[He snorts, curling forward around his rock to laugh for a moment, his wings unfolding and resituating themselves a few times before he looks back up at the screen.]
It's-- no, I'm mostly just bellyaching. I'm sorry to startle you like that.
[He grumbles again, oozing forward off his rock and schlorping surprisingly gracefully under the water for a moment. Somehow, his hair doesn't fall in his face when he pops back up closer to where the device sits.]
That... definitely requires me to get out of this spring, which might be all that is keeping me from being a complete grouch.
[He closes his eyes and withers onto the rock bank.]
You spoil me, Konoha. [He feels a little guilty for making her come out to him. But he's... so comfy.]
[And comfy he will still be whenever she gets there, though he's perched carefully in a dry rock cluster in just about the middle of the spring, coiled in on himself like an human-sized reptilian cat with his chin resting on a slightly higher rock so he can watch for anyone approaching.]
[Except it looks more like he's taking a nap, even if he rouses when she gets close enough to smell over the spring itself, staying curled but picking up his head. Sanguis makes him startlingly animalistic, that way.]
[Especially in Lunatia where it doesn’t mean heating up water herself or going down to a cold river!
When she gets there she’s got her bathing items in hand, laying aside her towel and- geez, this new look is going to take some getting used to! She got so accustomed to the Cordis one...]
[So did he, honestly. It takes him a minute to effectively reboot, and he lays his upper half atop the rocks to smile dumbly at her.]
Nope, these rocks are just super toasty so I got sleepy. I hope you didn't rush through your dinner.
[He seems to be contemplating how to get down while without flashing her or just jumping, and eventually clambers awkwardly down the back side of the rocks to avoid any accidental embarrassing displays. A moment or two later he comes around to her, swimming more with his wings than his arms and legs.]
[... Well, maybe just a little, but. Not enough to make a deal of as she starts to strip out of her kimono (well, just the outer layer, the pale juban stays on), twisting to remove her skirt. She wasn't in heat this moon cycle, so she could count on her tail to stay down and preserve her modesty.]
[Swimming with wings is a lot easier than flying, but he comes up to the edge of the spring and folds his arms over it with only minor difficulty (he seems to have finally perfected the art of gracelessly throwing his left arm around to get it to go where he wants it to), closing his eyes and grinning slightly.]
A little. The tail helps, here. How've you been? [You literally just talked to her like a few hours ago.]
[Nice try, mister. Asking how she is, when that’s not the issue today? Shaking her head with a little amused snort, Konoha lumbers down by the wash area to start rinsing off before getting in.]
[He scrunches his face up, caught, and leans forward to set his chin on the rock bank.]
Right, right... It's just-- have you... Mmn. [He's gotta figure out how to phrase this that isn't just... vulgar? Especially considering who he's asking.]
I mean, you're married and clearly very in love with your husband so some part of me doubts this but have you ever just... Had a really disappointing sexual experience. [He will not be looking her in the eye anytime soon, except-- He picks his head up and immediately raises a hand to cut her off before she responds.] This was not Inosuke, as a possibly important distinction.
[Well, that definitely isn’t the answer she was expecting. She thought it might potentially be sexual, but she’d thought it more likely to be like... maybe being upset because his downstairs had changed??? Or something????
So she’s a bit shocked, a bit pink in the cheeks, but. She still sort of laughs a bit when he adds the addendum.]
I, um... yes.
[Lunatia has made her so lewd that she can actually have this conversation... ! But also just because it seems that. It might make Tanjiro feel better if she understood what problem he was having and boy... has she had some disappointments.]
M- Mostly not with Gonta, of course! That was only when we first started and didn’t know what we were doing, but with- with some people in Lunatia... “yes”...
[... she has to add her own addendum too, though. They’re both dumb.]
[Both dumb and hopelessly in the corner of their respective choices. Tanjiro makes a grumbling whine of a sound and stretches his arms forward.]
It like-- wasn't even the actual thing, just... Everything else? I mean there's probably a lot more than can vary from one instance to another and maybe I'm just biased? That's a thing, right? I can totally just be biased and not wanna go the full moonlace with anybody else. It was just me the whole time, I'm just fussy. [He like. Actually hates being crabby.]
Konoha is listening, she swears she is, even though she is distracting herself from how lewd the nature of the conversation might become by twisting about to keep scrubbing at her flanks. But at the end of what he says she... can't help but look back at Tanjiro a bit helplessly.
