Skinny-dipping [OTA]

[teen_angst_bullshit]

WHO: Veronica Sawyer
WHERE: The spring
WHEN: BACKDATED to the night of September 19
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Naked ladies?
STATUS: Open
NOTE: Skinny-dipping party post! Threadjack away! All village ladies will have been quietly invited. Brave men are also welcome to accidentally happen upon them all or try to spy.

---

The sky was filled with the most perfect, big, bright, shining moon. Mark called it the harvest moon, but tonight, she's just their gracious and beautiful lady to Veronica; their luminescent co-conspirator.

The idea had come to her mostly out of desperation. Hauling water back from the spring is tedious and exhausting, and there's never enough to have a real bath -- Although the thought of spending a whole day walking her happy ass back and forth solely to indulge had occurred to her. The spring itself is clear and clean and inviting, but with people in and out of the area all day long, it's not exactly private.

So what do you do? Go at night, of course, and invite all of your friends.

"I haven't done this since summer camp in sixth grade," Veronica admits as she whips her shirt off over her head and drops it beside the shimmering pool. She wouldn't have called herself an exhibitionist by any means, but feeling as gross as she has been makes a girl not care so much about who sees her topless. And after she shimmies quickly from her pants and slips into the water, any irrational, lingering embarrassment is snuffed entirely out: It is truly and completely bliss.

Comments

OTA

[womanofvalue]

The truth of the matter is that while Peggy is hardly the exhibitionist type, she's also never felt shame with her body enough to avoid the wonderful idea of bringing herself to the bathwater, rather than the other way around. She's felt worn out lately, though she thinks that the majority of fault in this case is the emotional whiplash that's come from knowing Steve is alive and now actually seeing it with her own two eyes. So, of course, when she had heard rumours that other women were going to come out and simply indulge in the spring, she had thought that yes, she deserved this.

Slowly prying off the scrubs that she tried to keep clean, every layer that came off felt like a heavy weight. Eventually, she's neatly folded her clothes into a pile and all that's left is the bra and underwear that are so different than what she's used to.

When she's sure that some of the foliage is going to cover her, she kicks the remainder off and takes a long, sharp breath in as she pushes her shoulders back to march herself into the water, descending in and feeling like any trepidation over the nudity is absolutely worth it for this exact moment.

Absently, her hand goes to cover the healed rebar wound in her gut, feeling like she could have used the springs like this back then. She briefly thinks to feel bad for contaminating the water like this, but it is well worth it.

[thekittenqueen]

There is a measure of amusement in her eyes as she watches each girl shyly climb into the spring. Their bodies carefully shielded by foliage and shadows. When Peggy climbs in, it takes all of her self control not to laugh or tease her. It would have a poor effect and it took a great deal of bravery for Peggy to dart into the water naked.

Rather than comment, she instead glanced at the wound on Peggy's side, remembering how severe hers had been as well. "The waters will heal you more." She said gently. "Any aches or pains will be gone after awhile."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy manages a smile, hardly minding her nudity now that she's in the water. It's less the fact that she's baring herself and more to do with the scars she holds. The rebar is a fresh wound, now healing, but the double slugs in her shoulder mar her skin and take away from the impression of what she likes to project. "It was mostly healed when I arrived," she admits, "but it was quite a nasty wound."

"It was somewhat healed, though, upon arrival," she shares, something she still hadn't been able to understand. "I went from popping stitches opening a door to mostly healed. Perhaps these waters and the ones in the fountain aren't so different?"

OTA

[thenewways]

Even if Bajoran cultural norms regarding female nudity were similarly restrictive as those of many human cultures (they aren't, Prophets be thanked, the last thing Bajor needs is neuroses), Nerys still wouldn't be particularly fussy about getting her clothes off around others. Spend enough time in close proximity to others in roughing-it conditions, and always being covered begins to seem like a moot point.

Besides, it's nighttime, she feels utterly disgusting without having washed thoroughly, considering the amount of physical labor she's had to do since the earthquake, and there's plenty of water, rushing clean from the ground. In due course anything they dirty will be washed away to the sides and down to silt, she figures, and it doesn't matter if her comrades see her or if any mysterious watchers from the sky, Gamemakers or whatever. She's going to get clean.

Nerys' scrubs and bra are gone (neatly set aside at a safe distance) way before she hits the water in a brief shallow dive, emerging and pulling herself up a little bit onto a rock to consider her next move. "Damn, that felt good."

