CHAPTER 10

“Even if it means oblivion, friends, I'll welcome it, because it won't be nothing. We'll be alive again in a thousand blades of grass, and a million leaves; we'll be falling in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was.”

- Philip Pullman -

I woke up the next morning with a renewed sense of a clarity, and a purpose that I'd never felt before.

...Nah, I'm just playing around, I woke up after a night full of brief bouts of sleep and the occasional flits of dreamless reverie. Bit of a mixed bag, but I guess it was enough fuel for the day, so I suppose, back to school I go. No idea how this is going to all play out.

How can he be so glib about everything?, the nonexistent audience asked.

Everything was so crazy right now that I didn't know how to deal with it exactly, so my normal response is attempted cleverness paired with some side snark. Best I've got.

Swung by DQ's to grab him before heading to school and he launched out of his house wearing, of all things, an old school WWF wrestling belt (not the World Wildlife Federation, that's another story for another time).

He one-two-step hopped on his bike and gave me arguably the cockiest grin I've ever seen in my entire life. I briefly entertained whether or not it was even worth diving down into that rabbit hole, but given everything that had been happening, I bit off on the prospect of it:

“I see that stupid smile of yours and call. What's crackalackin'”?”

He flashed a Cheshire back and sped away on his one speed, and I followed on Buttercup in pursuit, not fully understanding what the reason behind the chase was.

We finally arrived after fifteen or so minutes of mindless pursuit at uni, when Dono flipped an insane 180, landed, braked, and threw it up on one wheel like he was the Headless Horseman, jumped off while throwing it to the ground, and yelled out “DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN'”?

An obvious reference based on his stupid belt that I grokked, but the context, not so much. I parked Buttercup and approached my idiot friend for further clarification.

Meanwhile...

Renna was normally the type that found it easy to be very sure about things. Although she'd never admit it to Leo, after creating her TantaMount profile and dealing with all of the Donovan nonsense she'd gone back to her room not to sleep and prepare for the day ahead, but to hop back into that world for a little bit longer and see what it had to offer. She didn't like things she didn't fully understand.

She tried to think logically about what type of bird she would attract since she'd never owned a pet before and wasn't sure exactly how that relationship played out.

What do I need, and what does it want from me?

Thankfully she'd help from various other questers with gear and such so she was quickly a leg up on the competition, albeit having to successfully navigate some awkward situations from those that had helped her along her way.

But she was off, goal numero uno being finding away to reach the summit of the first mountain.

Fact check of what she knew for sure:

1. She didn't know what the hell she was doing

2. She knew that she needed a mount of one million overall strength to reach the first summit

3. She didn't know what the hell she was doing

I wonder what Felix thinks about it.

Wait, where the hell did that come from? He's cute and cuddly like the teddiest of sorts, but I never really thought about him like...hmm. Brain check, and back to real life.

I like knowing when things make sense, and nothing about any of this makes any sense at all. Leo is a moron, but he's a fairly intelligent moron, and usually can get things done.

Leo is just Leo, he's one of those guys that just walks into any situation and no one gets offended by him. That's not an insult, it's a compliment, him and I met up thankfully when Dono was taking a piss break and we shot the shizz over gaming and music and what not. He's fine, however.

Don't get me started on Donovan, but every village has its idiot. Enough said there.

I bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the group. Yeah, I'm a little cocky, arrogant even. Fight me. But I love my friends and I will do anything for them, even idiots like Donovan. And Felix, especially.

Hurt these morons and you will get hurt. Guaranteed. Signed off, for the moment.

Renna