The curiosity in the two men came back, "W'ho are you look'in for?"
Jazz bit her bottom lip nervously before answering, "The White Wolf, Geralt of Rivia."
"And what business would you have with the man?" A booming voice inquired with the opening of the wooden door. All three heads turned at the sudden intrusion, each face with a varied degree of expression. Gav, hilariously, went wide-eyed, like a deer caught in headlights. Todd seemed annoyed for the slightest of moments before his face went impassive, not wanting to give the newcomer a reason to reprimand him. And Jazz was a strange mix of exasperation and shock, as if she didn't know if the sudden intruder in the conversation was welcomed or not.
But sure enough, the Bloody Baron strolled into the room, acting like he owned the place (which he did), glaring at Todd and Gav, "I thought I told you two to tell me when she woke!" Todd and Gav turned the slightest bit pale at being reprimanded, and Jazz's gaze turned into a glare at the Baron's tone. She was rather quickly growing fond of the two soldiers.
Jazz didn't know what she expected when she was finally able to meet the Baron. Perhaps she expected a carbon copy of the man from the Wild Hunt game back on Earth. The tall northern man with salt and pepper colored hair decorating his head and his beard. The rotund man with a swollen face and blotchy red skin. And indeed, the Bloody Baron that entered the room was similar in some ways to the character from the game. Although instead of the blotchy red that decorated his face, it was a light pink blotchiness, and the beard, which was larger and fuller than the game, was more gray than black. His brows, thick, untrimmed, were large enough to nearly overshadow his small beady eyes. The northerners might have considered Philip Strenger handsome at some point in his life, but Jazz found him and his stench, undesirable.
He's not a terrible man, by far. Soft on women, but he was still an alcoholic if the swelling of his body was anything to go by. Jazz sniffed noticeably and glared down at herself. Actually… I need a bath. How many days has it been? A sour smell was coming off of her body, pits especially, and Jazz found it amazing that Todd and Gav hadn't passed out from the sheer intensity of the odor.
The Baron must have noticed Jazz's sudden realization, and merely gave a jolly and good natured laugh, "Ah, but answers can wait until after you've had a bath, young lady." The Baron opened the door and gave a mighty bellow down the hallway, "MAIDS! DRAW A BATH FOR OUR GUEST!" The lord of Crow's Perch lumbered out of the room, "WELL? Quickly now!"
"Yes, my lord!" came several meek cries before feet were heard pattering up and down the halls.
Jazz moved to stand, the blankets falling off her body, and revealing that she had only been clad in her small clothes the entire time. Black boy shorts and black bra was all that covered Jazz, yet while Gav and Todd scrambled to cover their eyes, Jazz could hardly care less. "Oh?" the nearly naked woman gave a teasing smile. "Haven't either of you seen a woman's body before?"
"IT'S NOT DECENT!" Gav screeched from his seat, trying to scramble away from Jazz. "HAVE SOME DIGNITY!"
"My name is Jazz." the woman snickered adoring the red blush that spread along both men's faces under their hands. "And I'm to take a bath, so let's go." Jazz, feeling an uncommon confidence, sauntered with swaying hips towards the door.
"NO!" Jazz jumped at the shout from right behind, and suddenly she was wrapped in the bed sheets and lifted into armor clad arms. Brown eyes turned to look up, and Jazz was surprised to see that it was Todd carrying her out of the room, his green eyes decidedly locked on anything but her.
"AGAIN?" Gav cried out from the room, once again the one who wasn't able to carry Jazz like a bride. "YOU SAID IT WAS MY TURN!"
"You're too slow." Todd teased, a smirk lighting up his normally grim face. But when he saw Jazz gazing up at him fondly, the smirk disappeared and he huffed.
Oh? Jazz mused in interest at Todd's strange turn in behavior. Something eating at him. Interesting. I wanna know more. But Jazz left it be, knowing how annoying it was for people to pick at matters buried deep within, instead focusing on examining her surroundings as Todd carried her into the bathroom, where several maids were working on filling the bathtub with a mixture of boiling hot water from the fire in the corner and cold water being carried in from a source outside the manor.
With a clear of his throat, Todd had cleared all the maids and servants from the room. And when the door to the steaming chamber was firmly closed, only then did he gently set his charge down, careful to subtly make sure that Jazz had stable footing before letting go of his hold. The subtleness of his actions allowed them to go unnoticed by Jazz as she dropped the bed sheet and started to walk around the bathroom.
When you play a game like the Witcher, you never really pay attention to the insignificant details. You don't really care where the bathrooms are, where the kitchen is, where the dining room is… Because in the grade scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Jazz thought, stopping to observe the lit candles on a small vanity. When you're Geralt of Rivia… the White Wolf… the only things that mattered were staying alive, killing harmful monsters, and finding Ciri. Romance and helping people were side quests usually. Mundane things were unimportant. A self-deprecating chuckle. If you live an exciting life, all you wish for is the mundane.
"The bars on the vanity are different scented soaps." Jazz's head turned so fast that she nearly got whiplash. Todd merely eyed the silent woman for a short moment before turning to leave the bathroom. Everyone is going to lunch, I'll go save some food for you." He paused just as he was about to close the door, "No one should bother you, but just in case, there's a knife in the cabinet. Your clothes were washed and are folded on the shelf." And then he was gone.