[teen_angst_bullshit]

"I am so glad I thought of this," Veronica agrees. She's not dippy enough to get into baptismal metaphors, but it definitely makes her feel like a whole new person just to get the layer of grime and sweat off herself.

"Not that I don't appreciate our masculine compatriots, but it's nice to do something that's just us girls, too." She's missed that, more than she really understood before now.

[thenewways]

"It's a damn good idea," Nerys agrees, turning and smiling a little at the young woman--Veronica, she's pretty certain is her name--over her shoulder. "The whole last week has been such a mess and so much work, it's good to at least feel sort of clean for once."

She laughs, almost inaudibly, and the smile grows on her face. "And yeah, I know what you mean when it comes to getting the guys out of the picture. Sometimes they just end up pushing themselves in the way of what needs to happen." It's a roundabout, sort of diplomatic way to say they need to sit down and shut up.

OTA

[lastofthekellys]

Kate has, actually, had the concept of skinnydipping explained to her. More than once, and with some delight, she thinks, given she could feel how wide her eyes went and how red her cheeks became.

But bathing? Actually being able to get clean? And, if she's honest, being surrounded just in the company of women whom she likes?

She comes along, walking careful in the dark with one of Miss Raven's crutches.

Once at the pool, she takes off her boots and soaks, the red trousers she'd worn through the forest. She takes off her red blouse, and then, hesitantly, her chemise. But there she lets things rest, for she'd put on the flimsy bust support (bra, she'd heard the others call it) underneath to keep some modesty, and leaves on the simple drawers she'd made out of tablecloth.

(That the garments are white, and will become saturated and cling to her slender form, is something she's aware of. But she hasn't been completely naked since she was a small child, and Attempts At Modesty should be made.)

Then, taking a deep breath, she slips herself straight into the water with a quiet little shriek of delight. It's cold.

But it's water. Glorious, glorious water, and she'd felt so wretchedly dirty. And the weight off her ankle is simply divine.

Re: OTA

[womanofvalue]

Peggy had watched Kate on her descent, an amused smile privately playing on her lips. Slowly gliding across the water towards her, she makes sure that they have some modicum of privacy as she tips her head to one side, thinking that her mild disapproval will show in the way she tips her head to one side, her eyes boring into Kate. She might not be elderly (being only twenty-six), but sometimes Kate does have a habit of making her feel quite old and mature.

"I'm afraid you might be missing part of the point," she tells her, kindly.

[lastofthekellys]

"Purposefully ducked it, Miss Carter," Kate says with a kind of brazen cheer. Her eyes are wide, innocent even in the moonlight, although if the light isn't enough to see that, her voice certainly conveys it.

She ducks herself completely under the water, shaking her long, thick curls out of their braid to try and get the water all the way through before standing up again.

The water, then, isn't a problem, she seems to be saying.

[thekittenqueen]

Far be it for Margaery to correct someone on how they enjoyed swimming. Kate was modest in a way that Margaery recognized and appreciated. She could have been a woman of King's Landing or a lady of the North. Her sweet countenance and determination were admirable, one of the few saving graces of this place, and the reason that many of them had survived so long. For that, Kate would be allowed to do as she pleased, in Margaery's mind.

"What do you think?" She asked, rolling on to her stomach as she gazed over at her friend. The moonlight danced over her bare back, casting silver shadows over her skin. It was pleasant, warm in a way similar to the sun, but without risking her body becoming burned.

"It's a lovely spot." She smirked, her mind going back to the men left behind. "A bit of a shame that we didn't invite the whole village."

[lastofthekellys]

"All the village?" Kate's voice is a startled, faintly appalled squeak. Never mind that seeing Margaery like this, all bare skin and not a stitch on her, is somewhat improper as it is, her suggestion makes Kate press a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, no, it'd be a shame if you did. I'd have to leave. And I'm having so much fun."

Whatever her private contemplations of Thorfinn Thorsson and Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster, those are locked firmly into the security of her mind where they wouldn't shock anyone, least of herself.

But to actually be like this, all bared arms, bared legs, bared torso, in front of men?

Oh, no. She couldn't.

[warriorborn]

There aren't that many of them living full-time at the Inn. It makes it incredibly easy to realize when one, or more, of their small number is missing. The fact that it is Miss Kelly who is missing... Well, Benedict likes to think that he might go searching for any of his absent friends, but he cannot deny some sense of urgency when he realizes Miss Kelly is nowhere to be found.

