[Part of her feels like they're existing in a liminal space right now. Not that Beau has never been alone with Yasha, or somehow she doesn't know the other woman well enough to go off alone with her, more that... it's just rare they're willingly just the two of them. Yasha wanders off to be on her own a lot; Beau can respect that. But now they're out here in the great wide nowhere, without a mission, without a plan, just... together.
It's nice. Beau's a little scared of how nice it is, in fact, for someone who's only ever had the rug pulled out from under them.
They end up talking, finding flowers, Beau likely off on some tirade about some idiot here before she's snapped to attention by Yasha's words. Her eyes follow the other woman's gaze, tipping herself up on her toes to try and get a better look. (As if, somehow, that she'll see better than Yasha, who's like a foot taller than her. Please.)]
What is it?
[Is it some kind of... house? No, it's hollow in the middle. She hedges a guess, even though it doesn't seem plausible, but she's already walking that direction now.]
Is that a water wheel? You know, what they use in making bread and stuff like that.
... I don't know. (She doesn't sound exasperated though, she sounds curious.) It's too big to be a water wheel.
(Unless they are making, like... really, really big loaves of bread over there. That's an interesting thought. Her stomach rumbles, and she blinks, and shifts a little in place, deciding to ignore it and not call attention to it to potentially keep Beau from noticing.)
Come on. Let's go and see. (Flowerquest has been abandoned. Now there is a new quest: find out what the giant wheel is. Yasha doubts she needs to tell Beau twice to come along, because she is always down for adventure. That is something that she likes about her, that she'll try anything at least once.)
[Ironically, that's one of Beau's favorite things about Yasha too- she won't spend so much time talking about something at the expense of just doing it. She's interested and is happy to be the... kind of parent to everyone's shenanigans. Close enough.]
Hell yeah.
[She's already pacing along after as soon as Yasha changes direction, a half jog to get back to pace with the other woman as the direction pivots. It's not long until they break the treeline that obscures most of the wheel, and they can start to get a better look at the structure. Beau tilts her head in thought as she looks at it, contemplating a few different options.]
... Are those lights on it? Don't think it's on fire.
(Yasha's trying to get on her tip toes to see it better. Her extra height doesn't afford her any extra clarity, though.)
Can't smell any smoke. (Definitely not on fire, but... lit up all the same. Weird. No point in standing here wondering what it is though, not when she could be seeing it up close for herself.) Maybe it's magic.
(She's continuing to walk. They're not far off, and when she finally breaks through the clearing that is obscuring the wheel in its entirety, well... it doesn't really make the situation any clearer. Yasha simply stops, and stares.)
Is... it a building? (She doesn't sound very convinced.)
[She's mostly just thinking out loud until she gets more of it into view, which is... confusing. It's absolutely some kind of wheel, but most wheels she know of serve some kind of function- they don't take power just for the sake of them turning. Beau looks at the chambers, things hanging off it and swinging loose. Are those chairs?]
Still pretty sure that's some kind of wheel.
[Right in turn, it makes a noise and begins to turn again, slowly going from a stop to a faster pace. Beau just squints and cocks her head.]
I'm gonna go with windmill. But I think there are people on it.
(It's a rhetorical question. She's frowning at the wheel, one hand on her hip... Beau, obviously just as confused as she is about the whole thing. It does look like you're supposed to get into it... and then, as she watches the thing start to turn, shifting the little carriages up, she gets it.)
Oh. It's– look. (She touches Beau's shoulder, points to direct her gaze upward.)
It's a look-out. You must be able to see everything from up there. (It's actually pretty clever, now that she knows what it's for. Also...) Do you think they'd let us try it?
[She's still puzzling when Yasha gets a damn good idea, and she nods shallowly as she turns over that answer in her mind.]
Why does it have so many lights on it? Everyone can see it. Is it just for fun?
[If it's not a tactical thing, maybe it's just a fun thing. People love to stare out over places from high up, but she's never seen a machine built just for that.]
