Onsen 1

http://pastebin.com/U8fnfdjS

[22:02] <Tangent> "Um...that was...weird." Amelia comments, looking down at the blue egg she has in her hand. It's almost like a jewel, the bright blue casing glittering in the light...and is that a hinge. "Um, do you know her, Alexa? Iris?"
[22:03] <Tangent> She's standing just outside the wand and circlet with her friends. A glance back inside at the packed pub they've just navigated through. "Wonder why she's handing them out?"
[22:04] <Jran-Kri> "I, um... c-can't say I d-do," Alexa shakes her head, fiddling with her red egg. She rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet. She shrugs at Amelia. "Well, ah, it is Easter. Y-you know. I, um, d-didn't -- Well, I w-wouldn't have g-guessed th-that girl's the f-festive type."
[22:05] <DrEvilKitteh> "Ho-li-days are...weird," Iris concluded as she hammerspaced her own egg away. She still didn't fully understand things like holidays, but it was still a fact to her that they were often bizarre for strange reasons that she never would have thought of.
[22:06] <Jran-Kri> "... Yes, well, I-I can see how they'd seem that way to an outsider," Alexa adjusts her glasses primly, shoving her egg into her fleece pocket with her free hand.
[22:06] <Tangent> "Well, her costume's pretty...festive..." Amelia shrugs. "I guess I should thank her later...I actually...um, forgot it was Easter." She admits sheepishly, glancing to Iris as her egg vanishes. "Well, yeah, but they're kind of nice too, right? They let people do stuff for fun without it being weird."
[22:07] <Tangent> There's a click as she turns the egg over in her hand, and she nearly drops it in her surprise. "Oh, there's a hinge!" She comments, eyes going wide. "It's like a...magical snowglobe?" She peers inside, then holds it up slightly in case Alexa or Iris are curious.
[22:09] <Jran-Kri> Alexa tsks, shaking her head admonishingly at this grievous oversight -- how could anyone forget it was Easter? She was just about to comment on this when Amelia opens her egg. Blinking owlishly, Alexa leans in, peering into the egg. "Remarkable!"
[22:10] <Tangent> There's a cabin in the woods...a forest...and there's a flickering light on in the building?
[22:11] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris leaned towards Amelia and looked inside the plastic egg at the snowglobe. "...Hm." She tilted her head curiously and studied the snowglobe with silver-white eyes; she could see why it was called that. It was a globe, and while it wasn't made out of snow, it had snow in it. Or...what looked like snow, anyway.
[22:12] <Tangent> "Oh, look, it's got lights and everything..." Amelia's voice is hushed but excited. "I should thank her later. What'd you think?" Amelia asks Iris.
[22:13] <Jran-Kri> "Lovely!" Alexa grins, watching it in fascination for a little longer before creeping back. "Yes, very thoughtful. I suppose the others have something in them, too..."
[22:14] <DrEvilKitteh> "In-ter-es-ting," Iris replied. "Pret-ty?" She straightened and momentarily contemplated her own egg, but decided to open it later.
[22:19] <Tangent> "Pretty." Amelia smiles back. Her outfit doesn't have pockets so she just passes the gem between her fingers as she walks. "So, um, I guess we should get going?"
[22:22] <Jran-Kri> "... Ah yes, of course," Alexa nods shortly, her mantle brushing softly behind her as she pads after Amelia.
[22:23] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris nodded and started walking, leading the way to Maya's world. It was a similar route to the one they'd taken the day before, but this time they didn't go nearly as far out into the Overcity, and it took only about ten minutes at the most to reach the portal. Amelia would recognize it, since she'd helped Iris locate it again when they'd first met. "Follow," was all the Ice girl
[22:23] <DrEvilKitteh> said before stepping into the portal and vanishing.
[22:25] <Tangent> Amelia's a step behind her, blinking in familiarity. "Oh, right...This is where I met her!" Amelia tells Alexa cheerfully. "There were more clockwork zombies last time though."
[22:25] <Jran-Kri> "Doesn't mince words, does she?" Alexa grumbles to herself. Despite herself, she stops to admire the portal. Specifically, how like her own it is. She glances over at Amelia curiously. "I... see. You must tell me that story, sometime."
