Hit the showers, rookie!

Vasili took a moment to wipe his hands on a cloth towel that Cassie had kindly handed him. He couldn't help but admire her beautiful face as he spoke, "Sorry. I was looking for somewhere to get ready. Could you show me?" He took her clean appearance as a sign that there was running water around here.

With a nod, Cassie bit her lip slightly and took Vasili's hand, pulling him along while ignoring his bacon grease-covered skin.

Vasili was in a rush to get ready, but she was moving slightly too fast. He didn't have a clue 'where' they were heading and realized he would be stuck with a guide if he didn't get a handle on this place.

After what felt like a series of endless turns, Vasili couldn't help but ask, "Uh, Cassie? Why is this place so weird?" The layout felt downright inefficient, and he thought they were making loops within loops. It was like navigating a maze disguised as a building.

Cassie chuckled, taking an abrupt left turn and then stopping, announcing, "Here we are!"

Entering the room, Vasili noticed that she was delaying her answer, so it was probably a complex explanation.

While she fetched towels, Cassie began to clarify, "Well, the main issue you're probably having is spatial compression. Most of us 'workers' can navigate the folded space pretty easily. But when I had just started here, it felt like full turns rather than the half turns it actually is."

Vasili couldn't quite grasp the concept of a "half-turn," but he nodded along, assuming it would make sense eventually.

Watching her place towels and soap on a nearby chair, Vasili couldn't help but think, 'Gotta' love the gym showers...'

As he opened the shower curtain and turned the valve, a torrent of near-boiling water rushed out, definitely scalding the 'old him'.

"OOOHHHH!!!" Vasili exclaimed, feeling the instant warmth and the knot in his back acting up.

Quickly, he removed his clothing, tossing it outside of the shower 'cube', making eye contact with Cassie as he leaned over and held the curtain open slightly.

Cassie seemed concerned as she explained, "The water temp is supposed to be whatever you find 'comfortable.' It's an enchantment that the Dragos family created...are you okay? That water looks like it is boiling..boiling."

Vasili smiled, noticing his amulet's projection turning bright red as if scalded, and he hastily removed it.

As the amulet left his neck and landed in Cassie's hands, his body was revealed.

With the amulet out of the way, Vasili reveled in the soothing warmth, rising to his full 5'10" height and stretching, feeling the satisfying pop that signaled the temporary end to the arch-villain located in his upper back. Like the Terminator, it would BE BACH!

He felt his body warm up, finally appreciating how his grandma's old cat felt when it got to lay in the Sun all day.

'This is bliss.'

After what felt like minutes, he began to bathe, running soap all over his scaled form, watching his golden light shine through the rainbow-sheened bubbles he formed.

Turning to Cassie, he playfully stuck his leg out like a stripper, jokingly asking, "Am I sexy yet?!" His scaled leg, covered in soap suds, dangled over the rough tile floor.

As he peered out to see her reaction, he noticed her frozen expression. Realizing that this might be the first time she had seen 'him,' he quickly pulled back and apologized, "Sorry, Cassie, didn't mean to scare you!"

Waiting for a few moments without any response from outside, Vasili peeked out again and saw her smiling back at him.

"Yes. You are sexy!" She giggled as she kept surveying his form through the small gap between the shower curtain and the wall.

She muttered to herself, "You are very pretty..."

Vasili heard her with his supersenses and was taken aback, asking, "Did you just call a man pretty?" He playfully formed a silly soap sud helmet and peeked out, "You know, we find that offensive, there is nothing pretty about this!"

As he withdrew, he heard her giggle while the soap ran into his eyes, not stinging for once.

'Huh, tough eyeballs, nice!'

Finishing his bath, he sneakily relieved himself in the shower while whistling casually to hide the sound.

Nobody would ever know that he peed in the shower.

Turning off the faucet, he extended his arm, and to his delight, a towel miraculously landed in his hand.

Vasili quickly dried himself before wrapping the towel around his waist, stepping out to find Cassie still admiring him.

"Sorry it took so long, I have a literal mane now." Vasili quipped as he looked around, noticing how clean the floor was.

Although he didn't mind being barefoot all night, now that his feet were clean and wet, it started to bother him slightly.

Breaking out of her trance, Cassie commented, "You really are ALL Dragon, aren't you?"

Vasili nodded, proud of his form, while she giggled softly, enjoying a "girl joke" about something.

Letting it go, Vasili grabbed a second towel and dried his hair, which was now a mane. Then, he stepped inside the shower and handed Cassie the wet bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

Feeling incomplete when he thought he was dry, he took a cue from the Lion. Shaking his mane and "fur," instantly feeling 'right' again, with his puffed-up mane sticking out much further than it should have.

Laughing at himself, he heard Cassie join in before she left him to put on a generic set of clothes that someone had retrieved for him. The black elastic basketball shorts were comfortable, but the plain black T-shirt seemed well-worn, having gone through a few hundred wash cycles.

Sitting the amulet back around his neck, he was ready for the day. Now he just needed to figure out how to get that shower in their room, or he might move into the showers.