C'mon, lets find out. Bet we can get in at least once. Or just climb it.
[She'll fight that big metal wheel don't test her not even once]
(Oh, she didn't think about the lights. Maybe it's a bluff. Maybe it's a show of power, that this place has such a showy lookout and they don't care who knows. Either way, it kind of... does look like fun.)
[The challenge makes her mouth instinctively pull into a grin, an excited spark in her eyes.]
Not a chance. C'mon, let's go.
[She's walking faster as they get to the wheel, a half time step instead of a full count to get closer. It just keeps looking taller, and it's exhilarating. Once they get closer to the base though, they can see it fully in view, and Beau can finally tell what those spinning things are.]
(For every half time step Beau takes, Yasha simply does a full stride, and they keep pace like that comfortably until they reach the wheel. It's huge up close. What's also huge is the gate that circles it, but opens up at the front, funneling people toward where the carriages touch the ground, and open their doors one at a time.
It's not for climbing. It's for sitting in. That's less fun than what she had in mind, but... she still wants to go up.)
Oh.
(And without further ado, she links her arm through Beau's so she can tug her toward the opening in the gate.) Come on. We can take that one.
(It almost looks like it's waiting for them to use it, after all.)
[It's certainly going to be easier, she thinks as they approach. Sitting on chairs and letting the... pulley system, sure, lift them isn't nearly as hard as climbing the thing. Even if Beau was kinda gearing up to do some fun backflips, Yasha takes her arm and it's Instantly Over. That's just where they're going now. Sure, she could fight it, but... nah.]
Yeah, yeah. Everybody else can get out of the way, that one right there? Ours.
[They stroll up easily, loading in and Beau blatantly ignoring all the warnings to keep your hands in and not shake the thing. She'll climb on this as much as she wants, officer. But once they're in, Beau will lean over towards Yasha, trying to speak a little louder over the noise of the machinery.]
How fast do you think this is gonna go? You think we might barf??
(She wants to see Beau barf if it does go that fast, because that sounds really funny. Though that wouldn't work out so good for her if true, because this little carriage is quite... cramped. Beau is only sitting across from her in it, but their knees are touching all the same and Yasha is trying very hard not to notice it. Trying so hard not to feel every single minute shift of Beau's leg in the point where they're touching. Failing, obviously.
Anyway.
The carriage jerks to a slow start, and Yasha pauses, waiting hopefully but... their speed doesn't increase. It's a steady chug to the top, apparently. She looks a little disappointed.)
[Don't worry Yasha, she'll tilt her head out one side and hit some passers by. Her legs are a little twitchy, but do subside when she realizes she's this close to Yasha and suddenly is trying not to make it weird that they're touching and she really likes that. But the speed doesn't increase, and Beau frowns a little as they start to move.]
Ugh, damn. I guess if it's a lookout thing they don't want you to be dizzy at the top...
[Beau wiggles a little in her seat to be able to turn her torso more left and right, peer at the sights around them.]
Nothing else this tall though. It's really obvious where we are so anybody coming could see this first.
(She's staring out of the window, mollified by watching the tops of the trees peel away from them and get smaller and smaller. Okay, who needs to go fast. This is cool. They're certainly heading out of range of most weapons and spells, too.)
Oh, look- look. (She leans back, catching Beau's elbow and turning her to see: the tea gardens, stretching off in the distance. She was there, not too long ago, sniffing all of the teas they had on offer.)
[There's something about the way Yasha goes breathless that stills Beau immediately, the energy suddenly quelled, all of her turning in tandem with Yasha's voice to see whatever it is she's seeing. And sure enough, the gardens stretch out before them and Beau lets her gaze go across the landscape, seeing it all from a very different place than before.]
Oh. Everything looks so small. Looks like 'mm on the mast of the ship again.
[Crawling up to the crow's nest, hanging off the edge with Avantika's spyglass in hand, feeling so, so free. This is just as good-- almost better, because Yasha is seeing it with her. Two people didn't fit up there, but Beau wished they did.]
