Work Out Settle Down

"Rest stop's coming up in like ten minutes," I say to Louise, "If you want to take a break."

She breaks her concentration. She finds me and smiles. It's a good idea. There's a bit of release in her now. There's an end in sight. There's an oasis in the desert. There will also probably be another vending machine or two for the passengers in the back. I might get something this time. Saoirse has made me curious about coffee.

It takes a bit more out of Louise to change lanes and find the turn. A bit more panic and a bit more tension and we are finally slowing down. The road is still. We are still. Everything is still. The engine's cooling and clicking and now Troy's knee has a fun pop as he stretches out the door. My neck does the same. Saoirse has a shoulder and Louise has her knuckles. Everything clicks and settles into place.

We're the only ones at the stop. A car got scared when we pulled in. Or maybe they just have other places to be. We don't, at least for another handful of hours. The city's behind us, the mountains are in front of us, and the ocean is right here, right now. The waves crash against the rocky shore. Saoirse works her shoulders again. Her chest works with the motion. Troy and I watch her for a moment before Louise snakes her arm through mine and drags me to the railing.

As loathe as I am to admit it the view of the water is better than what I get from watching Saoirse's chest. A little bit. Not too much. Really now that I think about it, it's kind of a tossup. Then Louise leans her head on me and I think I like this better. Troy drags Saoirse, yawning and slack, but we all take a moment as one to simply bask in the afternoon sun. The wind is warm and gentle. The waves are rolling and dancing with a soft cymbal roll under the world.

I feel right. I feel so incredibly right. The stars aren't even out, but they are aligned. My body feels warm and light everything strong. My arms snake and move until they hold everyone else. Each one falls under my grasp. Louise has my hand. Saoirse's nestled into my other arm. Troy's found a way to get a hand around my waist. We all link and slip and lock together. A current slips through us in a lazy circuit. It's crystalized starlight and gentle breezes just cold enough to set chill down beneath the skin. I pull them close and they shift closer. To me, to the others, to the central core of this moment that should never end.

"Marry me," I say softly. The wind lets the words echo out to the waves.

"That's the plan genius," Saoirse yawns, "Just need a ring. Doesn't have to be from you. I kind of like Louise's group pool plan."

"Thank you," says Louise, "I figured three rings would be a lot for each of us. To buy and to wear. And if we all get them together, then they can match."

"I'm not doing a hyphenated name," Troy says, dodging Saoirse's elbow to his ribs, "What? I'll take one of yours, but Troy Lorain-Hollister-DeSadier-Kirillova does not roll off the tongue."

"What about Troy Hollister-Kirillova-Lorain-DeSadier?" I suggest.

"Honestly, a little worse. And not because yours is first, Saoirse. We can draw straws when we get back."

"Or we can arm wrestle for it," I say.

"Nope. Has to be fair for all of us. Saoirse needs a decent shot."

He almost gets another shot to the ribs, but then the lady in question glances against my arms. Then she gets Troy's. Louise might be a decent run for her money, but that's only right now. Once she's trained up again, it's hard to call. Then again, she could also hop on the gun show train. We all go to a great gym with a decent rate and wonderful routine. But no, she likes yoga now and that's what she will do forever and ever.

The moment is still beautiful. The moment is still perfect. The waves are calm the sun is warm and everything is still as it was. Time has passed, but the cogs of the seconds are still in synch. Louise finds something to squeeze affectionately on me. Nothing sensitive or tender, just simple pink affection. I squeeze back. I think it's a bit too close to her chest, but the intent is chaste for once.

Everything's still synched and locked as we break away. The car is still perfect as we get back on the road. Then Louise gets a bit more tense and anxious as we go back on the road. Traffic's light. We pass a pair of people on bikes going back the way we came. Maybe they'll have a moment where we had ours. But ours is still ongoing, so we might have taken the magic from the spot.

---

The town's quietly nestled in the forest. I see the mountain peaks watching over us as guardians of the calm. The trees hang and guide our path over the stone lined streets. The houses are stone and wood and paper and encompass our steps. Saoirse stops a moment and gets her phone. She takes a photo from the vista and puts it back in her pocket. She could have taken any one of them, to be honest. They're all really good. I think I like the view just down the street better. There's a restaurant down that way and we should go there for dinner. Troy pulls us along as the city lets us twist and turn and move.

