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I miss video games

Who: Errybody
What: HOT SPRINGS: HOT SPRINGS EDITION
Where: Hot springs. Different hot springs. Not the hot springs that turned everyone into six year olds.
When: March 25th - March 29th
Warnings: Cursed springs. Sex swapping.

Right outside the resort is the main attraction, a collection of natural hot springs, separated by gender with a co-ed spring in the middle. Despite it being late March, there's still a dusting of snow on the ground, making the warm springs all the more inviting.

If the main resort area is too crowded for you, there are whispers of a secluded, private spring down a secret path. It's supposed to be very nice--if you can find it.

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Keeping a schedule.

Just what kind of life did Byrne lead when she wasn't around annoying him? Except it seemed like in the more recent days, she wasn't doing that so much. She couldn't say what it was, but when she spent time with him, she felt an odd type of calm about her. When they had first met, she'd had an irresistible urge to do absolutely everything she could to annoy him. And it hadn't been hard to do. In fact, just opening her mouth seemed to piss him off, and the angrier he got, the more she enjoyed it.

Then there came the day she returned from the oceans of sand, aware of her 'destiny.' A heavily weighted word. Reality certainly seemed a little less forgiving with her return. All the more so when Byrne had found a door Nabooru had not opened. Not for lack of want, but more of a yearning to distinguish herself in every which way from the rest of her kin. She was no mere Gerudo woman. She was not like every other one. She was unique and one of a kind.

Byrne had not liked her destiny, had not seen the point to her going along and 'surrendering' to it. Yes. He'd probably seen it as her 'surrendering' to a power greater than hers. He couldn't have done it. She knew that. In those respects, she saw herself - and truly believed it - as stronger.

It was really too easy to lose herself in the past. To drown in those thoughts that she often held underneath a blanket of confidence and arrogance. Yet he just as conveniently yanked her from them when she realised he was toying with her hair. Nabooru eyed him, wordless, but a little amused that he found something intriguing in order to play upon her in such a way. He was not an affectionate man. Not unless it was really for his benefit. But he respected her, and she knew that well enough. And appreciated it.

And as if he played the part of the male spider with the female, she could only define his motions as 'cautious.' A delightfully nerve-racking kind of cautious. For she couldn't remember the last time she'd been kissed and genuinely felt her chest tighten. So that was the weight of love, was it? The kind of pressure that sat on her very heart and made her every reciprocation a kind of gentle hesitance. Nabooru wasn't against the idea of a kiss, however, as indicative by the very way her mouth curved a little after meeting his.

There probably wouldn't be a period in time where Nabooru wouldn't annoy Byrne in some way. That's one of the reasons Byrne was initially attracted to her. It was like an attractive repulsion; she had both infuriated and intrigued him to the point where they hadn't really been able to avoid each other.

And now it was that he was kissing her again, feeling those beautiful, full lips upon his own once more. It wasn't a rough kiss; it was fairly light, just lips, but tender nonetheless.

In some ways it was better than the hungry, forceful kisses he might give. It was hesitant but sweet, and he took his time to appreciate the thickness of her lips, the moist gloss, the feeling of her soft red hair in his hand.

He broke away after a moment, his fingers entwining further in her hair and holding her head close. "I want to enjoy this time with you." The steam rose up around them as he leaned in once more to deliver another kiss, this time with a bit more fervor.

"I want to enjoy this time with you."

The words themselves almost made her shudder. It was passionately said, leaving her absolutely no room to either evade or to deny that Byrne felt something for her more than simply bedroom antics. Not that she'd really ever thought he'd wanted that alone. At some point in time, she was aware they could have had a purely sexual relationship and that probably would have worked out fine. Except whatever they'd developed was less a single night tryst and evidently something meant to hold some form of length between them.

However long until she had to leave, she supposed.

She thought about replying to him, but when she realised doing so would force them apart and he seemed so keen on kissing her, that the interruption likely wasn't worth it. She could give them a brief break whenever she finally began to lose her breath, which she imagined couldn't be too far off. For when Byrne kissed her, truly kissed her, it often seemed as if he'd simply draw her soul out of her. It wouldn't have been the worst way to go either.

It took a couple moments of hesitance before she finally relaxed into the motion and drew up her hands. Nabooru slipped fingertips over his chest, across the ribcage, and only stopped when she found the appealing curve of his spine. Yes, she supposed they could use a little bit of alone time together without the threat of looming eavesdroppers. Who knew when they'd have another moment like that anyway. There was no shame in taking advantage of it.

