Chapter 1
Chapter Text
YOU ARE ROXY LALONDE. THIS SEEMS TO BE AN IMPORTANT FACT THAT BEARS REPEATING IN A RATHER FORMULAIC MANNER. DEADLY AS YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. THE PREMISE HERE IS YOU HAVE KILLED A LOT OF THINGS, AND ALSO ARE SMOKING HOT, WHILE NOT ACTUALLY BEING ON FIRE. ALSO, YOU ARE A FINDER OF COOL THINGS. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU HAVE JUST FOUND AN INCREDIBLE SUIT. IT IS RED, AND ALSO NOT ON FIRE. IT LOOKS LIKE A THING FROM THAT MOVIE YOU TORRENTED THAT ONE TIME. IT IS SUPER THIN. IT COMES WITH A MASK. IT GIVES YOU CURVES IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES. BOOPS? GOT THEM. BOJANGLES? BIG AS YOU WANT. BACK? YOU ARE A QUING DURN CORKSCREW IN THIS THING. FOR A MOMENT YOU HAVE CURVES IN ALL THE PLACES AND BECOME A BALL. YOU ARE THE BEST BALL. YOU COULD WIN ALL THE SPORTS.
JANE DOES NOT WANT TO PLAY SPORTS. SHE FOUND AN INCREDIBLE SUIT TOO. YOU THINK IT MADE HER STRONGER BUT SHE DENIES THIS. ITS POSSIBLE SHE IS TELLING THE TRUTH. SHE WAS ALWAYS STRONG. BUT THAT BEGS THE QUESTION; WHAT DO YOU DO?
==> GET ARMS FROM … CHEST?
WHOOPS, LOST THOSE FOR A MINUTE. HAZARDS OF BEING A BALL, YOU GUESS.
==> BE SEXY
HOW CAN YOU START BEING SEXY WHEN YOU ALREADY ARE?
==> TRICK OR TREAT
YES.
HELLS YES.
THE OLD CARAPACIAN COLONY WAS LOSERVILLE WHEN IT CAME TO CANDY. THEY MIGHT GIVE YOU FISHBONES. OR RATION WRAPPERS. NOBODY APPRECIATED YOUR COSTUME. BUT NOW YOU CAN GO TO ALL THE RITZY NEIGHBORHOODS AND PROBABLY GET THE KIND THAT HAS TWO CANDY BARS IN ONE WRAPPER EVEN.
==> GET ALL THE CANDY
THE PAIR OF YOU PETITION ALL OF PROSPIT IN YOUR SUPER GARB. ITS CITIZENS SHOWER YOU IN BRIGHT COLORS. WHAT IS CANDY GRIST? CAN YOU EAT IT? WHO CARES. YOU GET ALL THE CANDY GRIST. ALL OF IT.
==> GET ALL THE REST OF THE CANDY
DERSE TURNS ALL IT’S LIGHTS OFF AS IT SENSES YOUR APPROACH, EXCEPT THE ONES WITH REALLY OUT-OF-THE-WAY SWITCHES THAT THEY SIMPLY CAN NOT BE BOTHERED ABOUT. THIS CAN ONLY BE A CHALLENGE. YOU LEARN IT IS A CHALLENGE BECAUSE JANE REALLY DIDN’T MEAN TO TEAR THAT FRONT DOOR OFF ITS HINGES BUT SHE IS STRONG. AND THE CANDY WAS RIGHT THERE, BEHIND THE TRAPS. SHE PUT EVERYTHING BACK WHEN SHE WAS DONE. EXCEPT THE CANDY. NO STUPID GRIST, THIS WAS FRUIT BY THE METER**. THESE DERSITES KNOW HOW TO LIVE. OR DO NOT KNOW HOW TO RESIST THEIR OWN QUEEN’S MARKETING PLATFORM, SLOWLY DRAINING THEIR PLANETOID OF ALL ITS WEALTH.