The new hotel let us in and stashed our bags. They even let us wander the town for a while, no plan, no map, just endlessly winding streets in the quiet afternoon. I saw a few old women gossiping and picking like hens as all old women are wont to do. I imagine I'll dabble in that at some point in my life. Saoirse's still hanging on me. The car nap didn't do all that much, it seems. She needs a real nap in a real bed and nothing to disturb that. But she also wants to take in as much of a new country as possible. She also wants to fall into pieces and never be picked up. I make an executive decision.

Her legs are out from under her and she is in my arms. She's surprised and scared and thrashes for a moment. Then she sees me smiling and delightfully frustrated at this sudden change in state. She does not ask to be put down. Her arms drape over my neck and we keep walking. Troy takes his shot at being a photographer once we come to a bridge over a sluggish river. He inadvertently gets an oblivious fisherman caught in the trap. He shows the Saoirse in my arms and she approves of it. Troy has a double take when he realizes the situation.

"That's not fair," he whines.

"I had no say in any of this," Saoirse says, "She just kind of did it on her own and I'm too weak to fight back."

"How come I never get picked up?" he says, "I just get knocked down."

"I got knocked down too," Louise says, "That's what started this whole thing."

"But you also get picked up. That's the problem."

Louise rolls her eyes and starts running her math. He's not going in her arms, but she does present that wonderful back of hers. Piggyback is an acceptable configuration, if a bit juvenile. He considers it. It is what he wanted. He probably wanted me to do it, but I have my hands full.

Carefully, he steps through the motions and settles into position. He's so much taller than her. Louise grabs his ass in a not completely utilitarian way, but any carnal pleasure he feels is smoothed out by the sudden sensation of flying.

It takes a moment to register, but he is laughing hard at the simple upsy-daisy. Louise is trying, mostly to balance. The actual weight is more or less handled for now, but I imagine there will be a moment where she falters. Now, though, rocksteady on the bridge. A bit where the balance turns and she stumbles. Troy puts out a foot and now she has a kick stand.

"Stop laughing," Louise giggles, "This is already hard enough."

"You're doing so good though," snickers Saoirse, "I bet you can't take him across the bridge, though."

"What's the pot?"

"I go down on you tonight. If you can't, you do me."

"Deal. Troy you have to be good. Don't ruin this for me."

"I can be a good backpack. Trust me."

Louise shifts her grip a bit more and lifts him a bit more on her shoulders. He's secure. She's ready. First one step and then another and I am starting to feel left out. I have a thing to carry and she's very light, if a bit top heavy. A bet isn't competitive enough, so now I've decided to make it a race.

I keep pace with her for a moment, and Louise gets the memo.

"I go down on you too, if you beat me to the end," I say.

"That's not the reward you think it is," Louise huffs, "But fine."

And she takes off. She is faster than me on the whole, I will admit. Darting through my guard like a wasp, floating on the wind like a moth, always gone in the blink of an eye. Troy's scared. He's off the ground and flying so fast. I just have to schlep and hoof it. Saoirse's very bouncy and jiggly and too much movement might make her jump right out of my arms. I don't want that for several reasons. She can keep jiggling though. That's fun. Everything should be jiggling all the time.

Louise isn't jiggling. She's moving and I can't seem to get moving fast enough. There's not enough space to get the pace set. The end's in sight. Troy's flattened himself into a perfectly aerodynamic dart. Saoirse simply isn't built like that. If anything, she's a top, meant to spin and spin and spin forever and ever. She tries though. I'm not sure why. We're all probably going down on one another at some point. Maybe even in some beautiful chain. The end of the bridge is right there and I don't even notice it.

Louise won. I'm lost in dream of our bodies and that certainly didn't make things easier. The growing tightness down my thigh also doesn't help. I have to take the last few steps wide and awkward to make sure everything is still lying just right. Louise's is doing her celebratory booty dance, with Troy hanging on for dear life. I think he would like to be let down now, but everything's so high up.

Her foot catches on a stone and that's the first domino of catastrophe. The kickstand shoots out, but at an odd angle. Now it only makes things worse. The whole structure is comprised, but I am glad everyone is going down swinging.

