TEAM ANTI-TALI CHAT

Sol: New leader is here!
Sol: it’s the tiny girl with half brown half blonde hair
Sol: she’s so shy it almost hurts
Adela: I believe her name is Terra Beste.
Chika: she’s shy???
Chika: the girl on team slayers that’s always talking to her teammates?
Sol: [image]
Sol: idk, this one
Chika: yeah that’s her
Adela: Interesting. She doesn’t seem to have much experience in any warrior training.
Chika: good. she’s to nice to those girls.
Chika: so? tali didn’t know anything either
Adela: You used the wrong “to”. It’s “too” in this context.
Adela: I’m just curious why Dr. Lani would take her out of everyone to appoint as our leader. But maybe she sees whatever it is you do about how Team Slayers treats her.
Sol: it doesn’t matter why. she’s our leader now and we have to respect it
Chika: yeah like that worked out before
Chika: terra’s sweet, but she is not my leader until we can trust her
Sol: are you for real?
Adela: She is our leader, though. You can’t change the records to be your own person.
Chika: not literally. i mean im not gonna listen to her yet
Sol: like that worked out before
Sol: do you really want to start off on a bad foot again?
Chika: chill. im not gona be mean. im just not gonna blindly follow her
Adela: That might not be a bad idea. She doesn’t seem to quite know what she’s doing yet.
Sol: ur not even gonna give her a chance???
Chika: literally where did I say that
Chika: don’t put words in my mouth
Sol: whatever. if u hurt her feelings tho u’ll have me to worry about instead
Chika: alright drama queen
Sol: excuse me???
Adela: I’m muting the chat.

Chika locked her phone with a glare and aggressively shoved it into her jacket pocket, barely missing a collision with the plate of food in her hand. She looked around the bustling cafeteria for a table and cursed herself for coming at the peak of dinner. Stupid gym, being on the complete other side of campus. Stupid Schesi for not having any on-campus transportation. Her leg was already aching something fierce; if it didn’t let up after sitting for a while, she’d probably have to break out her arm crutches for the (relatively short) walk back to the cabin. With her teammates. And the new leader.

God, the new leader. Tiny little Terra that annoyed the shit out of her rude teammates. Chika always felt bad when she saw the looks they were giving her, even if Terra herself didn’t seem to be affected. She couldn’t blame them for being irritated—Chika herself found her patience wasn’t as great as she wanted it to be –but then they’d start making petty comments, and Terra definitely didn’t understand what they were trying to say then, and it made Chika’s blood boil. The only thing keeping her from stepping in before was their own issues with Tali, but now that she was out of the way…

Chika shook her head. It didn’t matter now. Terra was on Team Prevail, and Tali was out, and hopefully that meant everything would balance out. Hopefully.

Speaking of…

At a tall table in the corner, Chika realized Terra was sitting by herself, working on a salad with her head down. Chika felt a spike of anxiety at her next idea, but with the cafeteria so busy and the knowledge that, leader or not, this was her new teammate…

She took a deep breath and started to make her way over. Terra didn’t seem to notice until she was just a few feet away, at which point her head snapped up, cheeks puffy with lettuce. Chika suppressed a snort before waving two fingers at her.

“Hey, you’re Terra, right?” she asked.

Terra scrambled to swallow her bite and nodded; she hovered a hand over her mouth. “Yeah… Your name is Chika, isn’t it?”

“Mm-hm. I’m one of your new teammates. Mind if I join you?”

“O-Oh, no, not at all!”

Terra shifted her chair over as if it would give Chika more room at the two-person table, nearly toppling over as her feet didn’t reach the ground. This time, Chika let herself smile amusedly, and climbed into the chair across from her.

“Thanks. Nice to meet you. Love your outfit, by the way. Those browns go together really well,” she said.

Terra’s face reddened a bit, and she tugged the sleeves of her undershirt further down her hands. “Oh, thank you… I kind of just threw it together, to be honest.”

Chika raised an eyebrow, cutting her burger in half. “No shit? You must have a good eye for color, then. You ever do any painting or anything?”

She shook her head.

