Rising Shards

Aira leaned over the rail, holding her hands out. She hadn’t been to visit 09 and Ovie much while they were stuck in wolf-like forms. Ovie literally always ignored her, but 09 came forward sometimes. Aira tried to not treat them like pets, like when she wanted her cat to come over but he was being a butt and walked the other way, but it was tough when the two were so adorably fuzzy.

While the two were still wolves, they seemed to be getting more like themselves at least. While she wasn’t sure, it definitely seemed like Ovie and 09 had some form of communication, as some of the looks they gave each other seemed like they were having a separate silent conversation next to anything Aira told them.

“Can you understand me yet?” Aira asked as she gave 09 head pats. “You’ll be back to normal soon, I can feel it.”

“I’ve tried talking to them tons of times, but Ovie won’t even look at me.”

“Hm?” Aira turned to see Narkissa had joined her at some point. Aira realized that the girl must be exceptionally quiet walking around; usually she was the one surprising people with her teleporting powers.

“What a reunion, huh?” Narkissa said as she leaned on the guardrail next to Aira, her back to the wolves. “The band’s all back together.”

Aira wasn’t sure if 09 understood that, but the wolf still walked to the back of the room, far away from Narkissa, sitting down across from Ovie.

“Not all of us,” Aira said quietly. It was true that she, Ovie, 09, and Narkissa had been on a quest through the void, but without Laenie there, it didn’t feel like a full reunion.

“Right, where is that Laenie, anyways?” Narkissa asked. “You two seemed to be attached at the hip.”

Aira squinted. She could tell when she was being messed with, Ovie tried it constantly with her. Surely Narkissa remembered Laenie going Exa form and attacking Aira.

“I haven’t talked to her in a while,” Aira said, maybe more to say it out loud than to confirm it to Narkissa.

“Bummer! I was going to ask if I could cash in my favor.”

“Your what?” Aira asked. It took her a second to remember what Narkiss was talking about. “Oh. Wait, what do you mean?”

Back in their horrible misadventure, Narkissa had told Ovie she would only come with, helping to pilot a ship that could traverse worlds of the void) if she would be granted a favor.

“Well, Ovie and 09 aren’t up for any favors any time soon.” Narkissa said. “So that just leaves Laenie.”

“Not gonna ask me for one?” Aira asked. 

“I think you went through enough on that whole ordeal, don’t you?” Narkissa said.

Aira found the shift from teasing bordering on bullying to buttery sweet was troubling. This girl was definitely messing with her. 

“Maybe if it was a nice favor, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Aira said. “But that doesn’t sound like you’re looking for a nice favor.” She crossed her arms. 

“I thought you’d be happier to hear I was going to ask Laenie,” Narkissa said. 

“If you thought I’d be happy to hear you were going to cash in some bullying favor on Laenie, why’d you say we were attached at the hip?”

“Hm,” Narkissa said, not prepared to be caught like that. “Good question.”

“If you’re just here to be rude, I think I’ll take my leave,” Aira said. She started to walk away.

“So it’s alright if I ask Laenie for a kiss?”

“What?” Aira asked, frozen in her tracks.

“That’s the favor I wanted,” Narkissa said. “Really wanted it from someone in this group, but I’m not terribly picky. I guess that’s a no from you, and these two are out.”

Aira felt a churning feeling in her stomach. She was starting to feel a bit better over finals week after her chat with Naomi, but this felt like she was dragged right back to the edge of a diving board high above a murky pool.

“That’s…”

“Well, well, well,” 

Roux stepped into the room, arms crossed. Latte was beside them, sipping coffee as usual.

“Oh, hi Roux,” Aira said.

“Arielle…” Narkissa said.

“Well, well, well,” Roux repeated. “Aira Orbis and Narkissa Taramin. What a sight to see. And the wolf girls, too. Well, well, well.”

Narkissa’s cocky vibe seemed to falter a bit when Roux arrived. She muttered a quick way to excuse herself and stormed off.

“That was strange,” Roux said. “But her time in the slammer that is Wildfire Hearts changed that girl. Or awakened something that mayhaps always dwelled within.”

“You knew her before all this?” Aira asked. 

“Yeeep,” Roux said. “She used to be a nicer dame, but she always had those inklings of being kind of a total jerkass in her, ya know?”

“Oh don’t I know it,” Latte said.

“Shut up, Latte, you never met her.” Roux said. “Latte’s just stupid, ignore her.”

“Um, thanks for that,” Aira said, hoping gesturing to the path Narkissa took would be enough. “She was getting rude there.”

“Like I said, she’s got jerkass in her,” Roux said. “No wonder she was close with Koridia. Though Koridia’s jerkassitude stems more from her constant snark. Narkissa always seemed to wish she could be the mean girl in a reality TV show by my estimation. But I digress. Or do I?”

Aira laughed slightly. 

Roux swatted at Latte, who reached over the rail with her coffee mug. “Don’t try to give them coffee!”

“Why not? They probably like it.”

“In their old forms, maybe,” Roux said. “Why did I even come over this way?”

“Did you want to say hi to 09 or Ovie?” Aira asked.

“Not really,” Roux said. Her ears perked up. “Oh! I wanted to converse with you, Orbis.”

“Me?” Aira asked.

“Uh huh,” Roux said. “Blocktritus summer wave pics have officially leaked.”

“No way,” Aira said, excited at the prospect of seeing the new toy line as well as feeling immensely flattered Roux sought her out to tell her this. “Can you show me?”

“Mhm, but let’s observe the glorious leaks away from this quadrant,” Roux said. “The wolves kinda give me the creeps, and I’m pretty sure Latte will poison them either unintentionally or intentionally if we stay here much longer.”

Latte didn’t react, her vacant expression suggesting Roux was completely right.

“Sure,” Aira said. “Say, how’d you know I was here?”

“We did some intense wandering, and happened to luck into randomly running into you,” Roux said.

“Really?” Aira asked.

“Zeta and the other ones she sits with told us where you were.” Latte said, sipping her coffee.

“My story was way cooler!” Roux said. “Can you believe her? What a jerk.”

Aira followed the two, waving to 09 (and kinda waving to Ovie too) one more time before leaving. Narkissa’s bullying was very troubling, but the kind people at school made her feel much better.

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