Yes, that's right, Vinnie. Gaze upon them and remember your own inevitable passing. Remember you are but a mortal. A flawed and mortal creature that Lyra is forever disappointed in.

If Vinnie had been hoping for a punch, then he was going to be waiting a very long time. Seriously. She took a boxing lesson and she was terrible at it. They knew what they'd done, and they knew why Lyra was so crushed by it. They'd probably been thinking over it since they'd first woken up in the Center. Rehashing it wasn't going to help much of anything.

So instead, she quietly moved over to a chair, sitting with her hands folded. Rui shuffled over to her side, settling down on its haunches. "When I was three," Lyra began, voice low and soft, "I chased a Rattata that snuck into my backyard. It bit me. When I was six, I wandered away from my mom and a Zubat got caught under my hat. It used Leech Life until my mom found me, and I had to go get stitches after that."

She reached down, tugging her right kneesock down and showing Vinnie and Sasha a burn scar along the side of her calf. "When I was ten, Lance and me broke into a Team Rocket hideout. The generator was powered by Electrodes. We had to faint them before we unhooked them, but one of them Selfdestructed before I could help it."