WHATEVER. YOU CAN DO BETTER. WITH YOUR INCREDIBLE SUIT YOU DECIDE TO HAVE NO CURVES AT ALL. PAPER FLAT, YOU SLIP UNDER THE DOORWAY. AND SLIP. AND SLIP. YOU SLIP BACK OVER THE DOORWAY TO CHECK WHAT IS GOING ON BACK THERE.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE REMOVED ALL THE CURVES. YOUR LEGS GO BACK FOREVER. WHOOPS. YOU NEED THAT CUTE BUTT. MUCH BETTER. YOU HEAD BACK IN THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. YOU THREAD THOUGH THE TRAPS, QUITE LITERALLY. BUT FORGET THE BOOKS. THE TREATS! ASSORTED HALF EATEN BAGS OF CHIPS! AMAZING! YOU GATHER UP THE LOT AND THROW THEM OUT THE OPEN WINDOW TO YOUR PARTNER IN TRICKS.
==> UNTANGLE YOURSELF FROM THE DOOR
WHAT DOOR? JANE WAS JUST ABOUT TO SLAM RUN YOU AND GET ALL THE POINTS. YOU ARE THE BEST HORSESHOE-
Roxy ached. All over? No, mostly her head. Though she did feel stiff in a lot of other places.
“Roxy. Roxy? You hear me, right?” Jane was leaning over her. This was her room. Roxy’s. Her bed. It felt weird too.
“i diddnt – i didnt-“
“Look at me, girl. Didn’t what?”
“get drunk again. i promise”
“That would be correct,” Jane had a look of frustration on her face. She fidgeted, “You didn’t. So what do you remember?”
Roxy tried to sit up, and found herself in a rather… interesting position to get untangled from first, a leg and an arm twisted behind her at odd angles. It occurred to her that Jane might have spent the past far-to-long watching her bonelessly flail in her sleep. While it wasn’t the first time she had to untangle herself after waking up – Jane’s presence was new. What was she doing here?
“why ar- uhh- not going to bed. but. something about an old outfit? annd- jake? was he there?”
Jane allowed herself a sigh, “That nincompoop, from what Dirk and I gathered, was out with you working on some pyramid puzzle and got you clonked on the noggin. At least. Apparently, with his grandmother issues, he starts bawling before getting into any more detail.”
“iz he ere? *where? *here?”
“No, Dirk figured that you’d want some peace once you snapped out of whatever. So kind of him, thinking I would be the best one to change your clothes if-” she glanced away.
“iff?”
“If you would have needed clean sheets,” Jane sighed, running a hand over the mattress, “You weren’t out long enough to really need them. I guess. A few hours?”
“hmmmmmmm…. well i gues thats not yr fetish then.”
Jane glowered at Roxy in response.
“sroisly tho, could i get a hand over to the le doubleveh saaay?”
~
While Roxy did seem to be having some trouble with balance, there were, thankfully, neither incidents nor requests for help inside the restroom.
While she waited, Jane sent a quick message to Dirk. She didn’t quite know how to explain to him exactly how she knew Roxy would be fine, but she relayed that opinion too.
No visiting hours yet, though.
Chapter 2
“hokay, so,” Roxy was back on her bed, at Jane’s insistence. “so i gave dirk that vidcam to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. an he couldn’t.”
“Did you leave it there? My dad still would not care to have me lose it.”
“prolly downstairs. aneway, any optic stuff he had apparently wasn’t compatible with a proper television without some jakked up ai thing but apperuntly another lil seb es anogo. *no-go. So whe nwe tried to figure out an alternative, everything was all pronto grist. and he ahd like none smoke grist and i had two so we figured it must have come from a pyramid somwheres-“
“Ok – ok. So your outing was for camera materials. And Jake?”
“dirky was all jakes gotta go with us but then he was nowhar to be seen at high nun. an i was all fcuk it ltes go, and jake was all good show and there was… this slider thing. and honestly i got nothin after that,” Roxy realized she had absentmindedly started cracking her knuckles.
