"Is this how you guys normally spend your time?" After repeatedly knocking Leo to the floor with feet alone for three hours, Phantom had called a halt to prepare lunch. Jaden had spent most of the morning observing the group and learning how to use the floating screen on a datapad. Besides Luna perching at the kitchen table to sketch, nobody had really moved from their activities the day before.
"Pretty much." Reading with her feet tucked over the back of the couch and her hair dusting across the floor couldn't have made the mess of words any harder to understand. Somehow, Musume had taken this to mean it would be easier. "Anyone know what 'prokaryote' means?"
"When someone likes burning stuff for fun!" Freshly returned from a shower, Leo was doing his best to keep up with the others. Which is to say that he still had further to go.
"That's a pyromaniac." Deadlines didn't care for the end of the world and Luna had three designs and a funding proposal due by the end of the week. "Phantom?" When it came to weird words, their quiet shadow usually knew what was going on.
An organism whose cells do not have a nucleus or other membrane-bound organelles. Generally one-celled, such as bacteria. Sliding a handful of tomatoes into a salad, she drizzled it with oil and set the bowl to one side. Why do you ask? Such a precise scientific term rarely came up by chance.
"None of your business." With an actual guest in the penthouse, Musume was on her less-than-worst behaviour. "Are you planning to starve us to death or is there going to be food at some point?"
"Isn't she being a bit rude?" Jaden was far from a polished paragon of society yet even he wouldn't have insulted someone making him lunch. He was also not reckless enough to voice his concerns to anyone besides Luna.
"Not really." A few insults here, a few profane speeches there and the odd stabbing to round it off summed up her typical social involvement. This was practically good behaviour by her standards. "Musume tend to think everything's her responsibility. She's not that bad once you get to know her."
If he could survive that long. Insane Duel Spirits, misled Duellists, even the odd cosmic force were not beyond Jaden's ability to befriend yet that bundle of prickly anger on the couch was beyond his reach. "Maybe she's as scared of you as you are of her." It was the flawed advice that had permeated mankind since the invention of the wheel.
"You wouldn't say that if she could hear you." Yubel had spoken in the private space of their shared soul and Jaden replied in the same manner.
"Do you want to antagonise her?" Stopping Jaden from risking his life – such as by sharing her words – was Yubel's job. It probably happened far more often than external threats to his life. As always, she made a good point and he backed down.
The douse of cold reality didn't go unnoticed. Leave the dough for another... thirty minutes. Then dribble the oil mix and bake for... approximately twenty more... until it looks golden. Bowing respectfully to a shoulder, Phantom calmly exited towards the veranda with only one casual attempt on her life.
"Why does she spend so much time in the pool?" Of everything she was learning of the future, Yubel was currently ranking Musume and Phantom as the two greatest threats present. True, the girl with the dragon tattoo was more powerful yet incredibly lazy. Phantom had managed to physically strike her for the first time in years and had been seemingly aware of her private conversation with Jaden.
"Bitch got a couple screws loose in her head." Throwing a hefty biology tome onto the coffee table, Musume stretched herself to her feet. "That and hearing for half a mile means she either spends a couple of hours soaking in the tub or rocking in the corner." An otherwise unstoppable being rendered powerless by a migraine. Fascinating. Yubel was careful to tuck that information away for later.
"Can we go somewhere later? I'd like to see what more of the city." And the luxurious surroundings were having the opposite of their intended effect. Jaden had spent most of his life travelling and even longer in third-rate accommodation. Being stuck inside – no matter how much his hosts did to make him feel comfortable – was driving him insane.
"Onetwothree,notit." Getting the words out before the others even had time to catch on, Musume avoided the responsibility like she avoided chores – totally and prepared to draw weapons on anyone who disagreed.
"Wait, what? Aw, man!" Verbal processing was a trait left to the less refined twin. "I was just starting to get the hang of this." Everyone else avoided looking at one another as they tallied the number of times he had fallen over already. "Luna, can't you take him? You know all the nice spots and everything!"
Looking over the piles of paperwork already spread across the counter, Luna balanced the mental deficit of arguing with her brother while pushing deadlines or the stress of going on the run after the search began for his body. "Let me put these away first." Sheets were carefully laid in stacks before she clipped them in place.
"Oh, there's no need to do that!" Flusteringly trying to wave aside the kind gesture, he inadvertently knocked a couple to the floor. "Sorry, let me get them."
"Yep," Snaps sounds as Musume rotated her head from one extreme to another. "Glad it's not me."