[22:30] <Tangent> "I think it's kind of...cute, actually..." Amelia comments, offhand, then looks over to Alexa. "Oh, sure! Yeah, remember that hunt that went nowhere a few weeks back? It happened after that. But yeah, let's go?"
[22:31] <Jran-Kri> Alexa turns back to the portal. Bunching up her shoulders, the scraping sound of her teeth grinding can just barely be heard. "Yes. Let's," she agrees tersely, and promptly leaps into the portal.
[22:32] <Tangent> Amelia furrows her brow at the sudden end to the conversation, but follows her best friend through a moment later.
[22:33] <DrEvilKitteh> It was a sunny spring day in Kyoto, Japan. Around midday, there were a few puffy white clouds in the sky, occasional cool gusts of air, and the cherry blossoms (where there were cherry blossoms, anyway) were blooming, or mostly starting to. They'd appeared in the more urban outskirts of the city, not too far from Maya's house.
[22:33] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris had paused a few meters in front of the portal and detransformed. She now wore a blue tracksuit with a hood that concealed her hair, as well as her usual pair of cute glasses. When the other girls came through, she nodded once at them. “Um. You should...de-trans-form. Ar-mor will look...weird to...people here.”
[22:35] <Jran-Kri> Alexa just grunts in reply, cancelling her transformation in a flash of bright red light, leaving her standing in a blue fleece and trousers. She digs her hands into her pockets, looking around curiously.
[22:38] <Tangent> "Ah...alright." Amelia smiles up at her and spinning on her heel. She tugs down on her ratty hoodie when she's done- feeling a bit out of place. A deep breath of fresh air. "It's a nice day here...better than the Overcity, anyway..." She remarks, looking around with interest. She's pretty sure she's never been to Japan before.
[22:42] == Zene has changed nick to Zene|BRB
[22:43] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris summoned her phone and quickly went through the map app to find a good onsen that they could go to without a reservation. It wouldn't be quite as fancy as the one she'd gone to with Maya and Hotaru, but at least they'd be able to get a private pool. And she definitely did have the money to spare, thanks to Maya. "This way." She slid the phone into her jacket's pocket, then
[22:43] <DrEvilKitteh> turned and walked out of the short alley they'd found themselves in. "...Um, and...if you like...you, or we, can...hold...hands," she said over her shoulder. The whole "friend" thing was something she was figuring out, but she had held hands with Maya and Taru on their walk to an onsen. Of course, that could just be something only best friends, or good friends, did, but...it was
[22:43] <DrEvilKitteh> worth a shot, right?
[22:46] <Jran-Kri> Alexa starts grinding her teeth again, though she only barely breaks stride. She does her best to bore a hole in the back of Iris' head with her eyes. "That's not necessary," she says with all the suddenness of a knee-jerk reaction.
[22:47] <Tangent> "Ah..." Amelia replies, eloquently. Those butterflies are back. She looks a bit disappointed at Alexa's remark, but doesn't say anything.
[22:48] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris blinked and tilted her head slightly. She could understand why Alexa might not want to hold /her/ hand--they'd met just yesterday, after all--but not wanting to hold Amelia's hand was another thing entirely. And, not to mention... "...But...A-me-lia looks...like...she would like...to hold A-lex-a's hand."
[22:50] <Tangent> Amelia blinks, glancing to Alexa. "Well, I...um, wouldn't mind..."  She comments, wrongfooted.
[22:51] <Jran-Kri> "... B-beg pardon?" Alexa jolts sharply as if struck. She reddens immediately, ducking her head as her gaze flits between Amelia and Iris. "Y-yes, well, um, th-that's d-different, um... Y-yes, th-that s-sounds... nice."
[22:53] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris gestured vaguely at the two, as if to encourage them to do so. It would probably also look cute, too, she silently mused.
[22:53] == Zene|BRB has changed nick to Zene
[22:54] <Tangent> Amelia blinks, but nods, looking to Alexa. A slightly sheepish smile as she offers her hand to her friend.
[22:55] <Jran-Kri> Alexa roughly clears her throat, smiling crookedly. Quite suddenly, as if to do it before she loses her nerve, she takes Amelia's hand.
[22:56] <Tangent> Amelia's fingers close around Alexa's- her grip's warm and sure without being crushing. "Shall we?" She asks, smiling at her friend.
