smash_logs | I miss video games

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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The brief quiet gave her time to study him carefully, taking in some more of his details. The strength of his jawline, slightly mottled by whiskers and the signs of stubble here and there. The way his cheeks hollowed with the drag of his cigarette, creating sharp contrasts between bone and skin. His hair was somewhat long, and Blue wondered if that meant he had been out of the service for a while. (Still assuming he had meant the traditional military, of course.) She wondered if that was what had given his eyes their weariness.

Except it was wrong to say they were just weary. They were sharp, too. Somewhat intense. Blue couldn't say she had met very many people at all that had a gaze quite like that. Maybe that was why he seemed so interesting.

"Mm, yeah, it'd be a bit hard to re-create it here. Maybe next winter... though that still wouldn't be quite the same. It's probably better to keep it as incentive, yeah. I think it's a good one to have."

Blue leaned back against the rocks again, settling her hands on her knees and maintaining the closer proximity to him without a second thought. "I guess you were able to see a lot of places as a soldier then, huh?"

If he took notice of how she eyed him, he ignored it. Well, at least he tried to. If he was going to be honest, it'd mean admitting that not many people did that. Usually, he was the one doing the eying. Or someone who knew him. Like Ocelot. That man seemed to like giving him the third degree and that was to be expected. Sort of. More on Snake's part because of the extended history.

But then Snake did look like his father. And if there was one thing Big Boss and Ocelot had, it was a past.

Finally turning his sights back onto her, he thought about what she said. Recreating, hm? Was it the action that made the difference or the location? The memories tied to said region? Did he even really put that much faith into memories? He wanted to say he didn't, but the truth of the matter was that every night when he put himself down to sleep, he always thought about the history of things. And sometimes there were nightmares.

He didn't move, even when she did and finally nodded. "Yeah. You could say that." Finishing his cig, he stubbed it out and made the effort to not flick it elsewhere. And he didn't fish for another one either. "In a service like that, you come out more worldly. Hardened, but worldly. You get a better understanding for people, cultures, society. Things like that."

Then he peered sidelong to her, "You not get out often?"

That lined up well with how Blue had thought it all worked. In her mind's eye, for every chance of something awful to sinks its claws into you, there was another chance to see something lovely. What the ratio of awful and good was probably varied with the place, and the time, and the entire reason for being there in the first place. Of course, she realized how naive of a sentiment that was overall, considering it was probably possible to only see the things that darkened the heart and become blind to what little good did try to break in.

Sitting next to someone very clearly a man that had seen his fair share, they seemed like very childish thoughts.

Blue tilt her head away from him, though she was still watching him quite curiously with raised brows that betrayed her surprise. "Do I seem like someone that doesn't?" The brunette chuckled a bit and shook her head.

"It's actually the opposite, I probably get out too much." She tapped her fingers slightly, musing. "I think being here at the school has been the longest I've been in one town for... Gosh, ages, probably."

Her expression had shifted into something much more thoughtful as she spoke, reflecting on just how long it had been. Time always seemed to flit by so fast in the moment, but thinking back on it made it seem like forever. A funny thing, that.

"It's a bit like remembering how to stand still."

"Not really that. More like-" he interjected himself to think about how he wanted to address her question. "-completely different ends of the spectrum."

Worldly in her own sense of the word, he guessed. She probably had never seen a war. Had probably never watched anyone die. Had probably never dealt with anything close to the Patriots or the kinds of things Snake had seen. But those kinds of stories weren't really for girls not from war.

Perhaps he was underestimating her, however.

"So you travel a lot," he observed. "And it sounds like you don't visit home often." Leaning over, he tried to get a better look at her, "What keeps you here, then?"

Different ends of the spectrum, was it? That was something she could agree on. It was probably something very true, without a doubt. The world could seem very different to people watching it through different eyes. While she might have seen it beautiful, it did not change the darker needs it kept.

She would still leap at the chance to hear his stories. Probably she would cry. That's just how Blue was. Every story was important, however. She would still be happy to listen.

Blue shifted slightly as he leaned over, aware of him looking at her much the same as she had to him. She certainly didn't mind, but she couldn't say she was used to it. There really wasn't anything interesting to look at, she thought. Blue looked up at him thoughtfully for a moment, considering the question.

"I have no idea."

At least not anything concrete. Wanting to catch up on lost time with friends was certainly a driving factor. Letting her Pokemon live a bit of their lives for themselves for once was one too. Blue pursed her lips slightly, unsatisfied with the not-answer she had given.

"A change of pace, I guess. I've spent more time away from home than at it, so I'm not even sure if it's still home... I suppose I'm selfishly wondering if anyone will remember me if I stay a bit longer. But that's silly, isn't it?" she asked, watching the man intently.

He got a slight... pleasure, he might have said, from the way she shifted. Not because he was making her uncomfortable - which he wasn't sure if he was - but because it seemed a slight double standard. She could eye him all she wanted, but... Whatever it was, it made him smile. As well as he could, though. Sincere smiles still looked a little funny on his face.

His eyebrows lifted when he heard her and after a moment, he gave something of a curt nod. In hindsight, if she'd asked him the same question, he would have said the same thing. He wasn't exactly sure what kept him at the academy other than trying to remember everything that had happened before. And when he did remember everything, would he just go back to Alaska? He wasn't positive, but it certainly seemed like a possibility.

He sat back again, resting on the palm of his hands as he listened. "It's not silly to want to be remembered." It was a fairly direct form of reassurance. Had he wanted to be remembered? Maybe a little at first. Perhaps things were... 'fun.' Maybe. Before he knew what he was getting into. People remembered Solid Snake with certainty. Meryl had even called him a hero. It was a lot of expectation to live up to.

"Can't say for sure, but I wouldn't be quick to forget you. And this is - what? - the third or fourth time we've talked."

It was far more of a reassurance than Blue would have admitted she might have been seeking. She glanced away for a moment, though the slight rosey hue that was blooming across her cheeks was hard to miss this close beside him.

"You're very sweet," she said with a light laugh before she smiled back at him again with all sincerity. "That actually means quite a bit to me, really." Blue brushed a bit of her hair back behind her ear, looking very comfortable as she looked out over the water despite how open she was being and the blush that was still sitting there.

"Even if it's just for a little bit... It's nice to be a bit more than just a passing background character in someone's life, I guess. Or I guess it's just nice to have at least a bit of the same impact as they had on you, even if it's not quite the same at all."

"You're very sweet."

She was totally and completely talking about the wrong guy. At least he was thinking it. Surprise flashed in his expression briefly and his immediate response was to look aside. Sweet, huh. It wasn't something people called him. And in a way, he didn't like it. But it was only her. He could tolerate it if it was only her who called him that.

And if it was just that one time. No more after that.

"So you want to mean something to someone," he commented with some observance, as if he was trying to put her feelings concisely. "Isn't that what everyone wants? Even the people who don't admit it do."

He guessed distantly he wanted that, too. In one form or another.

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I miss video games

SLOPPY MAKEOUTS

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