"The capsule should be up ahead... Huh?" Jaymes holsters his twin pistols, crossing his arms as she takes in the sight in front of him. At this point in his VRMMO career, he shouldn't be surprised, yet...he finds himself holding his head at the ludicrousity of the newfound area deep in the hidden dungeon he's exploring as part of a huge questline in a recent update. Rumors had been circulating about it, and he chased them only to find them true.

If this was Alfheim Online or Sword Art: Origins, hell, even Sword Art Online, finding a hot springs in a dungeon wouldn't be out there. This is Gun Gale Online, the more mature title compared to the latter three (ignoring what SAO became, of course), a futuristic apocalyptic game, and there's a frigging hot spring right in front of him. He's gonna have to chat with Zeliska about what her employers are thinking.

"What's wrong, Jaymes... What's a hot spring doing in an underground labyrinth?" His eyes dart to the girl that passed his right side, his partner for the day, Sinon. She looks in equal parts awe and shock as she steps up to the edge of the hot spring. She cups a hand in the water. "It has a nice temperature."

"If Asuna or Liz were here, their eyes would glow." He looks away from the twin pools of heated water to the path that divides them, leading up to a ornate chest. Jaymes crosses the bridge and steps up to the chest. "Let's see... Hey, you remember the combination?"

"08102010."

Jaymes inputs the code and smiles when the chest unlocks. "Yes! And here's our prize." He holds up the metallic capsule proudly as he cross the bridge again, then taps on the capsule and the following button to place it in his inventory. "We can progress onto the next part of the questline after..." His ability to speak fades as Sinon, still at the side of the right pool. Most of her armor, save for the parts that cover the places he has to mentally visualize most days, is gone, and she has half her right foot in the pool. "Sinon."

"Nope."

"...What? You can't be serious, Sinon."

"Oh I am. We've been on the questline for hours. I can relax a bit, right?"

"But we're not... Urk!" Jaymes flinches at the glare she presents and sighs. "What is with you girls and hot water... Fine." He looks to the opening to the cavern and walks towards it. "I'll go over there and...well, there's no reason to stand guard, we're in an instance labyrinth, so no one else will come."

Sinon makes a noise of agreement as she finishes disrobing, or that's what he infers based on her entering the pool. "So where are you going? Stay!"

Jaymes pivots on his heel and glances at Sinon--a mostly bareback Sinon. His usual train of thought is derailed by his desire to leave, else he'd say something that's surely earn him several girls' ire. "Excuse me? I'm fine being" Sinon reinforces her glare, so he gives up on a retreat and looks to one of the pillars in the area. "Okay, I'll sit over--"

"In. The. Pool."

"The left one."

"This one. With me."

"Shino."

"Joshua."

"I don't think...I should."

"I don't know what's more irritating about you. The times when you are a pervert knowing it'll annoy me, or the times when you try to be upstanding when you know it'll annoy me. I applaud you for it, but just for one moment, stop being quasi-Kirito and be the Jaymes I know."

Easy for her to say, she's the one with only her dark bra and matching panties on in the water. He gives up and makes his way to her. On route, he unequips his armor, with only a layer of black underwear protecting his modesty. He slowly enters the pool, lettinga relieved sigh escape his lungs as he sits next to her. Still, he keeps his eyes everywhere but Sinon...directly on her, that is. "Quasi-Kirito... I hate when you compare me to him like that. What would you do if he was here instead of me?"

"I'd have him stand guard, but not face me. He knows what will happen if he so much as peeked."

Kirito, I say this as a fellow guy, please don't ever look at Sinon as I am...for your safety. I don't know who'll kill you first, Asuna or Sinon.

"Ah, this is a nice bath," Sinon says as she leans her head back a couple of minutes later of silence. Meanwhile, Jaymes has been fighting real-world hormones and the five senses in the virtual world. Sight tempts to fail him, so he closed his eyes, but his sense of hearing and touch didn't get the memo. Hearing Sinon wash herself (for whatever reason) and the slight touches of their shoulders is driving him up a wall. And believe him, he's tried every option to avoid thinking about the girl beside him...and he's not proud of the fact that not even the image of "Agil's right beside me, and he's in a speedo" helped.

Maybe engaging in conversation might help. "You girls really do love these baths."

"I don't love them. I just want to relax and be clean a bit."

"Clean?"

"I obviously want to be clean and fresh for the person I..."

"Gah!" Jaymes shields himself as a hot water is splashed in his direction. Now annoyed at her, he glares at Sinon. "What the hell? What are you splashing me for?"

Sinon crosses her arms, yet she can't do anything about the red mark cross her cheeks and nose. "No interrogations."

"I wasn't interrogating!"

"Excuse me? Yeah, right!"

Jaymes turns away. "Whatever..." Silence ensues between again, but this time, Sinon is stationary, so all he hears is the wading pools echoing off the walls. For a moment, he finds himself drifting off to sleep. Maybe he did need to relax after all... Did Sinon do this for him rather than herself? If she did...great, now he's coming off as a jerk.

"Aren't you...trying too hard recently?"

He snaps back awake and looks at the ceiling. "Does it seem that way to you? I guess so... After all that's happened this year, I guess I am a little..try-hardy. Yuuki, Origin, Ordinal Scale, Underworld, Origin again, Unital Ring, and, of course, my father...and that leaves little time before exams for university. I'm sure you're not the only one worried about me."

"That's because you get yourself into a mess of trouble for such a delicate guy."

He turns his head towards hers. "Who are you calling delicate?"

She giggles. "You were like that when we met, too."

"Was I?"

"Mhm. And while you're not as bad as Kirito, you should open up more. Depend on people. Everyone is happy to help. And when I say that, I don't mean just those two."

"You mean yourself."

Sinon nods and rolls on her side, placing her hand on his chest. "You know it. I've always got your back."

"That's... That's good to know." Jaymes returns his sighr back up to the ceiling. He won't give her the credit vocally, but he's glad she does watch over him, whether through the scope of her sniper rifle or up close and personal like now. He doesn't know what he did to deserve such a dedicated partner, but he won't deny her one bit. "But you know what?"

"Hmm?"

"I can do without another virtual crisis. As much as I loved being in the Underworld, being there for 200 years drained me of being a hero. And UR was a pain in the ass... It'd be nice if we could just play games normally."

She laughs. "You're asking too much."

"Okay, at least let the next one not be related to Sword Art Online in any way, shape, or form."

"...Yeah, you're asking too much."