[22:58] <Jran-Kri> Alexa smiles warmly back, nodding eagerly. She tightens her grip, bringing her gaze forward again. "Y-yes. Let's go," she says, eyeing up Iris.
[23:00] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris smiled faintly and turned back around to lead the way. She didn't walk too fast, however, just kept a few paces in front of Amelia and Alexa. As usual, the native Japanese people gave them curious looks, but they didn't really bother with doing so for very long. It took them the better part of half an hour, walking, before they reached the onsen, which Iris stopped in front
[23:00] <DrEvilKitteh> of. She turned to face them and motioned to the fairly squat building with a kanji sign over the entrance as usual. "This...is...the on-sen."
[23:02] <Tangent> It's nice, walking hand in hand with her best friend...and with Iris there to lead the way. Amelia enjoys the view as the trio walks along. "Oh, cool!" She comments at Iris's remark as they stop walking. "Um, you've been here before, then?"
[23:03] <Jran-Kri> Alexa's head swivels around like a periscope as they walk, taking in the sights along the way with no small degree of wonder. When they stop in front of the onsen, she adjusts her glasses, contemplating it curiously.
[23:05] <DrEvilKitteh> "Not here, but...other on-sens," she said in reply to Amelia. "They are...most-ly si-milar." Iris stuck her hand into her jacket pocket and summoned several bills of yen in it, then made her way to the front door, beckoning the two girls to follow her as well.
[23:07] <Jran-Kri> Padding gamely after the other girl, Alexa continues to swing her head this way and that, silently admiring the establishment's architecture.
[23:07] <Tangent> "Ah. Aren't we going to need...swimsuits though?" Amelia asks as she follows.
[23:10] <DrEvilKitteh> (I don't think they've seen the pools yet, unless Amelia already knows what an onsen is...)
[23:12] <Tangent> (She's vaguely familiar with the idea but yeah, ignore that last line.)
[23:13] <Tangent> Amelia stuffs her free hand into her hoodie pocket and walks along.
[23:17] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris entered the establishment and walked up to the front desk. There were a couple people around, but as it was in the middle of the work day, not many customers were actually there. The ice girl hesitantly conversed with the receptionist/cashier in Japanese and a bit in English when neither could understand the other, then pulled out several of the bills and forked them over. Once
[23:17] <DrEvilKitteh> the exchange was complete, she half-turned and jerked her chin slightly at Amelia and Alexa, bidding them to follow her.
[23:17] <DrEvilKitteh> After walking through a hallway, they came to what was, unmistakably, a women's changing room. It had no stalls with concealing curtains like they might expect, but was instead more or less a locker room with towels around for them.
[23:17] <DrEvilKitteh> “We...take off...our clothes, now,” Iris instructed both of them as she approached an empty locker and opened it.
[23:20] <Jran-Kri> The language fascinates Alexa more than the conversation itself, but she follows along with no hesitation when Iris indicates them to leave. She does hesitate, however, when they enter the room and Iris drops that bombshell. "... I-I b-beg your p-pardon?" Alexa sputters, reddening.
[23:20] <Tangent> "W-wha?" Amelia's blushing furiously. "Ah, don't we...we need swimsuits or something?" This...it's like a swimming pool, right?
[23:23] <DrEvilKitteh> "No." Iris shook her head slightly. "We...use...towels, and...go in-to the on-sen...naked." With that, she turned to face her open locker and pulled her jacket and shirt off at once, which showed her bra. Otherwise, her torso was bare of clothing as of that moment.
[23:25] <Jran-Kri> Alexa's blush only intensifies. She bunches up her shoulders again, leaning back and pre-emptively averting her eyes. "B-but th-that's... that's i-indecent!"
[23:28] <Tangent> "Oh..." Amelia squeaks. Iris's really...She remembers to look away. "I...um...I didn't know that..." She shuffles in place, twiddling her fingers awkwardly and looking at the floor tiles.
[23:32] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris turned to look at them and tilted her head slightly. She put her jacket and shirt into the locker before speaking. "...It...is...normal, here," she told Alexa.
[23:34] <Jran-Kri> Alexa insistently refuses to even glance at Iris. Well, except for one quick peek. "W-well i-it's n-not n-normal where I c-come from!"
