Perspective Shift: Red(8) - The Mixed Bath

“Here we go, pretty sure this is mixed bath 2.” Daniel says, stopping outside a door with the words ‘Mixed Bath 2’ on a sign above it.

“How’d you work that one out?” You ask dryly, earning a smirk from your friend.

“My genius can be baffling at times, I know. You’re lucky you have me around.”

Chuckling, you reply. “Sure am. How else would I ever manage to find my way to places that are clearly labeled? Truly, I would be lost without you.”

Sharing another laugh, the two of you make your way out of the tackily-decorated brick hallway and into the simple changing room, which you find empty. One of the lockers looks to be in use however, so there’s almost certainly someone in the bath. Noticing this, the golden-haired young man grins widely. “Guess we’re not alone. Man, I hope it’s a chick. Be nice to actually get to see something sexy… I get why Kay suggested the girls split off, but I really wish we were all taking a bath together. Woulda been fun.”

“Can’t disagree there.” You respond as the two of you walk over towards a set of lockers. “But it would have been tough to convince Blue to go along with it, especially with me here.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda hard to imagine her willingly getting into a bath with you, despite the fact that you’ve definitely seen her naked before.” The blue-eyed boy replies, his grin only growing wider. He then begins to undress, first pulling off his shirt and revealing his muscular physique. Suddenly feeling mildly self-conscious about your own less defined musculature, you nonetheless follow suit and begin to strip, taking off your hat and shirt as the blonde continues speaking. “Speaking of which; you’ve slept with her before, yeah? I’ve seen her heart picture on your TPP.”

A slight flush of embarrassment hits your face, even though you know there’s no real reason for it. You probably should’ve expected this kind of guy-talk, what with you and Daniel alone for the first time in a while. He has to be curious about Blue, given the… complexity of your relationship with her. “Yeah. I’ve beaten her three times before. Our most recent battle is the first one I’ve lost against her.”

“Oh nuh-uh. None of that vague shit. Details man! How was it, how was she? C’monnn!” The Vermillion boy says, smacking your arm lightly with a shoe he’s just taken off.

You give him a light slap to the arm back and reply with a chuckle. “Okay, okay! Let’s see…” You pause for a moment, taking off your own shoes as you take a brief moment to decide what to say. It’s not like you need to be secretive about anything, as the worst thing that being truthful could bring is just Blue somehow finding out and getting mad at you. Which she’ll do no matter what anyway, so you just answer honestly. “Well, after our first battle, I had her take her top off, then groped her and kissed her before having her give me a blowjob. There’s a video of the end of that on my TPP.”

“Yup, saw that too. Heh, she didn’t seem too mad at you back then though.” Your friend’s grin widens, and a wry smile crosses your lips as well.

“Yeah… Yeah.” A heavy sigh escapes you, and your smile fades. “That’s how she was after our second battle too, when I took her virginity. She started out her usual irritable self, then slowly warmed up to me as we got into things. I honestly thought we might end up getting along better after that, with the way she was acting.” The smallest of scowls forms on your face, and a tangled knot of emotions forms in your chest as you continue. “But that was a vain hope, apparently. As soon as I saw her again she was back to her usual self… No, no that’s not entirely true. She’s had moments, moments of being nice to me even if she’s doing it in her own prickly way… I know she isn’t a bad person deep down, I’ve seen her interact with the people she cares about and how good she is to her Pokémon… And how happy she seemed around Violet.” You exhale a second, heavier sigh, then keep going. “What I don’t know is what her problem with me is in the first place, or how to solve it… Or how I would ever be able to be in a relationship with Daisy when her little sister treats me the way she does, especially with the weird way she reacted to Daisy kissing me earlier. I just… I just don’t understand anything about that girl…”

There’s a drawn-out pause, as both you and Daniel stand there in silence, having stopped stripping midway through your rambling. After a short while, the buff blonde reaches out a hand, which squeezes down on your shoulder. “Been holding that in, Casanova?”

You look up into your friend’s face, finding a soft smile on his lips and compassion in his eyes. “Sorry, Daniel. Didn’t mean to just dump all that on you all of a sudden.”

“No worries. You listened to my whole spiel that was keeping me up last night, remember? Least I can do is return the favor. And, hey…” He gives your shoulder a gentle shake. “I’m not an expert on this kinda stuff by any means, but here’s what I think; she’s been acting at least a bit less bitchy towards you lately, yeah?” You nod affirmingly, and he continues. “Then you’re doing something right. So just keep doing what you’re doing, keep being yourself, and you’ll get through to her eventually. I bet you could find your way into any woman’s heart if you really set your mind to it. That’s what makes you a Casanova.”

Shaking your head, you respond. “You think way too highly of me, I swear. And…” You pause for a moment, thinking over your friend’s words. “I’m not even sure if I want to ‘find my way into her heart’, given how long she’s spent tormenting me. I just want her to stop treating me the way she does.” Daniel starts to laugh as you finish, and you tilt your head at him, eyes narrowing. “What’s so funny, Little Surge?”

“Hahaha, nothing, nothing… Just…” He shoots you his biggest grin yet. “I’m positive that you’ll absolutely accept her when she ends up falling for you. You’re a damn sap man, you’ll forgive her.”

Heat rises to your cheeks as you avert your gaze from the blonde’s, huffing. “You mean if she ends up falling for me.”

“No, I meant what I said.” The Vermillion boy shoots back, still smiling widely.

