Jade buried her head deeper into the book, frustration pressing hard behind her eyes. The silence of the lab broke under her exasperated voice. "Come on, why are none of these experiments working?!"
Her notes were starting to look like a maze made by someone who hated her.
Every promising result bent back into another dead end.
She slammed the book shut, her gaze falling on the only success in a sea of failures--the weird creature’s shard that seemed to accept whatever she melded into it.
V, observing her from his spot on the table, offered a suggestion, "Perhaps a break would help clear your mind? You seem to be running yourself to the point where you aren’t being useful."
Jade looked up, considering his words. "Perhaps," she conceded, though her tone was laced with reluctance. "But I still have had no luck reverting the flesh back to before it became zombified or whatever.
I also can’t figure out how to activate this pink crystal after a week of troubleshooting."
True, I suppose it’s normal to fail a lot for humans, but what you all excel at is persistence. I could never imagine building what you mortal beings have accomplished. But perha--
Mid-sentence, the door creaked open, cutting her off. Rosa staggered in, streaked with blood and sweat from whatever mission had chewed her up.
With a defeated sigh, she collapsed into the nearest chair beside Jade.
She threw her head back, a gesture of utter exhaustion, and groaned, "I can’t do this anymore, Jade. I need a break! How about we go get some drinks or something?"
Jade studied her friend’s disheveled state and let out a soft chuckle with concern under it. "I think you need a shower first. How many did you fight today?" she asked, keeping her tone light.
Rosa exhaled deeply, the weight of her battles lingering in her voice. "Three, but the last one... it kept regenerating limbs.
So much blood everywhere." Her words trailed off, painting a gruesome picture of her struggle, the room around them momentarily feeling the echoes of her frustration and fatigue.
Jade exhaled softly, her voice laced with a mixture of fatigue and understanding. "Well, if we’re going to head out, a shower is non-negotiable for you.
And, honestly, a break sounds pretty good for me too," she admitted, glancing at the mess of notes and failed trials. "V seems to think the same."
Rosa, with an incredulous smirk, couldn’t resist a jab. "Still hanging around with that ugly blue gremlin, huh?"
From a shadowed corner of the room, V retorted with a playful edge, "Says the one resembling a Fire-arctic crofox, renowned for its giant forehead."
Rosa’s expression blanked. "A...what now?"
V, leaning into the light, his smirk barely visible, elaborated, "They’re charming creatures from the cooler regions of the vale, quite sought after as pets, though they’re notably forehead-heavy... much like someone we know." His gaze flicked teasingly towards Rosa.
Jade, pinching the bridge of her nose but with a small smile playing at her lips, attempted to mediate. "Let’s dial down the banter, shall we? V’s been instrumental in our research progress."
Rosa, throwing her hands up in a gesture of mock surrender, finally acquiesced. "Alright, alright. I might not trust him entirely, but I’ll go take that shower. Let’s meet outside your room at twenty. That should give us just enough time to snag some drinks."
"Sorry about that, V," Jade said as she watched Rosa walk off, frustration still clinging to her shoulders.
V shook his head slightly, the ambiance of the room still charged with the day’s unresolved tensions. "It’s okay; she’s supposed to hate me. In her eyes, much like yours, I’ve done a lot of bad things. It is odd, though, how she has ears like a fox.
Can’t say that’s something I’ve ever seen from a human before."
Jade was cleaning, placing everything back into her lockbox except the crystal that the crow had dropped. She examined it briefly, its dull appearance not betraying any of its potential secrets.
"Yeah, that’s also the first time I’ve ever seen a person with ears that isn’t cosplaying.
From my conversations with her, she didn’t have them until she unlocked her ability to use fire and whatnot," she mused, continuing her task without pausing.
V squinted a bit, "I could have sworn I heard about mortals like beings with ears before, but my memory is still hazy."
Jade shrugged, indicating it was a topic for another time. "Not that it matters much, let’s go ahead and shower up as well, you’ll be staying back though for the time being."
V’s response was calm and accepting, "Fine by me," I want to try reading some of those books again.
Jade nodded to V and slipped the light pink crystal into her pocket before heading back toward her room.
The minutes ticked by, forty-five in total, spent showering and dressing in a red button-up shirt paired with black jeans, her black hair now cascading slightly past her hips. A knock at her door signaled it was time to leave.
Stepping out, Jade noticed V, his attention wholly absorbed by a picture book, his brow furrowed in concentration over the letters and words. Beside him stood Rosa, clad in a black and white hoodie, accented by black jeans with a striking red stripe.
"Okay, let’s go before that alarm goes off again and I get dragged away," Rosa announced, urgency lacing her words.
Jade’s laughter filled the space between them, a lightness in her voice. "Sure, but how do we even get out of here? I can’t remember where the front door is," she admitted, her confusion genuine.
Rosa’s gaze on Jade was incredulous, her response laced with disbelief. "We just use the crosses. They teleport us to a hidden waypoint, so the location of this place isn’t revealed."
The memory clicked for Jade, a recollection of her arrival with Ash surfacing. "Ahhh, that does make sense. Sorry, I don’t leave often," she said, a sheepish hand running through her hair, her momentary lapse giving way to understanding.