Does it make you feel really big? To be up and away from all of that.
(Yasha never went up to the crow's nest while they were on the ship. It would have been strange, to go so high up into the air when you knowingly have wings that don't work the way that wings are supposed to work any more. If she had fallen she wouldn't be able to catch herself. No, the deck had been much safer to watch the ocean from, and just as calming in Yasha's opinion.
She gets what Beau means though. Her next question makes her chuckle. She's still holding Beau's elbow, even though she has long since turned to look.)
I always feel really big. But... this is cool.
(And then the whole thing shudders to a stop.
Yasha's grip momentarily tightens on Beau, and then she lets her go, frowning out of the window at the tops of the trees. They aren't even at the top yet, what gives. She presses her forehead against the window to try and look down toward the bottom of the wheel.) ... Maybe somebody else is getting on.
[Beau almost forgets that Yasha's hand is on her until her grip seizes, her arm tightening in turn at the sudden stop, the subsequent way the box they're in swings. As Yasha looks out one way, she cranes her neck to look to the other, but doesn't see any more since they're both the same distance up in the air.]
Why'd they wait for so many things to let them on? There were a bunch of empty ones.
[But hey, now they get more time in here. Which is... good? I mean, it's good. Yeah. Her heart pounding in her ears has nothing to do with it. Her chin tilts up, looking more on the horizon.]
Can't believe we're gonna go higher than this without even using a spell.
I don't know. Maybe they're trying to space everybody out.
(Maybe it's a tactic. She still hasn't discounted this as being relevant to surveillance efforts. Beau's internal monologue is right, though, and Yasha feels more or less the same way; she's happy to spend more time in here because she likes the view. She likes sharing this strange experience with Beau.
How much higher will they go exactly?)
Yeah. (They get this all for free. No spell slots wasted.) I still want to try climbing it though.
(Another wobble of the carriage signals the start of the ride again, and they're slowly crawling upward.) Do you think we can see the whole island from the top?
Depends how tall this is. And I guess the size of the island. But I think it's pretty small.
[She lets her grip and body relax a little more, not keeping herself so strictly uptight by Yasha's side. It lets their bodies get closer in a more natural way; her knees fitting into the spaces Yasha doesn't take up, hands laying close where fingers brush between knuckles left on the tabletop. They can take up this entire space-- or at least, Beau wants to. This might be a chance she never gets again, and not necessarily like this, so she's taking it while she has it and waiting until she's stopped.]
Maybe we can climb it after. Like we get out of this and then start our way up. Do you think they'll get mad at us?
[She almost seems like she's excited at the prospect of them getting mad at her, like it would just be an added thrill to defy authority. Which... it is Beau, so...]
Look, you can basically see the whole thing already.
(The way that Beau settles against her is... nice. Yasha doesn't have a problem with letting her foot hook gently behind one of Beau's ankles. The shift of her arms allows her hands to brush against the sides of Beau's wrists every so often (Whenever she twists in place to try and see the entirety of the view over her companion's shoulder, that is). It feels good to be close to her.)
Probably.
(A quick glance at the anticipatory look on Beau's face makes her snort.) As if you care.
They can't catch both of us at once. All I have to do is be faster than you.
[A part of her that sounds too much like Jester for comfort is hollering in the back of her brain that this is some kind of romance novel scene and Beau should be Doing Something About That, but that gets thrown out the window really quickly. It's just not fair that it feels like so much with just a touch of the wrist, shoulders in proximity, ankles on ankles where sensitive joints press. It's fine. She isn't touch starved and smitten, what would give you that idea?]
I'm way faster than you, you've got too many muscles to be fast. And a big sword to carry.
[It's probably good for Yasha's sake that Beau is not currently able to run vertically up a damn flat wall yet, because otherwise it would just be bonkers.]
When we get out we'll get a running start. Go while they're distracted.
