Needle and Thread

The Prisoner of Azkaban

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When Lyra came to her senses, the first thing she did was check her hand in a panic. No ring. Well, that was good. She wasn't entirely sure she hadn't gotten married. She ran a hand through her hair, which was frizzy and dry, and coughed a little bit to try and clear the sticky, just-swallowed-a-whole-bottle-of-cheap-syrup feeling from her throat as she looked around.

She remembered chasing Nereida around a lot, and Nereida kept saying stuff that Lyra now realized was super lame but at the time felt like the pirate girl had been stabbing her firstborn. They seemed to be pretty far from the TARDIS garden, which would suck because they no longer had the power of ridiculous candy flight. It was the middle of the day, and she was more tired than she thought was possible.

Nereida walked over to her, yawning. "You guys were... fast," she said. "Very...fast. And now I am very tired."

"Same, dude," Lyra said. "Jeez, I wish I hadn't done that."

"Which part?"

"Everything," Lyra sighed. "Jeez. I really hope Andesine will do the sensible thing and pretend it all never happened."

"Agreed," Winter said. "I don't know where the others are. I think you and I were the fastest. Maybe they dropped behind or something?"

"Guys? That you?!"

"Andesine!" Lyra called. "Yeah, just c'mere!"

Andesine stepped out of the stand of trees off to her left. "What a night," he said. "First Lyra--" he saw the look Lyra was sending him and stopped. "What a night."

"Okay, so that's four," Lyra said. "That leaves... one, two, three left, right?"

"Not anymore," Nereida said, pointing to where Ananda and Roxy stepped out of the trees. Ananda was limping a little.

"Are you alright?" Winter asked, running out to his guide.

"Yes," Ananda answered. "Though, there is the small problem of me having a twisted ankle. I believe that a monster grabbed me? It is very murky."

"Wish it were murkier," Winter muttered, as Benny stumbled into the little knot of people in the forest.

"Sweet mother," Benny said. "That was the worst."

They all looked at each other for a minute. Then, Andesine punched Lyra on the arm, hard. "Give us a bit more warning next time, will ya?!"

Roxy laughed nervously. "How'd that even happen, anyways?"

"Well, I was summoning John to help me fight Ray, but, like, remember that one glitch in walkaround where you can be Trickster? Yeah, it came out and I went..." Lyra looked at the blank faces of pretty much everyone, and winced. "Sorry. One of my key guys was Trickster."

"I figured," Benny said. "Um. Can you never use that key again?"

"It's probably a good idea," Lyra replied. "I mean, I have nine others."

"Nine keys... and short hair!" Roxy said. "It looks so cute that way!"

"Yeah? Well, yours looks awesome too! I didn't know your hair grew that quickly," Lyra returned. "And you got even tanner, too..."

"Not as tan as Benny!" Roxy said.

"Watch this, too," Benny said, and held up his arms. "I have actual muscles now, too!"

"Oh," Lyra said. "That's so sad."

"What?" Benny asked.

Lyra grinned. "Cos mine are BIGGER!" She said, and held up her arms for all to see. Andesine rolled his eyes as everyone laughed and smiled.

The ice was broken. It was surprising for Lyra, to actually see her friends after this long. Almost everybody's hair was longer, and Benny's roots were showing, which was new. Lyra hadn't known he was originally blonde.

Her friends' companions were definitely intriguing. Both of them girls, both of them around the same height-- Lyra kept looking at Roxy, who despite having changed so much, still watched them silently.

Roxy. Roxy was something else. Lyra knew that her oldest friend had changed, but not like this. Though she was very introverted, Roxy used to talk a lot and always seemed to be smiling and joking. Now, she just... watched, like she was scared that if she said anything, she'd derail the whole conversation.

"Are you okay?" Lyra asked quietly.

"Fine," Roxy replied. "I've just seen some crap, is all."

"Seen some, did some, from what I've heard," Lyra replied.

Wrong answer. Roxy smiled, but it was empty. "I guess so. Excuse me." She walked over to Benny, who was doubled over, shaking his head. Lyra walked over.

"Sup, Benjamima?"

"Please stop that," Benny replied. "I've got enough of a headache as is without having to decipher your horrendous dissections of my name."

"Dude, you really need to dumb down what you say sometimes," Lyra replied. "What's wrong?"

"I'm trying to get where we are from my Philosopher powers, but it's blocked. Like, I can see several places we will be, and maybe like a couple that we could be or are in, in alternate timelines. But I don't know where we are!"

"We're north of the TARDIS garden by about ten days' worth of travel," Winter said. When everyone looked at him curiously, he said "Well, don't you get a map of your planets when you ascend?"

"Oh, yeah," the Players said.

"Yeah. I couldn't find it earlier, but since I got there it's been marked on mine," Winter replied.

"Let us go, then," Ananda said.

"Yeah, let's hurry," Nereida added. "I've got some sort of migraine..."

"All righty then! It's settled. Let's travel with Winter and Benny up front. They can be our navigators. Then Ananda an Nereida and Roxy, and y'all will be making sure we're not gonna all die if a monster comes out. Andesine and me'll go last. That okay?" Lyra asked.

"Who put you in charge?" Andesine muttered.

"Nobody," Lyra said. "I am making friendly suggestions."

"I think I'd rather bring up the rear, if that's okay with you," Roxy said quietly.

"Yeah, of course!" Lyra exclaimed. "Whatever."

They all fell in, weaving through the trees like a small snake.

"So.. about Trickster," Andesine said, lowering his voice.

"Oh, that's right, Rox!" Lyra said loudly. "I just remembered. I met someone you'd think was cool!" She stepped behind Andesine and began talking animatedly about Eldwyne.

"Great talk," Andesine murmured distractedly, and sighed. "I didn't sign up for this schist."