Reading Rainbow

Pia hummed in thought as she stared at the blank reply line. She wondered if ‘cooler’ referred to the temperature as Selphy called both islands the same thing but more importantly… which island was which? The mermaid couldn’t tell from the text and felt it was too dumb to ask. Lucky for her, she could dodge the question as she didn’t live on either island.

[ Best Bestie ]: Neither! I travel a lot between both of them. I can’t decide…

She went with the safest response for herself.

Ah...so she traveled a lot. That sounded pretty fun. After all, staying in one place all the time made a girl feel cooped up. She definitely knew that from experience! 

Rosalind watched on as the girl drank, an eyebrow quirking as she noticed just how much was being consumed. Just how little water had she drank? She didn’t look like she would struggle to get clean water of her own, but then… One should never judge a person based on how they look, Rosalind had learnt.

The girl raised a hand as if to go to steady the other before watching as she caught herself, watching with concern. “It’s really not-” She started, “Are you sure you don’t want some help getting up?” She persisted, “We’re not far from the library, we can sit you down there. Perhaps get some food from the café…?” Rosalind continued on, unable to laugh in the way the other seemed to be.

“A while?” She asked, “That’s really quite dangerous.” The girl started, although pulling back before she went so far as to reprimand her, “I can only assume you were too busy to think about it?”

“Well, yea, of course I was too busy,” Selphy spoke, “I was reading a really good book and I just couldn’t put it down. And then it had a sequel and I just couldn’t put that one down, either.” To Selphy, it wasn’t really much of a concern. She had passed out plenty of times before. The only difference between before and now was that eventually, servants at the castle would make sure she at least ate or drank something between chapters. Out on the islands...she had zero impulse control.

♥ - “Felicity!” She responds with a giggle. “Just call me Felicity. It’s a delight to make your acquaintance, Selphy.”

Once the introductions were gone and past, the waitress leaves to prepare the woman’s coffee. It doesn’t take long to brew, and after asking Selphy how she would like it served, makes the appropriate touches to it before bringing it back to her table.

“One cup of coffee, on the house!” She chimes, setting the cup down in front of the blonde. “Please, do enjoy.”

⇢Andrea followed the blonde out the building as they continued their discussion about cats. This was probably the most she ever talked about the creatures. However, since it was with a girl, she didn’t mind.

“Cats are pretty chill, which I can appreciate.” But they can also be little assholes. Andrea didn’t trust cats. Last time she tried being friendly with a cat, she got a swift scratch to the hand. She kept these thoughts to herself as she followed Selphy to the cat cafe.

“They are! They’re the purrfect reading partner?” Did she accidentally say a pun? Oh well, she wasn’t about to point it out. 

It wasn’t long until the two of them arrived at the cat cafe. Selphy opened the door and smiled brightly at just seeing all of the cats curled up all around the cafe. She looked over at Andrea and smiled brightly.

‘Why?’ is a rather interesting question to ask, in relation to a sequence of events. And sometimes, it turns out to be a rather difficult question to answer. For example, one might consider the question of why Mist was leaning against a tree, out of sight from the main road. Perhaps the answer could be that she was tired from walking, and was was taking some weight off of her legs, without being forced to sit in the snow.

Someone might also ask why she bent down had decided to bend down for a moment, scooping up some snow, before standing back up and using her mitten-covered hands to mold it into a roughly-circular shape. Boredom, one might answer.

Hearing the crunching of footsteps behind her, Mist whipped around the side of the tree, and threw a snowball full-force at a person she had yet to even identify.

“Hi-yah!”

Why?

Selphy had no idea what was going on. This was her first visit to Arcadia - a place she’d wanted to visit ever since she ran away to Leuda. And within an hour of her setting foot onto the island, she found herself ambushed by someone throwing a snowball at her. And in the complete panic and shock of it all...Selphy’s time magic activated, making the world around her slow to a crawl as she stared down the snowy projectile headed straight for her face. 

And Selphy only had that one-word question to ponder as she watched the ball crawl closer and closer to her. Was this some sort of Arcadian greeting? This wasn’t in the books at all. Was she mistaken for someone else? Was there someone else on this island that looked like her?

Finally, the snowball grew a little too close for comfort. Selphy took in a deep breath before karate-chopping the snowball right out of thin air. And once the attack was effectively blocked, time began to move at a normal pace for her again. Selphy met the eyes of her assailant, just a confused and startled look in her eyes.

As quick as she was to respond to the stranger, they replied just as fast. Pia lit up, looking at her phone with a big smile. This was fun!

[ Best Bestie ]: Selphy is a very VERY pretty name! It’s nice to meet you, too. What island are you on?

She wasn’t sure if her question was too much on a first text meeting, but how else were they to learn about each other? It was her best friend duty to learn as much as she could.  

Aw, what a sweetheart! This Pia seemed to be a nice person. 

[ To Pia ]: awwwwww thank you!! I’m on Leuda!! Which island are you on? The cool island or the cooler island?

⇢KitTea. Andrea knew of it, but never went in because of her not really being a cat person. She didn’t hate them, but she definitely preferred dogs. However, if a cute girl wants to a cat cafe, then Andrea will gladly go.

“KitTea works for me,” she responded nonchalantly. “So, you like cats? I’m more of a dog person myself, but I can see the appeal of those furry little bastards.” It was mostly alley cats that Andrea saw so she didn’t have much experience with domesticated cats. Maybe they would be more friendly.