(Beau's right, but Yasha can't let the opportunity to wind her up pass, she takes bait way too easily. And Yasha likes the way playfully arguing with her makes the atmosphere feel charged with... something, that she doesn't quite have a word for yet. She has no idea if Beau gets even a hint of that, but, then again, she hasn't pulled her ankle away yet. Or her wrist.)
I've got big muscles, I can haul myself up faster than you can jump. Even while carrying the sword.
(She's really fucking strong. She's also staring at Beau now, and she's realised that when she does this, what little space between them suddenly becomes infinitesimally small. Yasha wets her lips, absentmindedly.)
Oh yeah? You think you can jump? I'll show you jumps.
[It's just outright fun to be swept up in the tension of it all, the excitement of a space they create together designed for their own amusement. It makes the space feel truly their own, easily disabiling anything else on her mind. It's nice. It's more than nice, it's--
She wasn't paying attention to if the car was moving, but the jolt of stopping pulls her back, right at the apex of the wheel. Beau's eyes drift sideways just to see the landscape, and almost chuckles at it all.]
Damn. That's a view. Feel like we didn't even earn it.
(The little jolt of the car coming to another scheduled halt draws her attention away from Beau, but it's worth it for what she sees when she turns her head. They're at the top of the wheel, and the entirety of the island lies below them.)
Wow, (she says, stunned, and finally moves from Beau's side so that she can be closer to the window. If only they could open it. She wants to feel the breeze up here.)
We... didn't, really. They just gave it to us. It's amazing.
[Something hurts in the separation, but it takes Beau a moment to even realize before she settles back into their pace. Since when did she get so damn grabby?]
Fuckin' nuts is what it is.
[It makes her wonder about the kinds of things out there she hasn't yet seen, the worlds she hasn't travelled. For once, this kind of life just feels good and right.]
Didn't even cost anything. Crazy how places without an economy just give stuff away. Guess I'm uh... glad we got it, before someone else did. Or before we couldn't, or something.
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It's nice. Beau's a little scared of how nice it is, in fact, for someone who's only ever had the rug pulled out from under them.
They end up talking, finding flowers, Beau likely off on some tirade about some idiot here before she's snapped to attention by Yasha's words. Her eyes follow the other woman's gaze, tipping herself up on her toes to try and get a better look. (As if, somehow, that she'll see better than Yasha, who's like a foot taller than her. Please.)]
What is it?
[Is it some kind of... house? No, it's hollow in the middle. She hedges a guess, even though it doesn't seem plausible, but she's already walking that direction now.]
Is that a water wheel? You know, what they use in making bread and stuff like that.
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(Unless they are making, like... really, really big loaves of bread over there. That's an interesting thought. Her stomach rumbles, and she blinks, and shifts a little in place, deciding to ignore it and not call attention to it to potentially keep Beau from noticing.)
Come on. Let's go and see. (Flowerquest has been abandoned. Now there is a new quest: find out what the giant wheel is. Yasha doubts she needs to tell Beau twice to come along, because she is always down for adventure. That is something that she likes about her, that she'll try anything at least once.)
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Hell yeah.
[She's already pacing along after as soon as Yasha changes direction, a half jog to get back to pace with the other woman as the direction pivots. It's not long until they break the treeline that obscures most of the wheel, and they can start to get a better look at the structure. Beau tilts her head in thought as she looks at it, contemplating a few different options.]
... Are those lights on it? Don't think it's on fire.
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Can't smell any smoke. (Definitely not on fire, but... lit up all the same. Weird. No point in standing here wondering what it is though, not when she could be seeing it up close for herself.) Maybe it's magic.
(She's continuing to walk. They're not far off, and when she finally breaks through the clearing that is obscuring the wheel in its entirety, well... it doesn't really make the situation any clearer. Yasha simply stops, and stares.)
Is... it a building? (She doesn't sound very convinced.)
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[She's mostly just thinking out loud until she gets more of it into view, which is... confusing. It's absolutely some kind of wheel, but most wheels she know of serve some kind of function- they don't take power just for the sake of them turning. Beau looks at the chambers, things hanging off it and swinging loose. Are those chairs?]
