I shake her once, twice, three times the charm.
"Phuong?"
She didn't move, but her eyes did. So most likely alive.
"Can't... move," she whined.
Though she didn't move her face much, but I can imagine.
I poked her cheek. She didn't seem to feel it. I waved my hand in front of her dazed face. Still nothing.
Since she's still able to speak, she should be fine. Maybe she used up all her spell slots when she activated that rock. I sat next to her, periodically poking her to make sure she's still alive, as well as taking the time to look at this spell slot-eating rock.
It was a light gray rock with darker gray speckles on it, around the size of my palm. It was smooth, either from erosion or human hands, and had a short line of symbols etched onto the surface. It looked similar to the graphien symbols on my wrists. If you discount that this thing seems to be a gray Kirby with a specific diet for magic, there wasn't anything particularly special about it. Maybe the runes count, but since I can't read them, it's practically useless to me.
I turned to the paralyzed person next to me, who was now pouting on the floor for understandable reasons, then at the rock in my hand.
Change of plans, maybe the rock isn't that useless after all.
With the parts that will be coming in tomorrow, I'll be able to tinker away at this. Though we're also infiltrating that cult tomorrow, so I might not have the time. But a few sleepless nights never hurt anyone.
I pocketed the stone for now, letting out a yawn as I turned to Phuong, still lying on the floor. How long is this going to last, because I am not taking care of a paralysis victim on top of infiltrating a criminal organization.
I poked her; she frowned, so still alive. I poked her again; she's glaring at me now. Again, she wants to kill me.
So I poke her again, and finally, a response.
"Stop it," she snapped, her voice barely room temperature before she returned to her dying breath.
She continued to lie there against her will as she glared up at me with murder in her eyes. A common occurrence, the difference being that she can't actually strangle me in her current state. Quite pitiful honestly.
... great, now I feel bad. Curse you empathy.
With a sigh, I picked her up, slinging her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and lugged her around our new house. Unlike usual, she didn't struggle or complain, probably because she couldn't, but she did glare at me the entire time, so not completely listless.
And so far, Phuong's constant chatter didn't seem to be false. There was indeed a basement. Who would've thought? After prusing around for a bit, I got bored and decided to go upstairs instead. Other than a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom, there wasn't anything that interesting to look at. If we don't count our good old rock that paralyzes my sister when turned on. Maybe I could rework it into a taser for lethal use. For other people, not for Phuong. Though maybe I could make one of those shock devices to torment her later.
As I climbed the stairs, deadweight in tow, it suddenly started moving again, and for some reason felt much heavier than when I was dragging her around before. We wobbled for a moment, Phuong still struggling because apparently she'd rather kill us both via stair accident than allow me to lump her over my shoulder like the sack of potatoes she is. I tightened the arm around her waist and gripped the railing, trying so desperately to not fall and possibly perish under the law of gravity and the spite of a fifteen-year-old girl who once forgot what eight plus eight was. Which is honestly much more embarrassing than a free fall.
"Put me down," complained the deadweight.
"If you're that hungry for stairs then be my guest."
I loosened the arm around her waist, tightening the grip on the railing to balance myself from going down with her. Just as I was lowering Phuong to her doom, that's when she miraculously decided that my shoulder was quite the comfortable perch. As she started struggling to stay on, I adjusted my grip, pulling her back from the brink of death by stairs. I plopped her safely on the step above me- mostly because her weight was the equivalent of a seven-year-old cow.
Even after granting her wish, Phuong still held onto my arm, her accursed nails digging past my clothes into my skin.
"Unhand me woman," I deadpanned, prying her grubby fingers off my innocent arm.
Restraining myself from flicking the hollow container she called a head before moving past her into the upstairs loft.
There was a basic bunk bed, a chair with a few cushions, and a fancy rug for flair. It wasn't anything to write home about. If this weren't a small house, I'd mistake this for the temporary dorm we were tossed in last night.
With a sigh, I flopped onto the bottom bunk, closing my eyes for a moment.
Finally, a moment of peace.
Suddenly, a heavyweight fell on my back, giving my lungs a sucker punch as oxygen decided to go out to get some milk.
"Minh."
God damn it.
"What?" I scowled, turning to the moron who decided to make me a weight scale.
"Can we buy one of those lanterns tomorrow?"
I frowned. If memory serves me correctly, we only have around ten gold coins in assets, not nearly enough to spend willy-nilly. And with the city seemingly refusing to install lamp posts, I doubt those lanterns would be cheap. Then again, there were a good number of people who had them, so maybe not that expensive. Still, we have better things to spend on than a guiding light right now.
I turned to Phuong, pushing off my back, "Just use graphien to make lanterns."
She rolled her eyes, flopping beside me with a pout.
"Nope, I'm not using graphien again."
"And why, may I ask?"
"You know why!" she huffed, smacking me on the shoulder as she turned away.
I groaned, feeling another headache coming to dropkick me soon. Sitting up, I enacted my revenge, hearing a curse from her before she stopped talking to me altogether. I looked away, a sigh escaping me as I gave up on trying to coax this stubborn child to make me free things. Given her record, she'll most likely swear off on graphien for a few days, then she'll go back to using it as if nothing happened. All credits to her goldfish memory.
I'll just have to wait it out until then. In the meantime, I'll have to make my own free stuff while she's sulking. It shouldn't be much of a hassle to make a lantern for us. Better than spending the little capital we have. Though, with the deal I have with Emily, it shouldn't be long before our assets grow larger.
She brings the materials, I make the tools, sell them, and we share the profits. In addition, I'll also need to do commissions for her free of charge. Not the best negotiation I've made, but not the worst.
I sighed again, rubbing my temples as I turned back to Phuong, still lying on my bed. I shrugged, sitting back on the bed, every bone in my body feeling like shit.
Haah. I should get some sleep.
A/N
Heyo! I'm back readers! And writer's block vanguished!
Over the break, I realized that my writer's block was due to the lack of structure in my writing. By this I meant that I simply wrote the title of the chapter and went with almost no plan. I realized that this way of writing would end up exhausted me of creative fuel with the lack of ideas to lock on to. So I decided to make a google doc with a loose summary of each chapter. And guess what? It worked!
After fixing my writer's block, I wrote like drinking water after traveling through the desert. And I ended up having a few chapters backed, so get ready!