She looked up at the sky.
It was Stones day already, wasn't it? Or, probably close to it.
Shit she'd been out here for hours, just meditating, focusing on that stupid gemerald of her's.
And the worst part is... she felt like it barely helped anything. Eugh. It felt more... agonizing, than anything. She could barely actually focus on the gem, barely actually focus on anything except on how fucking cold it was. Her hoodie was just not enough for this kind of weather.
But she's supposed to overcome these kinds of setbacks, right? No matter how agonizing this shit was. Because she had to win against Spade. Had to get that second gemerald. Had to keep her security.
And, well, it's not like she didn't stand a chance against him now. She had those soul gems from Bakunawa. She had these weird special goggles from Evie. He wouldn't know what the hell hit him when he tried his stupid bullshit on her. A face full of dragon boost would be enough to shut him up.
Actually wait how the hell would Lyli react to her just using her thing like that.
...Eh, lets uh. Lets not think about that.
In fact not thinking about her was part of the reason she came up here, wasn't it?
She stood and pat the bits of snow off of her, taking out her jump disc and throwing it against the snow. And out appeared her bike, engine already running.
She crouched down and picked up her stupid gemerald, then looked out across all of the snowy plains.
She. Probably should have left earlier than this.
Fucking hell she wishes she was at Dail's stupid palace right now. It was too cold for any of this right now. Why couldn't she just blip there? Like she's blipped to other places before--sure, she's needed their charms or whatever, but like. She can do it!!!
Spade can do it!!! He can do it super easily!!! That stupid fucking fuck!!!!!!
Why could he do it easily, but she couldn't??? Why'd he have such an easy time with it??? Why'd those stupid teleporting target things still trip her up??? Why can't she just skip to the end already??? Be done with all of this stupid bullshit and spend time with her stupid friends and do stupid things????? She's
sick of fucking everything.
Why can't things slow down? Why can't she catch a break? Why can't she just go back? Stones damn it WHY!!!
She collapses in front of her bike, her gem starting to glow bright. The only light besides the moon tonight.
So many fucking things. Not enough answers. Not enough answers. Never enough answers, never enough anything. Except for cash, apparently. She's loaded with that. Enough cash to lose a whole chest of it and still be fine. Enough connections that she can do stupid stunts like this in the first place. Hell, she can do things she never ever imagined she'd ever be able to do.
Spirits, people must think she's so fucking ungrateful for having so much and not liking any of it. That other people would kill to be in her position right now. Nice husband, nice bike, nice friends, nice job, nice everything. She had it SO GOOD.
So how come it didn't feel like it?
"I'm so sick of this, man.
"What the hell am I doing right now. Training? For what? Just to lose again? Fighting for everything to crumble down on top of me again?
Her gem's light almost entirely engulfed her as she punched it into the snow floor before her.
"Iun't even wanna think about this hotel sierra right now, dude.
She leans on her bike, eyes shut tight.
"Lemme sleep in a nice warm bed. Lemme have that? Before I gotta face all this shit again in the mornin'."
As if she was never there to begin with.
Face down in the ground, her bike on top of her, the first thing she really noticed was the overwhelming feeling of heat.
She called her bike back to her jump disc--sure, she could lift the thing, but being under a ton of metal still wasn't pleasant--and stood... slowly. Her body was still pretty rigid from being in the cold all day. But she felt warmth all around her.
A bed next to her, a simple dresser next to the bed, a window just above the dresser--
The door opened, and in it's frame was a dog guard from Shuigang, seemingly panicked, but with her staff at the ready.
"SHUIGANGESE GUARD, RAISE YOUR HANDS AND oh it's just you, Carol."
What was this girl's name again? Julie? Joline? No, no, those were different people.
She squinted at the guard, head tilted to a side.
The guard, now relaxed, put a hand at her hip with a brow raised.
"Hey, how'd you get in here, anyway? What, you climbed through the window?
"...And uh. This isn't your room." She scratched the back of her ear, "I mean you can stay in here if you want but we were supposed to give you a room closer to the exit. Easier to get to the mountains that way."
Carol... didn't have words for her right now, not really. She just sort of blinked and rubbed her arm.
"Eh. You're the hero, not me. I guess you can do whatever you want as long as it's not breaking any laws. Just... try to make your entrance a little less bumpy next time, alright? You're lucky it was me and not Han! That boy would of arrested you on the spot!" She snickered, "Talk about a Neera Junior, am I right?" And shot finger guns at the wildcat.
"Haha," awkward laughter, followed by clearing of her throat, "Well! If you need anything, just fetch one of us, or knock really, really hard. We'll be around.
"Oh, and someone left you a present near the King's throne? Looked like a bike of some kind. It was weird--none of us wanted to touch it in case it was a bomb.
"Can you like... go and get that before King Dail wakes up? You know, just in case it is a bomb." She turned to leave, before stopping herself and shooting another finger gun or two at the cat, "Oh yeah! Happy Stones day!"
And with that, she shut the door and left the wildcat to her own devices.
