The training session ended sometime around seven. I'm saying "sometime" because my ability to perceive linear time had abandoned me along with most of my motor functions.
I found myself lying on the grass next to Naomi. Not sitting. Lying. Fully horizontal. The position had happened without conscious decision.
Naomi's eyes were closed. Her breathing came slow and deep. The crash had hit her worse than me, which made sense given she'd been operating on a gold-tier buff for almost twenty-four hours before reality came back to collect.
"You alive?" I asked.
"Debatable," she said, without opening her eyes.
"Same."
The grass felt nice. Cool against my back where the shirt had ridden up slightly. The California evening air carried that ocean salt smell that made everything feel temporary and distant.
My phone buzzed.
I ignored it.
It buzzed again.
"That's probably important," Naomi said.
"Everything can wait."
"What if it's an emergency."
"Then someone else will handle it."