(Her kitten is bothering him, bored without her mistress. Benedict can relate.)

After shutting Miss Hoppy in his room so she won't get out and get lost somewhere, Benedict decides he's going to go searching for the wayward young lady, grateful for the big, bright moon gliding overhead that lights his way.

At first, he wanders through the village, calling out her name quietly, searching for a flash of pale skin or the red of her blouse without much luck. Slowly broadening his search perimeter, he tries not to think about all the predator animals that surely lurk in these woods, the creatures he hears howling at night that leave those heavy tracks in the soft forest floor that he sometimes stumbles upon. Or of the small number of people who were once here and then disappeared; he'd been told about the two men who simply vanished without a trace, and the thought of that happening to Miss Kelly is incredibly distressing.

Of course, he would mourn the loss of any of their number, but Miss Kelly is perhaps the closest thing he has to a friend here, his best friend, as it were, and to have her simply vanish...

"Kate!" he calls out, apprehension allowing him to take certain liberties he normally tries to avoid.

He thinks he hears voices. It's hard to tell; his vision and his hearing alike have been dulled somewhat since he appeared down here, but he thinks he hears people up ahead. "Miss Kelly?"

[lastofthekellys]

"Here!" There's a pause. "Except, um, no, I'll find you!"

Thank everything for the bright moon to make her way through the forest, but the bright, bright moon means she has to quickly finish pulling on her clothes and that she's suddenly intimately aware that underneath her trousers and blouse, she's sopping wet. That she'd taken off the bra so the wet fabric wouldn't press against her blouse. That she's carrying her wet chemise. That her hair is completely out, no plait or ribbon to give the illusion of being done.

It's an awareness that heightens once she's found him, brings a slight flush to her face.

"Good evening, Mr Sorellin."

OTA

[hawkeyesniper]

Riza had been more than a little surprised to receive such an invitation. She hadn't exactly spoken to many of the other women yet. Skinny dipping also wasn't exactly normal for her. She could think back to when her father would have forbidden such a thing due to the secret she kept on her back. But that was so long ago and, here, it was an utterly useless secret. Who even knew that alchemy was a possibility or reality here? She hadn't even heard anyone mention being a wizard or magic user -- something that had been fairly common when she'd been in Manhattan for a year.

What it boiled down to, was she really couldn't use her back tattoo as an excuse to not go. It might raise questions, but Riza wasn't exactly modest. Being one of the few female soldiers to fight in Ishval, she'd lost her modesty a long time ago. Her time in Manhattan had shown her that most people probably weren't going to think her tattoo meant anything more than just an elaborate design. They would probably guess it meant something, though it was doubtful they would know what.

Besides, another thing Manhattan had taught her was that it was important to form bonds. These were the people she had to rely on now for better or worse. Skinnydipping might seem silly, but hadn't her fondest moments from Manhattan come from the silly things between the terror?

Riza arrived at the spring at nightfall then. She removes her clothes without a word, sticking to the shadows out of the little modesty she has left and attempting to keep her shadow and burn scar at least somewhat obscured. After all, just because she was okay with some of the women getting a glimpse of it, didn't mean she was ready to flaunt both the tattoo and the scar that marred it for all to see. She was quick about undressing and proceeded to get into the water as quickly as possible.

[OOC: Back Tattoo and Burn reference picture -- may be NSFW since it is a nude female's back, though you can't see anything.]

Re: OTA

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo and Temptation's Abandon are not always good bedfellows to leave to their own meandered musings. Case in point, she was already debating whether she was actually brazen enough to go about floating on her back in the water and give up needing to have her eyes open or feet finding flat, not-so-slippery, places to stand and walk around on. If she was alone, she'd already be doing it. But she wasn't alone, and that made it a roulette game of her own predilection and that of pondering at other people's.

Especially as the water was so gloriously cool and she longed to just sink down and breathe out and not think so heavily. She wasn't even positive she could remember the last time she'd felt this. She was pondering whether it was Mediates and the Roadhouse, or back to something with Rachel, when she spotted Riza and half swam, half walked over to where the woman was.

"It's Riza, right? I've been meaning to come find you and say hello for some time." Jo's smile was bright and broad with the night's ease.

[hawkeyesniper]

Riza brushed her hair behind her ear, doing her best to stay submerged but still appear like she wasn't self conscious about this scenario. She forgot that this would make her feel so vulnerable, but it was a little late to change her mind about coming without seeming strange.

