Young Writers Society

The sign on the tall post outside the door says it's a spa and bath, open 8 AM to 10 PM. There's a counter inside, a bunch of wooden chairs and gray tables caught up in gray paneling and dying ferns to either side. The door to the left of the counter leads to a row of massage chairs, mirrors, hairdryers, scissors, nail polish, and similar products, all in front of another door that opens up to cushioned tables and pale blue mats. Steam spills out of the door to the right of the counter, where an indoor hot tub, pillars breaking out of the water at regular intervals, takes up most of the room. The rest of the room is a hallway leading to one last door, where steam streams through a small sauna.

It's quiet. Beyond the gentle humming of the fans, the popping and flickering screen of the old computer on the counter, the ticking of a clock on the wall, there's no sign anyone else is in the building.

That is, until you show up.

Rules:

1. This RP is 16+.

2. I'm okay with swearing, but the f-bomb and gendered epithets need to be censored (if you're not sure when that applies, ask).

3. Nothing explicitly bloody and/or sexual, but I will accept a lot of violent or implied stuff (again, ask if you're not sure where to draw the line).

4. Third-person past is preferred, but I've got no problems if you're used to another perspective/tense.

5. Have fun!

The bed felt especially comfortable today. It was like the mattress was loosening the knots in his back and arms, the blankets wrapping him up and pressing against him. Zech let out a long, slow purr. The air was a tad stuffier than he was used to, but he lived close enough to the ocean that he wasn't terribly surprised.

"Hng? Mmmmm."

"Lunis?" Zech mumbled. The tiger started turning his head away, setting a paw on the stone before lowering his head on it. "Are you dreaming again? Whatever it is, don't go chasing off after it, you fell off the bed the last time you-"

Zech's eyes shot open.

It took him a couple seconds to realize his blurry eyesight was actually mist, the mattress was the tiled side of a pool, and the blankets were hot water. Leaping up, the tiger spun around to take in the hot tub he'd found himself in. "Lunis?" Zech said. "Nubes? Anyone?"

"Mhm? Mhm."

Staring to his right, Zech caught sight of a familiar lizard sitting down not far from him, head tilted back and arms spread over the stone floor.

Zech adjusted the towel wrapped around his waist, then waded over. "Lasan!" Zech said, standing over him. "Are you alright?"

A pit settled in Zech's stomach; he hadn't even needed to ask to question. Making a noise that sounded vaguely like a "Sure?", Lasan tilted his head in Zech's direction. Eyes barely open, tongue sticking out of his mouth, scales turning an almost-black shade of green.

"No no no no no," Zech whispered. He pulled himself out of the pool, water pouring down his fur. Grabbing Lasan by the shoulders, Zech began to haul the lizard out. Lasan put up some resistance - waving his arms and mumbling something in annoyance - but his weight was the real problem.

The lizard slumped out onto the floor. The muscles in his arms screaming, Zech let go. "Help!" he shouted, crouching down and trying to wave away the steam. "Someone, anyone, help!"

******

Eugh, the air was all hot and sticky. Just like it always was.

Mal blinked open his eyes, just to close them as quickly. His vision was more than a little blurry this morning, so he decided he might as well relax a little bit longer. Better to let Lasan think he was still sleeping, so the lizard wouldn't tell him to inspect the weapons whose metal tang cut through the air. Because Lasan didn't want to look at them himself, which made Mal wonder what had been the point of buying them. Other than this whole 'breakdown of negotiations' thing making a little 'security' necessary.

But Mal didn't want to think about it; with a little purr, he buried his face in Lasan's surprisingly fuzzy scales. Well, Mal had been shedding a lot lately, so not too surprising. But he couldn't enjoy the moment for long; Mal stiffened when he felt Lasan start to move. The lion could probably pretend to stay asleep a little longer, but only if he was very careful about it.

"...Mal?"

Mal immediately pulled his face back, eyes shooting up to meet Thytes's. "I, uh," stammered Mal, scooting away from the other lion. What was Thytes doing here? Was this some kind of dream? Or a nightmare?

A muffled voice crying for help derailed Mal's train of thought. Thytes shot towards the door of what Mal realized was a sauna, throwing it open and releasing a wave of steam. Thytes vanished, but Mal quickly pulled himself up and sprinted after him.

Only to find Thytes yanking a towel off the wall, crouching next to Lasan and trying to wipe the water off of Lasan's chest.

Mal stared, frozen. The only thing that caught his attention was a pile of clothes at the corner of his eye. He recognized his and Thytes's robes, as well as Lasan's and Zech's loincloths, among the other odds and ends of their outfits. With everyone in the group wearing towels, they had bigger priorities, but Mal scooped up the clothes anyway.

"The door won't open," Zech said. Even though he had just come out of a sauna, Mal could feel the ice in his veins as he saw Zech slam his paws down on the handle. But it wouldn't budge.

Running over to the door, Mal started banging a paw on it. "Let us out!" he called. "My boyfriend's overheating in here!"

When he woke up, he felt really, really sleepy. He didn't know why he was getting up - he had just gone to bed! But then his bed felt weird, and he could hear shouting coming from somewhere nearby.

He opened his eyes.

He wasn't in his bedroom at all.

Eyes widening, he grabbed the stuffed animal he had been cuddling with and held it close to his chest. He didn't make another corridor of darkness in his sleep, right? Because he was laying down, and last time he had sleepwalked, too-

He was cut off by the sound of someone banging on a door.

