No Jaglion Left Behind

20260723

Prompt from Eiiri’s Prompt Foundry, “Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo”.

“Eli?” Damian said anxiously the moment she joined voice chat. “Please tell me it’s you!”
“Errr,” Elise blinked rapidly, “hi guys? Who else would be logging in on my user??”
Nattie soberly admitted “When we saw you join server but not chat we wondered if you were, like, next of kin, and…”
“Ohhh shit. No, I just…” Elise took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about missing so many-”
She was drowned out by an immediate exasperated outcry, everyone’s chat icons lighting up.
“W-well I saw we dropped like twenty points in the ranking and-”
“YOU WERE IN HOSPITAL!” Harvey used the “spray bottle” emote right in her camera.
Pete said “Yeah, we’re sorry we couldn’t do shit. Times like these are when being a long-distance friend sucks. Are you doing ok?”
“I, I guess…”
“Are you, like, recovered, or…?”
Elise winced. Her gaze dropped to her keyboard, unable to hold even the semblance of eye contact, as she forced out “Lower-body paralysis. I’m never going to walk again.”
Silence. She bit her lip.
Finally Pete ventured “I, um, I wish I knew the right thing to say here, but… that really fucking blows and I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now. Is there anything we can do? Are, like, do you need to crowdfund for a wheelchair, or…?”
“Nah, they had to give me one before discharging me. But…” Elise’s shoulders slumped. “I’m going to have to find a new place to live, because this flat isn’t at all accessible. And it’ll have to be somewhere I can afford on just my streaming money, and god I don’t even know how badly that’ll have been hit by me missing for a month.”
“Wait,” Alex said sharply, “you mean you lost your sponsorships?? Surely they can’t cancel sponsorships because you ended up in hospital!”
Elise scowled. “Technically it was because I didn’t fulfil my contracted shout-out slots, because I wasn’t streaming, because I was in hospital. Apparently there’s no leeway for health emergencies - you have to book any gaps two months in advance.”
“WHAT THE FUCK??”
“Yeah.” Elise rubbed her arm. “At least subscriptions don’t seem to have been hit yet. I, I should be ok…”
Harvey uneasily said “But won’t you need a bunch of stuff to, um, be able to do things now?”
“Oh. Well. I need to find a new place to live first.”
“Isn’t there any of it you can buy now? ‘Cause I’m imagining trying to go about my day without using my legs, and I feel like it’d be exhausting. Even with a wheelchair. If you can, I don’t know, put together a wishlist…”
Nattie earnestly said “Yeah, and if there’s stuff you wouldn’t want to put on a public list, just tell us a total, and we can ask everyone to donate.”
“Right!” Pete used the ‘raining money’ emote. “And any extra can go towards your moving costs and all that jazz.”
“Y-you really don’t have-” Elise faltered as her entire screen was filled with spray bottles. A laugh bubbled up, followed by tears.
“Come on,” Theresa scoffed, “you’re usually the first to spout ‘No Jaglion left behind!’”
Everyone whooped “NO JAGLION LEFT BEHIND!”
Pete added “And that definitely includes our main point striker.”
“Speaking of...”
The group turned to look at Mike, who until that moment could’ve been mistaken for AFK.
“I know we said we weren’t sure about the Sunfire Tournament. But. Managing a good showing in the big Tourneys is the best way to net sponsorships. And hey, if we win, the profits can go right to Eli to pay for… whatever the fuck you need to embrace life with lower-body paralysis. So I think we ought to go for it after all.”
A sober chorus of agreement lit up chat.
Pete said “Yeah, Eli’ll be right at the front, so perfect for catching a sponsor’s eye.”
“And Tourneys always mean extra donations and stuff.” Alex said hopefully. “That’ll help! Especially if we’re all spamming the fundraiser in chat.”
“What do you think, Eli?” Mike asked, his tone serious. “Think you can be fighting fit by October?”
Theresa added “With us doing all we can to help you, starting right now.”
Elise stared down at her hands. Her mouth tightened. She squared her shoulders. “I’m going to need to get back into the swing of things, and… honestly there is a whole bunch of small stuff that would help. But I’m willing to give it everything I’ve got. I’m kinda fighting for my future, so…”
“Alright.” Pete clapped his hands together. “Today’ll be our first practice sesh, helping Eli get back in the groove. By next week I’ll have sorted out everything about the Sunfire Tournament. Eli, I need you to get a wishlist and a crowdfunder budget to me ASAP. Just put it in the group chat. Everyone else, be ready to go crazy hype train. We clear?”
“Clear!” Came the ragged chorus, Elise among them.
Hearing him talk like this was just another team plan was deeply comforting. A scrap of normal. And a reminder of why she so loved being part of this team. It would be so, so much easier for them to just get a new point striker. It’d be more than enough for them to hold a crowdfunder. But no. Jaglions stuck together.
While she may never get over how choosing to run for a bus in the rain had upended her life… at least it hadn’t stolen her friends.
“Alright.” She hit her shortcut button for the ‘fistpump’ emote. “Let me check what setup I had my char on last. Oh, and what’s the weekly?”
Good showing or bust. Let’s do this.

Prompt was “Becoming disabled”.