#weal

Now I have arrive.

And if I see any type of whale @samispagetii2 I'll tage you to see it.

It was raining outside of Gage Acquisition's headquarters. A lazy Gridanian rain, warm and heavy, fat raindrops that seemed less to fall than to sort of meander their way down to the ground in their due time.

Zoissette held an umbrella over Y'shtola's head, and the two were walking along the pathway. It had been a quiet walk.

Despite the time they had spent apart, they still knew how to enjoy a comfortable, companionable silence. Y'shtola had asked after Apple, and Zoissette still had no answers. Zoissette had asked after the thirteenth, and Y'shtola had much the same.

She was one of the few people Zoissette felt really comfortable around, after returning from the rift. Around most of the others, she was friendly. Gregarious, even, she could not help it, it seemed so hard to keep herself in as she had before.

But still.

She had always felt like an outsider before, and she still did now. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever be fully a part of the shared human experience.

But with Y'shtola, she felt like she belonged. Grounded. The woman's strength and confidence were an anchor, and the ease with which Y'shtola treated her, the naked honesty of the woman.

If the rift made her lost, then Y'shtola, in more ways than one, brought her home.

She just wished Lavender had arrived home with her. The familiar had not come to her since she had arrived, though. The little armature was full of a life of its own, but it was its own being, its own existence. She was glad for it, but it was not the same.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as they stopped out in front of the building, and Zoissette looked to Y'shtola.

"I appreciate your company more than I have the words for. But I am certain you have other more important matters to attend to."

Y'shtola looked up at her, and gave her a smile.

"You are the important matter I wish to attend to, my friend. Trust that I keep my affairs well in hand, even as I keep you company."

"...thank you."

Zoissette fidgeted with the umbrella handle a bit as Y'shtola looked her over. She knew what she was looking for. She was afraid of what she would find.

"...'tis much the same," she said after several long moments. "I do not have the fine tune instrumentation of the infirmary, but while you have gained some muscle mass, your aether remains ever thin."

"I am not recovering."

"It is true, that the rate of replenishment of you aether seems to have reached a plateau. But it is early, yet, even - and perhaps especially - for one as puissant as you."

"I feel so useless in the meanwhile."

Y'shtola looked thoughtful for a moment.

"And yet you have begun investigations, have you not?"

"That - that is different. I am used to being a warrior. That is what a knight is for. That is what a knight should be for. I feel like I lost sight of that, and have regained it again, only to lose the capability to be so."

"And yet you still are. You would not say such things of Krile, who has little martial prowess. Or your own brother, who still shines as a knight true."

Zoissette shifted from foot to foot, considering.

"You are right."

"I suspect I only tell you that which you already knew."

"You are right. I know. I know. I just - I just feel so useless, Shtola. Mathye hovers as I go about tasks I once found trivial. Tasks I now find challenging. Klynt or Ryssthota are at my elbow anytime I even voice consideration of approaching the laboratory. C'oretta and Meya are spending too much time on me. I have shifted from shield to gunblade, to try to make up for my deficiencies, but... still. I do not wish to be a burden. Not on you. Not on anyone."

Zoissette looked away, feeling herself unable to meet Y'shtola's eyes. She was complaining. She was whinging. Others would be envious of her position. She should be glad for what she had, not whatever this was. She was better than this.

But at the same time, she wished to run and hide and fade back to vanish behind a desk. Useful but invisible but helpful. Good, reliable Zoissette, able to be called upon at a moment's notice. Not someone who needed looked after all the time.

Again, she missed Lavender. They had learned to lean on one another in the rift. She would lean on her once more.

She felt Y'shtola's hand on her arm.

"This may be a burden, but not one I shy away from. For how oft have you helped others in need with no wish for recompense? How oft have you been fulfilled by helping with our burdens, and allowed us to draw succor in return? 'Tis true, what brought us together is what you are, blessed of Hydaelyn and strong in arm. But what has kept us together as comrades is who you are. Kind in spirit. Curious in mind. Patient through trial. I am with you. In weal and in woe. If weal, then weal, and all is well. If woe, then that woe must needs be endured, and I would not countenance that you do so alone."

The rain fair hummed for a moment, and the colors around her shifted slightly. She blinked, staring into the rain, as it somehow became more blue. She turned to her. Y'shtola was resplendent in her composure, in her poise, as she always was. Confidence and power which she was now so clearly offering to Zoissette. Half a meder away, Zoissette felt she could feel the woman's presence radiating off her, and she almost seemed to glow. Zoissette tentatively reached a hand out to touch her face, and Y'shtola smiled, and closed her eyes gently, and there was just the gentlest pulse of living levin, and.

Oh.

In which Sen just feels Sorry for Herself™️ Murphy's Law - Honey Revenge

"And Sensation is out!"

Hit after hit, she was back on her ass with a fat bloody nose. Every attempt she made to keep the chatty catte Renaux on his toes she had failed spectacularly - finally earning herself a knee to her face.

Gods did she hate getting her nose broken.

The night had wrapped up, she fixed her nose, trudged home covered in a thin layer of dusty disappointment and welts. Gio had been there to cheer her on but the weeks had been tumultuous and even Gin Mill nights were grasping at straws of some normalcy. It was malms away from being fun any more. After they got home Gio was off again to deal with some other emergency, another house fire to run into.

Tucked away in the bathroom alone with some proper lighting, she tugged at each cheek to check her eyes - bloodshot. Lifting her shirt probing her rib cage, stretching was painful and she found herself a hairline fracture. She made a face at herself in the mirror. Fingers rolling over the bumps, discovering one bruise after another.

Sen wanted to whine, stomp her feet, demand it all to be over and behind her. Healing even herself was so godsdamned exhausting now, it drained her! She pressed her forehead to the mirror sighing loudly. Aetherically patching the fracture leaving the rest for tomorrow, she dragged her sorry self into the shower.

I really do and I have ever since TK was drafted to the team (gotta support my fave from junior right ?) . They (especially TK - a story for another time maybe ? If i dont already annoy you guys ) got me through years that were super tough for me . I love and enjoy watching the games . I love watching the players improve with every game/week or with every season . I love them whether or not they win but its incredibly frustrating to have coaching staff that has no faith into our players , that punish the young guys we have for making a mistake while giving vets who are more known to make more costly errors and mistakes that the opponents capitalise on but are the same players praised by the coaching staff for "having experience " not to mention all the biases against us too with the refs ,officials and some fans of the sport l. Yes it's frustrating when we lose but honestly you can't win everything - a lot of the time we played a damn good game .

I stand by the TEAM , not the coaches .