“And Jake was – where?”
“if jake… did nything… honest i’m bedder at getting up after punches than voiding them,” a few more knuckle cracks echoed around the room. When Roxy flopped around to start cracking toes, Jane decided it was time to regard her collection of – glass-encased cats, by all appearances.
“But it wasn’t Jake pulling some odd lever or somesuch, according to your recollection,” Jane regarded a type of fish cat, trying to discern the difference between scales and hair.
“i… i just dunno,” she paused to check something, “all i’m sure of there is there is no more smok grist for a bendcam now en before,” there another few snaps and a stifled gasp, before Roxy paused to ask, “yu sure it wus only a few hours?”
“Well… when did you go down? I was called at 2 PM, and it’s 6 PM now.”
“er… we took off at 1500. it.. what day is it? thursday?”
“Roxy-“
“it was wendsday”
“That… Heavens to Betsy what was that boy doing?” Jane whipped out her phone and was on Dirk in an instant.
Rapped tapping, “He thought you had wandered off for a while-“
“it was a twosies puzzle”
Tap tap tiddly tap, “Dirk admits distracting him with an apology-“
“did he even tey to perster me?”, Roxy fumbled around a moment, but found nothing in her pockets. It didn’t seem to be a good time to bring out her modus.
Tapa ta tap tah thub, “He might have wandered off for a bit- And apparently yes, but thought you had a good reason not to reply. And – found you knocked out – hmm, you haven’t told him about the bendy stuff, have you? Apparently, between a grandma breakdown and calling Dirk’s hoverboard service, he was somehow convinced you were roadkill. At least Dirk convinced him that your bones weren’t all broken.”
“i was planning mybe… soonish… telling him. if i needed to,” Roxy worked up her back, gently twisting, getting pops of various volumes, “buh yeah that sounds somhn like the reaction i planned on getting.”
The phone was stowed away, “Is involuntary pretzeling something you frequently do?”
“it-” Roxy paused to twist a leg, relaxing only after a muffled pop came from her hip, “… has happend. not when i was drinking – or drunk – but iv been told i sleepwalked den, apparently.”
Jane laughed weakly in response, “At least you didn’t have a tower to fall out of, then. Or neighbours to gawk.”
“neh, jus ches- wait! outfit!”
~
Jane was hard pressed to describe the outfit Roxy had donned. There was a short poncho – with a long attached hood that reached back to a point. For some reason, she had folded under the poncho’s front flap to make a mask that covered the lower half of her face – not that the impromptu mask was enough to hide the smile in her eyes – and that was comforting to see. Beneath the poncho she wore an apron of sorts, not quite reaching her knees. The apron, secured to her waist with an improvised belt, bore a familiar cat face. Beneath that was what appeared to be a pair of dark bike shorts and a glimpse of a worn shirt. Everything had a worn texture, and she couldn’t quite place the material.
“You didn’t alchemise this ensemble, did you,” Jane circled the girl, her detective face on, “No, the poncho was modified.”
Jane’s probing glance was met with a face attempting inscrutability.
“It’s seen more use than all the rest. A hand-me-down?” No response. Good.
Roxy raised her arms, lacing her fingers far above her head. Jane couldn’t quite tell if she was continuing with her stretching, or modelling.
“Or an alteration of old clothing?” Jane reached out to feel the cloth – the texture sent a shiver down her spine. Oh, she wanted to bury her face in it. Immediately. But no, priorities. Her hands moved on.
“The apron is completely scavenged material – Not animal, not artificial leather-“
Roxy let out a giggle in response, but calmed herself quickly.
“And that looks like finger-painting,” she rubbed a thumb against the cat head logo, “But – your shirt is of different origin. I’d say you found it in a thrift store, but the cut is something I don’t think I’ve seen. Shorts-” Jane allowed herself a stroke of Roxy’s behind, “Same material as the poncho,” she pulled back when Roxy had started to lean into her hand, “and show similar signs of alteration. Though I can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like it.” Then Jane circled again in silence, ending in an exaggerated shrug.
