Rising Shards

After some debate, Laenie was chosen as the driver for this part of the mission. Aira sat by her in the front, and Lillia and Kalei took the middle seats, leaving the back seats to Zeta and Oka.

Oka cursed herself for feeling so nervous about climbing onto the minivan in a can and buckling into her seat. The weird, elongated cart was a dark emerald that wasn’t quite Rising Shards colors and had cold metal bars on its sides. It reminded her of videos she’d seen of roller coasters, but a bit roomier than those looked. Zeta sat down beside her, and Oka felt her hands get sweaty. She thought about reaching her hand out to hold Zeta’s, but froze in motion.

Why is it so much harder for me right now?

In the few weeks since they’d started dating, Oka was confronted with something she never would have expected out of herself. She internally (and in vent sessions with Lillia) named it “The Freezening.”

She had managed to initiate one of the kisses with Zeta back on the beach and had a spectacular but terrifying incident in their room, but since then she found herself feeling overwhelmed by all of it when they were in close contact, freezing up every time she tried to do anything at greater than or equal to hand holding level, and even hand holding was getting strangely difficult. It was immensely embarrassing, and she had a deep fear Zeta was hurt by it when she couldn’t manage to do anything, even things she didn’t have a problem with before like hugs and such. Zeta told her she was fine taking things slow, but Oka worried she was now taking things too slowly.

Oka realized she was staring, and that the minivan in a can had somehow already been moving for some amount of time she had no bearing of. Zeta caught her glance and gave a beaming smile back.

“At least I have you here,” Zeta said. “Are you scared about this too?”

Oka wanted to say something about loving Zeta’s fangs, but she found that her mouth had gotten dry, and it took her a second to croak out a “Yeah yep yeah,” which came out sounding a lot more scared than she intended. Maybe I am scared, though. Even though her old school was cruelly strict, she’d scarcely been to the void there.

*  *  *

Laenie had a firm grasp on the wheel of the minivan in a can, to the point Aira was concerned about her white knuckles.

“How are you feeling?” Aira asked. She felt comfortable asking with the chatter behind them meaning Laenie could talk freely without worrying about others in the group butting in.

“I’m…OK,” Laenie said.

Aira knew that when Laenie paused before saying how she was feeling, something was up.

“Can I help at all?” Aira asked. “If you’d like me to drive, I could probably. Teleporting and driving a golf cart like vehicle are probably pretty similar abilities, maybe?”

“N-not that,” Laenie said.

Aira thought about what else could be making Laenie anxious, an unfortunately long list.

“Then…this whole trip? Fang Moon Web after?”

“No, actually,” Laenie said. “I’m sort of…rattled about something else.”

“What is it?” Aira asked.

“At the breakfast table before we came in,” Laenie said.

“What about it?” Aira asked. “A lot of candy, I thought. I know tomorrow’s Fang Moon Web, but we have a big void trip! They should have more fruits and veggies, yeah?”

“Uh huh,” Laenie said. “They had a lot of Valor Peanut Crunch Bars.”

“Oh,” Aira said. Laenie looked ready to cry, but she was holding it in well. “I wish they’d known.”

“You don’t have to sound so sorry about it,” Laenie said. “You didn’t put the food out. And they couldn’t have known either.”

That was true. How could they have known that they had a big display of Laenie’s brother’s favorite candy bar? They maybe could have known about Rem’s situation as a Pyre Cani that went missing, but knowing that the candy bar he was obsessed with would make his sister upset was a stretch.

“So I didn’t eat breakfast today,” Laenie said.

Aira hated that a selfish side of her felt hurt that Laenie would talk about candy to her, after what had happened with the box of candy Aira had gotten for Laenie while she was on vacation that had mysteriously ended up in a garbage can. Aira did give it to her anonymously and sign it saying it was from a secret admirer, but it was still something very sore that she hadn’t fully dealt with yet.

“You should really eat,” Aira said. “I did make a lunch for all of us…do you want yours early? I have energy bars, too.”

“I don’t want to mess up your lunches,” Laenie said. Aira felt the same sting set in as the garbaged candy. “But I wouldn’t mind having an energy bar early.”