Still pretty sure that's some kind of wheel.
[Right in turn, it makes a noise and begins to turn again, slowly going from a stop to a faster pace. Beau just squints and cocks her head.]
I'm gonna go with windmill. But I think there are people on it.
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(It's a rhetorical question. She's frowning at the wheel, one hand on her hip... Beau, obviously just as confused as she is about the whole thing. It does look like you're supposed to get into it... and then, as she watches the thing start to turn, shifting the little carriages up, she gets it.)
Oh. It's– look. (She touches Beau's shoulder, points to direct her gaze upward.)
It's a look-out. You must be able to see everything from up there. (It's actually pretty clever, now that she knows what it's for. Also...) Do you think they'd let us try it?
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Why does it have so many lights on it? Everyone can see it. Is it just for fun?
[If it's not a tactical thing, maybe it's just a fun thing. People love to stare out over places from high up, but she's never seen a machine built just for that.]
C'mon, lets find out. Bet we can get in at least once. Or just climb it.
[She'll fight that big metal wheel don't test her not even once]
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I want to go up in it.
(It is an answer to Beau's question, in a way.)
I bet I could beat you to the top.
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Not a chance. C'mon, let's go.
[She's walking faster as they get to the wheel, a half time step instead of a full count to get closer. It just keeps looking taller, and it's exhilarating. Once they get closer to the base though, they can see it fully in view, and Beau can finally tell what those spinning things are.]
Oh, there's chairs. So they do want you to go up.
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It's not for climbing. It's for sitting in. That's less fun than what she had in mind, but... she still wants to go up.)
Oh.
(And without further ado, she links her arm through Beau's so she can tug her toward the opening in the gate.) Come on. We can take that one.
(It almost looks like it's waiting for them to use it, after all.)
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Yeah, yeah. Everybody else can get out of the way, that one right there? Ours.
[They stroll up easily, loading in and Beau blatantly ignoring all the warnings to keep your hands in and not shake the thing. She'll climb on this as much as she wants, officer. But once they're in, Beau will lean over towards Yasha, trying to speak a little louder over the noise of the machinery.]
How fast do you think this is gonna go? You think we might barf??
[Terrible.]
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(She wants to see Beau barf if it does go that fast, because that sounds really funny. Though that wouldn't work out so good for her if true, because this little carriage is quite... cramped. Beau is only sitting across from her in it, but their knees are touching all the same and Yasha is trying very hard not to notice it. Trying so hard not to feel every single minute shift of Beau's leg in the point where they're touching. Failing, obviously.
Anyway.
The carriage jerks to a slow start, and Yasha pauses, waiting hopefully but... their speed doesn't increase. It's a steady chug to the top, apparently. She looks a little disappointed.)
This is it? (The view is pretty cool though.)
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Ugh, damn. I guess if it's a lookout thing they don't want you to be dizzy at the top...
[Beau wiggles a little in her seat to be able to turn her torso more left and right, peer at the sights around them.]
Nothing else this tall though. It's really obvious where we are so anybody coming could see this first.
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(She's staring out of the window, mollified by watching the tops of the trees peel away from them and get smaller and smaller. Okay, who needs to go fast. This is cool. They're certainly heading out of range of most weapons and spells, too.)
Oh, look- look. (She leans back, catching Beau's elbow and turning her to see: the tea gardens, stretching off in the distance. She was there, not too long ago, sniffing all of the teas they had on offer.)
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Oh. Everything looks so small. Looks like 'mm on the mast of the ship again.
[Crawling up to the crow's nest, hanging off the edge with Avantika's spyglass in hand, feeling so, so free. This is just as good-- almost better, because Yasha is seeing it with her. Two people didn't fit up there, but Beau wished they did.]
Does it make you feel really big? To be up and away from all of that.
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(Yasha never went up to the crow's nest while they were on the ship. It would have been strange, to go so high up into the air when you knowingly have wings that don't work the way that wings are supposed to work any more. If she had fallen she wouldn't be able to catch herself. No, the deck had been much safer to watch the ocean from, and just as calming in Yasha's opinion.