"Wow." Holding one of the sheets in his hand, Jaden was hypnotised by the subtle gradients of colour and rough shapes. "These are really good. How long have you been working on it?"
"It's not finished yet!" Taking it back, she tucked the sketching away properly this time. "You take care of getting lunch ready and I'll figure out somewhere to go."
"Sure thing!" Whirling over to the oven, he stared at the gently crisping bread within as Luna retreated to her room. "Hey, did anyone catch how much longer this needs?"
"What?" Slipping on his heel, Leo tumbled back to the floor.
"Twenty minutes, add oil, cook for twenty more." Since nobody in particular had been the target of Phantom's directions, only the ever-watchful Yubel had paid them any attention. It was incredibly easy to poison someone under the guise of poorly cooked food. "Don't forget to find oven gloves first." Those inhumanly cold gauntlets delved into the oven as easily as they did the pool. She didn't want Jaden to burn his hands thinking oven trays were no longer hot in the future.
When Phantom dragged herself from the pool a few hours later, she was instantly aware of the change in occupants. Where... are Jaden and Luna? At least Leo was resting in his room. As usual, Musume had barely shifted from wherever she happened to slouch.
"They got bored waiting for Yliaster to ambush us in our sleep and went for a walk." Each word was slightly muffled from the book on her face. She had evidently given up on attempting inverted reading and shifted to trying to simply absorb the knowledge through contact. "Don't worry, Luna's got a phone, Jaden on a tight leash and Yubel keeping an eye on them." Part of her wondered of the ramifications if anyone attempted to rob the pair. By the time Luna calmed them down, Yubel might have already gone 'scorched earth' on the entire block.
And you... believe that there will be no... adverse side-effects from... exposing Jaden to future... states? Worry had her gripping both hands atop her dark crown. Wherever the pair were, it was far away enough that she could not readily sense them.
"Yeah, I do!" Swinging herself around, Musume thundered upright with a scowl. "Either he goes outside a bit or we have to keep him locked up all the time and huh?" Everything was tilting as she tried to order her legs upright. "Shit!"
Careful. Something cold lashed around her and she was dragged upright. I got you.
"Fucking piece of shit legs." Not that it was the fault of her legs. She'd been upside-down so long that her equilibrium had inverted.
Easy now. Hoisting her cargo over to the same couch which caused the condition, she gently lowered Musume into place. Seated upright, of course.
"Like I said," Acting as if nothing had happened, she continued that unconquerable glare. "Luna's got it all sorted so ease the fuck up." Put like that, it was certainly an acceptable level of risk for the enterprise. Luna had the balance, patience and mental fortitude to deal with the situation better than any of them.
Okay. Accepting the order, despite its gruff delivery, the helmet rotated to one shoulder. Musume, is there
"There's a knife in your back, yes." There was an awkward pause as she considered her chances of mobility. "Pass it back?"
"So, we're here." Sliding a finger down an actual paper map, Jaden had every sign of a country bumpkin radiating off him. "Which means we need to get this train to reach the port district over here."
"Except that we're here, not here." Sliding his finger an inch to the left (and half a mile away from his previous guess), she traced it down a different line next. "That's a bus line and we're trying to reach the harbour district. But nearly."
"Don't compliment his mistakes." Having a living conscience in his head tended to backfire whenever he made simple mistakes. Big ones usually didn't need explaining beyond 'watch out for that [x]!'.
"What's the difference between the port and the harbour?" Keeping one hand dangling from an overhead railing, they were tightly pressed into an eerily stable train. At the speeds the buildings were passing, Jaden would have actually preferred the occasional jostle to let him know it was more than a trick of the light.
"Ships dock in the port, boats in the harbour." Tightly crushed against the door, she was glad of the company. Advancements since Jaden's time had improved trains in every way except for when a closed line forced everyone to cram into whatever available trains were heading in their approximate direction. "Since a lot of rich people own boats, there are great shops near the harbour."
"Shopping? Again?" He pulled a face. Most men in his time went shopping when they needed something and regarded stores as unfathomable mysteries at all other times.
