Jurdan in the Mortal World

Roller Boast-er

My mind whirs, any blurriness gone. What does it mean? Did he lose it? Is it important enough to him that I can somehow swing the pendulum my way, own the upper hand? Hold something more against him? Does he need something more against him?

Cardan comes into view, squatting to meet my eye. "What?"

"This is Madoc's marriage ring. It might be worth enough to him for us to hold something more against him."

Cardan's voice is serious when he speaks next, face grave. "You do realize...if Oriana isn't enough of an upper hand, their marriage ring is going to be worth even less."

"Well then...we sell the ruby and keep the profits. Money is always a kind upper hand."

Cardan blows out a breath. "No harm in keeping it and seeing how this plays out."

I take a deep breath. I promised to myself that I wouldn't make this bad. Not this thing. Just this once.

I rest my forehead against Cardan. "We are going to have a fun ride. We are going to have a great time. And we are going to deal with everything else later."

When I open my eyes, the Cardan I know is back. And just in time, because in the time it took me to have a PTSD relapse and discover Madoc's marriage ring, the gate has continuously been getting closer to us. 

Just tells you how long the damned lines are.

Once we get buckled in, those black restraint things come thudding over our chests. Something inside me screams, I'm trapped, but I give it no mind. It's a roller coaster safety check, for heavens' sake.

Cardan, however, is looking extremely nauseous. I reach over and pat his silky head of hair. "Aw, is Cardan scared?"

He rolls his eyes and gives me a pinch. 

The roller coaster won't be too bad. A loop, a few drops, the normal. 

With a lurch, the ride starts, making Cardan low-key panic. We escalate higher and higher up, the slight breeze ruffling my hair. I hear some hoots from the other passengers, and Cardan seems to shrink into his seat.

I laugh, adrenaline-ridden. I am on top of the world right now.

We go higher and higher, and I can see the drop looming before me. One second, two seconds. Drop. 

The roller coaster swoops, leaving my voice and my stomach behind. The only noise I can make is a vague squeaking sound, and the roller coaster takes a sharp left, Cardan slamming into me. Before I can complain, we're climbing up again, swooping down once more in a smooth motion.

We travel at breakneck speed, zooming past the people and continuing on the track, which leads up, and up, and up-then around. The world flips upside down, as does my heart. 

The roller coaster fills with screams and squeals of delight. I just grin wildly. This is almost a better adrenaline rush than when I fell on a table from a story above.

We charge back down, my hair completely undone from the braid I pulled it into. It whips behind me, leaving tendrils to slap me and other people in the face. I'm too dizzy to care, and I can barely open my eyes at the speed we're going at.

After a few more minor dips and curves, we abruptly halt, making us yank on the protective bar above us.

A few seconds pass, and the bar lifts off of us with a hiss, letting us get off the ride. 

"Cardan. Let's go see Vivi and Heather." He looks very, very green. Like...fields-of-Elfhame green.

I make an annoyed noise at the back of my throat, and pull him off by the wrist.

"Come, you idiotic barbarian. Things called bathrooms exist in this world too. Although they might not be as good as the ones in Japan..." I think contemplatively as I lead him there.

Once we get to the bathrooms, I push him into the male one, resisting the urge to plug my nose from the smell of piss resonating from every wall tile in that place.

"Good luck. Meet you by the second pavilion, near the pretzel-and-funnel-cake vendor." I don't give him a chance to argue, and walk towards the area.

When I get there, Vivi is frowning at Oak, who has powdered sugar all over his nose. "Eat more...gently, would you?" she chides, ruffling his hair.

"Where's Cardan?" Heather asks, raising an eyebrow. All of us are on edge now.

"Taking a puke. The roller coaster was too much for him, albeit his boasting of being able to take it." I roll my eyes, smiling.

I snatch a funnel cake off Vivi's plate. There is no way I'm going to tell them about Madoc, or the ring. If we're lucky, we won't have to deal with it anyway.

Unfortunately, we are not lucky. 

I take a bite of the hot, fried, sticky goodness and wait for Cardan to come back. Eventually, I see him sauntering over, still looking slightly green, but mostly back to his vampire-white self. For a minute, I see the cruel prince's smile, drowning me in the river.

The vision dissipates as soon as he smiles. "Ooh. What's this? A manifestation of the...what's it called...waffles that we had the other day?" He tears away part of mine, and throws it whole into his mouth. I sigh.

His eyes light up. "I need more of this."

(A/N: ik we didn't get very far in the plot, but it was necessary before we went back to elfhame...sorry.)