In a way, they were in their own secluded space in nature, just the two of them in a luxurious spring without the threat of others finding them. Logically, of course, someone else could indeed walk in on them, but Byrne didn't want to think about that right now. As far as he was concerned, it was just this moment: the two of them and nothing else.

For all they had fought in the past, none of that seemed to matter at the moment. No moment but now. It wasn't even necessarily sexual desire that Byrne was filled with at the moment. It was just a desire for her, to be close to her, to simply be there with her.

When he felt the fingers on his back, he nearly shivered. They weren't cold fingers by any means; the water was hot and so Nabooru's hands were fairly warm, but those gentle probes still sent pulses of electricity through his spine. She had such a powerful hold on him, it seemed, and not just in a physical sense.

One hand remained in Nabooru's hair as Byrne leaned into the kiss while his other hand reached around to her back, running it down the curvature of her own spine and barely reaching her tailbone, resting just above the soft cheeks.

It hadn't occurred to her that someone would interrupt them. If it had happened, she wasn't sure she would have known how to handle it. It would have been a rather blatant display of affection, but it wasn't particularly an open place. Neither she nor Byrne were keen on the publicity and she always imagined she appreciated they could have a private relationship.

But eventually she'd have to let Pit and Byrne get to know one another. Provided they didn't know each other already. A... family of sorts, and it was something Byrne was going to have to accept.

As he grew comfortable with her, or perhaps it was that he was reacquainting himself, she felt herself spurred to move closer to him. He encouraged her in his own little way. His brazen behaviour, she supposed it was. There was no outside force at work here. There was no sense of allure in the way there had been the night Blacky had kissed her hard on the mouth. It was a different sense of enticement. Because her feelings for Byrne weren't the same as the kind she had for anyone else.

Fingertips clenched into his flesh briefly, a slight traitor to the impact he had on her. And unable to resist the way her mouth upturned, she playfully snapped her teeth at his lower lip, before offering a slightly apologetic kiss.

I think I missed you. And this. And us.

And somehow, she got the feeling that he wouldn't have disagreed.

Theirs was a passion that he enjoyed. Their relationship thus far had been a complete rollercoaster of ups and downs - Nabooru infuriated him in many ways because she had this powerful effect on him. But without this quality to her, Byrne probably wouldn't have maintained interest in her. If it had been all sunshine and rainbows, so to speak, he would have just pursued her as a fling and dropped her.

And it was all summed up the way she dug her teeth into his lip. It almost caught Byrne off guard, and it brought a brief ping of annoyance within his core, but.... he liked it. He liked this vague battle for control they had going on, in an overall sense and right now.

So he'd let her have her fun. He let her bite his lip before he struck back, lightly sinking his upper teeth into her full upper lip.

If they could stay like this now forever without worrying about anyone else, without worrying about the future, then Byrne might finally be content with his life. Just him in his own little world, with the woman he... adored? ...Loved? Well now that he thought about it, he didn't want to because it shouldn't matter. Labels shouldn't have to matter in this moment, on their vacation, not as he pressed further into her, arms wrapping more around her form.

Is that what they were doing? Battling for dominance? It wouldn't have surprised her. She and Byrne were almost constantly fighting for one thing or another. They each fought for the independence from one another. They each fought for the other, to keep them in each other's lives. Or something akin to it.

She didn't mind letting him win one. It wasn't a surrender. It was a term of agreement. The accord was where they found a common fondness. In each other, in themselves, in what a moment's peace could bring them. Even if they were in a hot spring, a little more bared than what they might have been comfortable with. She couldn't say she was completely at ease, but it was better than it normally would have been.

"Mm..."

Somehow she coerced him to give her mouth a little freedom. "You keep doing that and I'll probably never be able to breathe again. What would you do if I fainted right here?" She gave him a grin and as if to make herself comfortable, she pressed her body to his. Her arms reached forward, relaxed, and draped her hands along the small of his back.

"Are you saying I take your breath away?" He had pulled away from her slightly at this point, his lips upturned in a smirk as he muttered those words for Nabooru. He could make jokes sometimes, especially when he was in a relatively good mood, like right now. The very notion of taking Nabooru's breath away excited him, that he was so worthy of a woman like her, that he had this powerful effect on her.

As he had pulled away slightly, now Byrne could look at the gold of her eyes, so beautifully decorated by her makeup and simply her natural looks. Gazing at her as their arms wrapped around one another, he did all he could to experience her. Her body, her presence, her beauty, simply her.

His hands slid down her back, coming to her hips where he felt the distinct curve of her body. He had always wanted to feel her like this, simply explore with his hands the body that his eyes had always lusted after. She had generous hips, the perfect feminine figure in his mind. But his movements were slightly hesitant, because as much as he wanted to feel her, he could only do so if she wanted it.