"It's also a major hub for the city, features several points of cultural interest and critical infrastructure for thousands of people." Folding the map into her satchel, she gracefully slipped out of the train as it pulled into the station. Jaden took a moment to process the train had stopped so smoothly. The hordes gathered behind him didn't. "Careful." Those same hordes so ready to push him from the carriage looked ready to throw him under it as Luna caught him with a gentle smile. "Of course, a lot of Duellists come here because it's a great vista. Look, over there!" Pushed more by the force of hatred targetting his back than the gentle grip on his wrist, Jaden found himself travelling down flights of stairs at speed. "See?" Pointing over the railing, Luna drew his attention to the closing moves of a Duel. One figure was using some form of a large robot to slice apart a bunch of plant monsters already ignited by scattering bursts of sparks.
"Wow!" That unquenchable excitement ignited behind his eyes. "You were right, this place would be awesome for Duels!" Legend said that Yugi Mutou himself had faced a deadly Duel near the waterfront. While it had taken place nearer the port Phantom had made most of the city's police officers fear for their lives, the story continued to draw scores of Duellists to the more upscale area. "What are they?" All eyes could recognise boats but these models were so much more advanced than Jaden knew, the ships of his era barely canoes by comparison.
"Best not look too closely." Dragging him away before he could ask for a photo, Luna knew the scale of damage even a small change could make to history. "A lot of the boats in the marina are from the rich people – they're pretty advanced even by modern standards."
"Is that my 'modern' or yours?" Not that he minded being dragged around like this but Jaden was starting to feel less like a willing participant.
"Both!" The carefree laugh had him joining in. The moment was ruined as a body rudely barged past them from behind. "Hey!" Catching Jaden for the second time, she was reached for her purse with an old instinct. "Do you still have your wallet on you? Tourist traps tend to attract all sorts."
"Yeah, I've got my wallet and pho" A silent shout echoed around the square. "My Deck!" Taking the stairs three at a time, Jaden chased after the vanishing figure. Cards were precious to any Duellist but his had a particular necessity to remain close. If even one was left in the future, a precious friend would be lost and he'd be playing with a handicap for the rest of his life. A single pickpocket in the wrong place was going to screw over the future. He didn't need a voice shouting in one ear that he needed to catch up while other voices were screaming for his attention in all directions.
"Can. You. Shut. Up?" All the friends he carried around on his hip knew he'd stop at nothing to get them back but the conflicting voices were making it more difficult to track them. Alongside the many tourists and tourist traps, several benches and an ice-cream van seemingly ran into his way. Seriously, why was there an ice-cream van? Shouldn't the future have figured out a way to stop ice cream even melting? "Hey, stop that guy!" Society takes a poor view of thieves as a whole but the rules were typically clear – do not try to stop a running criminal unless they have a hostage. Besides the inevitable lack of reward, they could have any number of hidden weapons and risking life for no reason is reckless beyond compare.
It was as they rounded a corner bordering the harbour that someone finally gave a hand in saving his friends. Irony cracked his criminal target right across the jaw from behind a bush. "Garh!" Shaking the pain from her fingers, Luna buried them under her other arm. "Now, give my friend his stuff back."
"How did you get ahead of us?" Kicking out a hand as the thief went to prop upright again. "And how are you not out of breath?" While chasing Rare Hunters across the globe, Jaden had literally chased them as well. He was in considerably good shape and still been two steps behind the thief.
"Jogging team, grandpa." Luna paused in her ministrations.
"Patty?" Tucking back her hood, emerald eyes looked up at Luna over an English accent. "Patty Ortiz?"
"Luna?" Springing upright, slender hands caught her by the shoulders. "Ohmigod, how are you?"
"Oh, you know each other. Great." Panic to get his Deck back had triggered an anaerobic sprint and Jaden was now struggling with the aftermath. "I think I'm going to puke."
"Hands on knees, deep breaths, marina's right there if you need it." Waving aside her victim, the fledgling criminal turned back to her old friend. "How long's it been, eight years? Last I heard, you were touring Europe. What's been happening?"
"You know, studied humanities. Partnered up with Misty Treadwell to support good causes. Now," She readied her spare hand. "Give my friend his stuff back."
"Easy, easy." Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out the stack of cards. "Here, take 'em."
"Thanks." Exerting control of his stomach once again, he put them back by his side. "And the rest."
"What rest?" Luna cocked her fist and Patty crumbled again. "Okay, okay." Another few cards slipped across. A cough rescued the last ones from her clutches.
"Anyway," Finally lowering her fist, Luna's tone went back to normal. "What have you been up to?"
"This and that." She waved away the question. "I'll let you get back to it." Patty tried to melt into the returning crowds but Luna caught her wrist.
