"I'm not ready…" I stood in front of a tub of water full of giant chunks of ice in my underwear. Rivi had already stripped, and I was trying my best not to stare at her exquisitely pointed breasts. The Grenir had also already left to give us privacy, but I really wasn't thinking about the nudity at this point, even standing here half-naked I was already freezing cold. Just thinking about the bath in front of me was enough to make me shiver.

"Come on, didn't you already agree to this? Are you really going to chicken out now?" She gestured pleadingly towards me, which made her breasts even harder to ignore as they jiggled magnificently with her movements.

I squeezed my eyes shut to try to keep myself pure. She's my friend. We're both girls. This is normal. I have to accept this… I opened my eyes again. Maybe if I do stare then I can have her lure me into the water...like some siren song of cleavage…I shook my head trying to clear the bizarre thoughts crossing through them, but I made use of the distraction to quickly unclasp my bra, stripping my panties off as well before I could start thinking again.

"Ahhhhhh!!" I ran and jumped into the bath before my courage left me, my brain immediately going into shock as cold needles seemed to jab at every inch of my skin. "Ho ho ho" I started hyperventilating, my eyes going wide.

"Ayy, there we go." Rivi followed me only to make an adorably cute "Kyooo!" noise as she slipped into the water, covering her face as she started gasping as well. "Ahh, ahhh."

"Ha haha," I tried to laugh through my chattering teeth. "I…kakakaka…thought you...kakakaka…weren't going to…kaka…be cold…kakakakaka." The cold was still rippling brutally through my whole system, and it was all I could do to suppress my survival instinct to get out of the water as quickly as possible.

"This is…ha ha ha…nothing." She looked down, squeezing her eyes shut as she continued breathing heavily. "I could…ha ha…do this…ha ha…in my sleep." She looked up and tried to give me a grin, but it looked more like a pained scowl.

"Hahaha," I laughed more genuinely this time. "Says the girl who kyo'd the moment she…kakakakak…got in the water."

"That was…haaa…involuntary." She shook her head, trying to get back control over herself.

"Hehehe…sure, whatever…you say."

We looked at eachother and then couldn't help breaking own laughing, despite the cold. When we were done the agonizing pain had faded into a tingling numbness, that while still rather unpleasant, was at least far more bearable.

"How long are we supposed to be in here." I sighed, tilting my head back, glad that the pain had subsided.

"Just a few more minutes." Rivi also looked relieved. "It'd be a waste to get out just as we're getting used to it."

"Right." We looked at eachother in silence for a moment.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked out of the blue.

"Umm…" I looked up at the ceiling, pondering. "Honestly, I don't really know. If it was my past life I would have said blue, because it was most of what I wore and I didn't really think about it much."

"And now?" She tilted her head at me.

"You know, it's strange...kakakaka...ever since I resurrected...kaka...and met you guys, I feel like my life has been opening up more...kakaka...like a weird...veil has been lifted and things seem more bright...kakaka...and possible."

I blinked. "What am I saying, sorry...kakakaka...the cold must be...making me hallucinate or something." I turned and rubbed my face, only to regret it with how cold my hand and numb my hand was.

Rivi looked like she wanted to get me to say more, but eventually bit her lip, and changed the topic. "My favorite color is like a light blue...maybe paired with a...spring green. Do you know what I'm...haaa...talking about? I used to be a Water Spirit Night Mistress, back before...hoo...I, ah, died last, and I felt like that...ha...fit my personality far better than this Spider Dragon. I always liked little green growing things, and the dew... resting lightly on the leaves, ready to bring it to life."

"So deep…kakakaka," I turned to her as my teeth started chattering more again. "Don't people normally just…kakakakakaak…pick something that goes with their eyes or something…kakakaka…and leave it at that?"

"Hmm," Rivi turned her chin up smugly. "Maybe some people....but do you really expect Mistress Riviera, floor guardian of the realm of Lust..."She closed her eyes tightly then reopened them. "in the Goddess' divine dungeon, to be...simple?" She crossed her arms. "Haaa, ok, it's really cold, I say we get out now."

In other circumstances I might have laughed at her sudden change in tone, but at that moment I was too busy shooting out of the bath towards the towels we had hanging on the side.

"Haa haa, freedom! Ouch!" I tried to run towards the towels only to have my legs nearly give out under me as pins and needles shot up from my feet.

"This is, haaa haaa, what magic is for, Silvie." She waved her hands and the towels flew towards us.

"Ahh sweet relief." I rubbed the towels on my dripping skin as fast as possible, hoping the friction would bring heat back into my hypothermic muscles. "Owwwwww," the numbness started fading off, and all of a sudden I nearly blacked out from the pain.

"Quick," Rivi grabbed my hand, "To the sunstone!" Rivi dragged me out of the room to where the next stage of the Grenir's ritual was prepared for us, and for a moment the tingling half-warmth that came from her hand distracted me from the cold and from my nakedness, as my mind flashed back to the jungle in the floor of Gluttony when Rivi had scooped me up in her arms and carried me away to her own floor.

I blinked as my thoughts rushed back to reality. "Ahh! We're here." Rivi regretfully let go of my hand as we made it to the two long sunstones that the Grenir had prepared, and Rivi quickly jumped up on one of them and layed down. "Ahhhhhh, that's the stuff," She sighed as she seemed to melt onto the stone.

"Silvie?" I snapped up as she said my name. I had been staring down at my hand thinking about her letting go. Regretfully…? Did I…want her to keep holding on?

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