“Fuck that sucked,” Rebecca sighed as she trudged back to the room with Pacifica in tow.

“Hot tub…” Pacifica cooed, unable to exert the effort to lift her feet.

“Hey, let me use the bathroom first,” the fire fox grumbled.

Evening had graced Sarayul’s palace and as such training was done for the day. Thankfully they weren’t on an eight-to-five grind as the training only lasted about five or so hours. At any rate even with the rhythm in the air, their bodies were physically exhausted.

All their effort yielded no results, much to the two Resonator’s chagrin.

It should have been so easy! Nina and Talys made it look so easy!

Rebecca shot a glance at her fellow Resonator as they walked along. It couldn’t be something that only Ethereals could do – the twins wouldn’t have bothered wasting their time showing off otherwise. This WAS possible for Rebecca and Pacifica. The big question looking over them was: What were they missing?

It clicked after a moment of ruminating on that thought.

“Duh,” the fire fox breathed out.

“Hm?” Pacifica looked to the smaller Resonator.

“Our tempo sucks,” Rebecca said.

The pair stopped. “Hmmm…” Pacifica stroked her chin in thought. “We really don’t do much together,” she realized. She let her gaze rise to meet Rebecca’s. “I mean, even when we fight you and Taika usually run off to do stuff and I hang back with Sho,” the otter said.

“You are piercing attribute, distance is kinda your thing,” Rebecca pointed out. “Crushing wants to be in the opponent’s face, and slashing is the middle man that pivots between up close and distance fighting,” she elaborated further.

“I did want to learn more from you about fighting Resonators,” Pacifica said with a smile, though this quickly faded. “Especially if we have to fight more feroces,” she added, quieter.

Rebecca nodded in agreement though her expression quickly clouded. “How the hell am I supposed to train you?” she hissed to herself.

Pacifica suddenly brightened, grabbing hold of her fellow Resonator’s hands. “Let’s think about it in the hot tub!”

An alarming proposition for the fire element.

“Probably not a good idea!” Rebecca shouted back unintentionally.

“Nonsense! It’s plenty hot, let’s go!” Pacifica bounded away, dragging poor Rebecca with her.

“I said wait damn it!”

----------------------------------------

Rebecca stood in the bathroom with Pacifica reclining in the hot tub. The fire Resonator had borrowed Shouri’s swim shorts along with one of his spare t-shirts. Pacifica even took the time to tie Rebecca’s hair up in a bun so it wouldn’t get wet.

Regardless, the fire element bore some trepidation getting into the oversized soup pot Pacifica was simmering in.

“It’s so warm Rebby… you’d love it…” The otter was practically melting in the bubbling broth that was the hot tub.

Rebecca’s thoughts drifted to Re-Kindling Illness. It sucked and left her without her ad-Lib for at least a week after. “Yeah, I can’t do this,” she quickly said. She turned. Before the fire element got even two steps away, she was grabbed from behind by a soggy Pacifica.

“Let go! You’re wet!”

“I know! It’s great!”

“You’re doing a real good job at fucking up our tempo!”

“Just trust me!”

Slowly Rebecca was losing ground, despite Pacifica remaining firmly in the hot tub. “Come on Rebby, stop being so stubborn!” Pacifica groaned.

Rebecca managed to push the clingy otter off of her, spinning to face her as she made distance. “Fine!” shouted the vixen. “Just… don’t let…” she trailed off, turning her head away from the water element.

Pacifica grinned toothily, splashing back into the hot tub. “Join me! Join me!” she chanted.

For one possessing such a strong stave of emotion, Pacifica sure could be vindictive in ignoring other people’s feelings when she wanted to, Rebecca realized. Regardless, she wasn’t getting out of this. At least she could try to humor her teammate – they needed to deepen their tempo if they wanted to have a chance at emulating what the twin Ethereals had done today. At least that was Rebecca’s running theory.

Hopefully, this wouldn’t be for naught.

The fire fox shuffled close to the tub, furrowing her brow as she studied the bubbly water. She took in a breath and quickly released it. Cold water causes Re-Kindling. She took nice hot showers that left her refreshed. This was just a big tub of that hot water she enjoyed. She dipped a finger in the water. While it might have been hot to anyone else, for a fire element like Rebecca, it was warm. Calling it lukewarm was disingenuous, it was a comfortable warmth.

“Okay,” Rebecca gulped, her heart hammering. “Here goes nothin’.”

The fox lifted a leg and dipped it into the water. She trembled initially, but… it wasn’t so bad. Pushing down on it, she pulled her other leg into the tub, keeping her tail high to avoid the water. Thankfully Shouri’s shirt was big on her because his shorts lacked a tail hole.

“Sit with me!” Pacifica demanded, her excitement palpable.

Rebecca glared at the otter, hugging her fluffy tail. “It’ll get wet,” she pointed out.