"You're not getting away until we get that lip of yours looked at." Swelling had outlined where fist had met face. "Come on." Dragging her friend by the hand, she pulled all three into a convenience store. One swipe of a credit card later and they re-emerged into the daylight, Patty holding a cloth of ice cubes to her face and Luna burying her hand into the rest of the bag. "Still can't believe you gave him a lollipop." Idling a suitable distance behind, Jaden was sucking the candy between his teeth.
"Helps settle the stomach on noob runners." Kicking some trash aside, Patty seated herself on a low bench looking away from the harbour and out towards the boundless oceans. "Still can't believe you hit me like that. How's the hand?"
"Not bad." Resting in the freezing bag, a jagged tooth had managed to catch her knuckles on the way down. "How's the face?" Peeling off the stoppage, Patty waited for a medical assessment.
"Looks pretty bad." Leaning on the railing, Jaden was ready for his assailant to take flight again.
"Let me take a look." Gently taking the bundle, she carefully prodded at the thin swelling it covered. "Not as bad as you would think. Hardly any swelling yet, looks like we got ice on it in time." Patty reached to take back the cloth at the same time Luna moved to hand it back, resulting in an awkward moment of trying to coordinate movements.
"Anyway," Finally snatching back the bundle, she used it to cover half her scowl. "Sorry for screwing up your date."
"It wasn't a date." Luna carefully rummaged through her bag as Jaden choked on his sweet. "I'm showing my friend around while he's in town." Pulling out a breakfast bar, she held it out to her older friend. "Fancy one? Running like that builds an appetite."
"Sure." Tearing it open with her teeth, Patty swallowed the whole thing in three bites.
"Haven't seen anyone eat that fast since fried shrimp night." True, he had been the undisputed king of cramming food into face but Hassleberry and Syrus had been in a close second. "Skipped breakfast?" The only time the dorm-invading Ra Yellow had overtaken his idol had been after a tactically avoided meal. Nonetheless, Jaden lost the sprint only to win in the marathon.
"Not had a lot to eat lately." Which would normally have been attributed to dieting or a strict workout regime. Except that Luna never knew when to stop.
"And cold, even with a jumper in the middle of the afternoon." Seasons near the sea might be chilly yet the sun had enough time to warm the air by then. Still, two was a coincidence. It took three to form a pattern. "And, you've got a bunch of little cuts which aren't healing." Luna had noticed the swelling being far less than it should have been. When she had seemingly fumbled passing back the ice, she'd taken a close look at where Patty had fallen on her hands. Such small scrapes should have scabbed over in seconds, not continued to leak five minutes later. "Doesn't take a genius to see that you're malnourished." A condition that shouldn't have existed anywhere in the modern world, let alone in the middle of a bustling metropolis.
Looking between her dreadfully earnest childhood friend and the gormless figure with wandering attention, Patty weighed her options. But she was already tired from the first sprint and had little to show for the day so far. "Daddy kicked me out when I came out." She didn't need to spell out the reason. Her mother might have been from Japan but Mr Ortiz had come from old English money and had certain values which most people would have called 'scumbag'. Inheriting an American name was shame enough, having an openly gay daughter was more than his reputation could tolerate. "Kept my passport and birth certificate and left me here. Since I was nearly an adult, he managed to stall until I was and then it wasn't his problem."
"Why didn't you call me?" Even as a child, Luna would have given any possible aid that she could. Her parents were certainly rich enough that taking on a third child wouldn't have been impossible. "I'd have flown right back to help."
"Phone was the first thing he cut. Remote wiped it as well, or had someone do it for him." Nobody bothered memorising passwords beyond their phone and bank since their phone remembered them all. Without cards, ID or even a bank statement, no decent bank manager would give so much as the first digit to an account. "The landlord had me evicted when the rent didn't come. Lasted two weeks by selling my stuff."
"What about support programs? Welfare systems and stuff?" With all the incredible advances that he had witnessed from only brief glimpses into normal life, Jaden refused to believe that humanity had come so far without raising the lowest standards at least beyond what it was in his time.
"Have you tried getting documents when you can't even afford food?" Hard laughter cut the air and drew unwelcoming glares from others around the harbour. "There's a term for people like me: NFA. It means 'No Fixed Address'. Even if I had money to get documents, I couldn't get them until I had somewhere to stay. Can't get documents without money, can't get money without a job, can't get a job without documents." Bureaucracy was a killer to those not in a system. And it wasn't as if anyone was going to care if those unfortunates who didn't pay taxes happened to die.
"Then you can stay with us as long as you need." The causal declaration of her future took Patty by surprise. And she wasn't the only one.
