needed to do something more. Setting down the paint smeared rag, she then took another rag and dipped it into the barrel.

With the clean rag, she then began to rub down her body with the wet cloth. She ran down her neck gently, then moved onto both of her arms, moving from wrists down to the shoulders. Once she got to the core of her body though, she had to pause. She could just wash around the areas that were clothed. However, she knew she'd be changing into street clothing soon enough.

So she set the rag down and reached behind her to unlatch something. When she had resumed her cleaning of her upper body, the top she had been wearing had been set upon one of the other crates, the golden coins turning slightly and glinting from their new resting spot.

She had been in the middle of washing off when a very sensitive sound hit her ears. Immediately, the rag she had been using was lifted up to cover her chest minimally. Her posture went from a relaxed one to something rigid and tense within seconds.

Gold eyes instantly shot to where she had left her clothing, noticing rather easily that they were quite jostled. These sorts of things didn't happen when one was alone. Which logically meant she wasn't alone.

The first logical question to get uttered to the air was "....who's there?" Where as many a girl in such a position might have shrunk up, cowering in a manner to try and remain covered, Iris couldn't remain. Carefully, she began to approach with careful footsteps towards the crate in question. Only a rag and her arm were used to hide the regions usually hidden by clothing.

Each step brought her closer to the top and to the peeping tom.

And with each step closer, it made it more and more likely she would soon enough see for herself who had been guilty of this crime against woman-kind everywhere!

By the time she got to her top, the area had been cleared slightly of the intruder. However, another subtle sound caught her attention and soon enough the guilty party announced his presence. It took mere moments for her face to turn completely red, and for her body to start shaking slightly from the rage building up inside of her.

When she finally spoke, she practically exploded.

"Crims.... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!!!!"

She barely managing to keep herself covered, she stomped forward until she was in his face. No excuse would save him from the fate which Iris had deemed worthy of his offense. Especially after getting even a glimpse of (what she assumed to be) that smug smile on his face.

He might have been protecting his face, but there were plenty of other things that weren't being protected.

With one anger-filled swing, she soon enough was punching one of those areas.

The lowest part of his abdomen and frightfully close to much more sensitive areas on a man.

She wasn't smiling smugly when the young man fell. She still had all of her anger weighing down her face. He could groan and whine and roll slightly to try and nurse his newly injured region, but sympathy was not something he was going to be getting for a long while.

Her top was not exactly an easy one to put on, and even if she turned away, the blonde now had the strange suspicion that Crims would somehow be able to get a peek.

So instead she opted to use one of the larger wash clothes, holding it over her chest level tightly enough so nothing would accidentally peek out.

Crims continued to whine about how this wasn't his fault, and rather than argue with him, she said the one thing that really had gotten her blood to boil.

"What if it had been one of the other girls?!" Her own modesty be damned, if this had been Irene or Eunomia or heaven forbid Hygiea or Egeria, she wouldn't have been nearly as kind! They were her family, even if not related by blood.

She stepped up to the one she had just assaulted, leaning down while making sure to stay covered. She was practically hissing out death from her lips as she asked "Why are you even here on Pomona, Crims?!"

His arguments were weak in her opinion. Her expression wasn't softening even slightly as he attempted to regain her favor with flawed logic. The vague responses also weren't helping his case either.

"...so is that what they taught you as a knight? 'Always shift the blame to someone else?' It's not your fault that you were sneaking around in the performer's area? This wouldn't have happened if the other girls were around rather than just me? Trouble likes to find you?" She shook her head in disgust and turned away.

She was about to ask him to clarify why a knight of any sort would need to be on a world such as Pomona, when he had the GALL to ask if he should leave her to get dressed.

"No." Her tone grew even more sharp with the response.

"...you wanted to be here so bad... you stay... and I'll go find someplace to get changed." She grumbled a bit as she had to turn back towards him, even if just briefly, so she could grab her top.

"...some of the girls actually are still around... I wouldn't want you to go checking them out too!"

Were she some other girl, she might have run off, crying about how she was seen in an indecent manner. Perhaps she could have gone crying to *********, and the Mauvian could have made it all better for her.

No, that was not her style.

Once she was someplace further ahead, she hastily fussed with her top (which was always more difficult to get on than to take off). Once she was firmly fastened in, she then turned on her heels and turned back to facing where she had just come from.

She was far from calmed down, but even the blonde knew pain when she saw it. She hadn't even hit them and he still fell like a giant tree.

However, she still didn't really want to talk to him, because all he was going to do was make up excuses. Iris also didn't want to leave him by himself, because he was more likely to get into worse trouble if she did leave him unsupervised.

With a deep huff, she soon enough was hopping up onto a low plank of wood, then onto a crate balanced up somewhat tall, then finally up onto one of the support beams for the space. Though Iris was no acrobat in comparison to Irene or Psyche, she still had a decent amount of grace and ability, even when so high up. Carefully, she stepped, one foot in front of the other, towards the space above where the Squire was sitting. She had to be quite careful, frequently placing a hand over some of the coins adorning her costume so they wouldn't make noise. Once she seemed to be in a spot she was comfortable with, she lowered herself down in a painfully slow manner to sit and watch.

For a decent while, the Squire seemed content enough with just sitting and waiting. Which meant that Iris was just as content with watching. It seemed to be true that he wasn't entirely interested in peering in on the other girls, despite her mention of them. Though it was still as embarrassing to have him see her without her top on, he was less guilty than she perhaps had thought.

Would she let him get off the hook so easily?

Probably not.

The moment he began to even twitch enough to move, the blonde seemed to move as well. He hopped up and off, heading towards an exit which surely had to pass over where Iris was currently lurking. She was a little less careful with her movements, since she had to act fast before he completely passed underneath her. She was not a gymnast, but she had a certain familiarity with her home away from home. So soon enough she had dropped down and held onto the wooden beam with her hands, hanging with her legs opened up to form a V.

...okay... 3....2....1....

She had to time it perfectly, and the moment came when she had to move. Rather suddenly she lowered herself more, as much as she could before dropping down. It might have been a very sudden surprise for Crims, but soon enough he had a passenger perched upon her shoulders.

"...so... what's up, Crims?" she said quite casually, leaning her whole upper body against the back of his head and allowing her fingers to drift through his hair for a friendly ruffle.