"Yes," she runs through the names and faces from the town meeting. "And you're Jo." Riza hesitates and then tries to smile slightly, "Little strange for a first meeting, but I suppose this whole situation is."

OTA Jo Harvelle

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo might be several years since the Hell Dimension, but among the many things it's left on her, is a deep and abiding relish for large amounts of clean water. She had laughed and smiled, bright like the sun, in a way she so rarely did about these parts, when the invitation was passed along her way. She would be there. The novelty. The fun. The length of time since anything like it in her life. She really had to hand it to Veronica. Vee was brilliant.

The night almost can't come fast enough, and Jo slipped herself of Thorfinn and Kol easily enough by just not going to house between working in the inn and coming to the skinny dipping spot. While Jo hadn't been out and out naked in years with someone she wasn't sleeping it wasn't so much her skin -- as it was what was on her skin, from the tops of her shoulders and down in her thighs -- that made her almost hesitate.

Even here, where almost all the pain and all the magic had dulled. It was only a hum at the far edge of her awareness now.

In contrast to the thought, Jo undressed without the aid of tree or bush, leaving her boots, socks, pants, tank top and all underwear in a neat pile on the bank, far enough no rambunctious splashing could find it. After that, she walked down into the water, dipping herself into her shoulders and then over her head in a quick dunk down. Coming up with a loud content sigh for the cool water beading down through today's braids from Thorfinn, across her shoulders and joining the rest of it pressed against all of her skin.

"Now this is perfection. Veronica is my Queen."

Re: OTA Jo Harvelle

[womanofvalue]

Peggy lets out a rather fond laugh as she settles in with the water to her shoulders, the coolness of it a blissful balm to the stress that's been giving her a headache for the last few days (that, and the crying she's telling absolutely no one about). "It feels better than I could ever imagine," she shares, agreeing with Jo. "For all that we sit around discussing the ways this place is trying to hurt us, I can't help but think little rewards like this make it tolerable."

She breathes out slowly and gives Jo a smile, pleased to see her relaxing a little. "Your hair is lovely," she says. "Did you have help?"

Re: OTA Jo Harvelle

[tobeclosetohim]

It really does. Feel marvelous. It's cool against her skin, and it's evoking a warmth and relaxation through her skin she hasn't felt in so very long. It really makes her want to throw her head back, and just float on her back in the water and stop thinking, focusing, doing anything, but sinking into this feeling and the marvel of enough clean, cool, water to just give over to it.

She has a smile for Peggy when she starts talking, agreeing with the sentiment. Someone needed to do something nice for Veronica for this, is a thought that flits into and out of her mind, while Jo's nodding at her first words. Before she's giving a slightly comic wince and a shake of her head for the second.

Her mouth still pulling toward a curl while responding. "This is all Thorfinn." She gave a wave of a hand toward the top of her head and her hair, before reaching over her opposite shoulder to find the end of one sodden braid and look at it. "He's decided I'm his doll until he can learn braiding the way he wants to and get them how he wants for his hair."

OTA

[thekittenqueen]

Between the meeting, the earthquake and the broken fountain, the troubles in the village seemed to hang in the air like the heavy sun. It was overwhelming and sweltering, no different than the heat that made their chores near impossible. Everyday Margaery lugged water back to her animals and crops, becoming sweaty and filthy by the day's end. If she wanted a bath, she'd have to come back for more water.

It was exhausting. Since her last attempt at cooling herself in less than ladylike means, she had avoided further instances that could lead to conflict or arguments with Robb. In the end, however, she wanted to indulge herself. She had swam in the spring before, having dove in when she stumbled upon it with Emma. She knew how cool and soothing the waters could be, as well as the wonders it could do for her hair and body.

That she would be naked was no great trouble. It was how the women swam in High Garden. Modesty was not so strict in the Reach and Margaery had long ago displayed no inhibitions when it came to her body.

The invitation had been whispered among the ladies like some great secret. It didn't bother Margaery if the men joined or not. While the others might slip out of their homes without a word, Margaery first had supper with Jon and Robb. As they were heading to bed, she simply waltzed out of the house and into the darkness, not bothering to sneak away or mask her purpose. She simply said, "I'm going swimming in the spring" and had gone.

Stripping away her scrubs, she watched as the women swam and dove beneath the water. She dipped herself in the spring, letting her body be cooled before climbing out and stretching under the moon. She stared up at the skies, a contented sigh emerging from her lips. The laughter and company soothing her rattled nerves. It was perhaps the first time in a long while that she felt safe again.