He's biased? Just fussy? That didn't seem right-]
... What happened, now?
[She doesn't get it, and even though it's a bit awkward... She's going to need details, maybe.]
[He sprawls himself a little against the rocks, tail lashing in slow-motion across half the spring for how long it is, and makes a funny growl of a sound that is about as intimidating as Simba trying to roar for a moment.]
I tried to help a friend of mine out, he's Iris. He's always been... real down on himself, resistant to any kind of positive view, super jaded. He's been through a lot, I get it, but it gets tiring, you know? It's... [He grumbles again, mashing his forehead into the rocks.] This is literally so stupid. I think I'm just mad because I don't really know how much it helped, and Sanguis is apparently all about the dominant... stuff, so my own frustrations for not being able to help a friend are magnified in the worst possible way.
[Making sure she sudsed up and rinsed her coat has never been very important! Tanjiro was... something like a little brother, somewhat like a nephew? An adopted... something?
Something family-like.
But he was troubled, so she'd listen, because she'd been his boss and then his friend before she became that, frowning a bit as she watches him fuss about it.]
Did you... actually end up doing it, though? And he was still... whatever sort of way?
I almost didn't, because he kept being weird. He pretty specifically wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna ditch him, which-- I mean, I couldn't very well have said I wasn't going to just to ditch him, you know? Even if I'm still a little mad he'd lump me in with someone who might. That's not who I am, so... yeah. I made sure to show him I wasn't gonna ditch him.
[He throws both-- yes, both, though the left sort of flails awkwardly and flops back to smack him in the horns --his arms in the air and the end of his tail sticks straight up out of the water halfway across the spring.]
See!! You get it...! [He sinks back into the water up to his mouth, blowing grouchy little bubbles for a moment.]
[Oh, no, that's kind of funny... Sorry, Tanjiro, it just looks funny! ... Not that Konoha can say anything, seeing as she's just staring with her hands in her shampoo-y hair.]
I mean, Tanjiro is one the most loyal person I know, I think...
[Belatedly, she realizes she needs to finish her hair.]
[Let her just finish her hair... so she can rinse the rest of the way off and slip into the spring beside him. Technically she knows she should be a little more self-conscious, he's a man, after all, but she just... didn't really see him that way, and besides! She's wearing her juban, it's fine.]
Maybe it will feel less frustrating after the moons wane?
[So she tries for helpful, since she doesn't know the other person well enough to give advice on how to deal with them.]
I was kind of worried it would be something else, when you mentioned it, so... I'm sorry, but I'm really relieved, haha...
[He should probably also be embarrassed, but he just... isn't. Konoha is a lady, but she's basically the equivalent of an older, equine Nezuko at this point. He coils his way toward the rock embankment in the center of the springs to give her space, rolling so he's kind of floating on his back with his arms and legs coiled inward to keep his modesty.]
Gosh I hope so. It wasn't so bad at first, maybe I'm just grumpy because Sanguis makes people grumpier...
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It's-- no, I'm mostly just bellyaching. I'm sorry to startle you like that.
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[But at least maybe then it wasn’t as personally embarrassing as she feared, so-]
Should... we talk in person instead, then?
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That... definitely requires me to get out of this spring, which might be all that is keeping me from being a complete grouch.
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[For Tanjiro, that answer is just automatic.]
Just let me eat dinner and don’t get too pruny!
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You spoil me, Konoha. [He feels a little guilty for making her come out to him. But he's... so comfy.]
[And comfy he will still be whenever she gets there, though he's perched carefully in a dry rock cluster in just about the middle of the spring, coiled in on himself like an human-sized reptilian cat with his chin resting on a slightly higher rock so he can watch for anyone approaching.]
[Except it looks more like he's taking a nap, even if he rouses when she gets close enough to smell over the spring itself, staying curled but picking up his head. Sanguis makes him startlingly animalistic, that way.]
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[Especially in Lunatia where it doesn’t mean heating up water herself or going down to a cold river!
When she gets there she’s got her bathing items in hand, laying aside her towel and- geez, this new look is going to take some getting used to! She got so accustomed to the Cordis one...]
Sorry- Did I keep you waiting long?
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Nope, these rocks are just super toasty so I got sleepy. I hope you didn't rush through your dinner.
