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Badeline doesn’t want to bring up the b-word, especially with Madeline in a sour mood, but the situation was… getting kind of pathetic. Mounting careless mistakes have stopped her from passing the city in the last ten tries — the longest and most recent demoralizing slump in their hundred of attempts.
She drifts beside her, cutting through the silence. “So…”
But Madeline doesn’t hear. She’s too consumed in her single-minded determination to get this last golden strawberry to the summit.
After Madeline overshoots an embarrassingly simple jump, her reflection decides enough’s enough. She’s caught before she completely falls to the bottom again. Madeline braces to be launched, but instead of going up, she’s swung sideways onto a grassy ledge nearly tripping as she finds her footing.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“Ask yourself that. Your body is shaking.”
“It’s the cold,” says the Canadian who’s always been fine climbing in just a jacket for outerwear.
There’s no hiding the shaking now that she’s still. Even when exhaustion is begging her body to stop, she still weakly insists, “I have to get this to the summit.”
Badeline is exasperated. “Why are you pushing yourself so hard on this?”
And hasn't that been the question of their lives? Even after climbing Celeste mountain, between self-worth, work quality, deadlines, and now this final frustrating fruit…
She pinches the bridge of her nose. “…Don’t answer that. What I mean is that you need to take a break. You’re slipping. Literally.”
“You saw how close we were that one time! If I stop now, I’ll only get worse.”
“You aren’t doing any better pushing yourself like this. Pace yourself. It’s a skill for a reason — one that people take for granted.”
Seeing Madeline conflicted, she pushes her advantage.
“Only fifteen minutes. Eat. Breathe. If you don’t get it today, the strawberry will still be here tomorrow. Not like it can grow wings and fly away,” she jokes.
That gets a smile out of her — a sorely missed sight after frustration took over as the failures grew. Climbing Celeste Mountain was supposed to be something they loved. She almost lost sight of that.
Laughter aside, Madeline searches her reflection’s face for something, any kind of indication that this may be a trick, a proof of weakness.
“This isn’t me quitting.”
Whatever Madeline’s looking for, she won’t find. Badeline refuses to let themselves be anything but truthful.
“God knows you’re too stubborn to.”
“…Okay.”
She sits down and the change is immediate. The uneven rocky floor can not be comfortable, but it might as well be the softest cushion in the world with the way tension seeps from her body immediately.
Badeline knows Madeline will throw herself back into challenge sooner than she should, but at least she won’t be afraid to take breaks anymore.
When she does finally bake that pie, it’ll the best she’s ever made.