Rising Shards

“Alright, all we gotta do today is three loops and that’ll be a good start.” Dr. Diast said.

“OK…” I said.

“Once you finish the first lap, you’ll be fine, trust me.” Diast said.

I was back in the empty lot in the driver’s seat of Stella’s car. She was in the back seat, and Dr. Diast was next to me.

“Are the mirrors good?” Stella asked.

“I checked them, they look…” I said. “What am I supposed to see in them? You? I see you…”

“You’re supposed to see the street behind you.” Stella said.

I felt a lot better having Dr. Diast for this. But with her there I couldn’t immediately bail as easily as I could with Stella, as I felt a lot more embarrassed about chickening out in front of Dr. Diast than I did with just Stella. Well, chickening out a second time. This was not my attempt of the day, as we tried earlier and I kind of freaked out a bit again, but Stella and Dr. Diast were really understanding and waited until later after I'd cooled off (and there being less cars around, that was really getting me anxious) to try again.

Once my mirrors were all good, my seatbelt buckled, my chair good, my hands on the wheel, it was time to try driving again.

“Now I know you’re a teacher,” I said. “But have you taught anyone how to drive before?”

“No, but I am a pretty good driver by my own estimations, so I don’t think it’ll be that hard.” Diast said. “With you being a good student, and Stella and I teaming up to teach, this should be a piece of cake. So are you ready?”

“I, uh,” I said. “How do I start it again?”

I wanted to get further than approximately half a centimeter this time. I knew it’d lurch forward as soon as I put it in drive. I was shaky and maybe a bit too sweaty, but I could do this. The car was probably going very slowly, but I still reacted like a rocket was attached ot the back of it as soon as we got going.

“If you wanna tap the gas a bit, go for it,” Diast said.

“Right…” I said. I barely tapped the pedal, yelping as we barely increased speed. My eyes darted around, looking for anyone nearby, but we were still clear.

“And you just wanna slowly turn the wheel here,” Diast said as we reached the end of the lot.

“Turning…now…” I said.

With each turn I got a bit more confident, and somehow completed a full lap without scream-crying.

“I actually did it!” I said.

“Yeah, bud!” Diast said as Stella cheered in the backseat.

“Uh, heh,” I said, realizing I was well into my second run around the lot. “Faleur taxi service here, where would you like to go?”

“Ah, there’s this parking lot I really need to get to,” Stella said. “I think this is the one, but I can’t remember. If you don’t mind, ma’am, I'll give a tip if you can do a one more lap to make sure we got the right place.

“Will you actually pay me if I do three laps?” I asked.

“Maybe not in cash,” Stella said. “But if there’s a Raina toy you want, we can swing by a store on the way home.”

“Oh!” I said. “Four laps it is!”

“Since when was four the number?” Diast grinned. “I seem to remember three being what we set.”

“Yeah but,” I said, turning slowly but decently around a bend. “I’m feeling confident. And I don’t want to let my customers down, you know?”

“This is why the Faleur taxi service has such great reviews,” Diast said. “Their drivers are so hard working.”

“And such sweethearts!” Stella said.

“Ehehehe….” I made it five and a half laps around before we called it a day. The half wasn’t even because of me freaking out, but because Diast wanted to show me how to park. 

Afterwards, I held my new Raina figure close, enjoying the time with it in its packaging for a bit before I opened it. Stella was checking all the boxes in the apartment, scoffing to herself.

“Why don’t we have any board games?” Stella asked. “We so had board games at our place, right Zeta?”

“I think?” I said. “Do you remember packing any?”

“No,” Stella said. “I hope I didn’t give them away. Ugh, I really wanted a board game night!”

“I could see if I could get, uh, video game versions. Of board games.” Dr. Diast said.

“Ehhhh.” Stella said. “I need the physical deals, you know?”

Eventually, Stella gave up searching and watched Dr. Diast dink around on her game console.

“Any requests?” Diast asked.

“Do you have that one game that uh…” Stella started. “I used to watch my friend play it. It was like a fantasy game, pretty old…”

“Let’s see, how old are we talking?” Diast asked.

“Like it was new when I was in high school old,” Stella said. “I remember you fought bear monsters that had ruby armor.”

“Lemme see…” Diast said, searching through her library.

“Zeta, you know this one, right?” Stella asked. “Help me out here.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Ah, you might’ve been too little to remember.” Stella said. “I bet Evy would crush this game, I wanna see her play.”

“Is it…this one?” Dr. Diast asked, holding up a big chunky cartridge that had a worn sticker on the front.

“Oh my god,” Stella squinted. “I think that’s it, can you play it to make sure?”

“Yeah, let me get the 1.7X hooked up!” Dr. Diast said.

As Diast finagled with tangled cables on an old game console (the eGame 1.7X, something I was tempted to text Kalei and ask her about) that had looked like a clunky heating fan, Stella mussed up my hair.

“Hey!” I said, patting it back in place.

“So, are you feeling better?” Stella asked.

“Uh huh,” I said. “I met with Marmalade and Roux yesterday, and we all talked about ourselves, and it was nice.”

“Good!” Stella said. “That help with the upset trans tummy?”

“A bit, yeah,” I said. “I think I need a lot of time to figure things out around it, like with Jeans, and Mom, and Dad, and just internal things I bottle up. But as long as I have amazing people supporting me and that I’m happy that I’m trans, I’m good.”

“And are you happy that you’re trans?” Stella asked.

“Very.” I said.