DDW: Cleanup

[Jim Roberts]

[Feb 5 – The Waterworks]

> And soon afterwards, the Away Team, once more in their Wind Walking
> cloudy forms, were rapidly winging their way back to the Godcarver
> winter camp that was also the temporary home of both Jeyshann’s Cat
> Mob and the rest of the Abbot’s Expedition. On landing, Finfin
> suggested, “First order of business is some Prestidigitation cleaning.
> Followed by a hot bath, and perhaps even MORE Prestidigitation
> cleaning.”
>
> He looked towards the sky, where the sun was still some considerable
> ways from setting. “And if I and perhaps another wizard put our minds
> to it and begin a new Arcane spell cycle NOW, we can come up with a
> number of Identify spells to aid in figuring out the secrets of some
> of our newly discovered items… and then retool AGAIN for tomorrow.
> Where I encourage EVERYONE, myself very much included, to prepare a
> custom tailored combat load for another day underground.”

After a bit more coordination between the various wizards, all went
their separate ways. For Laquendi, that meant heading to the corner of
the camp shared by Team Keeryte, though as a practical matter, the
“younger” members of that set were almost never present, preferring to
mooch “Evening Passes” from their Executive Officer to be elsewhere.
Laquendi half expected the camp to be empty, and was a bit surprised to
see said XO, Iku’nin Reva Gatewinner, straightening up a few things in
the camp.

“All well, Number One?” Laquendi asked quietly.

“Skipper!” Reva asked, startled not as much at the sudden arrival of the
dusky elf, but more at her appearance. The goat blood, ooze, and bug
parts had left quite an impression on the elf.

Quirking an eyebrow, Laquendi simply answered, “None of the blood is mine.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” Reva answered, clearly relieved. “And
yes, so far, all is going quite well. Our Little Sisters are out with
the Pussycats, and my buddy Orah is out with some heavier hitters. I’m
staying behind to help marshal a Second Alarm response, if needed.”

“Very good, Number One,” Laquendi replied with a nod. “Carry on.”

“Not until we get you cleaned up first,” the Senior Initiate objected.
“I’ll draw up a bath, and we’ll get you out of those blood soaked
things. Vilma has taken to carrying a few Prestidigitations these days,
some for reasons I don’t want to ask, so we can get her to give your
clothes a good cleaning when she’s back.”

“Or I can provide my own,” Laquendi observed. “I would hate to deprive
Vilma of her fun.” The silver haired elf considered her next action for
only a moment or two. Living at Symbala had demonstrated that at least
among themselves, Keerytes had no sort of nudity taboo. And strangely,
after that astonishing Moon Dance not long ago that she still could not
really remember, Laquendi now seemed to understand this observation from
an intuitive level, and not just an intellectual observation.

So it was with no sense of shame or false modesty that she peeled
completely out of her gear, carefully setting her soiled clothing in one
pile, her weapons in another, and her magical trinkets in a third. And
on top of that third stack went the Bitani marked Amulet of Health, and
the elf could feel its lack immediately. Perhaps some research was in
order to determine whether or not it suffered from rust. Being able to
keep it on at all times, including when bathing, would be a marked
advantage.

But that was a thought for another time. Right now, she focused on a
Prestidigitation spell, first for her soiled clothing, and then for
herself. And possibly she WOULD indulge herself in the bath that Reva
was getting ready. Overkill was, after all, not an error, but instead, a
goal.

At roughly the same time, for Finfin, the first order was a
Prestidigitation self cleaning. He was simply filthy, covered from head
to toe in goat blood, ooze, and gore of all kinds, and he wanted to be
parted from it immediately. The backstage area behind the Pussycat
showwagon was empty, aside from Tramma and Lomi who also called this
area their home away from home.

Of his beloved Mithi, the Pussycats, the Keerytes, and the various other
wild spirits who tended to congregate in the secluded area behind the
pipe and drape curtain wall, there was no sign. Clearly they were all
out on patrol, making certain that the SJE leadership was not looking to
shore up domestic support by picking a fight with their Plains Tribe
neighbours. Even Pilinde and Stern were absent, their well deserved
catnap clearly over.

Not that Finfin was particularly concerned about who else might be
nearby. He needed to get clean, and he needed to be clean now. Tramma
was clearly of the same mind, as she began immediately peeling out of
her clothing. Lomi and Finfin shared an amused look. Both knew that it
took very little to get the silver haired bard deshabille, but this
seemed remarkably direct, even for Tramma.

“C’mon, you two!” the silver haired bard encouraged her two spectators.
“The sooner you get out of those clothes, the sooner we can work on
getting them – and us – clean.” She was completely out of her top and
was beginning to unbutton her skirt when she blinked at the pair who had
still not made any effort to join in the disrobing. “Surely you two are
not SHY?” she asked incredulously. “I’ve seen the two of you admiring
each other at Josie’s Afterparties. And you’ve both seen plenty of
little ol’ me to know that I’ve got no secrets to hide.”

“All ladies are entitled to their own secrets,” Finfin objected
gallantly. “And you most certainly have MUCH that is worthy of
admiration. You both do,” he corrected himself after a heartbeat.