[23:39] <DrEvilKitteh> The ice girl merely shrugged. "Maya...and Ta-ru were...embarr-assed, too. But...they, um...got used to it. I think." She thought back to that one onsen trip. "...Most-ly."
[23:40] <Tangent> Amelia's gaze is on the floor but occasionally flickering up. "A-ah...Well..." Her brain seems to be caught in a feedback loop as she peeks at Iris's shapely body. Her hair...Amelia shakes her head and hastily looks to the wall lockers, cheeks feeling like they're on fire. Metaphorically.
[23:42] <Jran-Kri> "... W-well!" Alexa doesn't seem to have a suitable reply for that, drawing a blank as she stares to the side. She ducks her head, still blushing vividly. "Th-they m-must have, um... d-different s-sensibilities."
[23:44] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris sighed slightly. "...I can...un-dress you, my-self...if...that would be bet-ter. I...had to do it...for Ta-ru."
[23:46] <Tangent> "A-ah, Iris...That...that won't be necessary..." Amelia stammers. She's not going to imagine that. Nope. Not at all.
[23:46] <Jran-Kri> "A-a-absolutely not!" Alexa's head snaps back around to stare at Iris, aghast. "D-d-did th-th -- W-was... Taru o-okay w-with that?!"
[23:48] <DrEvilKitteh> "Not real-ly," Iris said, staring back levely at Alexa. "She...stared, and...seemed...dis-trac-ted. So...I had to...most-ly un-dress Ta-ru." She gestured vaguely at the lockers on the other side of the row and turned to face her own. "You...can still use...tow-els to, um...cov-er up." After that, she took off her shoes, socks, and pants, then put them into the locker as well, leaving
[23:48] <DrEvilKitteh> her only clad in her underwear.
[23:52] <Jran-Kri> Alexa wrings her hands, tearing her gaze away again. She grimaces sharlpy. "W-w-well! That -- I-I, um, I -- That really w-won't b-be... I-I mean, um..." Alexa trails off, apparently lost for words.
[23:52] <Tangent> Amelia jumps guiltily, gaze hastily darting away, then nods. "Right! Towels! Yes! I'll get right on that!" And she rushes over, blushing, half-burying her face in the pile of towels she carries over. "Alexa, here!" She passes a towel over.
[23:53] <Flamy> (>was taru ok w/ that)
[23:57] <DrEvilKitteh> (Wellll, this /is/ from Iris' limited point of view on the matter...)
[23:59] <Jran-Kri> Alexa sputters, scandalized, as she catches the towel, her gaze ratcheting over to Amelia. She blinks at her, stumbling for a moment. "... Well! A-at least y-you're keen!"
[00:00] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris went about unclasping her bra and removing it, along with her panties while Alexa and Amelia did that. She quickly glanced around to make sure no one else was watching, then conjured a white towel that was appropriately big to actually fit her. Since the "standard"-sized towels were...not enough for her "large foreigner physique", to put it simply, she had to resort to...magical
[00:00] <DrEvilKitteh> methods of achieving the same.
[00:06] <Tangent> "I...ah..." Amelia's not sure how to respond to that, instead shifting awkwardly under her friend's gaze. She mumbles something incoherent-even she's not quite sure what she's trying to say- then darts over to one of the benches, still fully dressed. For all her hurry to grab towels, she seems to suddenly be in mental deadlock when it comes to getting ready...as she just sits there.
[00:09] <Jran-Kri> Alexa watches Amelia go, doing her best to keep her eyes off of Iris. Her grimace deepens considerably. Eventually, she plods over to sit beside Amelia. Alexa stares straight ahead of for a moment, then begins working off her shoes.
[00:12] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris shut the locker and turned to look at them with eyes unobscured by glasses, arms folded loosely under her chest. For now, she just watched ad waited for them to undress.
[00:16] <Tangent> Amelia's less successful than Alexa- her head darting back and forth like a pendulum's lever. She starts to get undressed, the her gaze slips back to Iris, then she hastily looks away again. Rinse and repeat. Her clothes form a pile at her feet. At least she's small enough that the wrapped up towel covers her up...mostly. She's long since used to being herself by now, but it's still a very awkward experience as her clothes pile up at her feet.
