Chapter Text
The Cat's Tail is cheerfully crowded with TCG Genius Invokation enthusiasts. They make way for Jean, though, when Barbara wheels her up the ramp Margaret and Wagner had quickly hammered together. Margaret smiles at the both of them and points to a side room where she assures them that Jean can get some quiet if she needs to rest.
Noelle and Barbara had done their best. More than merely their best, Jean suspects. She has a distant, vague memory of seeing their work from above, as if carried on a wind swirling upward. The Hydro energy pouring off of Barbara had seemed more than her body should have been able to sustain. And Jean is almost certain that she'd seen her Vision in her own hand, grey and dead.
But perhaps the distance and vagueness mean it was only a dream, not a memory. Barbara has said nothing of it. Jean doesn't want to ask.
Dream or not, the ordeal of her healing has left her still too fragile to stand more than briefly, or walk more than a few paces without collapsing to the floor. She'd spent the first days after her return confined to her bed until Sucrose and Klee had proudly brought her the chair. She's grateful for their kindness; it allows her to attend this event with Barbara, as she'd promised, instead of having to beg off once again.
Pushing her around seems a terrible inconvenience, but every time Jean looks at Barbara, her smile looks sincere. It lights up her eyes as she brings the ruleset for the event tournament over to the table where Jean waits.
"It looks like there are a couple of different categories... but Margaret suggested that we play in this one. Doubles Dueling. She says if we sit here she'll direct other people in this category to us. We'll each use our own deck, but we have to have two of the same characters."
"That's easy." Jean opens her Casket of Tomes and starts to lay out her newly rebalanced deck. "Kaeya says his card is in both of our decks, so if you're using your own character card, we already fit the requirements."
Barbara, in the middle of taking out her own deck, looks over at Jean's. Her eyes widen a little. "Oh! We do. My card does work well with Kaeya's...."
"So it does. But," and Jean clears her throat, feeling awkward, "That's not why I put it in here."
"Oh," Barbara says again, softly, as she spreads out her own character cards. It's a good Freeze trio; Jean refuses to let herself be self-pitying this time about what's only reasonable strategy. Barbara, though, reaches for Mona's card. "If we wanted, we could make all our character cards match."
"I don't want to ruin your strategy. Kaeya tells me you've built a very good deck."
"That's all right! I'll swap my Elemental Resonance cards for sword cards. Those will work for Kaeya, too. And I have a Lands of Dandelion and a Cold-Blooded Strike... I just have to get your card out of the protector. I'll be careful not to damage it."
Barbara says that earnestly, as if she thinks Jean would care. Not that Jean is anything but careful with Barbara's card herself; she'll have to get one of the clever little protectors Barbara takes out, a pouch of soft cloth backed with thin board. It makes her chest ache a little, in a pleasant way, to see that Barbara does treasure her card after all.
"It will be interesting to see how our decks perform," she tells Barbara. "And perhaps once the tournament is over, or if we're knocked out early, we could test them against each other. I'd like to see your strategy for myself."
"It's not that good," Barbara says, her cheeks going pink. "I'm getting better at it the more that I play, but I'm sure you'll beat me. Which doesn't mean- I do still want to play with you!"
"I don't play that often myself, and I barely even know my deck now that Kaeya's gotten his hands on it. But I want to play with you, too, Barbara. That's the reason I asked."
That wins her another smile, small but sincere. Around them, the cheerful chaos of people circulating and chatting and exchanging greetings and cards and tips is starting to die down as Margaret organizes people into categories and brackets. A familiar figure at the door catches her eye, and she looks over to see Diluc entering. He looks around and meets her gaze, giving her a nod, then catches sight of Kaeya and starts towards him with a determined stride. Jean turns, smiling, back to Barbara.
"Also, once we've had that game, we could order a pizza," she suggests. "I'm afraid I may not be up to an evening walk, but we could sit on the porch and still see the sunset."
"That sounds wonderful! Diona makes a delicious special drink for me. Why don't we order that, too? If you would like to try it."
"I'd love to."
As relief replaces the briefly anxious look that had accompanied Barbara's question, Margaret rings a bell on the counter, chiming it repeatedly until the crowd falls silent. Jean turns to listen to the announcement. Half of her attention, though, is still on Barbara sitting beside her, quietly rearranging her deck while Margaret gestures to the brackets she's just posted. Whether they win or lose, having Barbara here at her side, knowing that she wants to be here, is the only victory that Jean desires.