"You mean we ditch 'em? Do you think they'd follow us? Maybe not if we leave them with the check... they'd have to stay to pay! And finish the food, because they're not wasteful."
"Exactly!" he beamed. "I think it's a great plan!"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Maybe someday we could go on a double date," he laughed.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Oooh! That would be fun. But let's not get up hopes up too high, yet. We don't know how it'll pan out," she said, pausing a moment as she pictured a few of the ways it could go wrong. All of them ended with James and Tasha sword-fighting for some reason. "But ooo! Now I'm excited. We'll have to like... pick nice seating. Low lighting is romantic! And maybe you could make sure James takes a bath..."
"We all should, honestly. Tasha said I smelled like rotten fish yesterday. But travel does that to a guy! I'm sure we can convince them that we should go wash up before we go into town, just to be presentable," he grinned.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
A little less than an hour later the group arrived at the large creek. Tasha let Nightmare get some water and took off her saddle to give the beast a break and Ari went right down to the edge beside James.
"James, I was thinkin',"he began. "We're 'bout t' go into town 'n all 'n Tasha was talkin' 'n I really think we could all just use a bath. So please forgive me. I really do love you a lot, as a friend." Before James could answer or ask what he meant, he shoved James in the back with his shoulder to send the bearded man flying into the water before Ari tore off his shirt and leapt in after him.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Amy couldn't help but let out a loud shout of a laugh as James splashed into the water, and her face immediately flushed as Ari stripped off his shirt. Giggling, she shifted into her wolf form, readily hopping into the water with them.
James, however, swam up to the surface, spitting out water with a grimace. She shot a sharp look over to Ari. "There are other ways to tell me I smell bad," he remarked in a flustered grunt, looking down at his soaked clothing. Looking to either side at Amy and Ari he started to swim towards the shore. If he was going to bathe or swim he wasn't going to do it in socks and shoes of all things.
Tasha let out a bark of laughter as James was shoved into the water, only to find herself faceplanting beside them when Nightmare decided to have a bit of fun and rammed her in the back with her head, sending her mistress headfirst into the creek after her comrades.
"ACK!" she exclaimed, coming up spluttering. "D*** you, you f***in' inbred wild thing!"
Ari, in the meantime, dunked himself under water. He'd already taken off his shirt and he rarely wore shoes unless he had to anyways, so he really didn't have much to take off.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
With shoes sopping wet, James took a few squelching steps out onto the bank. With half an eye-roll, he started to take off his shoes until he saw Tasha fall into the creek right after him. A self-satisfied smirk grew on his face and he looked up at Nightmare.
As least he wasn't the only one.
He quickly peeled off his wet jacket and his shoes and socks, then pulled off his shirt. He rolled up his pant legs to his knees and tightened the tie keeping his hair half-up before he walked back in, swimming back out to the others.
Tasha took after James and dragged her sopping self ashore away from her horse to take off her boots and take off her jacket, leaving her with her light sleeveless undershirt and rolling up her pants into shorts. She put her hair down next, and in that moment it suddenly made sense why it was so consistently back in a ponytail - it was so curly that it poofed out, giving it an afro-like appearance that would've been a million times worse were it less wet.
She tossed the few items of clothing and her hairtie aside before diving back in and joining the group.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Amy laughed and started to paddle over to Ari, splashing in his direction. James, meanwhile, strayed away from the splashing, and dipped his head under the water for bit before coming back up and floating.
Ari laughed and retaliated by slamming his joined fists into the water, creating a very large ripple and an even bigger splash.
Tasha retreated as well, swimming under the surface to escape the water falling in droplets around her.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
“Oh yeah?!” Amy challenged, slapping her ta in the water and sweeping a big wave of water at him. “Take THAT!”
James continued to float out of the range of the splashes, and looked over to Tasha. From what he was witnessing, it looked like Ari and Amy just wanted an excuse to swim and goof off.
“And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!” — Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
