My half of my trade with the amazing Lightningidle. Alright, so fun story. This was originally going to be a ghost story, then I read Black and Blue and wanted to do a weird little follow up thing to that. Anywho, I love writing these two and I really hope you like it! They're just too much fun. :^)
"I don't understand," she muttered, pressing the ice to her shoulder. "There aren't even muscles there." She'd never been so sore in her entire life. That course earlier had done a number on every conceivable part of her body, and a lot that she hadn't even thought could hurt.
She'd been sitting at the kitchen table for a while now, she'd originally come in here for ice and maybe some advil or something, but she wasn't entirely sure she could get out of the chair anymore. And this was just day one. In her opinion, things couldn't get much worse from here. She suspected Raimundo and Omi weren't exactly fond of her and that Master Fung was less than pleased with her light show.
Suddenly, much to her dismay, the ice began to slide down her arm and onto the floor. "Damn," she said, looking at the blue plastic pack on the ground, melting on the linoleum. She winced as she reached down for it, her back protesting the whole way. "Oh god." And just to suit her luck, the ice pack was just out of reach.
"You alright?" said a voice from the doorway. Murphy's Law really had it in for her.
"I've been better," she replied, still reaching for the ice.
""Ya need help?"
"No!" she said. "I mean, I can handle this." She was not giving in at this point. She would not ask for help, she would not look week.
"Ya sure?"
"Yes." If she wasn't cursed with short person arms this wouldn't be a problem. She would either need a couple inches more arms or be willing to dump herself on the floor. "Maybe?"
He bent down, picked up the ice pack, and handed it to her. As she sat back up, pressing the ice back onto her shoulder, she couldn't help but notice the cowboy standing by the counter. Peachy. Just peachy. She just couldn't get away from making a fool of herself in front of the Xiaolin Dragons today.
"So," he started, taking the tea kettle from the cabinet. "How ya likin' the things so far?"
"Sandbags are heavy," she said.
"It gets easier ya know," he replied. "It's not all gettin' smacked with sandbags and alligator bites."
"Good to know," she said, hesitating a moment before asking, "Was I really that bad?"
"For a first time, naw," he said. "Ya want a cup of tea?'
"I'm all set." She was not in the mood for anything food or drink related right now. "Was I really not that terrible?"
"Everybody's awful the first time around," he said, pouring water into the kettle and setting it down on the stove. "When we started, the only one of use with a decent time was Omi 'cause he's been trainin' his whole life."
"Wow," she said, she supposed she knew that, but it hadn't fully registered. "Can't really think of you guys as being bad at anything."
"We're not invincible," he said, sitting down across from her. "I remember I had the worst time with the steppin' stones. Didn't really have the whole balance thing down." He laughed a bit, in memory of obstacle course related humiliation.
"Good to know," she said, shifting the ice.
"Ya know that's just going to make ya stiffer later on?" he said, gesturing to the ice.
"Ya gotta use a heat wrap, relaxes everythin' rather than numbin' it."
"Wish I'd known that twenty minutes ago," she said, putting the ice pack on the table. "So you think I'm really not that bad?"
"Nah. Wasn't great, but I thought what you did with the sandbags was creative," he said, fiddling with his hat.
"Yeah, too bad it's cheating," she said, trying to stretch out her shoulder.
"It's like my Pa always says, 'It don't have to look pretty. It just has to get the job done,'" he said.
"Well it's not doing either right now," she muttered.
"It's not about how many times ya fall off the horse, it's about how many time ya get back on," he said. "Just give it some time and a little bit of elbow grease and it'll all come together." He smiled a little, she figured he meant it to be reassuring, but it wasn't. The thought was nice though.
"Yeah, well, let's hope it comes together fast," she said, glancing over to the steaming kettle. "Water's ready."
"Sure you don't want anything?" he asked. She had to admit, it was sweet of him to ask, but she had to decline again. "Suit yourself. Everbody else's in the common room playin' Mario Kart. I was gonna head over. Ya wanna come?"
And suddenly her pain was more or less forgotten. "If I can hobble over, I totally call Luigi." He laughed a little.
"That's the spirit," he said, helping her up. Maybe this whole temple thing wasn't so bad after all.
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