Lomi chuckled.”He says the nicest things. Remind me to encourage Mithi
to give him a proper Thank You when she gets back.”

“Mithi won’t want to be in the same county as him, or us,” Tramma
countered, “unless we get ourselves cleaned up. So get with it, folks –
strip! And admire away, each other and me. I’m Bitani now, so I really
like that.” More quietly to Finfin, she added, “And I’m sure Mithi won’t
mind. Particularly as I know you will be a proper gentleman, just as
I’ll do MY best to behave, confident that Legs here can find a bucket of
cold water to dump on me if I slip up.”

“One of the fire buckets over there,” Lomi observed dryly, beginning to
unbutton her own top.

Soon afterwards, all three were wearing nothing at all. Happily turning
in place, Tramma exclaimed happily, “Isn’t this MUCH better! I wish I
could go around like this, always!”

Lomi snorted. “Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind freezing your buns off. Not
to mention, abrasions, fungal infections, and other things too horrible
for delicate male ears to hear about.”

“But those things are a NORMAL part of life, Legs!” Tramma protested.

“Only for you, Songbird,” Lomi sighed. “Only for you.”

The bard wrinkled her nose at her long legged pal, and began to sort the
castoff clothing into piles. “There we go,” she commented brightly.
“I’ll take care of all these. Fin, sweetie? Would you be willing to do
the honors and use your Prestidigitation on yourself and us?”

“Ladies first,” the elf gently demurred, even as he began to invoke this
very basic but VERY handy bit of Arcane magic. Tramma gasped happily as
she felt the cleaning magic cover her from head to toe as it did a
remarkably thorough job of everything in between.

Lomi, too, raised her eyebrows at the sensation when it was her turn. “I
could get used to this,” the tall scout opined happily as she turned in
place, helping the magics get everywhere they needed.

“All you gotta do is hang out with wizards more,” Tramma breezily
suggested. “I’m sure there are two here who’d be happy to help you out
with that.” Finfin nodded. He certainly would be happy at the notion,
and earlier conversations with Mithi had revealed that his sweetheart
was already looking favourably on the possibility.

Her task as matchmaker complete, for the moment at least, Tramma turned
her attention to the piles of filthy clothing arrayed before her, and
began to sing a simple Bardic spell. Arcane scholars – like all of the
wizards attached to the Kenobi Expedition – would have been able to
recognize key parallels between what the bard was casting, and Finfin’s
earlier bit of Arcane magic. Both, in fact, were shaped to achieve much
the same goal, though the specific means of channelling and focusing
that power were entirely different. But regardless of magical theory,
the result was both easy and delightful to see as dirt, blood, and other
awful souvenirs marched themselves off of the magic’d clothing.

Long before Tramma was done, Great Medicine Woman Jeyshann slinked
between the curtains and joined them backstage. “Don’t mind me,” the Cat
Priestess purred, her voice low and sultry as she admired the view. Of
all of the magical bathers, and not just the elf; she was an equal
opportunity admirer.

“How are your people faring?” Finfin asked solicitously.

Jeyshann raised a slightly surprised eyebrow. “Well, as near as I can
tell,” she answered after a moment. “Many are still out in the field,
and I intend to hear more from Bartras when he returns, but the early
signs are that this has been a good day.” With perhaps just a bit of
effort, she added, “Thank you for asking.”

Tramma soon finished her magics, and the three “naturalists” (by
necessity) began the quick task of folding their clothing. Even though
they were clean, all felt more comfortable changing into something else
entirely that did not remind them of their past day.

As she folded her own clothing, stacking smalls atop sturdy leggings,
Lomi asked, “Great Medicine Woman? If I’m not being too nosy, how did
YOU manage to stay so clean? You were right there in the thick of it
with everyone else.”

Far from looking displeased at this question, Jeyshann positively
preened. “Cats are always fastidious,” she purred. She then gave a
smile, and added, “But you, Lomi, deserve a straight answer after the
fine job you did today. It is a Divine Blessing that the Mother of Cats
shares with her servants.”

“A spell,” Lomi translated into the mundane term.

“A spell,” Jeyshann agreed. “And I believe The Thunderbird shares
something similar with HIS servants.” The Cat Priestess seemed rather
indifferent to the cleaning habits of the Abbot, but Finfin nodded
consideringly. The Holy Man did seem to have emerged unbesmirched by
gore, even though Ben had been in there right with Finfin doing the bulk
of the slaying. Perhaps there might be an Arcane equivalent out there
somewhere, something he would have to discuss with Mithi at some point
on one of their future spell shopping sprees.

But for now, he had other, rather more pressing matters. He did not
exactly mind having his physique admired by the Cat Priestess, but he
felt rather ill at ease being nude when everyone was not similarly
unclad. And the priestess, like cats everywhere, could detect this
discomfort, and seemed to be revelling in it. “Ladies, if you will
excuse me for a moment,” he stated simply, picking up his folded stack
of clothing. “I shall be back in a moment.”

“Me too!” Tramma agreed, and Lomi similarly nodded.