She didn't reply immediately. Partially because she didn't want to. He probably knew the answer to begin with, so outwardly admitting it was the same thing as breaking down her walls further. But then it was him. If anyone was permitted to see that side to her, the more vulnerable side, then it was him. He'd practically earned it with what she'd put him through. They certainly had a type of kinship that she couldn't compare to the relationship she had with anyone else.

He drew her close to him and for many moments she simply kept her eyes on his. Then her grasp relaxed and she rewarded him with a smile. It was happier than she'd meant for it to be, yet it was entirely sincere. So when she realised he'd see it all too easily, she practically buried her face in his neck affectionately.

"I believe that's exactly what I was saying," she replied, her mouth curling up in a grin.

It was so cute the way she smiled so sincerely. Different from her coy, seductive smiles (which Byrne still enjoyed, of course), but more of an innocent glee. Cute how those words made her smile and made her attempt to hide it.

It was warm the way she pressed into his neck, moist from the springs. Byrne's hair was mostly damp as a result, part of it completely wet. It wasn't a neat pile of curls and tresses atop his head like Nabooru's, though he was tempted to take out her hair clip and let a curtain of red surround them.

So while she was pressed against him, he reached to where her hair was, finding the finely-decorated jewel that held those locks together. He lightly grabbed it and unclasped it, letting her hair slowly cascade down. Maybe she'd be mad at him for doing that, but Byrne was rather impulsive in some ways.

She was nothing if not ornate. For even in her exile from her people, Nabooru had kept a love for jewels and gems alike. Social status, she used to say. The more decked out she was, the more important she was to her kind. Funny how that still rung true. Without her, the Gerudo would die. She'd be unable to stop Ganondorf. She'd be unable to save Ganondorf, because that was really the ultimate goal. It was wonderful and grand to save her own people, but she also wanted to save her king. For before he was the one she was so dedicated to, he was her friend.

Friendship did quite the odd thing to people.

She paused minutely when he unclasped her hair piece and even as her hair blanketed her shoulders, fell this way, that way, and every which way, she drew back enough to raise an eyebrow at him in pure amusement. "You're going to get my hair all wet," she teased him. But if she had really disliked it so much, she would have hastily pulled it back up. The upside to it was that she had a little something to hide beneath.

He wondered often what would happen if Nabooru simply didn't return to Hyrule, gave up her Sagedom. Would Ganondorf be defeated then? ~~No - and now we all know the origin of the Downfall Timeline.~~ What if he was killed outright and never came back? Byrne might not even exist. Maybe it would be better that way. He knew it would be better that way - it was one of the reasons he was so vehement about wanting to kill the Gerudo King and put an end to it all.

But he felt better about his own existence lately. Not that he wanted Nabooru to sacrifice herself, but...

He didn't want to think about it. All he thought about right now was the way her red hair tumbled down around her shoulders, soaking in moisture from the springs. "But you look almost like a goddess," he spoke gently, running his fingers through a thick lock. Well, it didn't matter how her hair was - she was still beautiful, but it was rare when he saw her hair down. She looked almost more natural that way.

She was accustomed to Byrne speaking to her in a variety of ways. Sometimes he said kind things. Most of the time, it was something of dry humour and witty cynicism. Occasionally sarcasm. But for him to genuinely be gentle as opposed to the more... barbaric man she often made him out to be...

It was a delightful kind of foreign. Even though she didn't readily know how to handle it.

When people were in love with one another, was it a gentle kind of love? Perhaps not entirely hasty. But there were different kinds of love. And Nabooru knew she loved Byrne in some way. She just wasn't clear on which fashion it might have been. But that didn't seem to be particularly important just yet. Thankfully.

"A goddess?" she asked, unable to mask her surprise. Then her expression relaxed into a smile. Not arrogant, but not so modest as to be hidden. "I can think of at least one goddess who probably wouldn't appreciate the comparison. I did used to think that I was created in my goddess' image, though. That all the Gerudo were." Well, except Ganondorf. Since he was a man and all.

He smiled at her then, sliding a few more strands of hair behind her ears. Absolutely beautiful the way she looked, the way those large golden eyes stared into his soul. "Perhaps you were created in your goddess's image, along with your fellow Gerudo." But Nabooru was probably the most beautiful of them all.

He leaned in once more to kiss her, caught up in the moment.

Maybe this would be a good time to tell her. Thought was starting to fade in this cozy little hot spring, when he could just pretend he could seize this moment forever. Did he love her? Maybe he did. No, he did... He just didn't want to think about it. The thought was creeping up further in his head, though, and had been more and more prevalent ever since that day during the blackout...