Roxy pulled down her temporary mask, “d’ya want ansers for that?”
“I’d take some, I suppose.”
“well, carapace, carapace, salvage, an seal,” her hands ended on the apron, “tho they were dead by the time we found em. still fresh an bloody. figures that they give the clumse on more- uhh”
Jane looked decidedly sicker than a moment ago, though she was trying to hide it, “I thought – but you were scavenging things? With this house?”
“sometimes. we were al in the middle of an ocean, janie. si-fy citty where everyone was wearing rags, i guess you could say. wasn’t all prosperous like despit.”
“I guess. Though,” Jane searched for a distraction, and found one on the floor, “did you usually go shoeless?”
“alot. the streets were pretty clean, so no probs there. nobody around wore shoes either – so yeah, i ran around barefoot a lot of the time. guess it took both dirk and call…” her face fell, for a moment, “calliope. to convince me to keep shoes on.” She sighed.
“I was going to say,” Jane lifted Roxy’s chin with one hand and pulled her mask up with the other, “You look like you could be a ninja in that outfit.”
“ninja?” Roxy’s face was, unexpectedly, completely blank.
Chapter 3
It was a search that resulted in despair. Jane’s despair.
Roxy had accumulated terabytes of downloads over the years. More video footage than either of them could survey in normal human lifespans, most being television shows and movies that would have been released decades into Jane’s own future. Hundreds of subtitled works –
But no ninjas.
A brief session with Dirk had yielded a similar reply. Apparently having unbreakable Japanese sword forged over a pile of flaming manga made no difference. Or, perhaps aforementioned manga had been the last records of said ninja. Jake’s response, via Dirk, at least showed she wasn’t imagining things, because even Roxy’s web browser would only yield denial that the word existed.
Dystopia is weird.
~
An hour had passed since Jane had started trying to address apparently missing human history. She hadn’t felt so tired in- well, she couldn’t remember.
She turned back to Roxy to find the girl lazily stretching, one leg straddling her bed, the other splayed across the carpet.
“I- sorry. Got caught up there. Just of all the things I expected to hear, Ninja not being a thing wasn’t-“, Jane sighed, as Roxy just stared sheepishly into the distance, mind elsewhere, “Wait. Weren’t you supposed to warm up?”
Roxy looked up, “uhhh… yes. warm-up is totes importand. but uh- uh-“
“You were just knocked out for a day. Don’t – please don’t hurt yourself again.”
“oh non o its just – if ya dont stretch for a daythen you gotta start over again. from the beginning.”
“That. Doesn’t sound right. More like absolute tripe,” she sat up, “Why were you so flexible over at my place a week ago? Where did that idea come from?”
Roxy thought a moment before answering, “innernet. though- huh. i was suppos to stretch every day.”
Jane turned back to Roxy’s computer. Apparently some more research was required.
~
“Have you heard the word ‘Contortion’ before?” Jane at least had regained some of her energy. This line of inquiry seemed to be getting somewhere.
“probbly. if its another word for bendy stuff.”
“So this is probably it, then. Apparently some sideshow ballyhoo says about what you did. About a contortionist having to stretch every day or somehow reverting to a mere mortal. But there’s nothing to support it.”
“izat so.”
“What was that I remember hearing from you before, Lalonde? ‘Mad Rigors’?”
“ok, so see,” Roxy paused to swap her legs’ positions.
“I’m listening.”
“so first, i dont see you on the floor trying to reproduce my hot moves, secoind, this feels really good fo your data. third, i’m not tryin to push limits right now. i just wanna get the kinks out. fourth, i’ve been stretching for years and its not exacly humans i was lernin from. fith… *fifth… nah, thats good.”
“Yeah, ok. You said you trained with,” Jane tried to think, “somebody.”
