This was definitely one of the high points of Volcatia's life.
She was driving Mina's car, and it was way the fuck faster than she'd thought it would be.
It was so fucking fast she imagined there probably wasn't even anyone else who would be able to drive it like this without crashing.
She had her friends with her too.
Two of her friends.
She had that many now, and it was great.
Carl was here, and he was doing Carl things like screaming randomly and bracing as though they were about to crash every so often.
Fucking Carl.
Ir'alith was here too, and…
Volcatia leaned forward a little in her seat, taking special note of how the Mystery Legs in front of her flexed and tensed.
It was almost too amazing.
Almost.
They had to be the best legs.
She just knew it.
The car crashed into another rock, and she steered to the side to avoid the possible future she'd caught a glimpse of.
Why were there even this many fucking rocks out here anyway?
So annoying.
The hardest part of driving like this wasn't the speed, since she was so much faster anyway, it was the distractions.
Mainly the Mystery Legs though.
She liked Ir'alith as a friend.
They hanged out earlier that day, and it was fun, even if it was a little weird.
Mm.
She still needed to figure out why she didn't like the phrase in that sense.
They hanged out, and it was fun, and that was great, but she wasn't going to lie to herself that probably she would find Ir'alith a lot less fun and interesting if her legs weren't so fucking mysterious and almost definitely great.
"Incoming message," announced a voice she'd never…
Had she heard it before?
She couldn't remember hearing it, but she forgot things just like any human did.
"What the fuck is that?" she demanded.
This had to be another Carl thing.
Carl was the greatest friend ever.
"Message from Drake Procella activated," said the voice.
What the fuck was a Drake Procella?
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"Carl!" a new, man's voice said. It then continued to talk in a language she didn't understand.
"Dragon magic!" Ir'alith said in a quiet voice.
Dragon magic?
Mm.
Volcatia didn't know that much about dragons, but she did know that they had magic.
Ir'alith also seemed like she knew a lot about magic since she could make portals, so probably she'd be able to recognize a dragon's magic if it was happening.
Yeah, that made sense.
The car slammed into another rock, and then it didn't.
"Oh, hey, Tim," Carl said in the sort of unsurprised way that meant he'd expected whatever weird, interesting thing that was happening. "What the heck kinda name is Drake—"
"Something something, Carl," said the voice that Carl had called Tim. "Something."
"Who's Tim?" Volcatia asked while continuing to steer.
Obviously she'd ask.
If there was something interesting like this happening that she didn't understand, she'd definitely ask.
She had an idea at that moment though, and she sat driving while she continued driving.
She continued watching over and over for a quick few dozen tries.
This was definitely going to be worth it.
At last, she succeeded.
Carl Carled out another scream when she finally managed to tip the car onto two wheels for a little while after trying and flipping the fucking thing over so many times.
"Fuck, this is so awesome!" she said, feeling her excitement continuing to grow.
Was there anything this car couldn't do?
"Something something Annie," said Tim. "Something something something something, Carl? Something something, something someth—"
"No, no, definitely not," Carl interrupted. "This is my friend—just friend—Vol, Vol, this is my friend Tim, who apparently goes by Drake Procella now."
"Tim?" Volcatia said, testing it out as a name while continuing to drive.
It wasn't a name she'd ever heard before, but there were a lot of names she'd never heard before, just like any other human.
"Drake Procella." She tried that one out too.
Something bothered her about it.
She still didn't understand it.
She knew what a procella was, obviously, and its similarity to Carl's own family name was…
"Drake Procella. This is an unusual name," Ir'alith said.
Yeah, that was it.
Unusual.
"Something something something," said Drake Procella, sounding interested.
"Oh, uh, that's Ir'alith," Carl said.
Suddenly, Volcatia realized what was bothering her.
Drake Procella was Carl's friend?
She'd never heard him mentioned before.
Did that mean he was a good friend or not?
Was he a better friend than she was?!
There was…
Nah, there was no possible way that was true.
"This Drake Procella is your friend, Carl?" Ir'alith asked, sounding like she couldn't believe what was happening either.
"Yup," Carl said. "Known each other a really long time. Probably my best friend since I was like, I don't know, maybe ten?"
More talking was happening, but Volcatia wasn't really paying attention to anything.
Friends since they were ten?
She assumed he meant ten years of age, since that was how humans talked about things like that.
That meant…
That was a lot of time.
Drake Procella.
Carl Maximus Tempestates.
The similarity in the names was obvious now that she thought about it.
Which meant…
"Go back," she said, now feeling a sense of dread. "You're Carl's best friend?"
It couldn't be.
Ir'alith's probably-amazing, definitely-tantalizing legs flexed again, stealing a small part of her concentration.
Volcatia stared blankly ahead.
She didn't even notice when the car smashed into the side of a giant cliff and jolted her forward against the car's steering wheel.
She wasn't…
She wasn't Carl's best friend?