Re: OTA

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo'd given in and floated on top of the spring water for a long time on her back. The cool water rippled all around her and under her, and she forgot about her sigils for a time, here and there, even. The moon was gorgeous and bright above her, filling her eyes with the orb of itself and the lesser stars all about it. Such a clear, beautiful sky it was almost possible to want to forget for a second, here and there, this was still another prison box.

She didn't forget, and she'd remember again now, and later, and tomorrow morning.
But she could just breathe out and enjoy this, shamelessly, for a while, too.


When she decided she wanted some air, and just maybe the delicious nip of the colder night air on her waterlogged skin, she pulled herself out and up on the bank. She ended up no too far from Margaery, hands wide, behind her back. "This was the perfect idea, wasn't it?"

Re: OTA

[zomboligist]

He's still so new to this place that he doesn't really know his way around. It's why he gets lost practically every time he goes out at night, which should really tell him to stop going out so much at night, and yet, here he is lost and stumbling around much further into the woods than he needs to be. It's also around this time that he hears splashing in the distance, like wood nymphs here to steal him away.

Warily, he creeps closer because while they may be supernatural nymphs, that doesn't mean they're not good with directions and Ravi desperately wants to avoid being eaten by wolves. When he gets closer, though, he's not met with your average direction-giver, but rather, a very naked woman.

Hand over his eyes instantly, Ravi closes his eyes shut so tightly that the moon bounces on the backs of his eyelids as he jams his way towards embarrassed humiliation. "No, sorry, this is not me looking, I am not looking, I didn't see anything," he swears.

OTA

[specialise]

Raven stands ankle-deep in the spring, but doesn't go any further. Dressed in the briefs she'd been supplied, she wears her grey scrub top and doesn't make a move to remove it.

Skinny dipping isn't a concept that's foreign to her. A few of the kids at their first camp had found a lake without a monster lingering beneath the surface and had gone for a dip without their clothes. Raven hadn't been one of them.

She almost hadn't come, but being locked up in her own space in the inn, and after trying to be useful again, she finds that she wants to at least see what it's like, even if she remains on the outskirts. She can't swim, for one, and she doesn't quite feel comfortable going out into the water in the dark.

Raven Reyes can do almost anything, but she's not the careless risk taker some like to paint her to be. She can't swim, and she knows it. With the way this entire activity has been painted, that's a necessary skill to have to be able to enjoy oneself.

And when she decides to move from her spot, after wriggling her toes and relishing in how she can feel the water lap at her ankles of both legs, she begins to walk along the outskirts of the spring. She doesn't wade into the deeper parts of the water.

[lastofthekellys]

Ned had made sure all his siblings could swim. He was proud, so proud, of rescuing Dicky Shelton from that flooded creek, but he'd wanted to make sure that if any of his siblings got into similar trouble, they'd have a chance of saving themselves if no one was around to help. Kate proved a good swimmer, even in her clothes, although she's not swimming so much currently. More just...

Enjoying moving slowly. Walking along the bottom. Sitting on a rock.

But she sees how Raven's moving, cautiously and around the edge, and she swims over until the bottom is high enough she can stand. Like Raven, she's wearing her underthings - although in her case, this is the flimsy bra their captives have given her and a pair of drawers she's made herself.

"How you findin' it?"

ota

[taiyny]

Natasha has no issue with nudity. Growing up in a "dorm" with 27 other girls will do that to you, even if you're not trained to use your body as a weapon, an object that doesn't belong to you but to the State. People seeing in her underwear or even straight up naked? It doesn't phase her. She's beaten men up in nothing but a bra and her underwear before, surely she can step into a spring for a cool bath on a warm night. She folds her scrubs and underwear neatly onto a pile near the edge, shakes out her hair and wades into the water.

There are two prominent scars on Natasha's body; the only two visible ones, in fact. They're both on the left side, one on her abdomen and one in the meat of her shoulder. Each scar has an entry point in the back and and exit point through her front, the one on her abdomen much larger and much older than the one in her shoulder, although both are clearly from being shot, if you know what you're looking for. As far as Natasha's concerned, they're not even there (joking with Steve aside), another part of a body that is both hers and not at the same time.

Natasha dunks her head under the water and surfaces with a breath, raking her fingers through the snarls of her hair, trying desperately to comb it out. She hasn't had a good clean since she got here, and her skin, at least, is already starting to feel refreshed. Maybe if she goes under a few more times, her hair will stop feeling dirty, too.