[00:16] <DrEvilKitteh> (as her clothes p- )
[00:18] <Tangent> pile up at her feet.
[00:24] <Jran-Kri> Alexa's not far behind, working off her clothes with a certain feverish haste. She's extremely eager to go right from being covered by clothes to being covered by the towel -- fortunately, her smaller stature means this is relatively effective. By the end, she hauls her clothes into a locker and delicately sets her glasses down inside in sullen silence.
[00:26] <DrEvilKitteh> Once they both seemed to be done, Iris padded closer and looked down at them. "Are...you ready...to go, now?" she inquired. "Next...are...the show-ers. Clean-ing our-selves...so that...the on-sen does not...get dirty."
[00:29] <Tangent> Amelia's had the towel wrapped around her and tucked more or less in place since she tugged off her hoodie- even while getting undressed for the most part. Like Alexa, she's slight and small enough to make this easy. She closes the locker and turns around. "Ah...Yeah...Ready..." Iris is right there and everything is awkward even with the magical towel. "Right, w-wouldn't want that..." She glances to Alexa. "Ready?"
[00:29] <Jran-Kri> "... Of course," Alexa says quietly, nodding slowly. Her teeth grind softly as she rises, nodding at Amelia with a thin smile.
[00:34] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris smiled slightly--she seemed more prone to emoting like that when untransformed--and turned to lead them out of the locker room and directly into a shower room. Its layout was probably unfamiliar to the both of them, seeing as how it was very Japanese. There were several showers, but like the room before it, all of them were out in the open for others to see. Iris approached
[00:34] <DrEvilKitteh> one and sat on the stool before it, and then beckoned the other two closer. "Like...this." She took off her towel and put it someplace it wouldn't get wet, then turned the showerhead on and got some soap for herself. She rinsed and washed her body, but didn't do it very thoroughly; she was almost completely clean normally, after all.
[00:36] <Jran-Kri> Alexa mutters something under her breath as she once again hurriedly averts her gaze from Iris once she removes the towel. Her face has now adapted to being permanently red.
[00:45] <Tangent> "R-right..." Amelia ducks her head, hastily undoing her ponytail and letting her hair fall into her eyes as she darts over to one of the corner showers like a very flustered, black-haired comet. She's scrambling to turn on the water when she realizes she still has her towel wrapped around her. She's small, petite, and her pale skin's in sharp contrast to her black hair- or it would be if she wasn't blushing furiously again.
[00:49] <Jran-Kri> Alexa watches Amelia out of the corner of her eye, unwilling to fully turn to face her under the circumstances. Half-covering her face with a palm, she pads over to the wall, uncomfortably tossing away the towel before scurrying over to another, farther shower, keeping her gaze firmly away from the others.
[00:51] <Tangent> "Um..." The tiny paladin sheepishly picks her way over back to the benches, pushing some of the hair back out of her face. Free from its ponytail, Amelia's hair's falling everywhere- into her eyes and tickling her nose, over her ears, and down her back. She gives Alexa as much of a berth as she can, awkwardly tiptoing past the younger girl. The walls are slick from water droplets and the air's warming up.
[00:52] <Tangent>  She hastily pulls off her towel, dropping it onto the same bench, and makes her way over to the first empty shower she sees, hastily busying herself with the faucet.
[00:58] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris soon finished washing herself and stood. Water sluiced off her body, leaving her virtually completely dry as she pulled the towel about her once more. She walked to the other side of the shower room, to a door opposite the locker room, and stood by it, waiting for the others to finish up.
[00:58] <Tangent> The water that pours onto her head and over her hair is cold...and slowly becomes lukewarm. Amelia soon looks a bit like she's wearing a mop on her head as her hair soaks up the water. She hastily rubs her slender arms under the downpour, then hops onto one foot- resembling nothing so much as an albino flamingo at that point as she hurriedly repeats the process.
[01:00] <Tangent> No butterflies for now, but her stomach's still knotted from awkwardness....and being dimly aware of Iris walking pat out of the corner of her eye doesn't help. She eventually turns off the tap, and streaks in a beeline for the towel. Lacking hydrokinesis and not wanting to set her towel on fire, she ends up dripping all over the floor as she follows Iris out.
