It's 'cause of these things. [Marluxia]

[Cinnamon]

Zexion felt the need to get clean. After the run in with Monstro, he had craved getting into a nice hot shower and rub his skin raw, but was sent on another mission shortly after that to the Land of Dragons. He was ordered to go to a spring and fetch something. And after he fetched that, the Superior added, he could...get clean. Huffing, Zexion kept his hair out of his face with a plain-looking pin. Not caring if he looked girly or not, he would fumble with the object in the bag. How much munny had he spent to get this thing? He wouldn't say.

That old woman was a haggler, and he eventually had to fork over all of the munny that Xemnas provided him. How the Superior knew how much the woman would crave for a stupid little hairpin full of untold powers? He...he knew now. Shuffling into the springs, he paid with his own munny, got a few fluffy towels, a wash cloth, and a non-foaming soap, and moved into the male springs. The hot steam greeted him, and the bookworm felt extreme relief. So this was what it felt like to be relieved. Pent up and tense from earlier, he was able to let it go... Pulling out Lexicon for a moment, he took a few notes on his emotions at the blank pages on the back, and then shut it, waving it away in a plume of smoke with his hand.

Time for the glories of super hot water to turn his skin pink with cleanliness. Disrobing behind a mat that was wired up to the wood of the ceiling, he wrapped a towel against his bony hips and sauntered out, toes dipping into the water to test it out. Hm. Seemed he was alone for now. A delighted smile covered his face and he slipped in, groaning. That felt so good. So clean! Grabbing a bucket, he dipped it into the water and the poured it over his head, repeating the process until he deemed it safe enough to dunk into the liquid. He held his towel with one hand as he moved through the water, making sure it didn't fall as he dunked his head, coming up and shaking the now silver locks free of excess water.

Oh...so much better. Moving to a large boulder, he sat upon it and leaned back, hands out as to not get pruned. Zexion wasn't sure what he could do, and jumped as a woman in a kimono entered, holding a tray. Was that...food? Tea? Perking up, he watched as she shuffled forward, taking her sweet time to approach him. From behind her bangs, he could tell that her eyes were wandering, and he crossed his leg over the other in an almost dangerous fashion for a male to do. He was fine though. Clearing his throat, she blushed and sped up, kneeling down and placing the food near him on a particularly flat rock. H-Here you are. She muttered, taking one last look before departing with a silly grin on her face.

Zexion snorted. What was that all about? Especially that grin after? Giving a concerned look to the food, he reached out and poked it, noticing that it was a rice ball. With a chopstick, he poked it open so he could locate what was inside, and smiled in contentment. Something pleasant and simple. Takana, if he remembered right. Sighing, he plucked it up with his now clean finger and nibbled a tiny fraction of the ball off, setting it down, picking up the wash cloth and soap, and moved to the deeper end, dropping his towel and began to wash his body, noticing a few burn marks from the light bile that had gotten onto him.

Sometimes, he was grateful for having a cloak. Sighing, he stretched arms high above his head and leaned forward, getting off all of the grime and grit that was on his body after rooting it up, and then made his way back to the food. The water wasn't dirty, really. It was a very large spring, and since the water was so hot, everything washed off seemed to vanish without a trace. Towel was retrieved and he reattached it to his waist, moving and sitting down. Facing the food, he began to dig in, hair matted around his face, tickling his shoulders from the wet-weight. It would be easy to recognize him, if you've ever seen him wet before.

The sliding door opened and the Illusionist turned, aquamarine eyes widening lightly in surprise. Well. Just his luck!

Not really.

Marluxia? What are you doing here? Something had to be up. They had to be on similar missions, taking out one world at a time, or something along the lines of that.

[Marluxia]

Having been sent from mission to mission, Marluxia found himself quite tired of all of this. Once he had returned from Monstro, pleasant odor eating his cloak and all, he had only been given about five minutes before being assigned a new mission. This five minutes had been spent getting a new cloak on and figuring out if the stench had stuck itself to his body as well.

Then, he had been told to head to the Land of Dragons. The man had been told to retrieve a delicate appearing box from a young woman, but she didn't seem too keen on giving it away. Then again, after having been given a good sum of munny, courtesy of the Superior, and a threat that only allowed her to keep her head if she accepted the offer, the woman didn't seem to be able to refuse.

The strange thing about the woman had been that, rather than frightened by the threat, it only angered her, causing her to throw the box at his face and storm off. She hadn't even taken the munny. At least the man's reflexed didn't allow her the satisfaction of watching him get hit with it.

