~Maria~
"Are you satisfied now?" Victor asked, "Am I some stray dog you feel that you have to feed?" He paused, “Still, I’m in your debt.”
I shrugged, wrapping a strip of cloth around my wrist. It'd heal once I could get close to Tessa--either she'd heal me or we'd join and I'd heal myself. Our baseline powers were the same, but i hadn't practiced healing in a while.
"I looked up, struggling to tie a knot to hold the bandage in place. "Why do you think you owe me anything?" I asked Victor. "I'm happy to help."
Victor looked at me skeptically. "Uh-huh."
I nodded.
"Why?"
I shrugged again. "Maybe Tessa had me suppressed for too long and rubbed off on me, who knows?"
I offered a hand to help him up. "I'm going to check on the others--care to join me?"
~Tessa~
We'd gone back to camp, and Cio hadn't seemed to notice me. Given that she seemed too like Maria, that didn't really bother me. I found that, oddly, I missed my other half. It may have had something to do with the fact that, without her, I didn't stand a chance in a fight. I kind of hoped that we could find some common ground--especially if we were going to spend a lot of time together, in any form.
Cio was half asleep, still murmuring about being hungry.