“I’ll help you dry it! Sit with me!” Pacifica pointed to the spot next to her. The otter’s eyes were practically shimmering with excitement. This girl was way too much.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With a dejected sigh, Rebecca gave in once more to her pushy teammate’s demands. “Fine…” she acquiesced. She shuffled over and slowly lowered herself into a sitting position, shivering as she felt the water creeping up her body. It felt weird and wrong. She yipped as the water went higher than she had expected, leaving only her head and neck outside the water.

Before Rebecca could start panicking, her hand was grabbed. “Shhh, shhh Rebby, it’s okay,” Pacifica whispered, her fingers interlocking with her fellow Resonator’s. “I know you’re really strong, this won’t snuff your flames, we’re together.”

Damn, Pacifica was really good at knowing exactly what to say, wasn’t she?

Rebecca gripped back tightly under the water, trembling as she did so. This was so crazy! Showers were one thing but this was a goddamn tub of water! She could drown! She could die! She could-

“Mmmrpgh!?” Rebecca now was no longer focused on the water, but on the pair of lips that was taking her own.

Pacifica slowly backed away, licking her lips as she did so. “You’re nice and warm.”

“YOU AND TAIKA! WHY?!” Rebecca shrieked, covering her mouth.

“Oh, you’ve kissed Taika too?” Pacifica tittered. “Is she good? I need to get some alone time with her,” plotted the otter.

Rebecca’s face was unbearably warm as her heart rate only continued to climb. “Uhg, why are you people like this?” the fox groaned.

“Do you not like it?” Pacifica tilted her head.

Her heart rate was not meant to calm. She curled in on herself, averting her gaze from the otter. Her face reddened further, almost matching her hair in color. “I… really really like it,” Rebecca admitted.

“Good,” Pacifica sat back next to Rebecca, taking up her hand.

The two sat in bubbly silence for some time. “My mom said to be as greedy as I want, as long as I’m not hurting anyone,” Pacifica spoke up.

“What the heck does that mean?” Rebecca shot her the side eye.

“We’re all into Sho, and Sho feels the same about all of us, right?” Pacifica fired back a question of her own.

“Y-yeah,” Rebecca shakily admitted.

“Well, you and Taika are equal to Sho in my heart - I want all of us to be together forever.”

Rebecca stared back, her eyes wide. “…huh…”

Pacifica sighed, leaning back. “What do you like to do for fun?” she asked.

“Huh?” Rebecca wondered what that was about.

“Our tempo needs to be better right? Maybe we should learn a bit about each other. It might help right?” asked the otter.

“Uhh yeah, I guess.” Rebecca was still focused on the brazen statements the otter had delivered so effortlessly before.

But she did consider her fellow Resonator’s question. “I like those old martial arts movies.”

“I noticed, what do you like about them?” asked Pacifica.

“Well the older ones, before all these fancy computer-generated graphics, used real trained actors who were actual martial artists. You can see their skill in their craft come out in each scene. The choreography on display is masterful. The direction of the director and the execution of the actor reminds me of a Maestro and Resonator,” Rebecca explained.

“How’d you get into them?” Pacifica further probed.

“One of my old teachers made us study the forms in some old movies. I guess it’s a core memory for me?” Rebecca shrugged.

“Do you have a favorite actor or director?” Pacifica questioned.

“Linda Lee is my favorite Maestro actor. She’s in several big films from the 60’s and kicks so much ass even though she’s not a Resonator. I guess my favorite Resonator actor is Jackson Fang. He was a null-element Wolf who popularized the Null Fist style, which emphasized learning many different martial arts skills, but never actually mastering any one,” Rebecca continued to gush.

“That sounds interesting, but why never mastering any one technique?” wondered the otter.

“He said it breeds complacency to consider yourself a master of anything. Something like you stop learning if you’re the master, a lot of people disagree with him, but I think I get what he was going for,” Rebecca mused.

“What’s that?” Pacifica asked.

“You should never stop learning,” Rebecca smiled.

“Well we’re with the right Maestro for that,” Pacifica giggled.

“You got that right,” Rebecca laughed back.

The two sat for a moment, the bubbling of the jets saving them from dead silence.

“What about you?” Rebecca asked. “You have to like something besides water,” said the fire fox.

“I love video games!” Pacifica declared boldly. “I like action games, but I don’t mind RPGs either. Just as long as the characters are cool or the gameplay is fun is enough for me.”

Rebecca offered a smile back. She couldn’t claim any familiarity with the subject, never having much time to get into them herself.

“I think you’d be a fighting game demon though,” the otter suddenly commented.

“Really?” questioned Rebecca, furrowing her brow.

“Yeah! Fighting games are all about reading your opponent, lightning-fast inputs, and positioning! I’m garbage at fighting games, but I think you’d be crazy!”

“Huh,” was all Rebecca had to offer back. She had never really thought about any kind of gaming before. And it was nice to be able to talk to someone about her interests. The Renard reclined in the water.

At that moment, it didn’t feel half bad…