It was without really any thought then that he muttered against her skin, "I love you..."

She tried not to pause when she heard him. Tried, being the keyword. And she knew that she had, and worse, that she couldn't pretend she hadn't. Perhaps she'd even tensed. In fact, she was fairly sure that she had. It wasn't what she was expecting to hear. Not from him, of all people. It wasn't something she'd ever uttered either. Not out loud.

Nabooru had, once or twice, considered it and questioned it. Not just with Byrne either. Because she'd always known that she loved Ganondorf. He was her king. Her love for him was unconditional, as it was for the rest of her people. But this was Byrne. Byrne.

"...What?"

Because maybe she had some crazy in her ear. Or maybe she just wanted to hear it again. She wasn't exactly sure why she even bothered to ask. But all the same, it was a point that they could not get past without crossing the proverbial river together.

What had he just said? It was something that was said without any thought, something that had simply slipped out of his lips against the soft skin of Nabooru's cheek. He knew what he said, though. Knew the implication. And he wanted to deny it. Wanted to say that it was a Freudian slip, that it was something else... but what else could it be?

"I..." He pulled back slightly, unable to quite meet those beautiful eyes of hers. "I don't know why, but..." He paused again, finding the courage to meet her eyes, "I love you."

He didn't know how long he had loved her, didn't know how much of it was just him swimming in denial saying he could never love anyone, that he didn't need it, that he didn't deserve it, but it had at least been there for some time. His affection for her had been there for well over a year, at least - the stubborn jealousy over her flirting with other men, his vitriolic refusal to let her sacrifice her life... For well over a year it was so much more than just her having a pretty body that he wanted to bed.

He didn't know what to say after that. He never had many words to say to people, and it took him so long to finally confess to even a smidgen of the inner guilt he carried every day. He still thought he didn't deserve any reciprocation of these feelings - he still expected Nabooru to hate him, to slap him and say that she didn't want him. Even now his eyes had drifted away from her, partially afraid of her response, ashamed that he had admitted such a thing.

Oh. So she wasn't just hearing things then. When he repeated himself, she felt her red eyebrows knit together. As if she was confused. Because she kind of was. When did he realise he felt like that? When did he decide it was okay to tell her? Theoretically, wasn't that going to ruin everything? They had such a good relationship when there wasn't any kind of label. Not that loving someone came with a label.

Just how was she supposed to handle that?

What do I say? Can I say it back to him? I... don't think so. And she hated that, really. The fact that out of nowhere, she could go from teasing to a fluttered mess on the inside. All because of three simple words that she just wasn't accustomed to bringing up. In a way, she actually despised him for it. But at the same time, she had to applaud his ability to be direct with her.

"...Are you afraid something's going to happen?" she asked him gently. Her right hand lifted and slipped into his hair, just past his ear. Then as she moved, she tried to cradle him to her protectively. Just because she wasn't sure if she wanted to say it yet didn't mean she couldn't show it in other ways. "It's not like you to say things like that. Especially not to me. Usually there's some kind of witty banter coming from you."

But she was smiling. Because somewhere deep inside of her, no matter how she tried to deny it, he'd made her incredibly happy.

He wasn't sure he expected her to repeat those words back to him. He knew how she felt when she told him those couple months ago, but it hadn't been brought up since. And he had to go and ruin it by blurting out his feelings, which of course he regretted. But they had already come out of his mouth and he couldn't deny that he said them. He wasn't a dishonest man - he just simply didn't speak when he didn't want someone to know something.

Byrne let Nabooru cradle him, let her take control for a while, because he didn't know what to say. He was always afraid something was going to happen. "I... I don't know..." he admitted hesitantly. Maybe it was because he was in the heat of the moment where he wasn't worried that something would happen that he finally admitted it.

"I suppose I just... wanted to let it out..." Because letting things out felt good. Or at least "marginally better." And Nabooru seemed to take things well. Though he still wished that she would hate him for what he had done in the past, for his feelings, for everything.

She coerced him to lean against her and she drew in a deep breath. Curling her other arm about him, she thought over his words, wondering if her conjecture had any truth to it. Well. Any weight.

Did it possibly mean that she'd have to leave for Hyrule soon? She realised she really had no idea what to expect, or when to expect something. How would the world change when Ganondorf began to come to power? When would she need to step in? How would she do it? Could she stop him before he got to that point?

Preemptive action. Byrne had believed it to be impossible. She still had faith.