She gets what Beau means though. Her next question makes her chuckle. She's still holding Beau's elbow, even though she has long since turned to look.)
I always feel really big. But... this is cool.
(And then the whole thing shudders to a stop.
Yasha's grip momentarily tightens on Beau, and then she lets her go, frowning out of the window at the tops of the trees. They aren't even at the top yet, what gives. She presses her forehead against the window to try and look down toward the bottom of the wheel.) ... Maybe somebody else is getting on.
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Why'd they wait for so many things to let them on? There were a bunch of empty ones.
[But hey, now they get more time in here. Which is... good? I mean, it's good. Yeah. Her heart pounding in her ears has nothing to do with it. Her chin tilts up, looking more on the horizon.]
Can't believe we're gonna go higher than this without even using a spell.
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(Maybe it's a tactic. She still hasn't discounted this as being relevant to surveillance efforts. Beau's internal monologue is right, though, and Yasha feels more or less the same way; she's happy to spend more time in here because she likes the view. She likes sharing this strange experience with Beau.
How much higher will they go exactly?)
Yeah. (They get this all for free. No spell slots wasted.) I still want to try climbing it though.
(Another wobble of the carriage signals the start of the ride again, and they're slowly crawling upward.) Do you think we can see the whole island from the top?
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[She lets her grip and body relax a little more, not keeping herself so strictly uptight by Yasha's side. It lets their bodies get closer in a more natural way; her knees fitting into the spaces Yasha doesn't take up, hands laying close where fingers brush between knuckles left on the tabletop. They can take up this entire space-- or at least, Beau wants to. This might be a chance she never gets again, and not necessarily like this, so she's taking it while she has it and waiting until she's stopped.]
Maybe we can climb it after. Like we get out of this and then start our way up. Do you think they'll get mad at us?
[She almost seems like she's excited at the prospect of them getting mad at her, like it would just be an added thrill to defy authority. Which... it is Beau, so...]
Look, you can basically see the whole thing already.
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Probably.
(A quick glance at the anticipatory look on Beau's face makes her snort.) As if you care.
They can't catch both of us at once. All I have to do is be faster than you.
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I'm way faster than you, you've got too many muscles to be fast. And a big sword to carry.
[It's probably good for Yasha's sake that Beau is not currently able to run vertically up a damn flat wall yet, because otherwise it would just be bonkers.]
When we get out we'll get a running start. Go while they're distracted.
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I've got big muscles, I can haul myself up faster than you can jump. Even while carrying the sword.
(She's really fucking strong. She's also staring at Beau now, and she's realised that when she does this, what little space between them suddenly becomes infinitesimally small. Yasha wets her lips, absentmindedly.)
Okay. You're on.
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[It's just outright fun to be swept up in the tension of it all, the excitement of a space they create together designed for their own amusement. It makes the space feel truly their own, easily disabiling anything else on her mind. It's nice. It's more than nice, it's--
She wasn't paying attention to if the car was moving, but the jolt of stopping pulls her back, right at the apex of the wheel. Beau's eyes drift sideways just to see the landscape, and almost chuckles at it all.]
Damn. That's a view. Feel like we didn't even earn it.
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(The little jolt of the car coming to another scheduled halt draws her attention away from Beau, but it's worth it for what she sees when she turns her head. They're at the top of the wheel, and the entirety of the island lies below them.)
Wow, (she says, stunned, and finally moves from Beau's side so that she can be closer to the window. If only they could open it. She wants to feel the breeze up here.)
We... didn't, really. They just gave it to us. It's amazing.
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Fuckin' nuts is what it is.
[It makes her wonder about the kinds of things out there she hasn't yet seen, the worlds she hasn't travelled. For once, this kind of life just feels good and right.]
Didn't even cost anything. Crazy how places without an economy just give stuff away. Guess I'm uh... glad we got it, before someone else did. Or before we couldn't, or something.
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wrap this one up?