"Are you serious?" Unseen by the homeless figure, a scowling face had her penned in from behind. "She nearly managed to get away with Jaden's Deck. Can you imagine the damage it would cause to history if even one card was left behind?"
"You're my friend," Luna said firmly. "And I'm not taking any argument." Even though Yubel had near-limitless power and a fatal approach to strangers, she begrudgingly admitted that Jaden required a guide during his stay. Realistically speaking, the only other option was Leo and... no. Just no.
"Yeah, not happening." Pulling the cold compress away, Patty wiped her face dry on the back of one sleeve, ignoring the thin streaks of blood left behind. "I can look after myself. Found out the hard way not to rely on others." At least Yubel had someone on her side of the argument. Two against a horrifyingly determined one.
"Either you can come back with us or I can give Vice-Chief Trudge a call and tell him that an old friend from school just attacked me in the middle of the day because she's in trouble." Sniffling, Luna covered her face with both hands and began dry sobbing. "Now I'm all scared and she tried taking my Deck and I don't know where she went or how to get her help."
"Damn, she's good." Or very, very bad. There wasn't a hint of malice in Luna, she genuinely would have let Patty go if her old friend resisted enough. But she also knew when people needed a bit of a push to take the right path. Yubel could certainly appreciate that.
"You wouldn't dare!" A couple of close encounters with the police had taught her the ways they could jump to conclusions and then justify them with rules and regulations. She'd be in handcuffs before Trudge faster than the sun could set.
"Perfect, then you're coming back with us!" Clapping happily, Luna left no trace of her little performance. "My brother's had a crush on you since he was ten. I don't think he'll mind you sleeping over. We've already got another friend staying with us so it's not like you'll be imposing." Shrugging away one problem, she knew Musume would object to anyone still breathing and Phantom wasn't the most social creature in the world. One was inevitably going to be a nuisance, one was inevitably going to vanish. "I'm going to give him a call and tell him to clear up because you're coming. Don't be surprised if he's stupid excited to see you." Again, there wasn't any real pressure but the guilt that you might do anything to take away Luna's sparkle could convince anyone to go along with her suggestions for a while longer.
Being left with a complete stranger by a nearly complete stranger had him trying to find ways to break the awkward silence. "Hey, about before." Most people would have tried to apologise for the attack and Patty braced herself to rebuke it. "Why'd you call me 'grandpa'?" Jaden was definitely not most people and the question threw her a bit.
"That jacket of yours. I don't think I've seen one that old since Duel Academy." Neither had Jaden, not in his colours. A few newbies on the pro circuits might wear blue or the rare yellow but never reds. "They haven't been around for decades. Guessing it's a family heirloom?"
"Something like that." It was certainly going to be, one day. He wanted to brag about the original design to whoever was listening. However, temptation got the better of him. "What do the new ones look like?"
"Ask Luna. She'll probably wear it for you if you ask her nicely." Jaden's ears instantly merged with his jacket at the inference.
"We're just friends." Not to mention that physics said he was technically old enough to be her several-times-great-grandfather. "I'm lending her family a hand for a bit while I'm in town."
"Shame." She reapplied the compress above a pointed smile. "I'd probably have jumped your bones by now. You're just my type." An ankle unexpectedly stroked against his own and he jerked back from the contact.
"Say the word and I'll show this hussy nightmares beyond her comprehension." Pure anger was radiating around him as Yubel contemplated a little bodily harm.
"I thought you were gay?" Being so brazenly hit on was obvious even for Jaden but he was still able to think clearly and reason out that the barely surviving criminal was trying a ploy. "Shouldn't you be saying that sort of stuff to Luna?"
"Luna?" Patty snorted. "She's one of my oldest friends. Now, that Izinski chick"
"Sorry about the wait." Appearing before Jaden could be forced into an even more uncomfortable position, Luna was tucking her phone into an inside pocket. "It was about ten seconds of me talking and five minutes of Leo trying to ask questions without breathing."
"He still the same?" Life on the streets was rough but living with Leo was like being smothered with fluffy blankets. She'd almost prefer sleeping in another alley but colder nights were starting to roll in.
Coming back to the penthouse had been strange for the twins and it was stranger still for Patty. Only that morning, she had been slumming in a condemned structure near the marina and now she was in the most exclusive area of the city. Walking across the familiar space, Patty noted a few key changes from what she remembered. "What happened to this place?" Two wings of apartments were meant to flank the pool area but she could dimly see abandoned dust sheets and scaffolding inside more than one.