“Oh?” Aira asked. She turned to see Laenie softly smiling.

“It might take my mind off of this for a bit.” Laenie said.

“Sure! Yes!” Aira searched through her backpack and got a Volleyball Muscle energy bar out.

“Thank you!” Laenie said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Me too,” Aira said, suddenly feeling a bit of dread about their upcoming void trip that she hadn’t felt before.

* * *

Kalei stretched like she was getting ready for a meet. In a way, the big trip to the void was like a meet. It’d definitely involve at least a similar amount of physicality she used in beam chasers, there was pressure on her not to let her team down, and the anticipation of it all was exciting just like waiting for the buzzer at a game. She had wanted to go to the practice fields to stretch but had to settle for the front area of the Principal Penteldtam named ‘The Building Where We Go In and Out of the Void’ to work through her stretches. She noticed Latte staring at her as she sipped her coffee from a new thermos, sitting in one of the connected chairs of the waiting room.

“Don’t overstrain,” Latte said. “Unless your plan is to get injured before we even go so you can get out of it. In that case, I'd recommend Feral Flu.”

"Oh, hey Latte—er," Kalei said, flinching when she saw a swoosh of orange hair approach behind Latte. Nikki stepped over the chair next to Latte and sat down. Kalei mentally told herself she covered the flinch up well enough and didn’t just pull a Zeta there. "And hey, Nikki."

"Sup," Nikki said. "You're up early for this too?"

"Yeah!" Kalei said. "I have a real good internal clock, and today lines up with a morning workout so I figured I'd get some stretches in if we really have to fight some big deal void monsters.” She scratched the back of her head. “How about you guys? You normally…are up early in the morning?”

"I'm filled with enough caffeine to naturally wake up early." Latte said.

"I don't know if that's natural, dude..." Nikki said.

“The coffee beans grow from this very earth,” Latte said, patting the carpeted ground. “Save for those from void nodes. Which aren’t worth the hassle of tracking down and processing, you have to drink them in the void and the taste quality is just not there.”

“Right,” Nikki said. “I’m just up cuz she is, but I’m glad we ran into you.”

Kalei felt a flutter in her stomach. Then her stomach growled loudly, her hunger canceling out the flutters.

“Whoa, someone’s hungry,” Nikki laughed. “Hopefully that breakfast they promised us is gonna be good here.”

“Y-yeah, ha,” Kalei said. She looked over at some staff setting up some tables with Fang Moon Web plastic tarps on them. “Looks like they’re setting it up now.”

“They have coffee?” Latte said, perking up instantly?”

“Maybe, I think I see a machine or two but they might be—" Nikki started.

“Be right back,” Latte said, rushing to the table to bother the staff. Leaving Kalei alone with Nikki. Instead of making conversation, Kalei did some lazy stretches. She expected Nikki to put her music on again and for the interaction to end there and spare Kalei of more awkwardness.

"Beam chasers is starting up soon, yeah?" Nikki asked.

“Y-yeah,” Kalei said. “I’m pretty excited.”

“Nice,” Nikki said. “I’m glad you’ll get to be back out there playing, instead of just practice.”

“Thanks…” Kalei said. “And yeah. Just practice isn’t the same. Meets really are where it’s at.”

That sounds so stupid. She’s gonna think it sounds stupid.

"Hey, this is kind of a weird question," Nikki said.

“Oh. What’s up?” Kalei said. “I’m all ears. For, you know. Like, whatever questions you have and stuff.”

Why did I say that? Why do I say anything, really?

"So my parents really want me to join a sport,” Nikki said. “I’m having fun in the video club, but in spring I don’t know what I’m gonna do…”

"You'd...want to join beam chasers?" Kalei asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Nikki said. Kalei started to apologize, but then she saw Nikki’s smile. “I was just gonna ask…do you think someone with no experience could do it? You don’t think I’d like screw up the whole team?”

“Oh, no way!” Kalei said. “Or, no way to the screwing up part. I think you could do it! That’d…be really sweet actually! My first year I didn’t have any experience, but I learned as I went. If you’re willing to put the work in and really learn, and if our coach is good, and I think she is, I’ve talked with her a bit, you could…I’m kinda rambling, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s cool,” Nikki said. “I like seeing you be passionate about something like this.”