“Well, I’m impressed. I think you’d do pretty good at it, if you ever got a chance to try.”

“T-Thank you.” Terra scooped some of her salad onto her fork; every muscle was tense, and her movements small. It was unlike anything Chika had seen from her before, but she chalked it up to nerves. “Do you paint?”

“Eh… I gave it a shot in high school, but it wasn’t for me,” Chika answered. “I’m more into drawing and fashion design.”

Terra perked up a bit at that. “Fashion?”

Unable to resist the proud grin on her face, she pulled at the lapel of her black, leather jacket. “Yep! I make all of my own clothes, and I used to help my friends with theirs, too. Started off just adjusting things to make them more disability-friendly, and then I just kinda… Kept going, I guess.” With a start, she realized how much she’d just said at once. Her face heated, and she rubbed the back of her neck, looking away. “Ah, sorry… I’m a little over passionate about--”

“No, no! It’s okay!” Terra interrupted, throwing a hand out. She pulled back into herself just as quickly and dropped her hands in her lap. “I… I’m interested in what you have to say,” she admitted. “I think it’s cool.”

It was Chika’s turn to freeze. “…Really?”

“Yeah.” Terra fiddled with the hem of the collar around her throat. “I made my cape a few years ago by myself… I’ve never really been happy with it, but it was kind of fun to learn. I wouldn’t mind learning more about it, if… I mean, you don’t have to , it’s just an idea! But if you ever wanted to talk more about it, I could listen. If you want.”

Chika stared at her for a moment, searching her face for any sign of lying or mocking. When she found none, she faintly smiled.

“…Yeah,” she said. “I’d like that.”

Terra started to smile back, but shrill laughter echoed from a table behind them, and instead, she paled, ducking her head down. Chika frowned and looked over her shoulder, searching for whatever made her—

Oh.

Team Slayers.

She made eye contact, and they snapped their gazes away; even as far away as they were, Chika could hear them whispering and giggling.

She looked back at Terra; there was a slight tremble to her shoulders that hadn’t been there before.

Setting a glare on her face, Chika got out of her seat.

As she made her way over to their table, the girls glanced at each other with panicked expressions. Slaine and Tali schooled their looks into an easy-going annoyance when Chika got to the edge of their booth.

“Can we help you?” Slaine sneered.

“Funny, I was coming to ask you the same thing,” Chika shot back.

“What, we’re not allowed to eat in the same cafeteria as you?”

She glared Tali down. “I don’t give a flying fuck where you eat. What I do care about is you over here bitching about someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“Ohh, what a big hero you are,” Luanne crooned, leaning her elbows on the table. “Standing up for the innocent victims of conversation! Tell me, when’s the award ceremony?”

“Don’t be such a bitch,” Chika snapped.

Tali let out a mock gasp and splayed a hand out. “Oh, careful, Lu! She might jump you!”

Chika clenched her teeth together so tight that she worried in the back of her mind they would crack; she struggled to hold herself together in the face of their childish laughter. “You started that fight and you know it.”

She scoffed. “I was making a joke.”

“Mocking someone for having epilepsy is not a ‘joke’. Jokes are supposed to be funny.”

Rolling her eyes, Tali turned to her meal. “Whatever. You’ve always been out to get me for the stupidest things. It’s not my fault you won’t listen to anyone but yourself.”

“I’m sure you and Terra are going to get along swimmingly,” Slaine said.

Chika clenched her fists. She cast a quick glance back to her table, just to make sure Terra wasn’t looking before she—

Her heart shot to her throat. The table was empty.

“Wow, even she doesn’t want to be around you?” Tulay asked. “You must be worse than Tali told us.”

A wave of hurt trickled down into her stomach, despite the reminders in her brain that she didn’t know why she had left, let alone if it was her own fault. She covered it with a glare and shot it back at Team Slayers.

“If I had the choice between being alone and having to look at you, I’d leave, too,” she growled.

“Then go.”

And she did just that, spinning on her heel and storming back to the table with every intention of taking her food back to the cabin.

“Have fun with your new team leader~!” Luanne cheered.

Ignoring the pain in her leg, Chika walked faster.