*drip-drip-drip*
Flutterpage: ...
Flutterpage: Ms. Willow, I think the water's been shut off.
Flutterpage: I opened it all the way, but nothing's coming out.
Flutterpage tilts her head as she brings it in close and sticks her little finger into the faucet, feeling only a few drips of water.
*drip-drip-drip*
Dangling in midair, Willow wipes the beads of sweat from her face.
Willow: Go to the water resource office, and ask the staff what's going on. If they're not there, they're probably at the Gin Barrel.
Flutterpage: I know you want me to leave, but how're you goin' to track the time and score without me?
Willow: Hmph.
*drip-drip-drip*
Willow: With a heart that's pure, and a body lean, to the hunt I go, through forest green.
Her wand unexpectedly slips from her left hand and plummets to the floor.
Willow: Feck. Pick it up and keep going, Charlotte.
Willow: The movement's correct. First spin, then run the geranium over the shoulder, let it slide down the back, and as it falls to the ground, step on it to hop into the air, then ...
Willow: Sulis, Sulis, all life's offerings I bring, as sacrifice to you, from the growing spring ...
Willow: Ack! This is all wrong!
She halts, wrinkling her brow.
Willow: The flow needs to be smoother.
Willow: Alright, let's try this again.
Willow: The sprouting light within the world's egg lays ...
*thud* She gracefully descends from the air, her mechanical prosthesis squeaking softly as she lands.
Flutterpage: Hooray! You did it!
Willow: ...
Willow: This element requires a 720-degree turn. I haven't even made it to 600.
Flutterpage: Oh ...
Willow: Once more from the beginning.
*drip-drip-drip*
Willow: Your endless quest brings parents' joyful days.
*thud* Her body has collapsed on this rotted wooden floor countless times today, and with the setting sun, each fall feels heavier than the last.
Willow: ...
Flutterpage: ...
Flutterpage: How 'bout this time?
Willow: I did it.
Flutterpage: You did what?
Willow: I completed the element. I did it.
Flutterpage: !!!
Flutterpage: Blimey!
Flutterpage: So you mean, you did that-that move you've always talked about?
Willow: The two-and-a-half turn with free leg backwards and upwards, wand throw and catch.
Flutterpage: Does that mean you can complete the ritual, too?
Willow: Yes.
Willow examines the geranium in her hand, the tender pink leaves quietly resting in her palm.
Not a single petal has fallen or been harmed in any way.
Willow: Alright. That's enough for today.
Flutterpage: Hmm?
Willow: It's supper time. Your mother must be waiting for you to come home with beef stew, fried fish, and bread.
Flutterpage: But why? You usually train for about three more hours.
Willow: Not today. I need a break. yawn I'm totally exhausted.
Flutterpage: Hmm.
Flutterpage stays exactly where she is, showing no desire to move.
Willow: Why are you still standing there? Do I need to get His Majesty's limousine to pick you up?
Flutterpage: Oh, I get it. If I don't leave now, the critters in the garden will bite my ears.
She mumbles on to herself as she quickly makes her way to the door.
Willow: Good, I won't see you off.
A gust of wind blows in through the door as Flutterpage makes her exit. With a flick of Willow's wand, she slams it shut behind her.
The room settles back into its muted, oppressive stillness.
*drip-drip-drip*
Willow steps into the pale yellow light of the kitchen and shuts the door behind her.
Willow: Ack, bloody!
Willow: You filthy little stain! Who ever gave you permission to stick to my cauldron?!
Willow sits beside the sink, absorbed in cleaning her cauldron.
Willow: ...
Willow: pant Look at me! I have a whole sink of dishes that haven't washed, and here I am, fighting a little stain on a cauldron, and when the water's just shut off, too!
Willow: I did ask Buzzie to visit the water resource office. Hopefully it didn't slip her mind, if she even knows how to use it.
Willow: Never mind. I can clean it off without water.
COMBAT
Willow: pant Hah!
Willow: Got it! It's off!
Willow: You stubborn little thing. Everyone loathes you, avoids you like the plague. You're just a pathetic little stain, clinging to what you can.
Willow: Do you have no shame? To sully the sacred floor with your artificial leg!
Willow: So what if you finished the element?!
Willow: It won't bring back your leg! Without it, you're no different from a clown! How could you possibly compete again?! You're not qualified!
Willow: No, I'm not.
Willow: All the money I spent on this leg, all the efforts I made to finish the ritual, they're utterly pointless!
Willow: When was the last time I ate dessert? Or even a chip, for that matter? Year after year, I've trained harder than the last to make up for my leg, but what's the point?
She flings the scrubbing brush into the cauldron, and her heavy breathing gradually slows down.
Willow: Heh, forget it. Everything will be alright.
Willow: Just give up. Stop thinking about it. Stop hoping. Don't look back or ahead.
Willow: Just look at the cauldron.
Beneath the dim light, Willow raises her now sparkling clean cauldron to eye level.
Willow: See how clean it is now? Stop clinging to places where you don't belong.
Willow: The world is perfect without you.
The rusted faucet suddenly sputters out a blast of water. It splashes across the counter, startling Willow.
Willow: Ah!
Willow leaps back with the reflexes of a true athlete. Her gaze quickly falls on the piece of paper on the table.
Willow: No!
She dashes forward, snatching the paper away from the raging spray of water.
It's the registration form for the Uluru London Qualifiers.
Willow: panting
Willow: panting
Her hands, clutching the form, begin to tremble. Before long, the tremors have engulfed her entire body.
Willow: Still intact.
Willow: Hahahahaha.
Willow: Still ... intact.
Willow: ...
Caroline stands at the center of the sports field in her training gear, feeling the fiery pulse of the ground beneath her feet.
Flutterpage: Hey.
Caroline Bartley: Hmm?
Flutterpage: Ms. Bartley! I finally found you!
Caroline Bartley: F-Flutterpage? Is that you? I can hardly open my eyes in all this wind. Where, where are you?
Flutterpage: I'm right here!
The wind subsides as Flutterpage makes a hurried landing, nearly losing her balance.
Caroline Bartley: You've been looking for me, have you? How did you find me?
Flutterpage: I knew where you were stayin' in London, but you wasn't there when I arrived. Then, the landlady, Erika, told me to try the trainin' field. Looks like she was right.
Caroline Bartley: She was. I've been training here every day. You know, to settle in before the event.
Flutterpage: Good luck, then. Actually, I've come here to deliver a very important and urgent letter to you. Here.
Caroline Bartley: "A Letter of Challenge"?
The bold, crooked letters scrawled across the top proudly proclaim the letter's importance.
Flutterpage: "I, Liberti Grove, on behalf of Charlotte O'Hagan, hereby challenge Caroline Bartley to see who'll become the champion of the Floor Ritual in the Uluru Games."
Flutterpage: "No matter if you're a seeded player, a champion, or the sun you say you are ..."
Flutterpage: "Charlotte O'Hagan, the only Floor Ritualist to master the two-and-a-half turn with free leg backwards and upwards, wand throw and catch ..."
Flutterpage: "... will defeat you and win first place in the London Qualifiers!"
Caroline Bartley: What?
Caroline Bartley: You mean ...