“BT,” Roxy offered.
“And BT was a …pawn?”
“ca-rap-ace.”
Jane mouthed the syllables.
“you can say colonial dersite if ya wanna be technical – or you think ya can remember that mebbe?”
“Craprace. Got it. Anyways – yours bent more than the ones I’ve seen?”
“o em gee,” she turned to face Jane, giving up on her stretch, “just say chess peeps, its not like they’d care. but, som of them did. bend. i mean, i guess calisten- callisthenics was sorta like when they let the kids run around a school and play? but outside. and they play music and you exercize”
“That… doesn’t sound like recess. Or gym class. But go on.”
“well i was there anyways and it was sorta fun sometimes? an for a while it was BT takin me and she decided i should be more stretchy. an like, i’m pretty sure she was like puttin up wit me cause she was like just kiss yur hinnie and that is still a thing i can’t do,” The girl made some vague hand motions which Jane assumed might have meant something. If a hand had a buttocks.
They did, In a manner of speaking.
“Uh- is there something important to kissing one’s derriere?”
“other than she could? dunno. nobody seemed to want me to kiss theirs, thatss one thing i remember. and, its like, what comes after that? jus roll up and off you go? i mean,” Roxy shrugged, “id call it a cool trik, but p sure that humans are built different than carapaces.”
“So- then what? Did she live here with you?”
“nah, she came a lot of mornins. for a long time. she wasn’t the only one, but, well, she was the last? i mean obvs i kept stretchin but its been a while since was commin regulars. just as a visitor. checkin up. guess i was nobodys job anymore. still, she helped me stretch like ol times,” Roxy sagged, turning her attention back to the bed, which she put a leg on top of, “and, well, i miss that,” she said, quietly.
“Aww…” Jane was up in a moment, sensing a perfect opportunity for a hug. Roxy reciprocated as best as she could from her position, reaching behind, while Jane buried her face in Roxy’s hood. “Do you… happen to have any more of this material? Or another one of their outfits?”
“oh, they didn’t dress quite lik this. but – i probs have some scraps left under the bed.”
“Oh? Let’s see then- ” Jane peeked underneath the bed’s frame, and caught a glimpse of some vague fabric-ish outlines, “Pardon me-“
And Jane lifted the bed frame.
Roxy went wide eyed, her passive stretch suddenly becoming much more pronounced – the tried to shift her raised leg, but only managed to get caught in a death grip effected by a mere pinky finger.
“Ah! This must be it, then!”
“janie-” feeling herself starting to topple, she grabbed hold of a frame that had been raised above eye level without a moment of hesitation.
“Hmm… only scraps then. Well, let’s see if the recipe modus has-“
“janie-” Seriously, could that girl even manage such a grip.
“I know I’ve seen that spikeball somewhere before… where?”
Roxy coughed, pointedly.
“Wha- ah. Um-” Jane lanced back, and froze – or at least didn’t let go immediately, “What now?”
“just put the bed down. slow-like. and let up on my foot.”
Once Jane had started slowly complying, Roxy had every appearance of starting to enjoy the mistake as it was corrected, slipping her head and back underneath the edge of the bed frame as it was lowered. Jane stood back once it was was back in place, left to wonder exactly what it felt like to be wrapped around a bed like that.
“u can take a break,” Roxy waved in no particular direction, “ill be here when you get back.”
Chapter 4
Jane took her time – now that Roxy was obviously not going anywhere for awhile – to wander around her house and relax. It was an odd house – none of the stairs had railings, for one thing. Odd trinkets were everywhere – some of them seemed to be Roxy’s attempts at sewing, a few rather scientific looking, others salvaged, still others unexplained.
She also used the restroom. Lord, why hadn’t she done that sooner.
It was sitting on Roxy’s couch – a surprisingly comfy couch, as awkwardly modern as it looked – that her phone started to buzz.
