Uma ran her ass back home and upstairs. Judging by Serosa's voice during the fight she reckoned the homecoming wasn't going to be pleasant.
She touched the scrape across her cheek. It had stopped bleeding but one good look would tell Serosa everything she needed to know. The image of Serosa directing that energy toward her nearly made Uma's legs give out.
Crap. What am I going to do about this.
She paced frantically walking back and forth like she was in the loony bin.
Come on, Uma, think—
She heard the front door open.
Panic.
She looked around the room, clocked her options, and made a decision she would immediately regret — she tripped herself down the stairs.
Which actually hurt a ton more than intended and came with an additional unwanted headache
"Uma!" Serosa's voice rang out, sounding dead tired.
Uma was on the floor wincing when she felt herself being lifted up and found herself face to face with Serosa, who looked like she'd aged twenty years since this morning. Hamaron stood behind her wearing a smirk that Uma filed away for later.
Pisses me off how she's still pretty, Uma thought as a green light glowed from Serosa's hand and she began examining the scrape.
Magic up close is so much prettier.
Uma could feel the headache dissolving — and could also see Serosa getting visibly weaker with the effort eye bags only deepening
Aw, crap.
Uma pushed her hand away gently. She turned to her board, started to write Im Gud, stared at it, sighed, and erased it.
Good. I'm good.
Serosa tilted her head and said something Uma translated as are you sure?
Uma nodded furiously, already mortified at having made the entire situation considerably worse than it needed to be.
Behind Serosa, Hamaron's smirk had evolved into a full toothy grin. Uma shot him a look. He tried very hard not to laugh and failed partially.
Serosa sighed, a sigh of someone completely done with the day in every possible way dusted herself off said her goodnights and retreated to her room.
Uma and Hamaron stood in the hallway staring at each other.
Uma's glare deepened with each passing second.
Hamaron's grin widened to match.
She picked up her board.
Teach me how to fight.
"No," Hamaron said, grinning wider.
Uma rolled her eyes.
Plz.
He appeared to consider it seriously. Then shrugged.
"No."
Why not.
"Serosa would kill me."
Coward.
That must have translated clearly enough, because Hamaron reached over and flicked her on the forehead
"Muscles first."
Uma opened her mouth to argue, remembered who she was talking to, and closed it again. She turned and went upstairs.
Laying on her bed, she stared up at the ceiling and it really hit her.
This is my life now
The realization hit her.
Well, duh, been here about a month now, but still... it's all surreal."
A terrifying image hit her — Serosa, being attacked and Uma doing nothing about it lying on the ground, bleeding, staring at Uma with that same gentle look
She banged her head hard against the wall trying to manually knock the thought out.
Alright. No more studying, fighting first.
Then the image of that hollowman came back, and she banged harder
Dammit, I should've dodged that
she hadn't realized it, but she'd become obviously stiff — courtesy of Hamaron, of course."
Ugh needa work on that
Uma looked at herself
Also needa work on muscle and balance and...
All of her lower back popped at once
That...
She crawled into bed and sighed
God, this is gonna suck
On cue, that same Serosa image played in her head.
Uma didn't fight it this time. She simply made the decision to change the future
And for the first time since she got here she DID dream
The next day came slowly, granted by the fact that no one was there to wake her up — either gently or by breaking the door down.
She threw herself off the bed and onto the ground, face first. She reckoned it was a slow day, evident by how dead calm it was.
She didn't want to admit it, but she was worried that something bad had happened to Serosa. So before she even changed, she took a quick peek in her room.
The door opening felt slower than normal, like something was pushing against the door.
She eventually swung it open, stopping right before she banged it against the wall, and stared at the bed where Serosa lay.
She was asleep — and letting out a snore that wasn't befitting of how Uma saw her.
What caught her eye more, however — as if God themselves were highlighting it — was the unmistakable cover of a diary.
I need it.
She really didn't, but she desperately wanted it.
What does a woman like Serosa even write?
She did a mock impression.
Day 88: I yelled at an old man. Day 89: I threw a chair at Hamaron.
Uma continued to tiptoe, matching her steps with Serosa's snoring. At one point Serosa brushed Uma's hair, which made her freeze in place.
"Mgh... shave... beard."
Is that how rough my hair is?! That comment hurt Uma a little.
Now I don't feel bad. She reached for the diary and bolted quietly out of the room.
Let's see here. She grinned evilly as she opened it.
What she found was not logs, not one sentence per page, not even rants about how she hates the mayor.
13/14/80
Hamaron gave me a custom ring today, made from gold.
I almost proposed right there, well, of course we aren't dating, but...
The book broke off into Serosa explaining her situationship to herself.
Uma smiled a wide, greedy, evil smile.
Jackpot.