(Kay POV)
{recapping the entire rest of the week; treat last chapter as day 2 of spring schedule, game 2. the day before when Fip doubled was day 1, game 1}
(me getting closer with Amy; not in an older sister way necessarily, just a friendly way)
(me continually making excuses to Tracy for why I can't take a train to Pavlicot to see her, purely because I'm nervous)
(game 3 is against Moonlight City (still just in the Villaraeva spring training complex as always) and Kalinda is starting. [plz recall the cutter advice I gave her in first story file]. I can't help but fluff my feathers smugly at the difference my suggested approach has already seemingly made for her. Fip gets a plate appearance in the 9th and draws a walk. he gets a GREAT jump (he had been telling me he did extensive baserunning training with Flint) but it ends up not mattering since the batter strikes out and the inning ends before he can properly steal 2nd base)
(before game 4 vs Frostpoint, Koda reaches out to Fip via phone early to let him know he'll be starting today and getting a minimum of two at-bats.
after he gets off the phone, I brace for him to freak out or cry or have a panic attack.
he just explodes into excitement and gratification.
I'm so fucking proud of him. baseball life suits him so well.
and what does he end up doing with those two at-bats?
oh, nothing, just a boring ol' strikeout and then a GODDAMN HOME RUN AAAAAAAAAA
[big energy moment])
(in games 5, 6, and 7, Fip is back on the bench but he gets at least one plate appearance in each game. he's still... raw in the field. that's the brutal truth of it. his arm strength and throwing accuracy are fucking immaculate, but actually getting the flyball and taking the right angles and stuff is clearly a different story)
(brief funny moment where, while perched and watching game 5, a male ravenjay tries to court me and I just laugh hysterically at his attempts)
(I still always meet Fip outside the players entrance after every game even though it means having to fly back to the hotel, change into a Schipperke, then put on clothes, and then walk all the way from the hotel to the complex. it's always worth it to see the relief on his face when he sees me after hours of being apart)
[ok that's all the baseball happenings to weave in]

(throughout the week, Sedge and Koda remain in a very mentorly role with me and Fip since, yknow, they're the ones who found us passed out in Central Park and gave us an in with the White Tails. they check in with us -- *both* of us -- and I can tell other White Tails players are passively bemused at why their esteemed hitting trainer and pitching trainer are constantly in our business, even if they aren't playing favorites by any means.
on the morning of of day 3, we run into Sedge in the hall on our walk to the elevator. he studies me for a sec, and I momentarily panic that perhaps our descenting has finally failed us. Instead, he points out I'm wearing the same shirt I did yesterday; he frowns slightly and asks if me and Flick are still having issues with a limited wardrobe. I tell him oh yknow it's fine, we're just waiting on this next stipend to go thrift more clothes, and besides I could have washed stuff by now but I've just been procrastinating at figuring out how laundry works.
Fip instantly whips his head to me in alarm.
...not how I meant to phrase that.
Sedge raises an eyebrow and repeats like, figure out how laundry works?
I go quiet.
His expression softens. He produces a hundred-ossie bill from his pocket, calls it "shirt money", and tells me and Fip to pay him back sometime. 
I stare at him longer than I mean. when he and Koda knew us as Muffin and Cinnamon's ravenjay and riverret with cladefolk-level intelligence and full rich personalities, we would watch them slam beers and get wasted together, shout lovingly at each other with game controllers in their paws, get flustered whenever their romantic advances got a bit too eager with us in spying range, and so on and so forth.
after Sedge eventually pads away down the hall, me and Fip pile into the elevator and we're both thinking the exact same thing:
it would be so, so nice to finally tell him and Koda the truth. we talk openly about what that would entail, especially seeing as we kinda went from "we can't tell anyone" to now Kai and Lexi and Seraphine all knowing. 
ultimately, Fip is the one to reassert that we cannot tell Sedge and Koda that it's us, and he says it's because he just... he needs to do this whole baseball thing as *him*. Flick Rivers.)
(include offhand observations of Fip being folded further into the White Tails' plans than he realizes; I do not tell him that he is secretly in competition with Tino for the final roster spot, and I truly don't think either of them realizes. at the very least, the KPBL has an expanded roster rule -- every team gets to carry two addition players for a limited amount of time at the start of the season. there's a chance they both make the team to at least begin the year, but then the White Tails would be choosing to roster two pure outfielders with raw skillset on the bench instead of, say, an outfield/infield type or a veteran pinch-hitter type. and even then, when the roster expansion period ends, they'd still end up picking either Fip or Tino to keep on the roster. they'd still be... split up.
we'll see how things unfold. but I just... I'm so worried about what it might do to Fip to make a friend as good as Tino and then lose him -- *especially* when he himself would be the one who cost Tino the roster spot. with our separation anxiety issues, it just makes me nervous.
but... we'll see.)
