Rising Shards

Per Alix’s request, Pippi was next on the game that was kind of the grand finale of the day. There was still a bit more shilling from Brambler, but we were over the worst of it. I wanted to give Pippi one last pep talk before she went.

”OK Pippi, if you want to back down this is probably your chance,” I said.

Pippi pouted. ”Why would I want to back down?”

”I mean,” I said. ”I’m not judging at all, just...”

”She’s a sopping wet cat failwoman, I know,” Pippi said. ”You weren’t there for the private tent time, I’m confident in my decision.”

”Was she like super good?” I asked.

”She was horrible, like truly the worst kisser I’ve ever been with,”

”And that’s...what you’re looking for?” I asked.

”Yes,” Pippi said. ”You and Evy need to roleplay a failwoman, then maybe you’ll understand.”

”I’ll add it to my list of scenarios?” I said. ”But enough about me, if Alix is who you want, then I hope you both get the best cards!”

Pippi and Alix stood together at the front of our inflatable slot machine. They could just like call it here and ask each other out on a date, but part of the fun of this event was doing things on the whims of Brambler Travel Co.’s insanity. Evy grunted as she pulled the lever again. Alix practically fell into the pile of tokens to grab the card, completely unnecessarily and she almost knocked herself out diving head first.

Alix got up like she was coming up for air from underwater.

”OK, first card says, ’go to airport together and people watch!’” Alix said.

”I wanna!” Pippi said. ”But...what do I say when I wanna do that but also draw more cards?”

”Hold, you hold!” I said.

”Hold! I hold!” Pippi practically screamed.

”I wanna hold you!” Alix said which made Pippi scream again. I was starting to kind of see the sparks between them, the chemistry between them was a formula or combination of elements I didn’t understand, but there was something there. ”Right, next card is ’mat ball game,’”

”Damn, I wish we got that one,” Rylla said.

”Here, you can just...” Pippi took the card from Alix and handed it to Mahina and Rylla. ”We’ll just pretend you drew that one too.”

”Righteous,” Rylla said.

Evy was sweating by this point so I managed to work the crank for the next card.

”Oh my god,” Alix said. ”It uh, w-we, the uh...”

”Let me read it!” Pippi said, snatching the card. She gasped. ”We won! Weekend getaway!”

”No freaking way,” I said. I didn’t think they actually gave that one away, that the weekend getaway prize was just one they dangled over the speed daters. ”Just for two?” Maybe Evy and I could get a vacation out of this.

”It doesn’t say,” Pippi said. ”But that’d be so fun if we could all go! I’m willing to cash in on this one?”

”Awesome!” Alix said. ”Romantic weekend getaway!” She cheered and hugged Pippi, tears already streaking down her face. ”Sorry, this is just like, the best day of my life? I think?”

”This trip will be even better, I promise,” Pippi said, somehow both sweetly and with a determination that kinda scared me.