Rochelle stretched. She could smell Liena's wonderful pancakes from the loungeroom where she had slept.
She instinctively reached for her crutches, ready to bound into the dining room...
Only to find they were gone.
She started frantically looking for them, unable to spot them.
"Looking for something?"
She looked to the dining room doorway. Leia stood there, a pair of crutches tucked under her arm.
Her crutches.
"Leia, g-give those back!" Rochelle called to her.
"Sure." Leia grinned a wicked grin. "After you come here and grab them."
She walked off.
"You don't want to miss out on pancakes, do ya?"
"Leia!" Rochelle gripped the edge of the couch she was sleeping on. "W-when I get my hands on you...!"
She groaned. Guess she had no choice.
With a mighty effort she pulled herself up onto her legs. She wasn't the heaviest person, but her poor leg muscles made her feel like she weighed like a rhino.
She took a wary step forwards, still using the couch as support.
She felt a spike of pain shoot through her leg as her weight pushed down on it, and she nearly collapsed.
Fortunately she had her mother's grit, and took another step.
Her right leg was definitely her better one, and although she felt the strain of her body through it she didn't feel much pain. Even though she had grown up with plenty of physiotherapy to help develop her legs up, there was only so much she could naturally do. She had no idea how far she could go without crutches.
When she got her hands on Leia...
Letting go of the couch and spending a moment to get her balance, she took another step.
The moment she put more weight on it to take another step a jolt of pain shot up her body.
Yet she remained upright.
She took a few more slow and cautious steps. The whole ordeal was taxing, and she found herself short on breath.
From the kitchen she could hear an argument but was too busy focusing on her legs to hear them properly.
She took another step, and lost her balance.
She lurched forwards, shoulder hitting the archway hard and stopping her from falling face-first into the carpet.
She hissed in pain, screwing her eyes shut as she did.
She opened her eyes, blurry with tears. But she could tell who was in front of her.
Leia, looking quite pleased with herself.
And Lupa, looking shocked.
"Well done, Rochelle ." Leia said.
"G-give them back..." Rochelle growled, short on breath.
"Don't worry, you haven't got far to go." Leia smiled, her tone and expression full of artificial sweetness.
"Okay, that's enough." Lupa got up, but Leia placed her hand in her way.
Rochelle took a few steps, but her legs gave out on her as a huge bolt of pain shot through her entire body, barely masking the feeling of carpet hitting her face.
Once Rochelle regained her senses mere moments later, she heard a loud clatter and a quiet gasp.
She looked up to see Liena staring at her with a horrified expression, a fresh stack of pancakes strewn on the floor in front of her.
The expression changed to pure anger as she slowly turned her head to Leia.
Leia shunted the crutches into Lupa's chest. "It was her idea!"
"Wh- Hey! I had fuck-all to do with this!"
Rochelle felt herself being hoisted up by Liena into a nearby chair. It felt good to have her weight off her legs.
Liena then walked up to Leia and grabbed her ponytail, pulling her close to her face, staring her down. Then, she walked off, still holding Leia's ponytail.
"Ow-! Hey, stop pulling, you're gonna mess my hair up-!"
Liena continued on, heedless of her protests.
"Agh, jeez-! Wait, no, don't! Don't tell Uncle Lincy...!"
Leia's voice trailed off as she was dragged off to her punishment.
"Serves her right." Lupa murmured, then she passed the crutches to Rochelle. "Here."
"Honestly, I w-would've expected that from you." Rochelle took the crutches.
"I might be an asshole, but I have some standards. 'Sides, Toby'd kill me if I did that."
The two of them shared a chuckle. "W-well, I guess we're n-not having pancakes then."
Lupa looked at the mess. "Fuck."