Primal Dawn

Kalista repeatedly turned over the coins in her hand in front of the tamer's guild. Last night after Deric had completed his challenge, their group stayed up late celebrating both his and Kean's success. A lot of late drinking resulted in Peter waking up this morning and calling for a day off. Kalista had gone to the guild to inform the others of their absence today only to discover they were taking time off as well.

Peter had provided Kalista with some allowance for today, citing that it was her hard work which earned it, but she wasn't sure what to spend it on. She wondered whether she should ask if Anda or the others wanted to do something. But would they even want to do that? Does she even want to hang out with them? Kalista had hardly interacted with them outside fighting primals. After thinking about it for a moment, Kalista remembered that she doesn't even know where they were staying at, so it seemed to not even be an option.

Realizing this, she decided to explore Wildburry and see if there was anything that might interest her.

The first place she decided to go to was the part of town which contained a lot of stores. Peter had brought her here once before to buy some additional clothes for himself after some of his were torn. The store that they had gone to catered to both humans and primals, but she had been too annoyed that day to think of purchasing anything for herself.

When Kalista entered the store, she was greeted by an Arachnid, who gave a light bow. Kalista walked towards the area directed towards primals and began to inspect their wares.

She picked up a red dress and walked towards a nearby mirror and held it in front of her. “Doesn't look like it offers much protection,” she muttered to herself.

“Protection?” A voice came from behind. Kalista turned to see the Arachnid from before.

“Yes, from claws, fangs, swords, that sort of thing.”

“I would certainly believe so. The garments we sell here aren't meant for... that kind of fighting. I take it you are without your tamer today?” Kalista nodded. “Then, imagine if he returned home from a long day to you wearing this dress. What would his reaction be?”

Kalista thought for a moment. “'Where'd you buy the dress,' maybe?”

“Well, there may be some of that as well,” the Arachnid muttered. “But he might also mention how beautiful you look, and struggle to keep himself from tearing your clothes off.”

“Hmm. That would be nice,” Kalista's voice trailed off for a moment. “But normally I take them off since his hands are busy.”

“I... I see.” The Arachnid clears her throat. “How about this.” She grabs another dress nearby, this one a maroon blue, which seemed to puff out towards the bottom. “He is invited to a formal gathering of tamers and their primals, and he brings you wearing this dress. What do the others think?”

“She must be his strongest primal.” The Arachnid blinked a few times in response. “Ah, I think I will visit with him next time. Perhaps he might have some thoughts.” Kalista hurriedly handed the red dress back to the Arachnid and turned and left the store. Wanting to get away from there, her eyes quickly scanned for any other establishment that seemed interesting.

She spotted a bathhouse. Although she felt she was able to adequately keep herself clean using the inn's facilities, perhaps soaking a nice bath might calm her down and help her think of other things to do.

Outside the building was a standing board with their prices, they seemed reasonable and within her budget. As she walked inside, a woman sitting at the entrance spotted her and frowned. Behind her were three door-ways, marked with signs stating men, women, and mixed. “We don't serve your kind here,” she said, sternly. “Only non-primal affiliated humans allowed.” Kalista's eyes narrowed. Non-primal affiliated? So no primals and no tamers?

Kalista rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She didn't feel like arguing with idiots. She continued down the street, and silently began to regret not arguing her position. A relaxing bath sounds much more appealing when you can't take it, it seemed.

Her woes were soon answered when she came across a second bathhouse. This time a man was manning the front.

“Welcome,” he said cheerfully. “We have baths for tamers, primals, and mixed.”

“What about women?” Kalista asked puzzled.

“Your tamer could use the tamer or mixed bath then.”

“My tamer is a man. So women do not have a separate bath?”

“Ah, my apologies. Truth be told, we used to, but realized that most would simply go to our competitor down the street. We decided on our current layout because of that.”

“I see.” Kalista thought for a moment. The prices were a bit more expensive here, but she could still afford it. The decision came down to whether she wanted to be in the mixed bath or not. Was there any reason to? Peter was not here, after all. If he found out that she entered the mixed baths, would he get angry? Would he think that she was not satisfied with him? Kalista decided it was best to go in the primals bath. She handed over the fee and went on inside.

After removing her clothes and lightly washing her body, she stepped into the area where the big pools of water were. It was hosting a wide variety of different primals, some of which Kalista had not seen before.

Her eyes darted around for any familiar faces, but couldn't find any. She slowly stepped into one of the large pools, whose current occupants were two Fren, a Dryad, and a Goblin, and submerged herself in water, which rose up to her shoulders. She let out a relaxed sigh, feeling at ease as she closed her eyes and sunk into thought.

The space was relatively peaceful, all things considered. The chatter of primals sitting in other pools could be overheard talking about various things. Beyond the wall which separated their side from the mixed bathing areas, Kalista could hear the faint sound of moaning. She suddenly wished she had brought Peter and had gone to the mixed baths. It would have been a good opportunity to show him off.

“Well, well. If it isn't Daurista. Your tamer complain about your meatbag sweat and send you over here?” An annoying voice interrupted her musings.

Kalista frowned and slightly opened her eyes. The owner of the voice was a Goblin, relaxing nearby. Was that Kean's new Goblin, Tin? She tried to recall how she looked, but was struggling a little. No, I don't think I've done anything to annoy her, unless all Goblins are like this. Ah, could this be...

“Sorry, after my last win, it seems today is your victory. I can't come up with an insulting name for you because I didn't bother remembering yours.”

“It's Maly you airhead! Next time I'll throw a little lighter to stop you from getting any dumber.”

“Next time, huh,” Kalista said, faking surprise.

“Of course. There's a million reasons to fight again.” Maly smirked. “And maybe that time, things won't go so well for you.”

“Who says it'll be you fighting me? Maybe it'll be your tamer's other Goblin instead.”

“Other Goblin? Jet doesn't...” A small splash interrupted Maly. Kalista turned to see one of the Fren's had splashed the other with some water. They briefly played around for a bit, even fondling each other a little bit, before both relaxing. “Ah that's right, my sister.” Maly flashed a wicked grin. “She might be your opponent next time after all.”

“You should give her some pointers, then,” Kalista said while looking towards Maly. In the corner of her vision, she could see one of the Fren looking intently at her. “She's going to need them.”

---

Kalista left the bathhouse clean, energized, and annoyed. “Of all the primals to meet...” she muttered to herself. She absentmindedly began to wander through the streets, and soon found herself in front of the battle center. Looking at the sky, Kalista noticed the sun was beginning to set. “Maybe I should head back.”

Just as she was about to turn and head back home, she overheard a small squabble break out towards the entrance of the battle center. A man who had just been in the middle of leaving seemed to be yelling something at a group of women hovering outside. Squinting her eyes, she surveyed the group of women, and spotted what appeared to be a blonde amidst their rank. Kalista paused for a moment, then chased after their group as they entered the building.