"After our parents sold the penthouse, some developer bought the rest and tried splitting them into more apartments to make a profit. Shame he didn't clear it with the city first." The Tops was an extremely exclusive area of the city. While that prestige usually brought a lot of legal leeway, a few residents had objected to the sounds of construction going on at all hours. By the time permits finally went through, contracts on workers had expired and the budget was in the red. "Yusei managed to buy the whole thing cheap and he's letting us stay here as long as we want."
"Must be nice." Despite – and due to – being the only large purchase before Yusei had ordered his salary reduced to less than a tenth of the small fortune it began as, there was a lot of negative feelings over his acquisition of the properties. Besides the odd charity event or SRC party, the only use most of the apartments saw was lodging for out of town figures and emergency housing if anyone in his employ suddenly needed a safe place. "Having that sort of money."
There was no acceptable response to such a statement. "PATTY!" Unrestrained enthusiasm, however, was typically forgiven. Leaping the stairs in two bounds, Leo had changed into jeans and a scarlet shirt. "It's been so long since we've seen you, how've you been? Did you hear about the Pegasus Cup? I'm not saying that I'm amazing or anything but I'm currently one of the highest-ranked in the world. I mean, I was able to hold my own against Jack Atlas, so it clearly wasn't luck."
"And yet, you could still pass for a girl." Referencing that time he impersonated his sister still shut Leo up faster than a smack to the face. Little really had changed for her old friends.
"If nothing else, you've got to stay because that's the first time I've seen Leo stop talking so fast." Wiping her hands dry on the back of her shirt, Musume was sullenly stomping across the landing and down the stairs.
"Patty, this is Musume. She's also staying with us." Unless she had been replaced with a benevolent clone because the real Musume would never have tidied up yet her usual sprawl of books had vanished from the coffee table.
"Nice ink." Factoring in the tattooed face, defined muscles and gleaming eyes, Patty quickly realised the arrogant superiority in the newcomer. She didn't care for it. "Do it yourself?"
"Nice lip." Curling her own into a chilling smile, knuckles cracked as she made a fist. "Want another?" Looking about the room, Leo failed to locate the sword which represented their only hope.
"What's cooking?" Gesturing her existing guest to cut back on the banter, she hoped it wasn't another of Leo's attempts to cook currently bubbling on the hob. Recipes were something that happened to other people, never to her brother.
"Vegetable soup." Carefully peeled, pruned, sliced, diced, and left under her unyielding supervision until literally the first distraction cropped up. "Gonna make some sandwiches, put out a cheeseboard and pretend that we're not doing it to impress some moron in red."
"Which one?" With Jaden in his jacket and Leo in his shirt, it could have been either of them.
"Take your pick." While Luna had a heart of gold, she also had brains to match and wouldn't be reckless enough to bring home any strays she happened across. Jaden said he was helping her family, probably something to do with Yusei's latest mess, but Musume was obviously too rough to hoist off onto a friend. That meant she was probably something to one of the twins. "Should be ready in an hour."
"Any chance I can drop my bag and get a nap? I'm knackered." Everything that she currently owned was crammed away inside the bag on her back and she hadn't found a safe place to properly sleep all week.
"Sure. Leo and I have to get the statue out the pool anyway." Stumbling on the stairs, Patty twisted back towards the odd plans.
"Come again." Each word alone made sense. Strung together like that drained them of all meaning.
"Fancy art sculpture thing ended up in the swimming pool. We're going to fish it out again." Any sentence spoken with such cheer becomes meaningless nonsense and Leo left her no wiser than before.
"Ignore him." Shoving Leo ahead of her, the tattooed lady was fully at ease in her role. "You're bunking with Luna, same room she used to have. There's a cake in the fridge if you get hungry before dinner." Ah, gold digger. Sponging off Leo for a cushy place to crash and fancy food. Depressingly real enough to turn back and finish climbing the stairs.
Letting herself into the bathroom she hadn't been in for a decade, Patty habitually kept her worn bag close at hand. It was uncomfortable being back here, out of place. Like she belonged back out on the streets, only one curious guard away from a stint in jail. It was washing her hands that finally did it. Being able to turn a tap and have warm, clean water come flowing out was such a basic luxury that she could barely remember the last time she had been able to hope for it and it put enough of a crack in her armour that she was going to need every minute of the next hour to put her face back in working order.
Don't be a Scrooge with those reviews and have a merry Christmas!