Your eyes practically fall out of your head as you roll them. “Whatever you say man…” Sighing once again, you take a moment to compose yourself, taking a deep breath. “Enough about me and Blue. We need to actually get in the bath at some point. Then we can keep talking.” You turn your eyes back to the muscular young man and smirk at him. “I’ve got some things to ask you about you and Kayla for sure.”

“Sure thing Casanova. You can ask whatever you want, I’m an open book.” The golden-blonde replies, returning your smile.

With that, the two of you quickly finish undressing yourselves, removing your jeans and underwear before shoving all of your clothes into your respective lockers. Now naked, you both make your way over to the door that leads into the actual bathing area and step inside. The long, rectangular room is constructed with gray bricks, with a set of stairs leading down into the large bath full of steaming water and partitioned shower areas along each side wall. A large screen sits on the farthest wall, its display reading the following;

Party 1: 25 Minutes Remaining

Party 2: 59 Minutes Remaining

“Guess that makes us Party 2 then. Now, as for Party 1…” The blue-eyed boy does a quick scan of the room, as do you, and it doesn’t take either of you long to find what you’re looking for. “Heh, bingo.” Your friend mutters under his breath.

Standing about ten feet directly to your left, under one of the showerheads, is the lone other occupant of this mixed bath. A girl, probably around the same age as you, who is in the middle of lathering up her lightly tanned flesh. She’s the same height as Blue at 5’8”, but has a leaner, more wiry frame, and a smaller bust that’s on the low end of B-cups. Her black hair is collected up in a shower cap, but from how it seems to be straining to contain her locks you can tell they must be quite long. You can’t really make out much of her face, as she’s turned away from you, but another striking detail stands out. She has an intricate tattoo on her right arm, staring at the shoulder and traveling all the way down. It begins as a cluster of vines at the top, then splits into five individual ones that move down the limb. They are dotted with vivid purple flowers, which have five petals in a star shape and yellow stamen. There’s no apparent pattern to the way the vines are drawn, they just twist randomly around her arm, occasionally overlapping or wrapping all the way around, until they reach her hand. Each of the five vines continues over the back of her right hand, all the way until they come to rest near the ends of her slim fingers.

As you admire both her beauty and the beauty of the artwork on her body, Daniel catches you off guard by being his extroverted self. “Hey there! Guess we’ll be sharing the same bath for a little while.”

The young woman’s head snaps to stare back at you and your friend as he grabs her attention, and you almost flinch at the intensity of her gaze. Her piercing eyes are a deep sapphire-blue, and her sharp, angular features shift into a grimace as she looks at the two of you. “Oh, fucking great.”

You wince as you hear her reply, her tone making it very clear that she’s not happy about this development. The buff blonde doesn’t seem deterred though, and continues trying to be friendly. “Wha-“

Before he can even get through a single word, the sapphire-eyed girl cuts him off. “Don’t talk to me.”

The Vermillion boy recoils slightly in surprise. “Sorry?”

“I said don’t talk to me. I’m here to bathe, not to waste my time chit-chatting. Stare if you want, you horny fucking Mankeys, but just leave me alone.” The bathing young woman’s face and voice are full of contempt, and suddenly you feel like you’re getting to experience what it would be like to bathe with Blue, even though she’s not here. Hooray.

You turn to try and tell Daniel that the two of you should just get in the bath, but he presses on before you can get a word in. “I was just trying to be friendly, damn. And you do know that this is a public bath, yeah? Not the best place to go if you’re trying to avoid people.”

A slight growl to her voice, the girl retorts. “That’s why I came now, at a time when there’s usually no one around, supposedly. Guess that fell through though, and now I’ve gotta deal with you fuckers.”

“That’s still no reason to have been outright rude like that though!” The blue-eyed boy insists, not backing down from the unfriendly girl.

“Aw, did I hurt your feelings? So sorry.” She responds mockingly, turning her back to you and your friend. “I’m done talking. You can keep wasting your breath on me, or go get in the bath, or go sit in a corner and jerk each other off while you perv on me for all I care. Just fuck off and leave me alone.”

“Daniel, let’s just get in the bath.” You say hurriedly, before he can reply to the bitter young woman’s vitriol. As he turns to look at you, you quickly add “It’s not worth it man, trust me. I’ve been here.”

The golden-haired boy clicks his tongue in annoyance, shooting one last glare at the tattooed girl’s back as she begins to wash herself once more. “…Yeah, you’re right. We should just ignore her.” Spinning on his heel, the irritated blonde stalks away and descends the steps into the bath.

You take a final glance at the young woman and, after finding her completely ignoring you, go to join your friend in the bath. Your muscles breathe a sigh of relief as you submerge yourself in the warm water, still sore after the past few days of hiking. Still, even as you start to relax, there’s a tension in the air as both you and Daniel are clearly thinking about the abrasive girl you’re sharing this mixed bath with. Sure, it’s a girl in here, like you’d both been hoping for. But she seems even less approachable and more thorny than Blue, and you can’t help but feel awkward knowing that she’s still in the room, possibly able to hear any conversations you might have.

You aren’t really sure how to get back to happily chatting with Daniel after what just happened, but he doesn’t seem to have that problem. After only a few moments, he shakes out of his dour mood and picks the conversation back up where it left off. “So, you wanted to ask me about Kay and I, yeah?”

“Oh, right.” You reply in mild surprise. He really is good at bouncing back from stuff like this… That, or he’s just very intent on following through with ignoring that girl. Either way, you need to just try and follow suit. You’re here to relax and have fun after all, no need to focus on the rude stranger who just insulted you out of nowhere. The only question is, what should you ask first? There’s still a lot about your friends from Vermillion that you don’t know, and you’re curious about all of it. Where to start…?