[He seems to be contemplating how to get down while without flashing her or just jumping, and eventually clambers awkwardly down the back side of the rocks to avoid any accidental embarrassing displays. A moment or two later he comes around to her, swimming more with his wings than his arms and legs.]
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[... Well, maybe just a little, but. Not enough to make a deal of as she starts to strip out of her kimono (well, just the outer layer, the pale juban stays on), twisting to remove her skirt. She wasn't in heat this moon cycle, so she could count on her tail to stay down and preserve her modesty.]
Are you getting the hang of those wings?
[Apparently enough to swim with them???]
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A little. The tail helps, here. How've you been? [You literally just talked to her like a few hours ago.]
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Isn’t that my question, Mr. Crabby?
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Right, right... It's just-- have you... Mmn. [He's gotta figure out how to phrase this that isn't just... vulgar? Especially considering who he's asking.]
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[Not quite sure what to expect, Konoha just goes ahead and asks, sudsing up her flanks.]
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I mean, you're married and clearly very in love with your husband so some part of me doubts this but have you ever just... Had a really disappointing sexual experience. [He will not be looking her in the eye anytime soon, except-- He picks his head up and immediately raises a hand to cut her off before she responds.] This was not Inosuke, as a possibly important distinction.
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So she’s a bit shocked, a bit pink in the cheeks, but. She still sort of laughs a bit when he adds the addendum.]
I, um... yes.
[Lunatia has made her so lewd that she can actually have this conversation... ! But also just because it seems that. It might make Tanjiro feel better if she understood what problem he was having and boy... has she had some disappointments.]
M- Mostly not with Gonta, of course! That was only when we first started and didn’t know what we were doing, but with- with some people in Lunatia... “yes”...
[... she has to add her own addendum too, though. They’re both dumb.]
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It like-- wasn't even the actual thing, just... Everything else? I mean there's probably a lot more than can vary from one instance to another and maybe I'm just biased? That's a thing, right? I can totally just be biased and not wanna go the full moonlace with anybody else. It was just me the whole time, I'm just fussy. [He like. Actually hates being crabby.]
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Konoha is listening, she swears she is, even though she is distracting herself from how lewd the nature of the conversation might become by twisting about to keep scrubbing at her flanks. But at the end of what he says she... can't help but look back at Tanjiro a bit helplessly.
He's biased? Just fussy? That didn't seem right-]
... What happened, now?
[She doesn't get it, and even though it's a bit awkward... She's going to need details, maybe.]
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I tried to help a friend of mine out, he's Iris. He's always been... real down on himself, resistant to any kind of positive view, super jaded. He's been through a lot, I get it, but it gets tiring, you know? It's... [He grumbles again, mashing his forehead into the rocks.] This is literally so stupid. I think I'm just mad because I don't really know how much it helped, and Sanguis is apparently all about the dominant... stuff, so my own frustrations for not being able to help a friend are magnified in the worst possible way.
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Something family-like.
But he was troubled, so she'd listen, because she'd been his boss and then his friend before she became that, frowning a bit as she watches him fuss about it.]
Did you... actually end up doing it, though? And he was still... whatever sort of way?
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I almost didn't, because he kept being weird. He pretty specifically wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna ditch him, which-- I mean, I couldn't very well have said I wasn't going to just to ditch him, you know? Even if I'm still a little mad he'd lump me in with someone who might. That's not who I am, so... yeah. I made sure to show him I wasn't gonna ditch him.
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[Konoha has to actually pause, arms up and mid hair-wash to blind in confusion over... the very idea?]
I can't imagine that at all...
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See!! You get it...! [He sinks back into the water up to his mouth, blowing grouchy little bubbles for a moment.]
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I mean, Tanjiro is one the most loyal person I know, I think...
[Belatedly, she realizes she needs to finish her hair.]
Do they at least get it now?
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...thank you, Konoha, that means a lot from you.
[And then he sinks back under the water partway again, throwing his arms in the air in a comedically dramatic "I don't know" gesture.]
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Maybe it will feel less frustrating after the moons wane?
[So she tries for helpful, since she doesn't know the other person well enough to give advice on how to deal with them.]
I was kind of worried it would be something else, when you mentioned it, so... I'm sorry, but I'm really relieved, haha...
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Gosh I hope so. It wasn't so bad at first, maybe I'm just grumpy because Sanguis makes people grumpier...
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3/3 done ffff
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