#I wanted to put yulivia somewhere in the chapter but I realized that putting too much info on Olivia early on would be weird so I waited

[borkthemork]

Here are some deleted scenes from Falling Down Dry, enjoy!

----- [CHAPTER FIVE]

If the king really did have that much faith in her, then why would Marcy say no? The whole term didn't sound bad. If guard training had anything to go by, it sounded like a school — a school full of not only organized turntables and schedules but the potential to learn how a sword works in actual combat — and when it came to school Marcy knew how to balance her time well.

Whatever happened, she needed to think smarter, not harder.

"The training toward the role of guard is a perilous and back-breaking commitment, Miss Wu," Lady Olivia explained. As they past an intersection, it became clear to Marcy that the guards that accompanied them were getting tensed with each second. "Best for you to be careful, and make friends to guarantee your safety."

Marcy cocked her head. "Have you been here before, Lady Olivia?"

Lady Olivia stared at her, perturbed.

"It's just that you seem to know about this place in a lot more detail than I expected," Marcy said. Was it alright to ask that question? Lady Olivia did seem the kind to remain secretive, or at least unappreciative of people meddling in her business. Marcy relented nonetheless. "Not like you have to tell me, just curious."

Lady Olivia watched her from the corner of her eye. "I have visited the barracks numerous times in my youth."

"Out of curiosity for the soldiers?" 

Their feet traveled the paths until eventually, they stopped at the administration's door.

"One can say that," Lady Olivia finally said, before she beckoned Marcy to the opened door.

At the administration office, Marcy listened and watched Lady Olivia as she talked to the head newt behind the desk. There were exchanged politics, talk of Marcy's species, at how her head tuckered low due to the barracks ceiling, and then a familiar set of questions about training, intermediate work.

-----[CHAPTER SIX]

"Understandable. It's not usual to be dropped into an alien world. From what you've told me, Earth sounds more foreign to any frog. newt, and toad in a hundred-mile radius; it makes sense for the reverse to be similar."

"Well, yeah. Back on Earth we had machines that can do math, and can basically teleport us to anywhere on the globe if we got the money for it. Although, I can say one thing. Your economy is a lot more forgiving."

Andrias arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You know how Newtopia is into the exchange of coppers?"

"Yes. Go on?"

"Well back home, they're basically useless. Three hundred coppers here can mean a whole life supply of beetle burgers, but for us that's enough to get us a pack of bubblegum."

"I don't see the problem here. Bubblegum is a serious industry in the city." When Marcy stared, he could only snort. "Just kidding. Very much kidding."

-----[CHAPTER THREE]

She had been lead down numerous roads. So many roads that Marcy had no clue where she first started walking off to and where she was currently in the city. Didn't help that the city was a massive place, and that the denizens around her stared as if she was a fish out of water — but that could be with the fact she was a legit fish out of water but they didn't have to worry about.

The newt general who escorted her — Yunan, if she could recall — had taken the time to lecture along the way of her military exploits. 

That wasn't bad. Actually the idea of a newt general telling battles from the sand wars out in some desert area to the fact she was the youngest newt out there to conquer the ranks of the military was the most exciting parts to learn about this world.

She didn't need to worry about handcuffs too. From what Yunan told her, with the pound of her chestplate and the huffed from her chest, was that she didn't need to worry of Marcy running. And even if she did, she wouldn't get far. Which was the coolest and most terrifying thing to ever be told to her if she wanted to be honest.

Eventually the surroundings turned to higher elevation. The more she peaked at the horizon, she spotted the cool glimmer of the moon amid the tides that Marcy always suspected. The iridescent waters, the crisp brine air, the glimmering lights of the sleepy town city — an absolute delight to look at, made her lose her breath by just the sight of it.

"No stalling, creature." Yunan shoved her forward. "Sightseeing isn't going to save you under King Andrias's scrutiny."

"Well, that's a bit of a bummer," she mused. 

After all, the sight of Newtopia looked absolutely lovely to look at, even more so than the lookout points Marcy liked to go to in the outer areas of Los Angeles. Something about this place reeked of nostalgic. Perhaps it was because the whole place screamed of fantasy aesthetic or that there were too many questions to shove into her darn brain. Those were all possibilities.

For now, however, Marcy just a little happy walk, climbing up the spiraling roads while the newt groaned behind her.

"Stop that! This is no happy matter!"

Marcy smiled and ceased her fidgeting. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just so excited. You have no idea."

"Yes, I do not have a single clue as to why you're like this," Yunan huffed. She kept puffing out her chest, seeming to try to catch the glimpse of the armour's metal in the moonlight. Not a bad look too. "You're supposed to be shriveling up in fear, especially under my presence."

"I don't know, dude. I mean you're a really high-class authority when it comes to this society, and I think that's really neat that you're so loyal to the king like this." Marcy meant it all too. There was always something rad about a person who knew what they want and what they wanted, grabbing the opportunity rather than having it slip to the wayside. "Especially with your claws out. What type of metal is that?"

Yunan blinked at her. She chuckled momentarily, and sheathed the blades back into her gauntlets. "Well, well. You see here, my blades were gifted to me through trial by combat in the sand wars."

Marcy gasped. "No way!"

"It is all the way!" Yunan exclaimed. "Rivorn the Scornful wanted my head way back before I garnered my many medals. He harbored jealousy, malice, and wanted to trick me by having me battle unarmed."

"And you knocked him out of the park, didn't you?"

"I crushed him to death!"

"Yeah! Wait, metaphorically or—?"

Yunan continued however undeterred, brave tears shimmering in her eyes as she once again showed off her blades in a few open slashes. "In the end he gave me his gauntlets, and I'd entrusted my safety to them ever since."

"And," Yunan continued, "We have arrived."