I act. Saoirse is now on my shoulders and I feel her breasts press into the back of my neck. My free hand reaches over and picks up a bundle of cloth. It's the back of Troy's shirt and he has the good sense to keep holding onto Louise. The great chain pulls us all upright and steady. Louise still has a moment of panic in her. She's hanging an inch off the ground that was just rushing up to lovingly slap her in the face. Then she realizes she's safe. We're all safe.

"Now you back across the bridge with all of us," Louise says.

I take a step obediently, but it's simply not happening. Everything's too unbalanced and slippery and I immediately start toppling. The kickstand is back and it works this time. Not perfectly, but it takes some of the weight. We're all still falling into the stones, as softly as we can. I move and set myself down first.

One by one, they all crash into me. Saoirse seems to be fine. Troy's also fine and Louise is just peachy. Her ass is grinding into my stomach and I am lost in Troy's hard chest. All in all, a pretty good time is being had by all. Louise worms and wriggles until she is now staring me in the face.

Then she kisses me and I kiss her and now Troy feels left out, so Saoirse pecks him on the cheek, mostly just because that's the only part of his body she can reach. Then she just has to be the rational one. A leg unwinds and stands under its own power. A hand helps another drag a body up to standing. A pair of arms dig under a spine and scoop and lift until everything's on the bridge standing and upright. The fisherman down the way might have noticed, but I assume whatever's in the river is much more interesting than a handful of lovestruck idiots playing in the streets. Troy dusts himself off. Saoirse adjusts her shirt until everything hangs tight and aligned perfectly. Louise is fine to be a bit more disheveled for a moment. She's looking at my arms and thinking about how she could get another ride with me.

"The internet says there's a café like three streets thataway," says Saoirse, "I put it to a vote that we go there for a snack, go back to the inn for a nap, have dinner at said inn and then probably fuck. Cause that's what we always end up doing."

I have no objections. No one does.

---

The inn gave us the comfiest robes that have ever been conceived. They're not quite soft, but there is a certain comfortable scratch to the rough fibers. And it is so breathable without being breezy. I feel like I'm wearing something almost like pajamas but so much better. They're a fetching dark blue gray with even darker stripes. They blend into the night and I almost feel as one with the stars. We have a full moon tonight, all to ourselves.

My little pack is currently seeing to their own errands. Saoirse doing one last round to the vending machines for night drinks. Troy's helping Louise put on hers and they are taking some liberties with the fashion show. And I am just sitting out on a beautiful night.

I love this hotel. The dinner was hotpot and it is hot and in a pot and it was simply delicious. Filling and emboldening and communal and just simply good. We shared our table with a small family and no one understood a word said between us except for the son who tried to act as an interpreter. Everyone had an amazing time. I think the mom got a bit too drunk, but the good kind of too drunk. Not really problematic, just a bit loud and happy. She said we should play Ping-Pong, I think, but we were all giving off the inevitable vibe that we were going to back to our room and fuck and as much fun as Ping-Pong can be, it is not animalistic fucking. Granted, staring at the night sky is not animalistic fucking, but it is arguably animalistic, so I'll take it. No matter what other label it has, it is quiet and calm and I am ok with the moment lasting a bit longer. It does.

I love this hotel so much. The best part, not even the food, not even the other guests, not even the hidden army of Ping-Pong enthusiasts, is the pond out in front of me, hidden from the rest of the world by high walls and a weeping tree, hiding every act we can think of. It's a hot spring. It is a private bath, just for us and us alone. I don't think it's completely natural, the walls are too smooth and circular, but the internet said the water is at least. A soft scent of sulfur, almost invisible in the breeze makes it seem natural. Or committed to the lie enough to fool us gullible tourists. It promises rejuvenation and health and utter relaxation. I do not know how I could possibly go down anymore into bliss. Someone decides to join me and that is a point to a lower state. It's Louise. She slinks against my arm and lays her head on my shoulder.

"Dinner was so good," she sighs, "I don't understand how it could have been that good. It's just boiled meat. Boiled meat is like the worst way to do meat."

"No clue. You still need to try taco rice, but we'd have to go south for that," I say. I turn and find a spot on her head to kiss. She likes that.

"And we're not going south are we?" sighs Louise.