Jazz waited until the footsteps had retreated before turning to the vanity once more, picking up the various soaps to sniff. It took several whiffs, but a dark purple colored soap appealed to Jazz the most, scented elderberries and blackberries. Staring into the mirror, despite the slight blurriness to her vision, Jazz could see the filth that caked her body and hair, causing her to frown, not liking that she'd have to sit in whatever filth came off her.
And then, from the side, Jazz recognized a wooden seat and bucket next to a nozzle and pipe. Humming in curiosity, Jazz silently made her way towards the pipe, where she turned the nozzle. A rumble and rattle as the pipe shook before water spewed from the spout and into the floor drain. Pleased that there was a form of a shower, Jazz slipped off her undergarments and sat on the wooden stool, bending her head under the nozzle to soak her long black locks. Then, once she was satisfied that her head had been wet enough, Jazz went about scrubbing her scalp, using her fingernails to get the dirt. And she scrubbed until the water started to drain clear again before moving on to her face and body, getting as much dirt off as possible before turning off the water and standing up, the water running down her body and chilling her.
Finally satisfied that she wouldn't be sitting in her own filth, Jazz carefully made her way back to the vanity to grab the berry scented soap, trying not to slip on the wet floor, before moving towards the bathtub and gingerly dipping her right leg in to test the temperature. When she found that the water was pleasantly hot, Jazz allowed herself to submerge her body in the water before kneeling to lather up her body with the soap. Being a woman from another world and time all together, Jazz took extra care to scrub her more intimate areas, knowing that such areas should be kept clean as often as possible. Once she had finished with her body did she move on to lather up her hair, wanting to clean the locks of the oils that clung to the strands.
When every part of her was cleaned to her satisfaction, Jazz allowed herself to lay back in the tub of soapy warm water, the water reaching her chin, and soap covering her body. In the silence on the bathroom, Jazz finally felt comfortable enough to sing again.
"Shizuka ni sora ni kaeru anata no sugata wo…. Namida ga kareru made zutto mitsumeteita… afureru kanashimi wa kesenai kizuato ni….. wasure wa shinai to chikatta… oreta tsubasa wo habatakase subete wo keshite miseyou….itsu no hi ka owari wo mukaeru saigo no kane ga nari yamu made…" it was really one of the only songs that Jazz could remember the lyrics properly off the top of her head. One of her favorite songs actually. The first Japanese song she'd ever learned to sing completely…. Jazz closed her eyes and hummed the guitar rift, sinking in the warm water a little more so that it covered over her mouth.
"Ummmmaaaaa."
Brown eyes snapped open, and bubbled littered the water's surface as Jazz let out a silent scream, sitting upright in the tub, the griffin medallion shaking from its place on her neck. She stared at the cursed man standing next to the bathtub for a few moments in shock, trying to calm her racing heart. And then she groaned and slid into the water again, eyes still focused on Uma. It was then that Jazz noticed the food splattered all over Uma, and she scrunched her face at his filthy appearance.
In her head, Jazz rationalized that as a jester for the Baron, it wasn't surprising that they threw food at the cursed Aen Elle sage. And yet… Jazz narrowed her eyes at Uma, who hadn't stopped staring at her, his eyes holding the intelligence that he had as Avallac'h before briefly fading away… And suddenly, Jazz felt bad, terribly so, that Avallac'h, even when cursed with nearly everything distorted, could understand every single thing that happened to him. And Jazz visibly winced and shifted her eyes away, holding onto the trembling medallion, How horrible it must have been for a sage of the Aen Elle to be humiliated in such a way. All to help the ancestor of a woman he once loved. Because Eredin wanted to humiliate Avallac'h.
Inwardly berating herself, Jazz rose from the cover of the bathtub and slowly got out, skin growing goosebumps from the sudden cold. Turning towards Uma, and not really caring that the sage was seeing her naked, Jazz held a hand out and whispered lowly, "Come, Crevan, we'll get you cleaned up."
Yet Uma gave no indication of recognizing Jazz's use of his real name, bumbling along and following Jazz's motions purely by blind instinct. And Jazz could only sigh in disappointment, wanting some way to communicate with Avallac'h. Shaking her head, she brought it upon herself to clean the cursed Aen Elle, humming to herself softly. "If I told you this was only gonna hurt… If I warned you that the fire's gonna burn… Would you walk in?... Would let me do it first?... Do it all in the name of love…"
[Twenty minutes later]
After cleaning Uma, and getting both him and herself dressed, Jazz gently took Uma's hand and led him out of the bathroom, not having as much trouble as most people would… what with Jazz being a mere five feet tall. "Come, I know you don't eat much, but you should attempt to eat something with me."
As Jazz dragged the cursed elf along with her, she received various odd looks from the servants. Whether it be from her strange attire, the fact that she was walking around barefoot, or that her companion was a proper abomination. And quite honestly, Jazz didn't care for the opinions of others. Besides, this was the closest to getting home that Jazz has been in more than a week.
It still didn't stop Todd and Gav from screaming profanities when she walked back into her room with Uma though…
"WOT ARE YOU DOIN?"
"JAZZ! YOU CAN'T KIDNAP BEASTLY MIDGETS!"
"But he's my friend!" Jazz chirped, kneeling down and throwing her arms around Uma in a hug that the cursed being surprisingly accepted.
Todd smacked a hand to his face and groaned. "Gav was already a handful, now I have to deal with you?"
"You know you love us!" Gav and Jazz chimed in with shit-eating grins on their face.
"UMMAAAA!" to Todd's annoyance the cursed Aen Elle seemed to shriek his answer as well.