Examining the box, he found it impossible to open. No latches, locks, knobs, or even a slit to imply that it could be opened. Maybe it couldn't. But what was the use of it, if there was nothing inside? Perhaps, there was something inside, and it was only a matter of figuring how to open it. The only feature of the box seemed out of place, as a shallow dip in the top was present, but lacked anything that could be placed in it.

It didn't matter. Chances were, Marluxia would never see the contents, if there were any.

Spotting a place to wash, the man remembered his own filth, creating a slightly unpleasant expression. It made him suddenly aware of all the slime that was probably invisible on his body. Why was it that everything found a need to be disgusting?

Finding it an appropriate time to break from his mission, he made his way to pay, and, after a strange expression from the woman behind the counter, he was given the necessities to enjoy the springs.

Opening the door, the man was given quite a surprise to see the other enjoying the springs. At least it was only Zexion. It could have been worse, far more stress-inducing people.

"It seems that I was intending to enjoy the springs," the man mumbled. Enjoy. Oh yes. Because he could feel that. But it was a fairly obvious answer. Strangely, the talker didn't find it necessary to babble on about what had led him here. Instead, he shifted, "should I assume any different reason from you?"

[Cinnamon]

Eying Marluxia, the illusionist debated whether to stay calm or feel a little irritated to the question asked. He was here to get clean, Marluxia should have known that. Sighing and stretching again, he dipped deeper into the water, tickling his chin with it the hot liquid. aqua met a steely blue and he rose a brow, pressing back to the rock.

Ew.

What was that texture? Looking around, he reached a hand to the small of his back and swiped a finger across, straining the muscles in his arm rather tightly. Retrieving his finger, he held it up and blanched, shuddering. Stomach turned as he stared at the ooze that had formed on his back. It seemed the cat had left a little present of sorts! The young looking man's skin only got paler, even developing a green tint the more he stared at it, and then he peered up to Marluxia, turning pink. He couldn't reach behind his back without cramping his arms badly, and even then, he doubted that it would be good for the future.

Sighing, he moved his hair away from his neck, rubbing and cringed. It was under there, too. He'd need someone to take care of this. And what better person to ask than Marluxia? He was sure that the other wouldn't mind. Would you wash my back? If he didn't, he'd lay a washcloth on a firm stone, press up against it and try to rub his back clean that way, but if Marluxia would agree, he would turn his back to the other and push the longest bit of hair away from his neck. Zexion was a rather slender member of the Organization, having a bit of muscle here and there where it was necessary, but other than that, he was barely skin and bones.

That cat really got me... He muttered to Marluxia, sighing in discontentment. He didn't want to be dirty...he really didn't! And he knew that Marluxia wasn't the type to really agree to these things...so he was fairly lucky. Zexion cleared his throat and waited, trembling just a bit. This was okay. The touch only meant he was getting clean. Marluxia wouldn't kill him. Not after what had happened with the betrayal... He couldn't have that happen. The bookworm wouldn't stand for it. Reaching out, he took an rice ball in his hand and bit off a tiny bit, offering it over his shoulder. ...would you like some?

[Marluxia]

Hearing the question, Marluxia swallowed dryly. Was this a joke? Some sort of strange, twisted joke? Since when did the pink haired man scrub people's backs?

"Are you serious, Zexion? the man questioned, emotionlessly. He couldn't think of any other words to express his confusion. Wait. Could he be confused? Was confusion an emotion?

He didn't have a heart. As such, he shouldn't have emotions. To display confusion would be to have them. This was an example of why he didn't stay around others often. They'd place their already fake emotions into the man's head.

Realizing that the other was serious, he placed a palm to his face, fingers twisting under pink bangs, and covering an eye. How was he to respond? It was an odd situation to be placed under. Did he say yes? Or no? Was this a hassle for him? Would Zexion be 'angered' if he declined?

The other seemed almost desperate to get clean.

Letting a small sigh escape pink lips, the man made his way toward the other, "how do you handle yourself normally?" It was almost like asking a child. Except that Zexion was not a child. How had he gone so long without being able to wash every part of his back? Did he just randomly shower with other Organization members?

That would be a potentially awkward situation.

Inhaling sharply, the man made his way to the other, a washcloth loosely gripped in one hand. The way the smaller one seemed, he wasn't looking too forward to this. Before he could question it, he was offered food, which was soon carefully grasped in the assassin's hand, uttering a thanks.

For a few seconds, he nibbled at the food, deciding finally not to question the way that Zexion seemed. Now, he wasn't pretending to have emotions, too, was he? The pink haired man had always considered the other relatively emotionless, as well.