TG: hey what did you call that thing
TG: that other name for bendies
GG: That would be contorsion
GG: Or was it contortion? Contortionists?
GG: It’s right there in your browser history
TG: nah still stretchin this leg
TG: imean its tunneld thu wifi but everythings set up not to keep a history an…
TG: minds all
TG: lyk wow why didnt i try this before
TG: i mean
TG: gg
TG: GG
GG: Aren’t you going to need help with the other leg in a moment?
TG: ill see if I can hoist it myself
TG: i mean
TG: how am i suppoed to impress u wit my uninvoluntary prezelin if you’ve seen everything?
TG: gotta be sum mystery
GG: “Uninvoluntary”
TG: ill reunimvolunteer yu for getting a drink an chillin for a bit
TG: and
TG: i dont think you want somthing out of moms stashe but imm not gonna say anything
TG: but theres plenty else if you wanttt a sip
GG: Alright, buddy. Just let me know if you need a hand. I’m staying put ’till I’ve been properly sent off.
TG: just
TG: if ya think of any more good stretches keep notes or somein
GG: I have some doubt that I’ll be struck with any such inspiration
GG: But ok
~
Jane hadn’t quite realized how anxious she had been the last few hours. Or how comfortable Roxy’s sofa was to lay down on – she assured herself she wasn’t the first.
~
Jane did half-realize an unknown amount of time later that she was about to drool on that sofa.
“Urrrghh,” she shifted to her back.
HISSSSSS was the response of a cat somewhere above her head. Craning her neck up, the saw a familiar white creature trying to decide if its selected spot was worth staying at.
“wakky wkky janie”
“I assume you mean ‘wakie’,” giving up on further napping, Jane tried to follow the voice. It was done easily enough; Roxy leaned over another section of the sofa, “I’m a little surprised that I didn’t wake up to find something a little more extreme, given the videos I saw.”
“well i spose you would, if id been raised on those body-tights acts. but if BT ever bendt like that i never saw it.”
“So, no sitting on your own head?”
“i dunno howd i even start…” Roxy, pondered for a moment, then leaned down and flipped her legs over the sofa’s back and tried to push herself forward. After some effort, her chin cleared the edge of the cushion, “how ar you even sposed to breathe like this?”
Roxy tried to lower her feet, kicking in different directions, but they refused to get any closer to her head. After a minute she managed to flop over on her side, breathing hard.
“jaaaane,” she pouted.
“No tears shed, Lalonde,” Jane propped herself up on her elbows, “that you’re not literal silly putty.”
“does taht mean youre not gonna help me out.”
“Well, I would, if either of us knew what we were doing. But unless BT comes to visit again, it stands to reason that Dirk could get you in order a lot faster than I could.”
“FUCK NO”
Jane stared at Roxy, surprised at the sudden shout.
“have you SEEN the stuff he puts himself through in the name of ‘training’?”, Roxy straightened out and sat up, “wut he put jake through?”
Jane hadn’t, actually. Though it was obvious he was a perfectionist at points. “Not really?”
“then what about lil’ seb? how helpful is yr protector when its not protecting?”
“Seb… cut off Poppop’s head – more than once – I mean, he was already dead, but. Well I guess that came from somewhere, right?”
“jane do you have any programming experience at all?”
“uhh… I’m pretty sure I’ve got a Eighth book somewhere at home? Eighth?”
“sounds like a no to me”
“Anyways-“
“anyways dirk doesnt think ahead to stop stuff like that. he… jus goes by whats cool. even AR – supposedly can calculate everything that could happen by an action, then just goes with the one where he looks the best. i relly dont know if … nevermind. just, no. i dont think hed actually help just to help.”
“I…”
“spose im just blabbin now,” Roxy took a long breath, “but yeah ill study up on my own. shur theres something on the webernets in terms of stetching, with partners even,” she flipped up on to her feet, “becaus – I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST, LIKE NO-“
The cat hissed loudly and jumped at Roxy, hitting her in the face before disappearing in a green-hued blink.