"Not planning on it."

"Shame. I mean, I get it and it's fine. But still. Whole new country and all that and its small enough to see all of it."

"You're not going to want to leave this place after tonight. Hot springs are amazing."

She hums and kicks her feet over the edge of the low porch. Her feet brush against the smooth stone as her own robes flutter up her legs. They were not cinched properly. Probably on purpose by someone with rather nefarious purposes. And we are joined by another, with creaking steps over the mats.

"Good," says Troy, "I trust General Kirillova here is keeping you abreast of military matters, Shogun DeSadier."

He's smiling and he's cute and he said something dumb. He also has a round tray with a bottle and saucers and I know what that is and it is going to be great. But first, he started a stupid game and Louise wants me to play along.

"The new recruits are excelling at their training. The only part left is the oil wrestling tournament to pick your guard," I say.

"Will you be participating?" the shogun asks.

"Of course. Who do you think they'll be wrestling?"

"Wonderful. I may sit in on that. Not that I don't trust your judgement, but I wish to see you in action once more. Make sure you haven't gone soft. Treasurer Lorain, how are the funds?"

The treasurer sets down the tray and finds the shogun's other side. I'm not sure that's proper decorum. I'm definitely sure that the shogun opening fondly the treasure's crotch is not. That should only be for the general.

"Gold out the ass," he sighs, "Just got this trade ship back from the far off land of Kentucky bringing something called bourbon. It's supposed to be amazing."

Our door slides open and close and I'm not really paying attention. We are starting our play now and that's the only thing we should be focused on. Although, as the general, the task of security ultimately falls to me. I look over and its Saoirse with a small batch of bottled tea.

"And what news does my spy mistress bring?" Louise sighs. Saoirse stops. She sees us pawing and longing and starting. She likes that part. She's a bit slow on the uptake on the other part, but she gets there.

"I dunno," she says with a shrug, "Think we killed a guy. He was bad. Then we poisoned the invaders. They were bad too."

"Excellent," the shogun sighs, "Simply excellent. May my reign last a million years and my retirement even longer."

The shogun breaks from us and that's terrible. I was finally starting to get some much-needed affections. But she's striding off into the distance. Everything becomes alright again as she slips off the robe and lets it fall to the ground. The moonlight catches on her skin and she glows like an ignited ember from the scant light. Shadow and light, almost disappearing at the edges, a ghost of seduction, and all she does is simply walk away. Her ass is amazing. Her legs are long and slender and toned. Power and grace and serene beauty at the edges of the steaming water. It crawls up her limbs with slender fingers. She makes a beautiful show of dipping her foot in and feeling it out. She likes it. She loves it. A step in and she breaks into a starlight smile beaming back at us.

"Oh, this is already amazing," she says. It's a short handful of seconds until she is sitting down, steam playing on her shoulders, tangling in her hair, adding to a soft sigh of her existence.

Troy breaks next and he disrobes in a very similar fashion. He has the idea to toss his robes back a bit farther. Both Saoirse and I watch his back flex as he stretches up. We also watch his length bob and weave through his legs with each step he takes. It looks heavy and eager and I'm jealous of Louise. She gets the best view, but I do get his ass. That's something to watch. All of him is something to watch. Another one of my grand mechanisms interlocking and moving in time. All of him moves with even the smallest shift. He's getting hard, just a little bit. I'm getting hard too. We both know. We all know. But the game goes one. Saoirse helps me up, mostly to get her chance at holding onto my arms. I take the tray. That seems like something important to hold on to. It's light. The bottle is full. Saoirse is naked and so am I. Troy's sinking into the warm water and I love the way he sighs. It's close to the noise he makes when I'm inside him. A bit slower, a bit more in control, but deep and primal and simply made of complete base pleasure. Every bit of work and pain and terribleness at the core of existence simply melts. I make something similar as the water hits my skin. It's beautiful. I don't see Saoirse slip out beneath her mask behind me. Louise and Troy get both of us at once and for once I'm jealous. I do not get to look at me naked all that often.

I slip into the water and it is just on the edge of too warm. Just on the edge of turning everything red and burning. I make another deep primal noise from my chest. And sink as far as I can into the water. My eyes are closed and the only thing I can sense is the gentle ripples from my lovers.