“Ha…ha…” Kalei said. “Cool.”

Maybe stop talking when you don’t have anything to say.

“Plus, I’d have you teaching me, too.” Nikki said.

“Yeah!” Kalei said, the stomach flutters returning. “Maybe we can have those private lessons soon?”

“I’d like that,” Nikki said as an energized Latte returned with several expertly balanced paper cups of coffee from the breakfast table.

* * *

Lillia sighed at the selection at the breakfast tables in the void entry building. Because of Fang Moon Web, there were a lot of candy and sweets set out, which weren’t the best breakfast foods before a void trip. There were still normal breakfast options on the table, but the candy was distracting Lillia as she pictured more students in her class going straight for them.

“Mmm,” Ko Matora said. “Lots of good looking stuff here.”

Lillia nearly smashed her paper plate with grapes, a muffin, and toast with jam spread on it onto herself as Ko stepped beside her.

“And I’m not talking about all this food.” Ko winked.

“O-oh, that’s…” Lillia said, feeling her face start to burn almost immediately.

“I’m joking, don’t worry,” Ko said. “If that’s too much, just tell me.”

“I…” Lillia said. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say to that. Part of her was thrilled with Ko’s flirting advances, while another part of her was more scared. And another part of her felt like she was betraying her crush on Naomi Ratuna by not shutting down Ko’s strange behaviors immediately.

"I won’t bug you much this morning," Ko said. "Good luck out there. Big day for us!”

“Yes,” Lillia said. “To you as well.”

Ko filled her plate with food as Lillia found herself unable to leave.

"Hey, one more thing,” Ko said. “After this is done...what do you say we go see a movie?"

"Huh?" Lillia asked.

"I keep thinking about that night, right before Dentist Haircut," Ko said. "I'd like to see a movie with you this time. We could have lots of fun at the movies together."

Ko winked as Lillia’s mind went into overdrive once more, something Ko was very good at inducing.

"Are you..." Lillia gulped. It was maybe better to ask her straight up. Lillia tried to think of all the games she’d played with dating mechanics as she chose her words carefully. "Asking me out?"

"Think about it," Ko said. "After a big void trip like this, you could probably use a chance to really relax."

Ko left Lillia with that. Lillia stayed frozen, staring at her plate for a long while.

* * *

Dr. Diast checked to make sure she had everything she needed for the big day before heading for the back door of her place, which was in the kitchen. Stella sat at the kitchen table, finishing her breakfast and texting. Evy got her coat on, not wanting to intrude but also not wanting to leave without saying anything.

“Sorry, I’m not ignoring you,” Stella said. “Just giving Zeta some last-minute motivations and hopefully calming words.”

“You’re such a good big sister,” Evy said.

“I…try.” Stella said as she finished texting and set her phone down. “Are you off, then?”

“Uh huh,” Evy said. “I’ll probably be back a little later tonight with the whole trip. You gonna bring some more boxes down today?”

“Probably,” Stella said.

“Do you maybe need some last-minute motivations and hopefully calming words?” Evy asked.

“Maybe,” Stella said.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Evy said. “This trip’s like a rite of passage for first year Cani. Even if it gets all…”

“Atrian vs. Endoran-y?” Stella said.

“Yeah, but that’s normal, I’m sure you went through it at Staverius.” Evy said. “Zeta’ll do great.”

"Dude, my Atrian vs. Endoran thing had the same amount of students as the turnout of my academic decathlon meets. Staverius never has many Cani as students. This feels like…the big leagues."

Diast sighed. “Yeah, I could see this being pretty scary, then.” Without thinking about it too much, she moved over to Stella and kissed her forehead. "I'll keep her safe."

"Thank you,” Stella said. “Then, when you’re back tonight, I’ll give you a big reward.”

“Oh?” Evy asked, raising her eyebrows. “A big reward, huh?”

“Uh huh,” Stella said, poking a bit at her scrambled eggs with her fork. “Big reward.”

“Well, I’ll look forward to that,” Evy said.