“What was that?”
“er- iunno, youre the one with g-cat experience.”
“I mean that song,” Jane gave the slightest sneer, “Of all things,” she paused half a second, “Were you trying do launch into a training montage or something?”
“defanate… maybe-” Roxy avoided Jane’s gaze.
“Because I’m rather sure that even if we’re in a game, this is actual life.”
“…i knew that.”
“Then let’s-“
For just long enough to register, Jane saw the the god cat return, perched on Roxy’s head. Then both were gone.
“Uh. Roxy?” This was something that, while not used to, Jane was acquainted with. Items suddenly appearing and disappearing at the cat’s imperative. But not people.
“Roxy, are you around… here?”
Chapter 5
Left to her own devices, Jane first did the logical thing – she tried to pester Roxy.
GG: 
Rolal come in Rolal
GG: It would appear the metaphorical Cat getting you tongue overreached
GG: Nevermind, that would be gross
GG: Where are you hun?
None of the messages would send – which was odd, but not unheard of.
Next was contacting Dirk, to see if Roxy happened to be there. He boy was vehement that Roxy was in her own house – until the fact came up that Roxy was not wearing shoes. Dirk – or possibly, his auto-responder – went silent after that.
Her third thought was to bake – which was all she could think to do to relieve her anxiety until either Roxy came back or something else happened. Because there was no reason to panic. Jane just needed something to take her mind off an uncertainty. And why didn’t Roxy’s kitchen have a range? Ah, but there was an electric griddle under the shelf. Crepes. Crepes would do. Alchemizing ingredients frittered away minutes. The grill itself needed a good scrub – thankfully, everything that came off looked like the result of cooking experiments rather than other things. As it finally started to heat up, she got a buzz.
TG: sup
TG: hey im ok
TG: for now
TG: but it seems thers problems maybe
TG: ill be back when i have this figured out
TG: oh
TG: no treats for gcat
Jane’s own messages still sat unsent, but at least she had some assurance. The girl did feel a little left out – but she wouldn’t argue with a cat of who should have to fix what in an emergency.
~
Jane was considering her options for keeping the stack of rolled crepes warm when Roxy barged through the door – to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of the cook in her kitchen.
“Well, that took a while. I hope your trip back wasn’t too bad – or whatever doom you just saved us from,” Jane tried to smile.
Roxy stared back, looking uncertain.
“We are saved, I hope?”
Roxy considered her options, “i… relly dont think there was anything i could have done. i dont even know if it was actally an emergency. just. apparently there once was a way to get back to earth.”
“Well of course there is. It’s not like… It’s not like we’re going to be stuck in this game… forever,” the words sounded hollow as Jane spoke them. She tried to ignore the thought that had been introduced to her mind, “Here – crepes. Eat up. I tried not to make it too sweet, but there’s jelly in them.”
The two worked on the stack, Roxy experimenting with different ways. Jane chided her when she tried to slurp one. At least Roxy was starting to seem more upbeat, for the silence on whatever matter she had been whisked away to.
“Should I check in on you tomorrow? Maybe we can go search for more of that smoke grist you need…”
“nah, i think… ill just relax or something. incedentaly, i found…” Roxy considered what she was about to say.
“Found what?”
“i think i found a trainer. ta help me with my bends. on derse.”
“You found… BT? On Derse? That’s amazing!”
“not quite, or at least not the old BT, but…. its gonna be interestin.”
___
In which Jane keeps on being surprised while Roxy just tries to relax (illustrated)
Illustrations by Neisha Marie ( http://screaminglullabies.deviantart.com/ ) and Jesseth ( http://altamaranempire.tumblr.com/ )
Roxy’s carapace outfit based on Naima’s design ( http://tumblino.tumblr.com/ )
Beta read by Paige and Jesseth and I’m probably forgetting somebody
https://archiveofourown.org/works/3894889?view_full_work=true
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