[01:01] <Jran-Kri> Alexa finishes briskly, rushing through the process without a glance at the others, keeping her head down. Her shoulder-length brown hair darkens from the water, and she has to brush it out of her eyes as she shuts off the faucet and hurriedly wraps the towel back around herself. Even with it back around her, she keeps her head down as she follows after them.
[01:05] <Tangent> *walking paSt
[01:07] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris tried to smile encouragingly down at them, even if they didn't really look up that far, and led them out of the shower room and down the hall adjacent. They meandered through the hallways for a little bit before Iris found their onsen. She nodded at them and opened the door to reveal a moderately-sized pool of hot water with steam rising from it. It was one of the outdoor
[01:07] <DrEvilKitteh> onsens, which meant it was open to the elements and the sky. Fortunately, it wasn't really raining at that moment, so it was perfectly fine for them.
[01:07] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris approached the edge of the pool and paused there. “Now...we...go in,” she said succinctly over her shoulder. With that, she pulled the towel off her body and dropped it to the ground, then stepped down into the water.
[01:09] <Jran-Kri> Alexa stops short of the water itself, peering around with narrowed eyes. She shivers slightly at the outside air. Then, with a sigh, she lets her own towel drop and slips inside, keeping her arms crossed and her head down.
[01:11] <Tangent> Amelia peeks back at Iris through a veil of black hair- her smile back's a bit awkward but sincere. She blinks at the pool- it's like a hot spring, only more comfortable... After Iris and Alexa step into the water, she inches her own towel off, lets it drop and sinks into the water after the others.
[01:14] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris took a couple steps and mostly submerged herself in the water, up to her neck, and turned to face the others. "It...feels...good, yes? Warm water. Very...re-lax-ing."
[01:16] <Jran-Kri> Alexa grunts, her head barely above the water. From this position, however, she found she was able to relax, loosening up in the hot spring. She nods slowly. "Y-yes, ah, it's... It feels nice. Yes."
[01:17] <Tangent> "Y-yeah...It is..." And it's true. It's funny- the first thing that comes to mind is the feeling she has whenever she first transforms. An enveloping warmth as she slips into the water up to her chin- it's not very hard for her to almost vanish into the pool. She lets out a quiet, happy sigh.
[01:23] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris smiled warmly when she saw Alexa and Amelia seeming to like the onsen. "Then...that...is good." With that, her head slipped beneath the water with only a small ripple to mark its passing.
[01:24] <Tangent> Amelia blinks, sleepily. "Eh?" Despite herself, she leans forward.
[01:27] <Jran-Kri> Alexa instantly stiffens again, keeping her arms crossed in front of her chest. She blinks at the spot Iris had just vacated. "Oh my."
[01:29] <DrEvilKitteh> Iris' head popped up several meters away and slowly moved along at a methodical pace. It looked as though she was lazily swimming around in the onsen. She neared them, though she didn't come close enough to really invade personal space. "You...can cud-dle...if you want," she suggested. "It...feels nice, in...here."
[01:31] <Jran-Kri> "... I-I'll take your word for it," Alexa says, smiling despite herself.
[01:33] <Tangent> "Iris?" Amelia's still looking at the spot where Iris's slipped under...then eeps and twitches with a splash as Iris pops back up. "Hey...Um...M-maybe not..." She starts to say hesitantly. She's not sure if she wants to... "Y-yeah. It's okay." She nods at Alexa as the younger girl beats her to it.
[01:35] <Tangent> Amelia's black hair swirls around her as she slips back into the water until barely half her face's above water. She raises her hand and gives a sleepy, half-submerged wave that ends up being more of a splash.
[01:45] <DrEvilKitteh> "O-kay." Iris figured it was a long shot anyway, since they'd seemed hesitant even about holding hands. Slowly, she swam around the pool while thinking. "...A-lex-a, um...where...are you...from?" she asked after a bit. She was somewhat curious, since she knew that wherever Alexa lived apparently had different standards about modesty or something.
[01:47] <Jran-Kri> Alexa cocks her head to one side, her hair splitting off into strands as it makes contact with the water. Despite the unexpected nature of the question, Alexa answers quickly enough. "B-Belfast. In Northern Ireland," she places an unusual emphasis on the word 'Northern,' that she doesn't seem conscious of. "I-it's, ah... Well, it's, um -- It's had its problems, but it's home."