“Yea, I think cats are great!” Selphy spoke, beginning to lead the way out of the apartment building, “Dogs are great, too, but cats really make for good reading buddies. They can just curl up on your lap for hours and won’t complain at all!” She smiled. Last time she went to KitTea, she actually stayed way longer than usual because a cat was sleeping in her lap even after she finished her book. First rule of being a pet person in general: never disturb a sleeping pet.

Oh man oh boy WHAT was going on!! What was that woman thinking jumping off the dock! She didn’t even hesitate! It must be a really important book!

“Uh, um, sure!” Tina was a little bamboozled to say the least. Now she had to drop her confusion and catch the book. She didn’t want the book falling back in the water because then the woman would have to get it again. It was starting to get chilly and she would definitely get sick if she stayed in the water. She probably already would get sick!

“Alright!” Selphy didn’t hesitate in throwing the book right at the onlooker. And once she threw the book, Selphy began swimming to the nearest ladder out of here. Goddess, this was so cold! She couldn’t imagine ever swimming in this kind of water. And once she read that some people did this for fun! This wasn’t fun at all!

She reached a ladder and quickly hoisted herself out of the water and onto the dock, completely drenched in cold salt water. Selphy took in a deep breath and shivered. Jeez, she felt like she needed the longest, warmest bath in the world. But at least the book was safe, right?

Right! The book!

It hadn’t been long since Persia learned how to use a phone and the one she was brought to buy may have been a little too advanced, but she was getting there. It was quite different from what they had in the water kingdom. She did enjoy, however, being able to document her new life on land with pictures. Hundreds of them. And that was why she was looking forward to someone - anyone - answering her request.

The sudden chime of her phone caused her to jump. She wasn’t used to that yet.

[ ??? ]: Hi-ho! I’m Pia~ your new bff!

Well that response was quick. Selphy couldn’t help but chuckle at the response. Looks like this person was serious about it! How cute!

⇢It worked. Andrea was half-expecting to get some excuse like “I already have something to do..” or some other obvious lie. Women could be so cruel, but she loved that about them. Nice girls had their own charm though. Anyway, back to reality.

“It’s a pleasure, Selphy. So where’s your favorite place to go for food around here?” Andrea asked, already having forgotten about the letter.

“Well I usually go to KitTea so I can pet the cats,” Selphy spoke. Honestly, what wasn’t there to like about that place? She got good cafe food, she got to pet cats...it was the perfect place to read once she was finished eating.

Of course, there was also the little cafe in the library that she frequented...but that was mainly because of proximity. If there was a cat cafe attached to the library, however...she’d be in heaven.

The sigh of relief was suppressed as Rosalind finally saw the other stirring, quickly pushing the bottle of water into the others hands, eyebrows knit in worry. Just how had this girl ended up in such an unpleasant situation? 

She opened her mouth, about to suggest a trip to the medical centre to check out if anything was seriously wrong, but her trainee-doctor instincts kicked in and she figured she should get the details from the source before pushing her elsewhere, after all, this could be a regular thing.

“It’s triple filtered.” She finally managed, lamely. Most people probably didn’t care about that, “It may well be the cleanest water you’ll ever drink on this island.” She nonetheless continued, standing up and holding out a hand, “Would you like some help getting up? Do you know what happened?” Rosalind paused, “Sorry. I don’t mean to bombard you with questions but. Well.” She glanced away, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ears.

“You don’t look great.”

Selphy gratefully took the water bottle and eagerly began drinking it. She wasn’t really sure what triple filtered meant, but it didn’t matter if this was the same as the water in the castle or water scooped out of a puddle. It was water, and she would take whatever she could get. 

She nearly drank the entire bottle, and had to take a beat to let all of it settle in on a completely empty system. Selphy smiled at the woman and took her hand.

“Thank you, you really saved me there,” Selphy spoke, starting to get up, “I really - oh, wait.” Just as she began standing up, she felt a wave of dizziness hit her again. She just settled into a kneeling position, trying to ride out the wave before she pushed herself too hard. 

The crowd on the Leuda docks were busier than usual and Tina was struggling not to bump into anyone with the two boxes she was holding. Someone had put them on the wrong ship (it wasn’t even a cargo ship) and she had to get them back to the mailing ship pronto.

Even as careful as she was being, Tina still ran into someone.

“Oh my Goddess, I am so sorry!” Tina said frantically as she turned to look at the person she’d crashed into.

Just as she saw the person they lunged into the water going after whatever Tina had made them drop.

“Wait!”

She ran over to the side of the dock and looked around. She was in complete shock.

So it turns out that when it gets close to winter, the ocean tends to get really cold. It was something Selphy always knew, but didn’t really know. And man, she was really discovering the chill of winter water now.

Still, Selphy managed to grab the book and hold it above water. Some of it was a little wet, but it hadn’t submerged yet! It was still salvageable! She could only hope that it was only wet on the parts she read already. She wouldn’t be able to take it if the final scenes of the book were illegible!

Selphy looked up at the docks, spotting a woman looking down at her in shock. But all Selphy registered was a helpful observer who could help her out. After all, she couldn’t swim quick enough to a latter with the book. The book could get even more wet if she started swimming around!