Rest with Anxiety

Dinner that night tasted a tad stale, even without eating for the entirety of the day. A sad reality for sure, when chicken nuggets were usually Katie’s favorite.

Having to pay for food wasn’t something they expected to be an issue- they had enough to keep themselves going for a while- but what it did mean was they couldn’t afford to splurge elsewhere. The three outfits they owned were gonna be the only ones they owned for the foreseeable future (and that was counting the swimsuits) unless they wanted to make an equally unaffordable stop back at their house in Merrytown.

Walking to a hotel was a quiet experience, one they’d been needing- and also one that didn’t comfort them the tiniest bit. No challenges. No interruptions. It was like couldn’t even hear the animals of the crowds of guests fawning over them in amazement. Their march to a fresh bed was lonely and without conversation.

The cheapest place to stay inside the Wildland Expedition was still leagues better than it would’ve been in any other park- it at least felt safe, overlooking some corner-cutting in terms of quality that they assumed was strictly economical considering Kidney’s perfectionist reputation. 

Pshhhhh

Frankie was already in bed- on her side, facing the wall, so she could only hear the noise. It sounded just like the rain, listening to Katie pour their hundreds of tokens from the heavy chest into their bag. Without a bank system for the game, they were going to be forced to carry all this around with them at all times, surely making them prime targets for theft. Still… 252 tokens already, and with three days to spare.

“What do we do with the treasure chest…?”

“Pawn it, maybe.”

“So many coins… do you think this is more than Bozo’s team has racked up?”

“Couldn’t be… just think, they can bribe anyone. Even staff. And when that fails, they can cheat them out of them with rigged games.”

“Hm. …I hope we’re catching up.”

“If first place isn’t possible, we can always hope for second. Or third.”

“Kidney did say that… I just- Will the prize money be enough, in that case?”

“We’ll make it enough.”

Katie nodded, and, climbing up into her bed, soon set off into dreamland cradling their bag of riches.