Holding Klein even closer to his chest and making his keyblade appear in his other shaking hand, he approached the source of it. It was only when he got to the door that he realized someone was in trouble.

His keyblade immediately disappeared, and he opened the door to the room - hot air flooding out of it when he did.

The door swung open so quickly that Mal didn't have enough time to react; his paw swung out into empty air, and he almost toppled onto the person standing in front of him.

Fortunately enough, he grabbed onto that person's clothes (pajamas? hood? some kind of one-piece outfit?), and the traction his claws had on a carpeted floor let him push himself and the stranger out of the way as Thytes and Zech barreled past, carrying Lasan.

Thytes and Zech sped towards one of the tables. They laid Lasan out on top of it, wincing as the wood creaked and groaned under Lasan's weight. After a minute of staring at the table, waiting for it to break and send Lasan to the floor, they both sighed a breath of relief. It held.

That's when Thytes and Zech spotted the stranger. Looking between themselves and the person, it was Thytes who finally took a step in the stranger's direction. "Erm, apologies for the disturbance," the lion said. "We are not here to cause any trouble."

Kirux held Klein closer to his chest.

"I'm dreaming," he signed, moving Klein when necessary - it wasn't intentional, but his body knew what it needed to do. He had to be dreaming! He was in a spa like the one Mommy went to, but the people here were like Lunis and Taber!

He pulled his hood up and clutched Klein even harder.

The first think Queenie heard was incoherent yelling and banging. After that, she registered everything else. The fact that she was on the ground, for example, and behind a desk. She groaned and dragged herself to her feet, bringing a hand to her pounding head only to discover that she was holding her gun. She checked that the safety was on and dropped it onto the counter. That's when she spotted Briar, looking down the hallway with that infuriating blank expression of hers.

"Hey sis," she greeted, rounding the counter and scooping her gun back up as she went to see what Briar was looking at.

Briar said nothing.

When Queenie looked down the hall she blinked. Dream? Nope, definitely not. The bruises from last night wouldn't hurt like this if it were a dream.

"Kirux?"

Thytes paused, biting his lip. "Does anyone know what he's saying?" he said, focusing on Mal.

Sighing, Mal stepped back from the stranger. "He says he's dreaming, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a dream. We've all gone through this 'other world' thing at least once, right?"

The others in the room nodded, some of them grimacing.

"Good," said Mal. Not that Mal thought it'd be enough evidence; it just gave him some backup (though now they seemed to be focused on something moving by the counter, which Mal wasn't quite ready to deal with yet). "Have you ever had a dream like this?" Mal signed, hoping that the stranger would notice from under his hood. He also hoped this wouldn't be another Taber situation, where the stranger would just double down and swear they're stuck in a dream. Time to find out.

He perked up when he heard the familiar voice.

Queenie had been kind of mean sometimes, but realizing she was there made him feel a lot better! He gave an eager nod and a wave in confirmation, then turned to the others in the room.

"I've been to other worlds before," Kirux promised via signing, giving the lion a grin as he did. "I go to them all the time!"

Hearing that it wasn't a dream made more sense than it being one - Queenie was here, he never had realistic dreams, and he was still holding Klein and wearing the pajamas he had worn to bed.

Queenie sighed.

She turned to Briar, "That's Kirux, he's mute but he can hear fine," she explained and approached the group, followed silently by Briar.

"Who are all of you?" she asked, forcefully.

Okay, so this wasn't going to be a Taber situation - Kirux looked comfortable enough with the idea of other worlds to accept what was going on.

Mal started to breathe a sigh of relief, only to stop halfway through when he saw the two women in dresses that everyone but him had acknowledged. Kirux seemed to recognize and trust them, but the small gun on the counter, as well as the hostile edge in the voice of the woman in the red dress, didn't settle well with Mal.

Patting Zech on the shoulder, Thytes whispered something into his ear. While the tiger opened the door to the left of the counter and ran off, Thytes bowed in the direction of the newcomers. "Thytes Aurelius," he said, putting on that extra polite voice that he only used when he was afraid of getting attacked. Also not reassuring. "The tiger who left to find some cool water is Zech, the lizard who needs that cool water is Lasan Cinis, and his boyfriend, Mal Cinis, has been talking to Kirux. And who might you be?"

Queenie opened her mouth to respond when Briar put a hand on her shoulder, giving her pause.

Others? Briar signed, her eyes shifting toward the open space they had left behind.

Queenie rolled her eyes, "Your paranoia is why dad doesn't let you do solo missions," she said, brushing Briar's hand off of her.

"I'm Queenie," she introduced herself, turning back to the group, "and this shifty lowlife is my little sister, Briar."

Before anyone else could speak, Briar gestured to Lasan, "We should move him there," she said blankly, gesturing to the open area where she had woken up, further away from the heat.

Thytes glanced back to Lasan, then focused on Queenie. He wasn't sure how to take the "shifty lowlife" comment, but Briar didn't seem to mind it. "Oh, if you can help me carry him, that would be wonderful," Thytes said. "We are not exactly close to the hot tub, and he would best off with some cold water, but-"

Fsssh!

Water started raining from the ceiling, joined by some kind of ringing noise from over the counter. Thytes threw his paws up, but lowered them a couple seconds later. It was cold water, it pushed back against the steam that had filtered over the room, and he'd already been a little soaked from the sauna.

"And there we are," Thytes said with a smile.