"You love me, huh?" she murmured to him affectionately. "I've got a thousand questions and I doubt the answers exist. But I'm pretty sure any other moment doesn't matter as much as this one. And this one is perfect." Inclining her head, she settled a kiss into his head.

Byrne wasn't sure if this meant that something was coming to an end soon either. He knew Nabooru's fate was to go to Hyrule, that they would soon be parted across both distance and time. Even if he could visit her, he didn't even know if he wanted to visit the Old Hyrule. He still knew it was the land beneath the sea, and it would be beneath the sea soon enough, which would certainly mean her death.

With this knowledge, falling in love was the last thing he wanted to do, but... it happened. And that's really all there was to it.

He leaned against her as she coerced him, and softly put his arms around her. Byrne simply just let her cradle him, because what else was there to do? He felt vulnerable now that he revealed such a thing, felt that he gave Nabooru the power to take his heart and tear it to shreds. Because she was really the only one who could.

"Fools give you reasons," he muttered against her, "Wise men never try." Those large, pouted lips planted a kiss on his head and he leaned closer into her. "I don't want this moment to end."

Ripping his heart apart had never occurred to her. Not that she was powerless to do so. She knew she could. She was sure she'd likely done it before. Ganondorf was a good example of that. She had certainly ruined him and drowned him in his own envy and she supposed if the man went man, it was definitely her responsibility. Unfortunately.

She didn't want to do that to Byrne. Annoying him, frustrating him, pushing him to his limit had always been done with no malicious intent.

"Fools give you reasons. Wise men never try." She echoed him with some interest and as she shifted to better eye him. "I think that's the... sagest thing I've ever heard you say."

Sure you're not a Sage in disguise? I'm not sure I can match up to that.

He gave a short grunt of amusement against her. ~~It's because he quoted it from a 1949 musical that Carbon is a little too obsessed with.~~ A Sage. He could never be a sage. But... maybe he was close. Close to something of a Sage. Before he threw it all away.

"I suppose you could say... I'm a servant of the Spirits. Or at least I once was." It was a bit easier to tell of his past this time, even if it was very nonspecific how he spoke, not identifying the Spirits by their name, not even clear if he was being serious or not. But he didn't lift his head, so his expression couldn't be read. He continued letting himself be cradled, only shifting his head slightly to somewhat mask his face in that curtain of red hair.

It was still hard. Still hard to talk about himself. Easier than it was, sure, but why was he even doing this? Why, when part of him was afraid that he was already too vulnerable in this situation, after having admitted that he loved her? He should have used up his stash of vulnerability for the day.

Ironic.

She didn't say it. Being the Sage of Spirit and knowing a man who was in servant to the spirits. What exactly did that say? Distantly, did it mean he could have been in service to her? She'd never considered it before, hadn't really even wanted to. But it was amusing. Except he wouldn't find it to be.

Or maybe he would. There was really only one way to find out.

"I know you don't like the subject, but there's a point to me asking." She smiled a bit and tapped him affectionately on the forehead once. "I told you a little of my Sagedom. Did you know what my position is? As in, the representation?" And her expression seemed to be a secretive and gleeful one.

As far as Byrne knew, the Spirits he served were a completely different entity than what Nabooru thought of. But then again, how much of Old Hyrule's history did he really know? He'd been alive long enough to do plenty of research, certainly, but he knew so little of the Goddesses and their hierarchy. Even serving the Spirits as he once did, he was left out of the loop, so to speak.

When Nabooru tapped him on the forehead and spoke, Byrne lifted his head, no longer letting himself be lulled into her soft embrace quite as much. It wasn't exactly something he wanted to talk about, but he was the one who had brought up the subject, somewhat. But still, he wanted to look at her eyes, and perhaps he did so a bit sharply.

Truth be told, Byrne only vaguely remembered Nabooru's station in the Sagedom because it didn't exactly matter - she was doomed either way. But he remembered a lot about her. "You're the Sage of... Ah... Spirit?" he almost mumbled it, but upon seeing her face, he began to realize what she was hinting at.

"That's right. You got it in one."

She almost purred out her response, but thinking it slightly inappropriate, she managed to refrain. Somehow.

Her arms unwound from him in favour of folding over her chest. Not so much protectively, as it was done in thought. Nabooru was still stewing over so many things, like she'd spent a good deal of her time, that she'd almost thought she was aging too quickly. She wasn't, of course, and realistically she knew that, but she sure felt older and that was almost as bad.

"I was joking mostly," she explained for him with a lighter smile. "A servant to the spirits with the Sage of Spirit. In a way, it almost makes it seem like it was destiny - even with crossing different planes of time." But if that legend said it would happen, then who was anyone to say she couldn't do the very same?

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