Examining the man's goo-coated back, he let out a disgusted sound. "Did you let it vomit on you?" Half of this was joking, and the other half, Marluxia realized, was serious. The smell was quite unpleasant, as well. Did he smell like this? He could only hope that the reek wasn't anywhere on his own body. Of course, the smell of whale-breath, he could only imagine, had clung to him.

Another moment passed before he actually moved to run the wet cloth across the other's back. It seemed like it was coming off relatively easily, but that was how most slimy substances were. If it was actually completely gone just by lightly rinsing it off was another thing. Honestly, Marluxia wasn't too thrilled at cleaning the other, but, as he had started, he would be kind enough to do it properly.

[Cinnamon]

Quite serious. The literate man answered, closing his eyes as if he expected a no. He wasn’t one to take the word ‘no’ politely. He tended to get in a sour mood and ignore the fellow who said it. Hands fiddled with each other and wringed, moving over and placing them upon the rock, looking back at Marluxia as he inched towards him. She wasn’t sure if it

Zexion gave a sigh of relief as the other began to run the cloth down his back, leaning forward to give him a bit more access to the grime. He knew he smelled absolutely horrible, but he was positive he spotted a bit of goo on the back of Marluxia's hair. If anything, he'd pay him back by washing his hair for him. You see, Zexion did like to make deals. He liked making ones where he knew the other person could give him something in return, or he could pay it off rather simply. He sighed and looked over his shoulder at the other, blinking in question at the others obvious disgust.

"I didn't let it vomit on me. I was in it's stomach. So I had gotten some unpleasant surprises. Even if I didn't want it. Fiddling, he grabbed a smaller rice ball and picked it apart, stuffing it in his mouth after each swallow. He had been rather hungry, not having the time to break long enough, so he took full advantage of the setting before him. Manners were included, of course. Did you take him for the type to disregard the ‘feelings’ of others? Ha!

Back to the task at hand, he peered back at Marluxia with a glimmer in his eyes that spoke of a mild embarrassment. This was probably the only thing he could ever think of to embarrass himself. Another Organization member washing his back. It may have been different if it was Larxene, maybe the flattery level would be higher than this, but for now, he’d feel shy and rather intimidated by the taller, yet younger male.

However, as the grime slid off his back, he felt a light sting, wincing as the wash cloth ran over his back. What the…curling so that he could look, he noticed a few pink splotches on his back. They weren’t burns. Not to be quite. They were just like Indian burns. You rub hard enough, your skin turns pink and it burns for a while. Zexion assumed it was from the cat’s stomach acid, or maybe the whales. If it mattered, it was bile. He hated it just as much as he hated animals. He wondered, for a moment, why the Superior sent him on this mission knowing that he had a strong distaste for anything that didn’t walk on two legs.

Birds didn’t count either. Grumbling to himself, the Illusionist turned and caught Marluxia’s eyes once, cheeks tinting pink. Why was he feeling things easier than before? Was it some sort of gift from death? If a Nobody died, and then came back again, did that make them able to feel? Was it like reincarnation? The man would never know, after all. You can’t talk to death. Thanks…

[Marluxia]

"And you got to find out how the inside flesh of a whale felt," the assassin almost teased. Thankfully, the worst that he had gotten out of it was an unpleasant smell, perhaps a tiny bit of goo, and a missing sleeve, along with a tiny burn where the sleeve had touched his skin.

Not much to complain about, in comparison. At least he didn't need to find anything inside a decaying cat's stomach.

One had to wonder if the situation would have been better, or worse, had it been in a different location. Maybe the giant cat could have been in Twilight Town or something. It would have given it more range for movement, but at least they wouldn't have been inside a whale. But with more room, there had a chance of either being a much larger cat, or many more of them.

It was very good that there were not more of those horrible creatures.

Instead of really responding to the thanks, the man continued trying to rub the bile off, being more careful in spots that appeared tender. Then again, Zexion's entire body kind of seemed that way, in his opinion. Like something that you didn't want to squeeze too hard, in fear of it shattering into millions of pieces in your hands.

For a moment, he paused, simply staring at the other's back. It seemed that the thank you had settled into his brain, to which his only response was, "if you move around a bunch, I can't clean anything."

Not that it really mattered. Only a few seconds later, he deemed his job above-satisfactory, and offered the washcloth over the smaller man's shoulder. It was pretty clean, in his own opinion, and who could consider a man who enjoyed flowers and had pink hair to like anything dirty?

"Or did I miss something?"

Surely not, but it was always best to ask. Wasn't it? Then again, that just led to more work, if the other didn't find it satisfactory.