(include one scene in the middle of the week where Fip bursts in the room saying Kalinda asked if she could see RJ and he said yes and I'm like why did you say yes?! and he's like I DON'T KNOW OKAY I PANICKED!
so i have to pose as RJ again and, naturally, i do NOT make it easy on him. at one point during the encounter, Kalinda says she brought a ravenjay treat, and I give Fip the flattest stare it is possible for a bird to produce.
that said, I do accept the treat.
of course I do. I'm not a lunatic.)
(don't repeat interactions from last chapter yknow. move things forward and fresh. so for example, Dorian and Luka don't get featured at any other breakfast scene, I don't ask Fip what he thinks of Kalinda, I don't harp on observing him in the dugout during games, Lexi doesn't call at night, etc -- all of that and more was LAST CHAPTER only)
(something minor that happens in the background of the week is we do some boring administrative errands. the afternoon of day 3, I use Sedge's "shirt money" from that morning to stock up on more tops for me and Fip as well as an extra pair of shorts for him and -- this is big -- my very first skirt!!
it turns out I am absolutely not a skirt person whatsoever, but even just being able to find that out about myself gives me the thrill of all thrills.
then, on day 4 after Fip's first spring start and home run, I spend all day after the game setting up a Vaullet account for me and one for Fip [background context for you: Vaullet is essentially just the Aeran analog of Chime], and now we have bank accounts!! very primitive ones without physical debit cards, but still!! and it only cost me hours of troubleshooting while Fip heckles me from a distance because he has a permanent deathwish.
still, it means that on day 5 when the calendar week turns over and Fip's next 500-ossie is due, Koda approaches Fip when he and I are walking back from the stadium to give him the money in person like he did last time, but we very excitedly tell him that he can let the team know that Flick has a Vaullet account now.
the face that Koda makes at that news hits me in a warm place. it's, like... paternal-coded pride. he and Sedge are watching us become actual independent adults, and they think it's remarkable purely because they found us as displaced runaways sleeping on moss in a park. in reality, it's remarkable because we're, yknow, literal former animals who have been cladefolk for like a dozen days.
if only they knew.
then, on day 6, and we take our temporary IDs to the post office like Oliver advised and they take out photos and print them onto the IDs. we still need official government IDs, but having photo IDs opens up an incredible possibility:
we can go out drinking.
the server didn't ask at my date with Tracy but probably only because like, he correctly assumed there was no reason to believe the person Tracy Lane was on a date with was underage because I mean fucking obviously.
at a bar though? yeah, we're gonna get carded. these photo IDs mean it's no problem now. we're both drinking age, although Muffin and Cinnamon have told us that apparently it's 21 back on Earth which just seems stupid, honestly.
so, at end of chapter, it's hours after game 7 of spring training. Fip gets back from Tino's room where he went to watch him play the new Trinasty game that came out today (Fip had been excited about it for weeks, but he told me he very smartly wasn't gonna try to play the game WITH Tino since he knows he'd suck ass; he admitted to me before leaving that it was gonna hurt to have to still just only *watch* like he did for so many years, but... nothing he can do about it). He returns while I'm on the phone with Tracy, telling her a true story (for once) about watching out the window one day back in Riverdell and seeing someone on a scooter absolutely eat shit on the curb.
Fip says he has something to tell me so I tell Tracy bye sparrow and she goes bye mystery dog! and I let Fip have the floor.
He explains that  Tino and some of the other White Tails are planning to go out drinking since it's the night before an off day (the first one all spring) and the alcohol won't affect any in-game reps tomorrow.
we cannot contain our excitement. I had two glasses of gin with Tracy and felt very cool, but this is something else entirely.
this is *social drinking*.
fuck YES.
ohhhh we are gonna get fucking hammered like PROPER YOUNG ADULTS omg i cannot wait)
[cut chapter before we start getting ready to leave]
[remember be vry careful to make sure we use the names "Flick" and "Raven" around other people aside from Lexi and Seraphine. so like for instance I *DO NOT* call him "Fip" out loud while talking to Amy]
[plz delve more into the thread of Fip seemingly really really liking the solace of his animal form but thankfully not letting it get in the way of baseball. I just hope that continues to be the case]
(FLESH OUT ALL OF THE ABOVE TO MAXIMUM LENGTH)